13th December 2019 Mailer

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Seeing Santa at Millets Farm by Janice McFarlane

For the last couple of years, my daughter has taken Harry and Alfie to see Santa at Millets Farm Winter Wonderland near where they live in Oxfordshire. There are lots of activities for the children to do, on they could choose a soft toy to build themselves. Harry chose a Huskey and Alfie a Polar Bear, then it was off for a very special story time with Santa himself reading the story. There were lots of other activities they could do, and lovely things to see. Alfie went ice skating with his mum, whilst Harry stayed with his Daddy. Then nothing like having a photo taken with a giant penguin. It was a lovely family time for them, as last year my son in law Paul was away in Afghanistan over the Christmas period.

cup1017042_905 by Janice McFarlane

cup1017176_905 by Janice McFarlane

The Dome by Vicki Avcin

For the last couple of years there has been a phantom Dome that is said to cover Hervey Bay. Many many times we see on the radar storms with plenty of rain head our way only to breakup/disappear before they reach Hervey Bay. With the lack of rain and well below average rainfall totals, we have gone from a lush green area which included Fraser Island (which is classed as rainforest) to a dry dusty area, to the point that we now have water restrictions and have been declared officially in drought. In fact Fraser Island which is normally very green and lush has now had a fire burning at the southern end entering its 22nd day now. Once an area that would barely sustain fire is now burning extremely hot and well. Last night our dome again worked well. Not even a crack in it. Areas all around us received some rainfall even if only 5mm but again we didnt get a drop. Brisbane had a months worth of rain last night in just over an hour, but the rain didnt fall in the surrounding areas where there has been devastating fires in the last month. It is heartbreaking to see people losing cattle (or paying a fortune to bring in food and water to keep them alive) in these drought areas. We still have mid to high 30 deg C temps daily with areas to the west getting to 40 deg C for weeks on end now. There has been 724 homes lost in NSW alone from fires down there and over 2.7 million hectares of land burnt out. If anyone would like to send over their rain and snow, Australia would really welcome it!!All we Aussies want for Christmas is RAIN

Looking to finish your Christmas cards? This week Im promoting a pack of Christmas Inserts to put in your cards and for the Aussies a cute Koala Christmas design.

cup347602_543 by Vicki Avcin

cup997080_543 by Vicki Avcin

After ... by Carol Clarke

... The rain ... rain ,,, rain ... We at last got a few dry and sunny days!! Sooo we took good advantage of this break in the weather and headed out into Derbyshire for a lovely walk. We had to pick our route carefully though as all that rain had made the paths, tracks, trails and fields all muddy, and even in some places flooded! But as you can see from the photo it was a lovely walk! lol Below are 2 of my 3D Large Christmas Cracker Box Mini Kit .... Theres lots more available on my Craftsuprint page too! lol

cup1014808_359 by Carol Clarke

cup1013646_359 by Carol Clarke

Volcanic eruption by Joan King

Many of you I am sure may of heard about the volcanic eruption in New Zealand as it has been on International news and front page on the Telegraph in the Uk etc. I live in Tauranga and White Island is off the coast from us. It always has a small rumble but there was no notification of an impending eruption. Unusual but this can happen. Sadly when it happened there were two groups of tourists most from the cruise ship Ovation of the Seas and including some kiwi guides on the island visiting the crater. One group was rescued but they all had severe burns to up to 90% of their bodies. Sadly a fair number of these have since passed. God rest their souls. There are still people who were very close to the crater when it happened to be rescued but they would have died instantly because of their position. Sadly the volcano has erupted again even stronger and it is not safe for people to go on the island. It is still an ongoing situation which is very unpleasant for everyone. The photo was taken from a boat which had just left the Island before the eruption took place. Fortunately for me we have not been affected by the actual eruption so are very lucky. We have also had problems in the south island with severe ongoing flooding and people evacuated from their homes. Main highways have been washed away and people are stranded including many tourists. On my how this world is changing and so fast as well.

cup1016251_1716 by Joan King

cup1015874_1716 by Joan King