5th January 2024 Mailer

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We … by Carol Clarke

… had another lovely day with youngest grandchildren Olivia and Austin! We got to do lots of things that they always like to do when they visit including a trip to the park, playing giant snakes & ladders (I painted the board on a piece of cardboard from a large TV, and painted stones as the playing pieces …. and bought a big dice! lol) they also played with the Lego, and did so,e crafting! But the highlight for 11 year old Olivia is always the baking! This time we made Melting Snowman Biscuits and they were really yummy!

cup948260_359 by Carol Clarke

cup948261_359 by Carol Clarke

Happy New Year! by Sue Way

Christmas is over and I was curious to see the new post box topper. As we walked our dogs towards it, I noticed that it had been changed from the lovely Christmas topper. I eagerly anticipated what it would be this time. As we got closer, I could see tinsel, which made me wonder if it was another Christmas-themed topper. But, as it turned out, it was a Happy New Year one with glasses and bottles of champagne and the number 2024. Isnt it fun?

cup1271980_38 by Sue Way

cup1225959_38 by Sue Way

Cats Eye View Selfie by Janice McFarlane

The day after Boxing Day my family came up for the day from Oxfordshire. I was so looking forward to it as I hadnt seen them physically for a year. It was so good to see them and the boys had grown so much. We played some games and had a lovely buffet. One of the fascinations certainly from Harry the youngest, is my cat Bailey. Now Bailey is a Seal Point Ragdoll breed, and by nature are very affectionate, but a whole host of people he isnt used to do he usually just keeps out of the way. Harry though really wanted to stroke him, so, off he went in search of Bailey who he found underneath my dressing table. Next thing a picture pops up fro Harrys phone which we found quite amusing as he had crawled under the dressing table to get a cats eye view selfie with Bailey.

cup1272863_905 by Janice McFarlane

cup1272864_905 by Janice McFarlane

What a ride. by Vicki Avcin

Well we had a lovely Christmas Day, little did we know what was in store later that night! We could see on the radar we were in for a storm but little did we know what was about to unfold. About 8.45pm it started with heavy rain and wind. The lightning show and thunder was off the scale. Rain coming from every angle and it sounded like a freight train roaring through. The whole house was shaking and it didnt ease up. Our power went out at 9pm. First reports put it down as a derecho a very long lived and damaging thunderstorm. A storm is classified as a derecho if wind damage swath extends more than 346 kilometres and has wind gusts of at least 98kph or greater along most of the length of the storms path. Wind gusts in this storm were recorded at in excess of 126kph. Derechos are normally only seen in the USA. After analyzing information the Bureau of Meteorology formally confirmed that what we had experienced was a tornado! It was on the ground carving absolute destruction for 30 mins starting where we live and going all the way to the Gold Coast. Our power was out for four and a half days but some people are still without power 9 days on. We had no phones or internet for 5 days either. The power grid is that bad that the power company has said it will be easier to rebuild rather than repair it once they can get access to some areas. Meanwhile the days we had no power were 39 degrees C to 40.5 degs C. No fans or air con so it was a very uncomfortable few days. While our house escaped damage (we had trees and branches down) our neighbour had a tree fall on her house. Trees through houses (not just landing on them) are a familiar sight all around here at the moment. Then as everyone was just starting to come to grips with what had happened we had rainfall of 100mm in a day. Some places had nearly 200mm and a lot of flooding around already devastated areas on New Years Day. We have just spent the past week clearing trees, helping neighbours in our street. So wasnt a great end to the year nor a great start to the new year. I didnt get to wish everyone a Happy New Year last week so I wish you all a wonderful 2024 and hope all your wishes and dreams come to reality.

cup1193669_543 by Vicki Avcin

cup1193667_543 by Vicki Avcin