News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 18

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.

I treasure this door wreath as it was made nearly 30 years ago with my kids. My kids are in their 40s and one is 39 now. It is made out of plastic shopping bags back when they were all the rage replacing paper bags.

Things have gone full circle now and plastic bags are being replaced with….guess what…. Paper bags! We shredded the bags and used an old wire coat hanger bent into a circle and tied the shredded plastic around it then added some baubles and tinsel.

Tinsel is a bit the worse for wear, well whats left of it and the majority of the baubles were replaced about 10 years ago although there is still a few originals on there.

The big red bow at the bottom is showing signs of wear now but still looking okay.

I love the fact that being plastic it can be outside and doesnt matter if the rain gets to it (just gives it a wash) so it will be packed away again until next year when it will come out again.

Its my tradition now. I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. May it be a safe and peaceful time spent with loved ones.

For the second time in quite a few years we actually have a Christmas Tree up. The tree itself is about 30 years old and was my hubbys before we even met.

When the kids were small and up until I married hubby, I would always have a live tree but hated the pine needles falling everywhere so we started using this eternal tree.

When we moved and the kids were living down in Brisbane and we were in Bowen and Hervey Bay I never bothered with a big tree and just had a small tree about 18 inches high.

Presents had to be posted away and it just didnt seem practical to go all out. But now we are back down living near the kids it seemed right to pull it out again and decorate.

This year I didnt decorate it, the grand daughter that is now living with us got to and went through the boxes of Christmas stuff and did it.

I think she did a wonderful job and all those presents that used to get posted down to them now sit under the tree.

I am actually in a more Christmassy mood this year than in quite a few years. I even have finished my Christmas shopping already too.

I just hope the weather is a little cooler on Christmas day as weve been having high 30s temperatures for about 3 weeks now but it is summer here down under so probably wishing for too much!

Last Friday night we went to dinner to celebrate our grand daughter, Zoe, 21st Birthday. It was just immediate family at this dinner as she had a big bash party with her partners family and friends on Saturday night.

The dinner was at Sanctuary Cove which is down on the coast. We got down there just as a big storm was about to hit and didnt quite make it to the restaurant when the rain came down.

I had the table centre piece of two number balloons (2 and 1) and trying to hold them out of everyones way as we walked from the carpark to the restaurant was a lot of fun….not.

With the wind coming from the storm I was trying to not hit everyone along the way. I think I said Sorry about 30 times and was glad to get inside. On the way out I said to Zoes partner that he could carry them back to the car!

Anyway it was a lovely dinner (very posh) and the food was delicious. Was quite a nice backdrop with all the lightning over the harbour as it was like Mother Nature put on a display of flashing lights just for Zoe.

Lucky for us the storm had passed on by the time we finished and had to walk back to the car.

For those that have been with CUP for many years, this is the little cutie that featured in some of my video tutorials.

All grown up now.

Today is officially the first day of Summer down here in Oz. The weather doesnt know what it wants to do as weve already had days in the high 30 degrees and they tell us there is more to come.

Yesterday after a hot day we had our first half decent storm and even had small hail. The other day the sun had a huge halo around it . Old wives tale is that it means massive rain is coming.

We got 19mm of rain from the storm so wouldnt say its massive rain but it was the third lot of rain this week with rain total of 66.7mm so for this time of year that is significant.

So apart from having green grass that with the sun it has grown and time to get the mower out again, the plants have loved the rain.

Two of my orchids are now flowering, the desert rose is flowering and the crepe myrtle (commonly called Christmas bush) is also flowering so the garden is looking gorgeous at the moment.

Best of all the water tanks are full. We dont know what will happen through summer rain wise, so having full tanks means free water (we do have trickle fed town water but we have to pay for what we use) so its always good when the tanks are full.