News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 36

We love seeing this Queen of the Night flower when it blooms. This time we had 9 buds but unfortunately only 6 came out. Not sure why some of them just seem to die off but happy that someactually opened.

I had just finished saying to hubby that I wondered if they just popped open or slowly opened one petal at a time.

While we weresitting out the front we could see the bud getting fatter and fattereven just within the 10 mins we were out there.

I decided to go out about 10 mins later when pop half the bud exploded and half the petals popped out…….

Was so excited.

Then within a couple ofminutes the other half popped. For me the little things in lifeare exciting and this just made my night. Half an hour later while wewere still sitting out there another bud popped. Made our night!!

It amazes me that these flowers know its night time and only bloom at night and although they are still open in the early morning they soon die off once the sun has been on them for a couple of hours.

Last week I wrote about the major flooding round Brisbane which stretched from Maryborough to the Gold Coast and everywhere in between along the east coast of Queensland.

Well Mother Nature in her infinite wisdom decided that she would share all that rain, so as it eased in Queensland New South Wales became the receiver of it all.

Right up and down from the border at Tweed Heads all the way down to Sydney then got pounded from this massive weather event.

The photo of the bridge shows cars and 6 horses stranded as the flood waters rose.

They were on that bridge for 3 days as the water swelled beneath them. This whole weather event has been recorded as the worst in history. Since the beginning of the recording of rainfall there has never been anything like it.

Meanwhile North Queensland has been breaking its own records of the most prolonged heatwave with temperatures over 40 deg C for over 5 days in a row.

Now as it is mid March we come into our peak cyclone period with suggestions of one or two cyclones forming in the Coral Sea late next week.

Prime Minister has declared a national emergency for the east coast areas affected by the floods so that disaster relief money can be released to help those that have lost everything.

These floods have claimed 17 deaths in Queensland and NSW sadly. Weve had a few days of storms but fortunately no sustained heavy rain.

The ground is waterlogged and the creek at the back that normally wouldnt be affected by a half decent storm once again rose up to the back fence within minutes of the rain starting.

Thankfully it goes down quickly but we now have a massive Black Fly and mosquito problem with council spraying and fogging.

Those Black Flies are vicious and one doesnt dare go out without about 6 layers of insect repellent on…. Miss a bit and the flies will find it!!

Theyll be gone in a couple of weeks but till then everyone is bite material.

It has been a very very wet week this week from Maryborough to the border, and now right down the east coast to Sydney with record smashing rainfalls/floods, and we arent done with it yet.

Massive storms happening here today, with even more severe ones for tomorrow and the weekend.

Where we are weve been on an island with no roads in and no roads out as all 3 bridges underwater.

Henderson (picture showing the rise, with eventually the solar panel going under) and Flagstone Ck well over the road. The third bridge, Payne bridge was supposed to be flood proof but it also went under.

That one is kind of a white elephant because even though people might be able to get over that they cant get out because Henderson floods even with a lot lesser amount of rain. 1974 floods were the biggest for about 100 years and this rain bomb easily beat that.

Our house was fine but the low point in the back yard became a raging torrent of water which was much higher than the water as ever been.

All our family were fine as far as our houses went but my son had his trucked parked (red one) in the work yard and the water came up that quickly that no one could get trucks out.

He went through waist deep water to move it to higher ground, which they managed to do by dragging it with another truck which at that stage was on higher ground but the record flood eventually claimed them all.

It will be a write off with the insurance company.

The Brisbane Markets which supplies all fruit, veg and other food was totally underwater so no food deliveries for most of the state.

The main highway was closed for days with trucks stranded due to flooding. To top it off weve had no power, phones (not even mobile data) and internet for 4 days. So checking in on other family has been impossible.

We are lucky we got it back finally Wednesday but still many places without services. No post, no garbage service, just one big mess and play the waiting game till things can return to normal.

We had 600mm rain and some places had over 1000mm over a few days. My story next week might be about the webbed feet we reckon we will all grow!!

My heart goes out to the thousands of people that have lost their houses and businesses in this severe weather event.

So sad.

It was a lovely day for a wedding, Twos-day 22/02/2022 when my nephew married his long time partner and soulmate.

The clouds were rolling in and we werent sure if the rain would hold off until the ceremony was over.

At spot on 2pm the bride and groom said I do and the ceremony finished just after that with the blended family finally pronounced Husband and Wife.

The grooms daughter was the grooms attendant with the brides daughters the bridesmaid/flower girls. On the brides arrival many of the bride and grooms nieces and nephews came down the aisle with bubble machines.

The wedding was held in a lovely park and guests had chairs or blankets with cushions scattered around the rotunda.

We were all guessing if the wedding would be boho or traditional but knowing the couple it was a mix of both.

Before the wedding I was able to catch up with many many family that I havent seen for years but the biggest surprise was when we were talking with someone before the wedding and she said that it wouldve been 40 plus years since I saw her last.

When her name was mentioned I was really racking my brain trying to place her. Wasnt until she said she was my bridesmaid at my first wedding in 1972 that it clicked who she was.

Well wow!! I remember a teenage, spirited redhead that loved horses.

She is my second cousin. As it turns out she was also the celebrant for the wedding that day!

It was a wonderful day and the rain held off till about 10 mins after the ceremony, luckily only light misty rain which was welcome as although the park was beside the water there was not a breath of breeze and it was very hot and humid prior to the wedding, then during the ceremony a gentle breeze kicked in much to everyones relief.

14th February is traditionally Valentines Day but for hubby and I it is also the anniversary of our very first date.

So this year was our 25th Anniversary and I still remember our first date as if it was last year.

His kids and my kids had been hanging out together and bashing round my yard (acerage) in an old car one of their friends had when one of them ran into a dividing fence between ours and the neighbours place.

One of his kids said that his Dad worked at a wire place and would get the wire for fixing the fence.

Sure enough his Dad came round with the wire to fix the fence and that was the first time Id met his Dad.

His Dad then came round a couple of other times to fix various little things around the house for me and we always spent hours talking.

Seems our paths had crossed a few times over the years without us even knowing or knowing who each other was.

It was one of the kids friends birthdays and they decided that all the mates would come round and have a bit of a party at our place and it was agreed that hubby and I would be the chaperones for the night.

So that turned into our very first date that night. After that we were inseparable and a couple of years later we were married. Hubby isnt a big romantic and so when he gave me these roses for Valentines Day they were also an anniversary gift.

I want to keep them alive because itll probably be another 25 years till I get another lot now!!