Storms - 13 Jan 2008

Yesterday was interesting to say the least. The Bureau of Meteorology said it got to 38.4 degrees here! At about 3pm, the southerly came through, bringing with it rain, hail, lightning and wind. The temperature was 19 degrees at 3:30 - that's a drop of almost 20 degrees in half an hour! Along with the much anticipated temperature drop, the wind, rain and hail were not what I really wanted.

We had four fronts come through, and the first was the worst by far. Between the hail hitting the front windows and the garage roof, I couldn't hear myself think! At one stage the big gum in my back yard looked like it didn't really want to remain upright in the 100km/h winds.

Angus and I took a 'w' around the block with the camera, and took this photo of the 'floodway' near my place. Luckily the water recedes fairly quickly and was gone by this morning.

A tree near me blocked the road, but was cleared when I left for work this morning.

I think the house is sound (no leaks yet, and it's been raining all day), but the carpet at the front door is soaked (the water came in under the door).

Click here for more photos.

Jazz in the Park

Jane, Kerry and I went to Jazz in the Park at the Domain as part of the Sydney Festival on Saturday night. I can't actually remember the last time I went, or even if I have ever been before!

Thankfully, the rain held off and we didn't get wet like last week.

Even though we couldn't hear anything because we were so far away, it was still a good night. 'Crowd watching' was a really interesting activity, especially watching the young folk flirting with each other, and seeing some of the dreadful things that some people wear!

Good night was had by all (well, at least by me).

To see additional photos, click here.

Sydney Festival First Night

Last night Jane and I went to see Sydney Festival First Night. This was the first time that Sydney Festival had a specific party for the first night, so Jane invited me to tag along.

Firstly, we went to the food fair, which was not exactly great, but at least the food was edible. I expected a lot more than 5 food stalls!! At least I got us a table under the trees so the rain wasn't as heavy and didn't wet us as much.

I noticed on the program that there was a swing dancing demonstration at the main stage, and knowing Kirsteen was interested in swing dancing, I gave her a call to let her know. She told me that she was one of the people involved in getting people up to dance and teach them a bit about it, so we met up.

After we saw the swing dancing, Jane and I headed towards the Domain to see Paul Kelly and Brian Wilson. Apart from the usual technical glitches (the sound either wasn't there or it was badly mixed) it was great. The only other problem was that it was raining. I'm glad I took my oil-skin to keep dry, and it also kept me warm.

At dusk, there were a lot of bats coming out of their roosting in the domain, and it reminded me of Mum and Dad's place and watching the bats float across the sky.

All in all it was a great night - I got home at about 1am.


Sydney Festival Location click here.

For more photos of Sydney Festival First night - click here!

Happy New Year 2008!!!!

New Years 2007-2008 - My Photos

New Years was spent camping on the Clyde river, near Bateman's Bay with Ema and Matt - We had several days of sitting around reading, swimming and not doing much. It was great after such a busy year! This photo is of me sitting in the Taj 'Matt' Hal, trying to find some shade! To get to the site, we drove along several dirt roads, and my new car is all dirty now, but it was worth it. The spot was right beside the river, and Ems dog Toren enjoyed swimming! As usual, Angus didn't want to get his feet wet.

On Monday night we sat up until 3am playing Canasta, and Matt won (Ems and I colluded on the final game and thought better of trying to con Matt into letting us win).

Because we were so tired from the night before (and just a little hung over), New Years Eve was rather sedate. We took some night photos with Matt's new camera, and I can't wait to see what they turn out like - they looked good on the screen.

If you would like to see where we were, just click here.

Hope your 2008 will be better than your 2007!!!

Take care,

Shonz

My First Entry

Hi there! As you can see, I now have a Blog! I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to write, or what I'm going to do with it, but over time, I'll see how things go.

During uni time, I will probably discuss some of my uni readings, and I'll also put some info regarding my work, quilting and friends.

Hope you enjoy it!

Shonz