Firestorm.

I am at a loss for words at the destruction and heart-break that so many are experiencing. The worst fires ever experienced are wreaking havoc on areas of Victoria. Small towns have totally been burnt out. So many have lost their property and so sadly their lives. The death toll is rising, and there have been estimates as high as 300 possible deaths.
I am not going to post any pictures or links, I am sure that you have seen the devastation elsewhere.
I have had some comments from some fellow bloggers, knowing that I live in Victoria, asking about our safety. Thank you very much, we are safe. The closest fire to us is in a place called Dargo. The terrain is mountainous and the risk of it moving into populated areas is not great at the moment, it is about 100 kilometres north of us.
On the week-end we were invited to my sisters 50th birthday. We declined, as it was 5 and a half hours away and Joel and Caitlyn were tired from being back at school, if we had of gone we wouldn't have been able to get back home as the major freeway between us and Melbourne was closed.
It makes me so angry knowing that some of the fires were deliberately lit. All I can say is that there are some very sick individuals about, and I hope that they are caught and dealt with accordingly. Many of the victims didn't stand a chance. The weather conditions were perfect for the fire, incredibly high temperatures, wind gusts of up to 160 kph, extremely dry, a lot of Victoria is in severe drought.
One of my friends and her family were evacuated as their house was under direct threat, but thank goodness they were spared. Another friends parents house came to within 500 metres of being burnt and was spared also.
My heart and prayers go out to all of those that have lost their lives, their homes, their livelihood's, or are battling to survive in hospital. I am also thinking of the people who are grieving for lost ones.
I take my hat off to all of the firefighters, many of whom are volunteers, and to all of the other volunteers who are working to help make life easier for those affected.
I am in no way playing down what people in Queensland are going through at the moment, ironically floods, but my Grandma used to always say that "You can clean up after a flood, but not a fire".
Take care everyone.

Another Page Finished

This is page number 53 completed. I am still really enjoying working on this one and will continue with it. It is exciting, to me anyway (easily amused HEHE), to see what emerges as I stitch. The mermaid now has a tail and the orange blobby thing is a big fish. The white area on the right hand side forms part of the Fairy Tale of The Ugly Duckling.

In this design there are apparently 28 different Fairy Tales depicted and some remain a mystery to me. I will need to do a google search at some stage and see if I am able to learn what each one is.

The kids all went back to school on Monday, for Caitlyn, it was her first day. I had mixed feelings, but she on the other hand, just took it all in her stride. In the lead up, I kept telling her that she wasn't able to go to school as she is my baby and that she had to stay at home with me (naughty aren't I?), but she said that she had to go to school. She was so confident and comfortable with the school as she had been going with me last year to help in Joel's class room. Joel is in Year one and I think he is feeling a bit out of sorts, having a different teacher, room and so on. I am sure that he will be fine in a week or two. Luke is in Year 8 and is enjoying being able to socialise with his mates once again after having had a very long break. He finished school last year on the 5th of December, so he has had two months off school, too long in my opinion.

All this week Caitlyn finishes at 1:00 everyday and beginning next week she goes for full days, til 3:20, but she has every Wednesday off until the second term, which commences after Easter.

Well that is enough rambling from me, the housework awaits. Thanks everyone for stopping by and leaving comments. Stay safe, and I hope that you are all getting lots of stitching done.