Where is all this supposed to go?
Posted on | September 4, 2010 | 2 Comments
It rained again all last night and we have now broken records here for rainfall for the last 15-plus years. It is still drizzling, another weather front is headed our way after lunch, and our paddocks from the back deck outwards are under water. There is NO place for the rain to go, the drainage ditches are overflowing, the rivers have all come up, our water treatment plant which is normally half a metre above ground is now submerged, and the power was off last night and didn’t come back on until 7 AM.
And how deep is what you can see in the photos? Over my ankles in most places and 3/4 of the way to my knees in other parts!
This is the craziest winter I have ever seen!
And remember the waterfowl that I mentioned in a previous post? This shot was taken 3 days ago — before the latest deluge. In what universe are we supposed to be getting these in our part of Australia where we are usually dealing with drought??? Sheesh!!!
Soggy Tootsies, Warm Tummy
Posted on | September 3, 2010 | 2 Comments
You know how winter is in the best of times — cold and soggy. But this is beyond wet now. Every single day for over 30 days it has rained here in our part of Victoria in Australia — EVERY single one!
Since it isn’t shorts and bathing suit season yet — at least I can bake whilst I wait for the skies to clear so I can begin my walking program again.
And truthfully, there is just about nothing that a loaf of freshly made Irish soda bread and a hot cup of tea won’t cure. Yum!
Oh Please — Really?
Posted on | August 31, 2010 | No Comments
So I’m the all-singing, all-dancing, multi-tasking miracle worker of website maintenance — eh?
Posted a quick note on Facebook, my business and publishing version — not my family and friends version, and got back a note asking, with a bit of an edge actually, when I planned to upload some of MY photos to the newly revamped Deborah Harmes, Ph.D. (aka deborahharmes.com) site. I had to get up, walk around the room, and go pour a glass of red wine which went down way too fast.
I just spent the last 9 straight hours changing over the entire website and I barely spoke to sweetie as he lovingly placed my dinner in front of me and I kept on clicking the keyboard whilst eating. Bless his heart, I was the absent woman in the room tonight.
I’ll get to it — really — eventually — when I have a chance to watermark the photos first so opportunistic scoopers can’t snag perfectly salesworthy artwork. So take a chill-pill, oh testy-edgy man whose name starts with a T in New York City. I have an issue with impatience at the best of times, but you might actually best me on that front.
In the meantime, another glass of wine and a l-o-n-g hot shower is certainly in order. (harumph!)
P.S. The newly revamped website does look perfectly spiffy if I do say so myself!
Notes From Noah’s Niece
Posted on | August 20, 2010 | No Comments
Hello God??? Remember me — the great-great-great-great (oh you get the picture!) grand-grand-grand-etc-niece of your old pal Noah???
Yes — I got the memo about Climate Change and I clearly remember reading it quite thoroughly. And yes, I have talked about those uncomfortable issues in my books and posts over the years. So it isn’t like rapid shifts in weather patterns are completely unexpected. But could we get a little break here?!?
We’re coming up to that 40 days and 40 nights marker really soon and I have never SEEN so much water here in our part of Australia. Sounds like I am whinging, right? You’re right. (sigh!) I guess it seems a bit indulgent to complain when our country doesn’t have thousands of people missing due to floods, trains falling off bridges as they pass over rivers, and whole villages wiped out.
But it is a bit odd to sit looking out at the paddocks and get the distinct sensation that you are being watched — only to discover that the FBI is out there. No, not that FBI — the “effing big ibis” version of the FBI. We’ve had so much rain now that exotic waterfowl are taking up residence in spontaneously formed ponds in our fields since the clay soil is so saturated that it won’t absorb any more moisture. The wild ducks are no longer restricted to the dam out front — they’re happily playing and splashing all over these 7-plus acres.
And speaking of the dam — (in case you don’t remember the Aussie lingo, God — it’s the large holding pond for watering the livestock) — it has burst its banks and is now higher than the roadside drainage ditch installed by the shire council.
Then there is the gloom factor. Oh yeah — I know about ‘doom and gloom’ since I write books about serious topics. But a FEW rays of sunshine would seriously be appreciated! I’m getting vitamin deficiency from the lack of UV rays.
I have a suggestion, if it’s not too bold to be offering them to the source of Universal Consciousness. Could we perhaps be a bit more even-handed in the distribution of those life-altering elements like rain and hail and wind and earthquakes? Y’know — a few days of them just to shake the humans out of their sense of complacency and then back to what their bodies and brains expect to see as normal?
Just a thought or two from Noah’s Niece Deborah (hoping not to be dodging lightening bolts for presumptuousness!)
Forward movement
Posted on | June 30, 2010 | 2 Comments
It’s been a hard slog — I won’t downplay any of that — and the last few years since we left our large house in Melbourne behind and moved to a goldfields era village in Central Victoria have had a roller-coaster quality. But it became apparent about a year ago as we were finishing the rather dragged-out construction of our darling and very compact eco-house that 7 and 1/2 acres was just too much to maintain when Mark works such long hours renovating houses.
Had it been someplace cool and green like England, we could have left the paddocks to nature and created a wildflower meadow. That is simply not doable here in Australia where the local shire council mandates a cut-back of any grass that is over a few inches high due to the risk of bush-fires. It is a firm but sensible approach to keeping people alive and I completely agree with it. But it also means that Mark spends hours on a tractor when he would rather be engaging in something artistic or creative. He misses that free time to just let the muse weave spells in his brain and I have longed to give that freedom back to him.
So we signed the listing contract with our new agent last week, the sign went up on Thursday, and the listing went live online today at realestate.com.au.
It’s a beautiful little gem of a house and it’s perfect for a full time resident OR for a weekender property — and the huge art studio makes it quite desirable. The combined size of the cottage-sized house and the art studio make it all bigger (and more sensible given that we have no children in residence) than our previous 3 bedroom, 2 story house down in Melbourne. So now we just wait for the right person to come along and we begin the sorting out process.
And what lies ahead? What kind of house would we like next? As much as we never thought we’d say this, I think we’ll settle for a bog-standard sized lot this time and we’ll look for a nice-ish house to rehab. Then we’ll plant our garden and fruit trees and know that we might actually have the time to get on the train and go into the city for a trip to the theatre or museum without getting too far off schedule back at the property.
Dreams of rural living are one thing — the reality is quite something else — especially when you have two creative and artistic people living under one roof and neither of them wants to sacrifice the creative hours to maintenance issues.
Ah well — live and learn!
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