Time to Dry Out

The sun is shining and the puddles are drying.  A week has flown by since we were in the throes of flooding in our region again.  How lucky I feel that we did not experience the heartbreaking floods felt by the people of Laidley, Gympie, Bundaberg, Mundubbera, and Gayndah.  My heart reaches out to the families who are once again cleaning up after devastating flood waters have destroyed their homes.

As happened in January 2011, the heavy downpour of over 400mm of rain in two days left a rather muddy mess in our pool.  The pool overflowed twice despite the Old Grey One releasing water on four occasions during 24 hours, and our poor little goldfish had fun swimming in a larger pond than normal - how that little guy continues to survive amazes me! 

In 2011 the waters lapped the back door and I watched with dread as the water continued to build up around the laundry door,  but thanks to some fast thinking by my Hero no water entered the house - 3" running over the patio and a river running down the road but nothing in the house. 

The winds reached over 100kph and tore the roof cover off the gazebo beside the pool, but it's replaceable.  Several trees are down in the garden and Mr R. has a great deal of work ahead of him to remove a very large branch from our beautiful gum tree as well as a number of smaller trees that were destroyed by the winds. But we stayed safe and dry.

In other areas of Queensland family members and friends in Brisbane lost power for several hours, and Mrs K. lost phone and internet connection for a couple of days - but all were safe.

A plus side to the terrible weather was that there were three perfect "no-guilt" days for staying indoors and stitching - and I thoroughly enjoyed that idea, especially as it gave me incentive to start working on one of my New Year Goals.  I no longer make NY "resolutions" - they only get broken and forgotten.  In 2012 I made a concerted effort to set myself GOALS.  Last year one major goal, amongst smaller ones,  was to set up a travel blog - ACHIEVED successfully I believe (although I was, on occasion, very slack in updating it).

In 2013 I have two specific goals - the main one is  to complete at least FOUR UFOs in the box in my workroom - I counted them before I set the goal and found at least FORTY unfinished projects which include cross-stitch projects, quilts, and scrapbooking projects.  Within the first month I am well on target having already completed two small cot quilts - both started over 18 months ago.  One of my cross-stitch projects is also on its way to completion with the help of some fellow stitchers in a Round Robin - what better way to finish a UFO than with the assistance of like-minded crafters.



Weather-wise it may have been a bad start to 2013 but the year ahead is looking great for the Rambling Retirees with a great deal of adventures on the planning board (more about that in the next blog entry), and later in the year the arrival of our son and family from the UK.

Until next time - stay safe everyone - enjoy the sunshine when you can - and remember, there is always someone worse off than you may think you are.

Oh, by the way --  feel free to leave your comments on the blog so I know you have visited us along the way.

Keep smiling.