Stormy weather

Well we wanted rain, and what did we get a wild weather storm with hail the size of golf balls, gale force winds and torrential rain, but I am not complaining my garden loved it, big thirsty gulps going on there.
Amazing photo's of the storm coming in from the North.

John's car unfortunately was damaged by hail all down one side, was parked at work in Osborne Park, the storm hit there at 3.30, it didn't reach us until after 4.30 and we didn't get any hail.

Can you see the big chunks taken out of the wind visor above. He was lucky though, no broken windows that others had. The car dealers that he worked for had damage on just about every vehicle probably over a 100 vehicles, there will be some good bargains to be had if you can do your own panel beating. It has been said that some car dealerships insurance where not covered for hail damage as it is such a rare occurrence.
I am off to Bunbury and Collie on Saturday teaching a class so will not have time to do my blog so hope you all have a lovely weekend.
cheers
Jacky

class samples

Sometimes it takes me ages to get class samples made, finally got this one made using Character Construction stamps and Golden fluid glazes. The stages are cut out of foamcore, wrapped in rice paper then attached to 8 x 10 inch canvas boards. I am really enjoying working with stamps at the moment. The best part of teaching is coming up with new ideas and then sharing them with the classes. Next Saturday I am off to Collie and Bunbury where I am teaching a workshop, and spending a little bit of time with daughter Kirsty and family. Weather has finally cooled down and we are getting beautiful autumn weather. Still no rain, over a 100 days without rain, the last long period without rain was about 1947 where they went 80 odd days. Climate changes mmmh!
Have a wonderful weekend

How do you cope with extremes of hot and cold, I find it much easier to cope with the cold as you can rug up. But the heat aaargh, this is how I cope. I water my gardens first thing in the morning and take the dog for a walk usually before 7am as its not too unbearable at that time. Pump up the air conditioner if I am staying at home and then hibernate inside until evening. If I have to go out which I do most days I turn my air conditioner in my car on, that is wind down all the windows and if I hook my hand on the top of the window ledge I can channel the air onto myself like a mini air tunnel, very economical too, stopping at the lights is a bit hard to take as the car doesn't like the heat either and tends to overheat, so you try to judge the distance to the lights and then jag that you arrive just as they turn green, takes a lot of planning when your heads in a fog of heat exhaustion. Like the other morning after my tepid shower I sprayed deodorant under my arms, thought ooh that's nice and cool then noticed it was hairspray so was a quick wash under the arms before they stiffened. Now when I am at the shop I have to get whatever work I want to do, done in the morning while the air conditioner is coping, because by lunch time the sun is overhead and its hardly effective at all. My arms keeping sticking to the papers so I give up in frustration, especially if you are tracing something, you move your arm and everything moves. Drink lots of cold water until you feel like your organs are floating around in your body, funny thing is you drink all this water but it does not pass right through, you wanted to know that didn't you haha. Sleeping on top of the sheets with cotton nightwear so the air from the air conditioner can pump down onto your hot body, that's hot from the heat now, nothing else. Last thing you can think of... Sometimes summer here in Western Australia when you get weeks and weeks of temperatures over 30 is just a case of getting through it until glorious autumn arrives sometime in March which can last until June, sheer bliss.
How do you cope?????

Bushfires

Last Saturday I joined a group of women at Toodyay who have formed a group doing visual journals. It was so lovely to get out of the city into the countryside, Toodyay is about an hour out of Perth. The get together was held at Ruth's lovely home outside the township on a hobby farm, a lovely serene spot. Driving up I caught sight of where the bushfire rushed towards the township, luckily not reaching the town, thanks to all those brave people who put their lives at risk to fight fires. There was a lot of loss of homes and sheds but fortunately no life. Living in Australia this is an occurrence you have to expect with long dry spells, extreme heat and winds.
Driving home I pulled over and took a few photo's to share with you. The bushfire was just after Christmas and even without rain there is signs of green coming through, the countryside is so resilient.

Dry barren paddocks appears most of the soot has blown away with the winds. Charred tree trunks at the edge of the roadCan you see how dry the grass is at the bottom of the photo, but the trees are showing green already. How frightening it must have been for the residents and people in the area at the time, not knowing which way the wind is going to sweep the wall of flames. It moves so fast. Our thoughts go out to those affected by this disaster.