Wednesday

A photo of my gum tree out the kitchen window...

A quote lifted from my niece in Melbourne....

.."Yes it has been terrible here for all the communities affected by the bush fires. The death toll is currently at 181 but is expected to rise further still. I work at the local government for the area near Strathewen, St Andrews and Kinglake and the clean-up is just beginning, people are putting in a massive effort with providing support and relief for those people displaced by the fires. I'd estimate pretty much half of our Shire has been wiped out. And the sad thing is we're not the only ones, it's the same throughout a lot of Victoria as the fires continue to rage to the North and East of us. I keep panicking every time I hear updates in case they mention a new fire has started near my house or that the winds are changing and the current fires might move closer as we are located pretty much next to (...a) state forest. I just can't wait for some decent rain to hopefully put a stop to all of this!!!!

.....I thought you might like to hear a little first hand from the battle field!