Catching Up

I have been feeling guilty about not blogging more regularly but I've never been one to keep a diary or journal; I figure I do this for my own enjoyment so why worry. A lot has happened since my last post. Everything is back to normal after the fires, I have unpacked our evacuation cases and put away all the papers and important bits and pieces I'd been carry around in my car. It's great to be able to relax again.

It's been just over four weeks since Creative Soul Retreat but it seems so much longer. I had an absolutely wonderful time, it was so nice to catch up ladies I hadn't seen since previous retreats and to meet others that I had only know online. I spent my two days there doing workshops with the lovely Stephanie Lee , it was fantastic. She is a great teacher and we had a lot of fun. Congratulations to Bevlea, she and her helpers did a fantastic job and I can't wait for CSR 2010. Here's some pictures of what I did in the classes.

This is the start of a necklace, still more to do yet.

Some bezels, I really enjoyed this but I need to practice a lot more. Marg and I have had a get together since to play around with what we learnt and we do plan to do its on a regular basis so hopefully I will improve. The cover of the soldered book. I loved this class, flooding with the solder was great fun and I love the plaster pages; the feel of them and the noise they make when you open and closed the book. I still have to decorate the spine.

And here's a pic of what I did with the little houses from the swap. It doesn't show up very well as it's leaning on a wood bench but they are mounted onto an old fence paling. I've added some houses that I've received in other swaps as well. It makes quite a good village I think.

Upwey Fire

It seems strange reading my last post when the death toll from the bushfires was only 84......how can I say ONLY 84.....it's tragic whether it's 1 life lost or 200. I feel so sorry for everyone who's lost family and friends, it's terribly sad.

I don't know exactly what's happening here at the moment, the fire siren has gone off a couple of times this morning and there's been helicopters flying around. There's no longer a threat in our area but there still seems to be a fair bit of activity. I live just off Glenfern Rd in Upwey and we actually left our house yesterday after the police were going door to door warning residents. Fortunately we were able to return last night. This has been the second fire close to us in 8 days, it's been pretty stressful. Friday is expected to be problematic so fingers crossed.

Victoria's Bushfires

I knew that the dreadful conditions on Saturday could mean more bushfires but I didn't imagine it would end up being Australia’s deadliest bushfire disaster. The death toll is at 84 and likely to increase and there have been over 750 homes lost.......devastating.