hot right now...

Yesterday was the hottest day for NSW in recorded history

almost 45C here - 46C in Sydney
(that's 113F and 115F old school measurements)

it felt even hotter with a SW wind that sucked every drop of moisture from body and land

this is the sight repeated all around my yard...

birds dropped dead and fell from the sky mid-flight

it was awful

Boots plonked himself in front of the fridge - hoping that the door would be opened

A fire flared in Millingandi (near Merimbula - approx 60kms to my south)

unfortunately 2 families lost their homes and sheds


and over the border there are news reports that an elderly man lost his life
in fires around Seaton

Fire is a fact of life in many parts of Australia - like heat, drought, and flies...
this season is a particularly nasty one -
and I fear that we are going to experience more and more nasty fires seasons....

I'm not sure if there's much merit in debating the extent to which climate change is to blame

(but you might like to read this report: 'what's causing Australia's heat wave')

There's a very real sense that Australia is the canary in the coal mine...

...

fire, fire burning bright...

I've been a bit distracted over the past week – my modem died on monday night - so I'm still offline at my place (I'm working on a borrowed computer... thanks oh brother of mine!)

Then later in the week – this was what was going on just over the hill from our place....

whoa mumma!

I took this pic on Thurs night, as the flames descended from the mountain....

Gulaga is an ancient (and of course long extinct) volcano... the vision of flames spewing down the mountain was just freaky, it gave a glimpse of the old girl's past life.

On Friday the fire ringed the base of the mountain – moving towards the communities in Dignams Creek (one creek and one hill over from us here at Sams Creek) and all the farms between there and the small dual townships of Tilba Tilba and Central Tilba to the north. Yesterday (Saturday) the winds really picked up and pressed the fires in my direction and toward my dearest friends living in the creek – all of Dignams Creek was advised to evacuate – then later in the afternoon the winds shifted as a storm moved in and the threat eased for the evening. Today (Sunday) the winds are still coming from the SW – so today the pressure will hopefully ease in the creek and unfortunately intensify in the northern end.

It's somewhat bizarre that I'm witnessing and experiencing the threat of fire up close and personal given the current nature and focus of my arty bits.... (and no, before you pose the question, my burning books of the past post had absolutely nothing to do with this monster blaze!)

It's going to be a very long, hard fire season.