A Wild and Wet Weekend

My heart goes out to all those Queenslanders and southern counterparts, who have been affected by the remnants of the cyclone over the weekend. I certainly haven't seen winds that ferocious in years and never thought my dog would cower in a storm but she certainly did with this weather. She was even too afraid to step foot outside to go when she needed to - a little coaxing was necessary.

Aside from the rain, the weekend started quite well and I baked my little heart out and made some cheese and Vegemite scrolls and Iced Vovo Cake to take to the coast and share with friends. Thanks must go to Raspberri Cupcakes, who shared the amazing recipe on her blog. The end result was not quite the same but I think I did pretty well for a first attempt. The rain was the only dampener to Australia Day.  

  

And then Sunday came...

Destructive winds - level 1 cyclone wind...so our neighbour tells us

Sheltering Critters

Emergency Lighting at the Shops

Candlelight Dinner due to 10 hour Power Outage

The poor drainage surrounding our property meant that our downstairs got flooded again! I have yet to sort through everything we've lost this time and hate to think. I'm sure a lot of it would have got tossed anyway - maybe I should look at this as a positive, as I had been wanting to clean downstairs before bub arrives. The carpet at the bottom of our stairs also got ruined and has now left an awful smell wafting through the house. I think I'm going to have to buy a Stanley knife today and cut it up. 

On the positive side of things, I got to spend an extra night with hubby before he headed overseas for work. His flight got cancelled and postponed to the following day, which put my mind at ease because I didn't want him on a plane in that wind. 

A scorcher of a weekend

Whilst Victoria may still be enjoying some cooler (miserable) weather, Queensland has been very dry and hot of late. This was evidenced by several bush fires occurring over the weekend. I have been secretly hanging out for some rain, just so the lawn can appear a little bit greener. The electrical storm we received last night does not count! It did however manage to freak me out at one point because the light was so bright, I thought someone was shining a torch into my place. Thunder followed, as did a sigh of relief.

I often spare a thought for the animals in this heat and them having to cope with our humid days. It is for this reason, that we often give our labrador ice in her water bowl over spring and summer. We splurged on her a little bit this weekend and bought her a paddling, shell pool and a big ball (she is used to playing with smaller, tennis balls that she can wrap her teeth around). The new basketball-like ball was therefore a bit of a challenge. Here's a picture of her playing with her new toys.

I have also been trying harder to be healthier with this hot weather. Dinner last night was watermelon juice and a pasta salad. They may not go together well but boy did they ever taste delicious! What did you cook on the weekend?