Saturday, November 10, 2012

Weathering the storm – and announcing a GIVEAWAY coming up!

Weather-wise today was a strange one, at times frightening and confusing. The morning was warm and sunny, the kind of day you just want to get out there and enjoy, and I had plans to take Chester for a romp as soon as I’d completed the morning’s jobs.

Sunny Sydney Harbour

Until 1.30pm. Suddenly, within half an hour, everything changed.

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Photo from the SMH by Nick Moir

The sun disappeared behind storm clouds that seemed to have come from nowhere. Thunderclaps shook the house, lightning lit up the street and gutters overflowed with water during a brief but mighty deluge. The roar was deafening and my Facebook was abuzz with friends publishing photos of snow-like scenes as hailstones fell across Sydney.

Then, just as unexpectedly, even while the rain was still bucketing down, the sun broke through.

Sunshine once again bathed the city, though the damaging effects of the storm still remained late into the afternoon– slippery roads, fallen trees, power outages, drains blocked. Down in St Mark’s Memorial Garden the ground was soggy, the last of the spring flowers were looking a little bowed and bedraggled, and the jacaranda had lost a little more of its canopy.

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I’d gone there to photograph the jacaranda tree and its purple carpet, and along with the spectacular sight of the sun-kissed canopy I found a measure of peace and calm after the storm.

JacarandaSydney

Hmmm … a bit like my life right now. I might feel broken, yet there is still beauty in my life –  my family, my friends and a great God who cares for me.

* * * * *

So let me share some happiness by announcing a special blog post coming up next Monday. If you’re a regular reader of my blog and can count to three, you’ll no doubt be wondering when I’m going to reveal the third of my quilt finishes for July.

Well, here it comes – finally!

To celebrate my quilt’s completion, as well as the fact that I’ve managed to chalk up just over 900 posts, I’ll be having a GIVEAWAY, as well as a SPECIAL OFFER for everyone who would like to make their own version of my quilt.

So please pop back here on Monday, and tell your friends too!

Di  Red rose

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful, Di. You are in my prayers.

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  2. A beautiful post capturing the bizarre weather..I do so love Jacarandas.....looking forward to your reveal, Di.....

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  3. It was an amazing storm, that's for sure. We had hail, but fortunately nothing photo-worthy! All the windows got closed except my sewing room so we had a bit of cleaning up to do on my desk. Fortunately, the sliding window was only open part way so my sewing machine and the power board behind it weren't affected!

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  4. I love storms like that, Adelaide had one this week as well, the thunder was so loud our windows rattled. I love your beautiful photos of the garden and the jacaranda trees, they certainly are a gorgeous tree.

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  5. Jacarandas are so beautiful, one of my favourite plants......I'm hoping there will be some flowers left when we return home.

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  6. We were all geared for storms, too, but they never arrived, even though predicted.
    The Jacaranda is beautiful. I miss mine. I love that glorious purple, and then all that lovely fern like green when the leaves appear.
    I'm glad you have somewhere to go to that is caling and peaceful. We all need places like that. {{{Hugs}}}

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  7. The storm looked spectacular, but I can well imagine the fresh beauty and calm in the garden, in the wake of the storm. How wonderful that you could appreciate it's beauty, physically and spiritually. Nine hundred blog posts! What a feat! It will be great to see your quilt finish.

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