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"She seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if she had surprised a butterfly in the Winter woods"
(edith wharton)


Friday 29 January 2010

after all, tomorrow is another day.

yesterday, the Blue Mountains was hit by a storm.. the clouds started rolling in mid-afternoon. I was sitting in the hairdressers, while Sophie, my daughter played with my hair. totally oblivious to what was going on at Woodford..
on my way home,
Fire engines sped past,ambulances, sirens blaring out..
trees bending and branches blowing across as if the cyclone from Wizard of Oz was happening all over again..
i expected Dorothy or Toto to fly past any minute..
and as I neared home and the storm abated, I started to be filled with dread as I noticed smashed leaves all over the road like a green carpet... as I turned the car into our little street, a sight met my eyes, that made my heart sink.. I knew what was waiting for me at Inlgewood... and as I opened my old wire gates, I just stared. the whole yard was covered with apple leaves and branches. the pond was covered with leaves from another tree. tomato leaves lay all over the vegie patch and under them were my tiny little grape tomatoes..all hit by hail, not ordinary hail either. but sheets of ice. like broken window panes.. just lying all over my yard. my tamarillo tree shredded. ...what can I say. I felt like shaking my fist at God.. and I did.. as well as muttering a few choice words under my breath.
then I rang Marion, my friend down the road who wisely suggested that I shut the door and poor myself a good red wine.. and forget about it until tomorrow..

I fared well actually. My garden is a wreck, but of course we all know it will spring back in time. my neighbour had windows smashed, Frank our post master had his hands cut to bits while trying to put a cover on his car. Marion had all her screens slashed from the hail. A man was struck by lightning. a house was also struck by another lightning bolt.


twirling and swirling around, this little vintage umbrella would have been totally useless in yesterdays storm but just the thought of this jolly little umbrella in that storm, all quirky and cute, kinda takes away the sadness of the ruination, of my garden

today, I gathered those hail damaged little tomatoes, picked a handful of basil and crushed some garlic mixed with balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, salt & pepper, and made bruschetta for dinner.. on gluten free Panne from Leura Deli. and THAT is making something out of disaster.

9 comments:

amelia said...

That type of destruction is so sad and there's nothing we can do about it...

Debra She Who Seeks said...

To hell with lemons and lemonade. When life hands you a hailstorm, make bruschetta!

Angela said...

You are a genius. And I love you.

CIELO said...

Beautiful thoughts and beautiful blog.... come visit!

cielo

Serena Lewis said...

Ah yes...the joys of our Aussie summer storms...NOT! This sounded just like the mini-cyclone we experienced about a month ago. Powerlines down, tree limbs lying across roads, debris everywhere. One of the reasons I don't like our summers...the sauna-like conditions are bad enough.

I really liked your friend's advice...taking that break would have helped you to calm down and look at the situation with clearer perspective. xo

Anonymous said...

Wow. That's some storm. And some resilience and recovery on your part. I'm impressed.Now I know why hail is at the other end of the spectrum in the saying "come hail or shine". Love to you, and best wishes to your neighbours and those in your area recovering from this.Guess those battered little garden devas will be busy at work, thinking to their elves-selves, "What the?...".How lovely that I can visit Tales of Inglewood, express thoughts like that, and be completely understood.xxx

Manchester Lass, Now and Then said...

Thankfully you were all safe Robyn. It would have been very upsetting to see your precious garden damaged like this. I'm sure the bruschetta was extremely tasty♥

gma said...

Your words painted a picture ...
a vintage parasol in a storm...
An image that would make a cool piece of art.
I love Bruschetta but have never used brown sugar in my recipe. Sounds good.

Ruth said...

Maybe this storm was the harbinger of your wild, torn feelings about your friends leaving?