On Sunday I’ll be teaching a one day Mountmellick class for the NSW smocking guild. The class is apparently much-anticipated, with the class bookings having filled very quickly. I’m sure we’ll have a great day together. Today I will spend the day preparing the class kits. We’ll be working on the honeysuckle doily from Mountmellick Embroidery: Inspired by Nature.
Yesterday I spent the day by the radio, listening to the emergency updates, and working on my tablecloth. Yesterday was the most extreme day recently in the fire emergency. Because of high temperatures, very low humidity and strong winds, the fire authorities were expecting the worst.
Because we are very close to bushland, we had prepared our emergency survival kit, reviewed our bushfire survival plan, and were ready to evacuate. While there was no direct fire threat in our area (the closest large fire was still about 50km away), the local bushland has not had a bushfire for about 40 years. If a fire had started, it could have quickly become a large threat to us. When it goes up, it will really go up, and we will to be ready to leave well before immediate danger reaches us.
Putting together the stuff to “save” the night before was actually a really interesting exercise. It was interesting to go through the girls’ suggested things to take with them, and explain to them the difference between replaceable and irreplaceable. The Gymnast suggested that she should put white socks in (for her change of clothes) as then she could wear them to school as well as just generally. I said to her that I didn’t think the school would really care what colour socks she turned up in if her house had burned down!
In terms of my embroideries, of which I have a large quantity(!), I only put in the ones that I will need for already booked classes over the next year or so, the ones for the book I am currently working on, and about 3 others which are the ones most special to me (including the tablecloth that nearly killed me – too much was personally invested in that to leave it behind!). There are heaps of others that I’m sure I’d miss if they were destroyed, but other things are more important in life.
Thankfully the day passed much more quietly than any of us had expected. While there were new fires started and existing ones flared up, by evening, all were at a much lower alert level than we might have believed possible.
Thanks again to the firies for their amazing efforts to keep the community and their property safe. We’re all pretty much in awe of you. I think you all deserve “Australian of the Year”.
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