Bushfires

photo by ABC news

photo by dpa

On Saturday I went to the Sisters market in Brunswick together with Katrina from Belsizesquare . She had a stall there selling some of her handmade goodies and lots of cool stuff from her Online Patchwork store and I used the chance to try and sell some of my tea cup candles. I will add a photo of our stall as soon as I get hold of one.

I really liked the market, there were lots of high-quality handmade goods from very talented atists. The fact that we didn't sell much was due to the weather that kept everyone inside.

We have had some days of terrible weather lately, but Saturday was the peak of it all with temperatures up to 47 degrees!! When Katrina and I left the market it was like we were being cooked alive. The aircon inside Brunswick town hall had already given up and the market closed down early but the weather outside was unbelieveable!

I haven't come across anything like it. It wasn't just this unbelieveable heat, a hot and very strong wind was blowing hard through the empty streets and there was dirt everywhere in the air. But the most horrible thing was the colour of the sky, it was like there was no colour left. Everything had turned grey. There were very few clouds and the sky was just..grey. It's hard to describe. It had a real apocalyptic feeling about it, very scary! I found this photo on flickr to give just a little idea

Only later I realised that it must have been smoke from the bushfires that covered up the sky.

Victoria has been hit by the worst bushfires in history. The extreme heat this summer allowed the fires to spread out quickly and burn out of control. And Saturdays heat and wind were just too much. Within hours, the fire had reached a range of remote communities, people had no chance to get away. Whole towns have been wiped of the map and many many people have died..

It is horrific to hear the news, the stories of people that have escaped but lost everything they had, that have lost family and friends. .

I have made a donation to the Salvation Army bushfire appeal this morning, there is also the Red Cross appeal which has been set up in associatin with the Federal Government. If you can donate, even a little bit, please please do so!