The heavens have opened

Today was an uneventful day at work – the phones were flat out, which made the day go a lot faster, and a good group of people at work today. Last night we had a dreadful thunder and lightning storm, which kept a few of us awake during the night – not helpful when you’re starting work at 5 or 6am!! It was quite spectacular driving to work at 5.30am today, though – the lightning was still lighting up the sky in the distance, and was interesting to watch. It’s now almost 4pm, and back at home again just in time before a torrential downpour is about to hit … the thunder and lightning has commenced again, and the last two claps of thunder feel as though they’re right over the top of my building!

Two days ago, I received an envelope from Strand NZ with some more wool, so I finally managed to put the remaining few stitches in my canvaswork piece today while I was on hold at work. On a 6am start, sometimes the first hour or so is quieter than later in the day, so I packed a couple of small items of stitching ‘just in case’ – I’m glad I did, although very little stitching time was to be had. Anyway, here is the finished product – it just needs to be stretched, which I haven’t tried before.

Spring is truly arrived in Melbourne – our temperatures have been very moderate, and in fact quite warm at times, causing a couple of sleepless nights in the heat. My flat is two stories up, on the top floor of the building, and my front window looks out into the street. What I see, though, instead of street frontage because I’m raised up, is the branches and foliage of the large trees that line both sides of my street. It’s been fascinating to watch closely the transformation of those branches as the days have gone by – in just a few days there have been blossoms forming and new leaves have sprouted from what seems like nowhere! I can’t wait until autumn, when I get to watch the large leaves turn their golden colours before they fall – it’s one of my favourite times of year, and something I didn’t usually get to enjoy in my old hometown of Auckland, as autumn/fall colours weren’t common.

Today, however, nature is venting its fury at something, and it’s a nice excuse to curl up with my embroidery and do a few stitches before I turn in for an early night, and my final 6am shift for the week.