#nswbushfires

[treechangeseachange]

Bushfire mosaic

Ceramic items survive fire. However, if the table they sat on or cupboard they were stored in burns, they fall and break. They also break if things fall on top of them. If you sift through the rubble of a burnt house, you can find mugs, plates and bowls some whole, most in pieces. The banal - cheap plates bought at Queanbeyan Target and brought to the shack our first Easter here. The beautiful - a Pacifica patterned bowl I bought at my favourite Mt Eden shop when I lived in New Zealand. The sentimental - my first Mother’s Day mug. The ridiculous - the intertwined people salt and pepper shakers my sister in law gave us. I scavenged our bushfire rubble for these fragments of ceramic memories. Some were discoloured or broken but a few ramekins even survived, and are now in my new kitchen drawers. I kept these pieces of banal, beauty, sentiment, ridiculous and significance, and chucked them in a crate for the rain to wash and for the fire smell to dissipate.

I have previously written of my plan to make a mosaic with these pieces. I’m not the only person to make art from their bushfire ruins. It feels brutal to have lost so much of your past life that you want to hold onto the fragments of porcelain or molten metal and phoenix-like, raise them up again. So I’m not the only person, but I am quite possibly the slowest person to create their bushfire art! To be fair it was an intense and busy time recovering, renovating, moving and building. But there’s been time enough. My initial efforts were frustrating and fruitless. I was inspired by a feature cylindrical mosaic I had seen in a garden setting. Easy I thought, just get some PVC plumbers pipe. I discovered It wasn’t possible to stick predominantly flat ceramic pieces onto curved PVC pipe with craft glue nor with tile glue. The pieces just slid off and in frustration I packed everything up and focussed on things I actually needed to do. After those many many things were done, I developed a new and delightful skill of sitting on our new verandah and doing not much. The mosaic nagged however, and inevitably it was time to unpack the pieces and recommence, this time armed with the most serious builders liquid nails extreme instant hold adhesive available. I had to wear gloves because it doesn’t wash off skin, you just have to wait for it to finally peel off.

Re-starting this project felt wonderful. I think that was due to both the recommencement and the therapeutic nature of craft. There are organisations who now teach crafts as therapy. Those nans and great grandmums knew so much. Not only did they clothe and warm their families or decorate their houses, they kept themselves sane through all the chores and sexism they had to endure! My Gran loved to paint she and was also a prodigious knitter. I remember knitted jumpers all colours and sizes, which never quite fitted the intended grandchild but always worn by another. Her crotcheted rugs are legendary in my family. Sadly I lost one of her paintings and one of those rugs to the fire, but local knitted and sewed generosity has created new family treasures. Like most women of her era, my Gran could also sew and made my mother’s ball dresses even her wedding dress. She passed on her skills to my mother who made many necessary and requested outfits in my childhood. Me, not so crafty. Last year when curtains needed hemming I borrowed a sewing machine, threaded it and surprisingly some sewing knowledge came back to me. But that’s about it. Mainly my adulthood has been bereft of craft.

What I found during mosaic making was something different from sewing - there was no need for it to be perfectly straight or the right length. I could put the pieces wherever I wanted and wherever I wanted to put them was exactly the right place. At times there was tension until I accepted that and gave in to the mosaic making process. I felt satisfaction when I found a snug fit for pieces. I started to confidently choose pieces for contrasting or complementary colour. I considered texture and unique features - a Japanese cup’s authenticity stamp, the signature of the potter, the handle of a cup, the words on a joke mug. I felt gentle happiness as I recalled the origin of each piece - when it was purchased or who had gifted it. Maybe the passage of time was necessary for me to find joy in the mosaic making process. Slowly, slowly the pieces crept up the cylinder and finally I reached the top! To bring it all together I wanted a dark grout and found the perfect colour - ironically named charred ash (I have included an image to prove this). I had not imagined grouting to be so satisfying but it truly was! Covering sharp edges and filling gaps, the grout smoothed away some of the amateurishness of my humble mosaic. It was starting to look good!

After months of working on the mosaic, now it was finished I had to decide where it should live. We wanted to put it where our old place had been, but it took a little while to find the right spot. I wanted it to be visible, but not in the way, and it had to feel right. We decided on the location that had been the corner of our old home. My husband did the grunt work digging it into the ground and fixing it with reo and concrete. Proving you really can’t over-engineer a mosaic cylinder. Then I put a lid on it. A near complete English style cottage that had belonged to my mother in law and had been rescued from a box in our burnt shipping container. A very symbolic crowning of my mosaic! I used a few connecting pieces of a white Maxwell Williams mug gifted by my big sister many years ago to fill the broken side of the house. To complete my bushfire mosaic I planted a spiky, colourful and resilient succulent.

#bushfire #mosaic #recovery #resilience #nswbushfires #phoenix

[thatrandombystander]

As the world celebrates New Year’s Eve, please spare a moment to think about the people across Australia today who’s homes are in the path of the bushfires raging across the country

Here’s a few photos of conditions today in Nowra, Mallacoota, Merinbula, East Gippsland, Huskisson, and Batemans Bay. (shared by @ABCemergency’s Twitter)

Many residents in affected areas are evacuating to the beach/ocean after the fires have blocked off roads

Note that all of these photos were taken before sunset, there’s just a LOT of smoke

#australia #aus fires #aus bushfires #nsw fires #vic fires #nswfires #vicfires #nswbushfires #new year's eve #new year #nye #bushfires #ramblings of a bystander #anybody personally concerned about me: i'm fine #but several people i know have family who are being affected :(

[angeliquemorris]

Our land... its burning..

Please send prayers and love to everyone including our animals affected by the fires in Australia

Blessed be 🖤

#witchcraft #pastel pink #witch #eclectic wicca #wicca #wiccan #wiccawoman #wicca for beginners #pagan wicca #witchesgonnawitch #witches #witchblr #australia #nswbushfires #nature #mother earth #prayers #positiveaffirmations #positivequotes #positivelife #metaphysical #spellcraft #spellwork #spells #spirituality

[megalodont]

this morning another volunteer firefighter died when a fire tornado flipped an 8 tonne firetruck. how's yalls' new year's eve going?

#his name was Samuel McPaul #his wife is pregnant with their first kid #my dad is a volunteer firefighter #im scared #death tw #nswbushfires #nsw fires #bushfires #australian bushfires #australia #happy new year #happy new decade

[verifiedcryptid]

my country is burning and no one cares.

hi, australia is on fire.

4 people have died, 7 are missing. hundreds of houses have burned. over 350 koalas have died and 1 million hectares have been burned. that’s over 2,500,000 acres of land. there’s a drought across new south wales and queensland. over 600 schools have shut down

plumes of smoke has reached as far as new zealand, even as far as new caledonia. people from all over new south wales and queensland have been forced to leave their things behind, even pets, to evacuate.

not to mention, it’s a political shitshow. our government isn’t paying for the firefighters fuel. their fuel cards are being declined, so they have to refill their trucks with their own money. people cut the hoses of the fire trucks. a water bomb helicopter crashed. over half the fires are uncontained and up to 12 are arson.

australia isn’t going to get better without help, and no other countries seem to care. you can donate to the RFS or red cross. the smoke has smothered sydney and so many other cities. how can people deny climate change when it’s only november and the country is burning? yeah australia is known for its fires but this isn’t normal.

it’s getting no international coverage, please signal boost this.

#nswbushfires #bushfires #fires #nsw fires #qld #qld fires #queensland #nsw #new south wales

[vincentcatagainsttheworld]

😭😱😡 #prayforaustralia🇦🇺 #Repost @food.fixation • • • • • • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia PLEASE READ: These bush fires are affecting our Aussie mates & we need your help!! 🐨 🇦🇺 . 5.9 million hectares of land has burned - double that of the Amazon rainforest crisis! . In Sydney & Canberra the air quality is 11 x more hazardous than THE HAZARDOUS level!! . 480 millions animals have died, 8000 koalas & at least 18 people have lost their lives. . This is global warming and it impacts all of us. If you want to help... . Donate to firefighters across Australia: CFSfoundation.org.au @nswrfs @cfavic . Support families affected by the fires: @redcrossau @salvosau . Wildlife rescue: @wireswildliferescue @adelaidekoalarescue . #australianbushfires #bushfiresaustralia #bushfires #australiafires #nswfires #australia #nswbushfires #newsouthwales #victoria #australianfirefighters #prayforaustralia #prayforkoalas #koalas #koalasofinstagram Repost from @saltyluxe https://www.instagram.com/p/B68ht9FKTIs/?igshid=1sfgleud77jw1

#prayforaustralia🇦🇺 #repost #australianbushfires #bushfiresaustralia #bushfires #australiafires #nswfires #australia #nswbushfires #newsouthwales #victoria #australianfirefighters #prayforaustralia #prayforkoalas #koalas #koalasofinstagram

[luxury-0pps]

A country in smoke

#australian #beach #girl #black #australia #bushfires #sydney #nsw #nswbushfires #water #ocean #smoke #alone #film #disposble camera #disposable #kodak #hase #haze #wild fire #fire #flames #grey

[rnad-ness]

dystopian Australian summer // spread for The Sketchbook Project

IG: @rnadness

#art #drawing #sketch #artistsoftumblr #painting #pencil #portrait #pen #coloured pencil #pastel pencils #pastel #smoke #bushfires #nsw fires #australia #nswbushfires #summer #fire #haze #orange #climate politics #climate crisis #climate catastrophe #climate protest #climate emergency #climate change #global warming #scott morrison #the sketchbook project #sketchbook

[starslooklikediamonds]

So the east of Australia is having big problems with fires. Just when they thought it was over, it got bigger and badder. 

Apparently now there is mega fires. I’ve never even heard of mega fires before. :(

#fire #fires #australia #nswbushfires #new south wales #sydney

[king-brian-may]

Being an Australian and in NSW, I’m beyond proud of my babies. Thank you darling Brian, Roger and Adam. I love them so much! Since I am seeing them on the 15th of Feb, I can maybe see them at this concert also😻🌟💘💕💪😘

#Queen #Brian May #roger taylor #adam lambert #bushfire #nswbushfires

[treechangeseachange]

The return

It’s coming up to 3 months since we returned to our block and it took us 8 weeks to slow down. On the weekend we slowed down we enjoyed the first official Friday night catch up with our neighbours as the full moon rose. On Saturday we went out for brunch. No sport on Sunday morning meant a sleep in. I played handball with my boys for the first time ever in my life. Lamb shanks slow cooked on the wood heater. We squeezed in a late Sunday afternoon fishing trip. It took us 8 weeks to find some calm. We had forgotten how to do normal. I haven’t written for this blog since um wow December?! My leisure time since then has been extremely limited and when it occurred I prioritised my mental wellbeing and sleep.

This journey has brought me to the edge of my psychological and physical limitations. I watched my husband do a terminator style non stop renovation while trying also to commence a rebuild. His promises to take time off over Christmas dwindled to 2 days. There was so much to do. I helped with whatever jobs I was able to and then focussed on the household and occasionally, our boys. Midway through January this year we realised trying to work on both the renovation and the rebuild was insanity. The local real-estate market was booming. Post COVID, Sydney city dwellers realised they could put in a few days in the city then work from their coastal holiday pad the rest of the week. We decided to get our investment property, come bushfire haven, onto the market before the summer ended. We mapped out each remaining job and the days required to accomplish them. We calculated selling time, settlement time and remaining bank balance. What were need to do’s and what were optional extras. If everything went to plan, we could pay to get some work done at the block and make it habitable enough to move into. It was an extreme test of time, energy and resources.

It worked. We listed by the end of February, sold in three weeks and settled five weeks after settlement. I write that all in one glib sentence. Of course all of that only happened with considerable focus and effort. Life for the boys was hectic. 99% of their toys were packed and moved into storage weeks before the house went on the market. As the house neared completion we stressed about them damaging something. When the house was on the market we stressed about them getting things dirty - the walls, the windows or the cupboards. I banished them from the bathroom, they had to brush teeth in the laundry and shower outside. Luckily it was warm and didn’t rain much in those few weeks! Anyone who has sold a house while living in it knows how painful open homes are. The logistics and effort of cleaning and styling, while working full time from home, scheduling everything between work appointments, getting the dog out of the way and the boys to school, nearly broke me. Thankfully the selling process was short, but we packed a lot of opens into that time and by the end of it all, I had become a shouty, grouchy mum and wife. It was also a real highlight to hit menopause and bring some phenomenal hormonal energy into the mix. Phew.

Before we packed up and left I was lucky enough to have a week away with the boys. My fully wired self hit Melbs and my family gave me refuge and forgave my intensity. We managed some fun and the change of scenery was a big relief. Husband, however, stayed behind to work on the temporary shed home. Holiday behind me, I returned to packup and clean and polish the house for the financial return of our lives. Literally.

Can you then imagine our triumphant and spectacular return to our block bathed in happiness and light? Um well perhaps instead picture this - we arrived exhausted to an unpowered, work in progress temporary residence in the middle of a mice plague and endured 200ml of heavy rain in four days leaving us surrounded by mud. Happy to catch the rain in our tank? I wish! The new tank leaked 8000L the week before we moved, and only our neighbour’s spare tank loan meant we had any water at all. But being so small, it overflowed and made even more mud. The heavy rain was so loud on the tin roof it frequently woke the kids in the night (who then woke us), mice ran across the floor, huntsmen spiders dropped from the ceiling. With nowhere really to unpack things, cooking became like the biggest ever memory game, which box were the bowls in? Where did I pack the cutlery? The rain delayed our solar power install so for 10 days we lived out of an esky and by torchlight. We both kept working full time, getting the boys to school, after school sport commitments and then husband kept building after he got home and into the night. After a week of stress and chaos we knew something had to give, fortunately husband could take time off work to focus on our build and family life.

Fast forward to now. The financial pressure of the summer has eased. The temporary living quarters are functional and steadily improving. We have a beautiful wood heater. Our off grid solar system is powering us even during these short winter days. I have more kitchen cupboards than ever before, plus a dishwasher! I have hung up my clothes in a full wardrobe for the first time in nearly four years. The boys each have clean new wardrobes. Their separate rooms are still being built so they are in what will be our room which is insulated and wall paneled. We can cope with an outside shower and toilet. My husband is a legend.

What’s it like actually being back? I confess I was nervous about my own and the boys emotions. Eldest son is extremely happy to be back. Youngest son has taken time to adjust but that has more been due to his fear of the dark. The noises of the bush are unfamiliar and there are no streetlights out here! There has only been one time where a prebushfire memory overwhelmed me. Every person’s bushfire experience and recovery is unique. Unlike many others we are fortunate have the opportunity to not have to build on the exact footprint of the old place and I think this is psychologically helpful. It’s not the same space, and with some trees dead and gone the landscape is altered, its a slightly different perspective. The boys are older now, so our lifestyle is different too. Slowly we are finding a new rhythm on our land. The boys are absolutely loving being back on their bikes on bush tracks.

I was excited to resume my morning walks, although maybe not as excited the dog! He’s happy to have his off-lead roam again. But the first week of walking I found tough, the burnt and recovering state forest I traverse didn’t bring me the joy it used to. In the heavily logged areas where only isolated saplings were left unlogged, they couldn’t survive the heat of the fire or they didn’t have community trees to share nutrients through their roots to support recovery. The undergrowth is now the canopy and is booming with all the extra sunlight but when I look at it, all I see is fire hazard. Then as the weeks went by, my view softened, I recognise the bush is healing like me. I am appreciating small wonders of nature. A spider’s web highlighted with morning dew or the fascination of new plants thriving. There are trees that have fully recovered, others seem to be doing well, and there is much green in the landscape to enjoy.

On my morning walk I also see which animals are about in the night from what they leave behind. There is at least one very busy wombat! We see wallabies reasonably often and last week one morning I found big roo prints in the clay right near our place. We hear a boobook owl calling most nights and more frogs chirping croaking from the gully than I ever remember. Which now makes sense, we definitely were in drought for some years prior to the fires and the creek has this year been running for months. Less exciting is hearing foxes at night, my son especially dislikes their eerie calls. In daytime the bird life is altered. We are down to one lyrebird, there used to be two with adjacent territories battling loudly with their extraordinary mimicry. But at least there is one, how a ground bird survived I can’t imagine. The yellow robins aren’t around us now, we have wrens in the cleared spaces and in the lush shrubs busy brown gerygones dart and chirp. A shrike thrush has made a nest in our bushfire remains pile, her song is piercing and wonderful. Rarely are the yellow crested black cockatoos here now. This past weekend we did see two circling wedge tailed eagles the silent assassins of the sky wheeling high over the gully with that phenomenal wingspan.

Surprisingly my greatest source of happiness in these first few months being back has come from the sky. Unobstructed by buildings, the sky feels bigger in the bush. I’m loving the late winter sunrises. My very favourite time is just after the sun has risen when the horizontal sun rays set tops of the trees bright orange. Those are magical minutes of golden tinged trees. The sunsets. The stars. The moon. the sky has been a revelation and a source of happiness. Maybe because I’m spending more time outside I notice it more. Seeing glittering stars through the steam of a hot outdoor shower makes the cold walk inside completely worth it!

Slowly I am regaining my sense of gratitude for this place. The quiet. The privilege of not seeing another house. Having no curtains and that not mattering. Not worrying about noise and neighbours. Lack of street lights at night.

All of a sudden things aren’t hectic and we are settling in. It still amazes me after 6 moves in 5 years how intense moving is and then how imperceptibly things transition to not being new anymore. Normalcy sneaks up on me every time. Clearly this isn’t really normal but we’re enjoying this new start in our old place.

#treechange #seachange #nswbushfires #recovery #offgrid

[brookelgreentree]

#nswbushfires #bushfires #australia #oldcars

[sereneceramics]

Yatte Yattah artist studio destroyed ... 😭😭😭

THE BUSHFIRES ARE RAGING IN AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺 MANY CERAMIC STUDIOS OF MASTER CRAFTSMAN ARE BEING DESTROYED. 🔥 IF YOU CAN, PLEASE DONATE (even a little) TO HELP THEM, THEIR FAMILIES, THEIR CRAFT, THEIR LIVES.

Kees Staps of Yatte Yattah, Conjola, NSW, has lost his pottery gallery and workshop.

www.gofundme.com/f/rebuild-kees-staps039-fire-ravaged-pottery

#nswfires #nswbushfires #gofundme #gofundmedonations #gofundmecampaign #nswsouthcoast #nsw #nswaustralia #keesstaps #yatteyattah #conjola #conjolafires #conjolansw @keesstaps #crystallineceramics #crystallinepottery #potterystudio #studiopottery #helpothers #pottersinneed

#keesstaps #@keesstaps #yatteyattah #yatte #yattah #nswsouthcoast #nswaustralia #nswbushfires #nswtourism #nswfires #nsw fires #nsw #gofundmecampaign #gofundmedonations #gofundme #gofundus #donate today #donatetoday #donate #fundraising #fundraiser #fundraise #pottersinneed #pottersofinstagram #potterslife #bushfires #bushfirevictims #bushfire #bushwalking #ceramics

[herbalmedsin-blog]

#bushfire #australia #fire #bushfires #nswfires #nsw #sydney #nswbushfires #sunset #climatechange #firefighter #rfs #nswrfs #smoke #drought #nswbushfire #photography #ses #nature #fires #photographer #qldfires #bushfireseason #nswfire #totalfireban #newsouthwales #climateemergency #watchandact #cfavic https://www.instagram.com/p/B7BGR4DJf8r/?igshid=n2kh2lklmdww

#bushfire #australia #fire #bushfires #nswfires #nsw #sydney #nswbushfires #sunset #climatechange #firefighter #rfs #nswrfs #smoke #drought #nswbushfire #photography #ses #nature #fires #photographer #qldfires #bushfireseason #nswfire #totalfireban #newsouthwales #climateemergency #watchandact #cfavic

[lilfuckinfreak]

i know these fundraiser posts aren’t my typical style of posts, but as an australian who has been directly affected by bushfires before (my family and friends had to evacuate our town in january 2019), this is something that means a lot to me. australia is literally on fire. this is such a catastrophic event, and if we can’t control or stop it soon, more people are going to die, more animals are going to be burnt alive, more homes and communities are going wiped out, heritage forests and wildlife reserves are going to be destroyed forever. it honestly feels like the apocalypse

#nswbushfires #australia bushfires #fundraiser #please donate #donate #donation #australia is on fire #australia #journal

[laniwatt]

Tomorrow is going to be another terrifying day for many Australians. My family and I are prepared for possible evacuation in the Australian Bushfires with the catastrophic weather conditions due again tomorrow in many parts of the country, including my local area, the Shoalhaven. I wish everyone safety and protection tomorrow, especially those in direct line of the fire fronts. My family and I are lucky to only be in an area of potential ember attacks and will be staying to protect our’s and our neighbours’ homes unless evacuation is unavoidable. Despite the horrible conditions our country is facing, I’m proud to be Australian and feel blessed to have witnessed so much kindness, compassion, and support in our devastated communities. The bravery and determination of our amazing firies is forever a thankless but deeply appreciated service. You all deserve medals of bravery to honor all you do and sacrifice, many volunteers without pay, and keep doing to protect us. May the next few weeks bring rain and give our country the relief it desperately need 🌧🇦🇺❤️⛑👩🏻‍🚒 

#australia #australian bushfires #nswbushfires #aussie #bushfires2019 #bushfires #shoalhaven #aussie writer #i am #you are #we are australian #we are one but we are many