Sydney's fireworks were great as usual. Someday I'd like to see them in person as the TV coverage is always looking the wrong way or is doing a close up when a wide angle is needed and vice versa and I do not want to see pictures of people watching the fireworks. I love fireworks in general but have missed Canberra's big show in March for the past several years because of the difficulty getting in and out of the location. Maybe this year we'll try and go to the Library to take advantage of the best view in Canberra. It will only take an hour or so to get home.

Well, 2006 left with a bang, actually many bangs, and lots of rain and hail in some places a meter thick. For details of the whole story click here. Our bit of Canberra is north and west of the area described in the story and the worst hit us a bit later. I shouldn't be surprised, but the Bear actually slept through most of it and it wasn't until the hail storm that he came out to see what happened. Unfortunately he didn't notice that the roof problem in my bedroom had returned and a minor waterfall was in progress. While this has happened before to a lesser extent, this time the water almost made it to the doorway and the Moroccan carpet was soaked all along the edge of the bed. Buckets, mops, sponges, fans and this morning we removed the carpet from under the bed (assuming our insurance will pay for its cleaning and drying) and I am hoping the insurance company can produce a plasterer where I couldn't. I wasn't planning on this but I think I will use this opportunity to replace the rug in the bedroom. It's a good thing I am taking this week off work

One of the things I did yesterday in cleaning up was to go through my issues of Handwoven and mark the items I am interested in to give some guidance when I take my weaving course. I already knew that twill was on my list as is colour and weave and I found some examples to try out. Of course, since all the issues were out, they all got wet. As usual, I am interested in bold colour and geometric designs, nothing fluffy. I would be happy to weave dish towels, place mats & napkins and work my way up to small rugs and a throw. I lust after rug looms but have no room.

We did some more cleaning up in the shed and I have found a few things to flog on ebay that were I think part of my MIL's cleanout. And 2 large Corningware casseroles which will become dyepots. I also pruned back the junior plum tree and discovered we had some plums! I had thought they had all fallen off but there are some and I had better pick them before the birds do them in. They are President variety and are small purple-skinned with green flesh. I was looking for something like what are sold in the US as prune plums in September. These are close but much earlier. I got the very first of our thornless blackberries as well. It appears that one doesn't prune blackberries, as nobody prunes them in the wild and they grow vigorously. I am going to try and get the old berry growth cut back early this year and not wait till I can't get to the compost bin. Our apricots were decimated by wattlebirds who take one bite out of a fruit and drop it on the ground. The other bad news is that there are no blueberries at our favorite pick-your-own place due to the late frost. The floods must have done something to add to our water catchment but the airport, where the official weather station is, got nothing.

Another successful ebay auction where I managed to snag a Swedish wooden swift for $49US including shipping from Sweden. I seems to pay to keep trawling for the odd bargain that pops up.