A Sip of Summer – Artful Creations Daily Blog Hop – Day 2

Today was a day of work and food shopping, a standard Wednesday for me, minus picking up my eldest daughter from kindergarten because she is on school holidays.

Did all the food shopping, piled it into the car and drove out of the underground carpark…with the windows wide open. The moment my car was clear of the building a warm breeze carrying the scent of the Aussie outback filled the car.

Adelaide is in the middle, at the bottom of Australia. We are almost completely surrounded by desert, except for the ocean that keeps us conveniently supplied with enough rain to survive. Tomorrow is forecast to be a scorcher – 39C/ 102F…and I just made the mistake of double checking that forecast…tomorrow will be followed by Friday with 42C/107F…which isn’t so bad until you look further into the week where the numbers go like this – 31c, 36C, 41C, 41C, 37C. Monday is 41C…I was hoping to take the kids to the zoo that day, it is not possible in those temperatures. Maybe we’ll try on the Saturday at 31C, early in the morning maybe? In comparison today was 32C/83F, warm but manageable.

In any case, when that warm air hit me this afternoon, even without the forecast to inform me, I could tell there was a scorcher on the way. You see here, it is not just the sun that dictates the temperature, but the wind. We alternate between cold winds off the Southern Ocean and hot winds off the baked centre of this continent. In summer those roasting winds sweep in and the temperature sky rockets. I remember watching a plant in my In-Laws’ garden once…in the morning it was green, happy and healthy, a hot northerly swept in during the afternoon, by evening that plant was brown and dead. It was literally sucked dry of moisture.

So there will be a series of days of hibernation during the next week. The airconditioner will stomp its carbon footprint all over my electricity bill, the house will be locked up to try and prevent the heat from getting in, and we’ll all stay inside.

And here’s hoping that no horrible excuse for a human being will drop a match in the Adelaide Hills behind us, because that wind is fully capable of creating a holocaust. Just ask the poor people of Victoria a few years back. Though Victoria holds the record for the most devastating, South Australia is not far behind.

So my art for the next few days will be done inside. Now I realise this, I am quite happy that I took a few moments outside tonight to do a little painting…even though it meant the kids went to bed really late (bad mother, bad mother :D).

When I say painting, I use the term very loosely considering what I painted…

I have plans for these, but in the meantime I will adore their wonderful, shiny greenness 😀

I hope it is a little cooler where you are and there is a lack of bushfires. And for those in the far northern hemisphere, think of us while you dig out your car in the morning, and hopefully you will feel a little warmer. Have a breath of hot wind from us 😀

Best wishes,
Liz