tectonic plates.

two days ago i survived my second earthquake, and witnessed my first. i was in my room, alone, about 5 o'clock in the evening.. it was fairly windy, and i was on the bed reading when suddenly the entire room began shaking. the window pane was rattling, and i thought, my god it's windy.. then quickly noted the water on our beside table was rippling.. the roof seemed unstable, and this was very obviously starting at the foundation of our not-so-new house. it was over before i knew it, lasting about 10 seconds; but it really shook me, if you know what i mean. however it was out of my mind before the girls even got home that evening, and i was only certain after reading the paper the next morning that it was, in fact, an earthquake. got a 4.6 on the richter scale - apparently our second in two weeks. must've slept through the last one.

oh, and of course when i said summer was on the out, i was implying that yesterday we got up to 30 degrees and we're supposed to get 33 tomorrow.. monday - hurricane warnings? icestorm?

fire. wind. rain.

they say melbourne weather is crazy. "four seasons in a day".. but hearing someone toss out the saying is a single breath does nothing but downplay the truthfulness behind those words..

one day it was 45 degrees, the next 25. i was beside myself thinking 25 was cold.. however, never have i experienced a temperature drop of 20 degrees in less than 24 hours. back home it sure doesn't fluctuate that abruptly, although sometimes i wish it would.. when it's -30 i could do with a -10.

we've been here almost two months. during that time, the province of victoria has experienced australia's worst natural disaster to date. hundreds of thousands of acres have been burned.. over 200 deaths.. the number of homes destroyed is unimaginable. intense heat [mid to high 40's] paired with intense winds [one day they reached 150 km/h] and drought [0.6mm of rain in january - 1.6mm in february]. not the best of combinations that's for sure.

it has been raining on and off for the past week. still not enough, but it has brought comfort.. the fires are out and people are rebuilding. summer is on the out and i still don't own a pair of jeans..