It's Raining

[lucille]

This is the first time I have seen heavy hard rain since I came to Geelong. We are on the most severe of water restrictions in the country. As a Greenie I wash and rinse dishes the dishes in sink shaped bowls, and also shower standing in one. My washing machine outlet has a hose connected, and I collect the water from it. Amazingly enough none of the soap scum has killed anything, and believe it or not I have put in a new lawn after having the old trees removed and a new fence put up, and it is thriving. This rain will be great. Now I am going outside to wash the cars in the rain. (It is still reasonably warm for autumn.) I hope this indicates the end of El Nino, or the beginning, whatever brings us rain and ends this terrible drought. And on a lighter note, I can put the doggie raincoats I bought on Emmy Lou and Charlie:)

[Bat]

Lucille, I simply had to Google a town with the name of Geelong...Maori, I suppose?...and it looks simply lovely! Australia has always been the land of adventure to me. Not the snaky kind one thinks of when one thinks of Africa, but the wide open spaces kind, sort of like America when the West was being discovered and settled. Once, Cincinnati, Ohio, was a far-western outpost! Now, despite being in a region of the US called 'the Midwest', Ohio is well East of the Missisppi river, which is not even close to the midline of the country. The California/Oregon/Washington coastal states on the Pacific are the last word as far as western expansion goes, but when one sees tales of the Old West, Oaters, Cowboy pictures, those were probably no farther west than Arizona or New Mexico, and most were about Kansas and Texas and Oklahoma, which are about on the center midline of the continent.
But I digress. (and How!! LOL)
I still get the far away stare and daydream about the Outback.
I think you live in a very beautiful place...send some pics, please?...and I do hope your drought is truly over. Here in Cinci, it rains about every 3 days, a brilliant thunderstorm, likely. One of the plusses of living here.

[Bat]

Lucille, I simply had to Google a town with the name of Geelong...Maori, I suppose?(does it mean something?)...and it looks simply lovely! Australia has always been the land of adventure to me. Not the snaky kind one thinks of when one thinks of Africa, but the wide open spaces kind, sort of like America when the West was being discovered and settled.

Once, Cincinnati, Ohio, was a far-western outpost! Now, despite being in a region of the US called 'the Midwest', Ohio is well East of the Missisppi river, which is not even close to the midline of the country. The California/Oregon/Washington coastal states on the Pacific are the last word as far as western expansion goes, but when one sees tales of the Old West, Oaters, Cowboy pictures, those were probably no farther west than Arizona or New Mexico, and most were about Kansas and Texas and Oklahoma, which are about on the center midline of the continent.
But I digress. (and How!! LOL)

I still get the far away stare and daydream about the Outback.
I think you live in a very beautiful place...send some pics, please?...and I do hope your drought is truly over. Here in Cinci, it rains about every 3 days, a brilliant thunderstorm, likely. One of the plusses of living here.

[lucille]

Bat, you may have upset the Kiwis with your observation :D This is just a little bit of info on Geelong:

Quick facts

Population approximately 200,000
75 kilometres south-west of Melbourne
Victoria's second-largest city
Museums, historic buildings and galleries
Waterfront dining
The name ‘Geelong’ is derived from ‘jillong’, the Aboriginal word for bay, which means ‘a place of the sea bird over the white cliffs’. This waterfront city offers a diverse range of food, wine, cultural and recreation attractions and colonial history evident in the city’s 100 National Trust-listed buildings. Geelong is also the major gateway to the Bellarine Peninsula and Great Ocean Road.

Just like in the US many town and city names come from the first settlers here, the aboriginies. I was born in a place called Ballaarat, a place near water - except most of the water there has now dried up. There was/is a lake in Ballaarat called Wendouree. This was where the 1956 Olympic rowing was held. I remember riding my bike up to the lake after school with all the other kids to get autographs. The big one to get was from Grace Kelly's brother, John. Ballaarat is about 70 miles west of Melbourne, and Victoria's third largest city.

The outback is never to far from the majority of the population which lives on the East coast and a little bit of the south coast from Cairns to Adelaide. Beyond that thin strip I guess is "the outback". Come for a holiday and I'll take you to the outback :)

[aabram]

And now the sun shineth in Edinburgh, just as it did last May. Seems like we'll be getting hotter summers but wetter winters. Would you say, Lucille that your climate is changing as well????? Just curious :p

Annabel

[Mimi]

We've been waiting for rain over here in the middle Western part of Germany for six weeks now. It's been the dryest and warmest March and April ever and farmers are already afraid of enormous crop failures, the meadows have become brown almost before becoming green and growing...
In some regions you aren't allowed any longer to enter the forest because the danger of fires is that high.

Well, I like the warmth but it isn't normal - but perhaps what we have caused altogether! and therefore will be normal in the future. :confused:

Mimi

[Bat]

Lucille, thank you for all the information...I hate to admit it, but my ignorance of the 'Land down under' is frightening!
My apologies to the Kiwis...but chalk it up to ignorance again. Are there no Maoris in Australia, but all in NZ? See, I didn't know that, either. Are there many different tribes of abos in Australia, as we have here? Are they all of Polynesian descent? Wow...I'm at least learning enough to be able to ask dumb questions, that's a plus.
Thanks for the invitation; it would be a dream come true!...and some year I might just take you up on it!
This year I'm taking a driving tour of my own country, probably too long, too far, too much gas, but if not now, when? I'm not getting any younger, and gas isn't getting any cheaper, so better go while the going's good!

[lucille]

Mimi, this is the first decent rain Geelong has seen for over a year! Victoria (a State) has only got 30% of the water capacity in it's reservoirs. It is the worst drought in recorded history. We had 22mm, not enough, but amazingly enough to turn the yellow grass to green seemingly overnight. Nature is wonderful.

Bat, if you go into http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_Australians#Origins

and in Contents click Origins you will get the info, and no, the aborigines do not have any connection with the Polynesians. For your information, the above link also talks about FOOD :D Oh yeah, c'mon down.:)

Aabram we have had a long hot dry summer, and now in the third month of Autumn we are still having pleasant sunny days up around the 20 degrees (celcius). The ski season opens next month, so it will be interesting to see if our Alps get snow.

[aabram]

Lucille, thanks for the information. It's positively cold here, and I would love a long hot summer (just ONE) so I can find out what you've been going through. I've never been anywhere hotter than Spain :eek:

[lucille]

It's rainin' it's pourin' the old man is snorin'

Yesterday and today, the best rains in a decade! April was the driest April since records were taken.

Hopefully this is the break everyone has been waiting for.