gasp....

you may already be aware of this but it is bastard hot here in victoria - we're on day 2 of a 3 possibly 4 days in a row heatwave of 43 degrees. i just went out to collect the post and it literally feels like an oven - i'm sure i could cook scones on the roof.

poor billthedog is slumped on the floor, the cats vamoosed early this morning and i am worried the chooks won't make it through in spite of extra water and the quick hose spraying i gave them to their great indignation.

melbourne's infrastructure is also falling apart in the heat - yesterday the rail tracks buckled in the middle of the city and we are expecting power cuts. last night it didn't "cool down" to 29 degrees until 3am.: we went for a drive in the air conditioned capsule at 10pm when it was still 37 degrees....

i couldn't sleep so i got up and read compulsively until 3.30am - a friend gave me a patricia cornwell novel. i had heard of the kay scarpetta books but not read one before and i don't think i will be reading another. it's brilliantly written and absolutely compelling but it completely terrified me! trying to sleep after reading about a serial killer who tortures and kills women in their beds.........

on a brighter note i have read 2 brilliant novels by patrick gale over the last week and a bit - notes from an exhibition and rough music. i had read some of his earlier novels in the 90s and thought they were good but the latest ones are beautifully written and quite unputdownable.

of course having devoured the kay scarpetta book i am back to having une crise du livre - nothing to read......

and in wip news i started something completely different - a small handstitched piece - pics to come.

in the meantime here is the ever uber-photogenic toby (molly is just as photogenic but still combines elusivity witht quick silverness and is very hard to capture on film)
*****just did a quick chook check and they are sitting under the nectarine tree, beaks open but they seem to be ok. i also scooped up the cats who were under the fig tree and brought them inside. it's still 32 degrees in here, even with the poor old air conditioner chugging away, but that's 10 degrees better than outside. i could feel my contacts melting onto my eyeballs - yech.... hot hot day with a fierce northerly wind usually means bushfires - i hope all my country living friends are ok?

and i just checked the age and it's 43 degrees right now. and the hottest part of the day is yet to come....

4 weeks until autumn