Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Thank you Blogland - Australia!!!



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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

System 98S Southern Indian Ocean

NASA’s Aqua satellite is already seeing the potential in a tropical low pressure area to blossom into a tropical cyclone through its very cold cloud top temperatures.

A low pressure system known as System 98S is currently moving over the northern coast of Western Australia appears to have a good chance for developing into a tropical cyclone later this week once it slides into the warm waters of the Southern Indian Ocean.

On Monday, January 24, 2011 EST, the low was nearing Kuri Bay, located on the northern coast of Western Australia. It is forecast to continue moving southwest and skip over water along the northern coast as it heads toward Beagle Bay, Derby and Broome will be affected by the low’s outer rains and winds as it continues tracking southwest.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

ORIGINAL ART WORK FOR QUEENSLAND FLOOD RELIEF AUCTION (Queensland Flood Relief Blog Auction)

CONGRATULATIONS TO SALLY FOR HER WINNING BID IN THE AUCTION .... thanks Sally!!!

I have joined the growing group of art and crafty blog people who are donating work for the relief effort for the dreadful floods in Queensland.

So I am donating this watercolour art work to be auctioned.The artwork will come with a Certificate of Provenance. It is unframed which will allow for easier postage worldwide.

"Hey, Check Out the Chicks!"
How the Auction works

1. Bidding starts at $100 Australian.
2. Place your bid by adding a comment here stating how much you are willing to offer to own "Hey, Check Out the Chicks!".  Your bid must be greater than the previous bid.
3. All bids must be in whole dollar increments.
4. This auction is open to everyone, however $20 (AUD) will be charged for International addresses.  Postage is FREE for Australian residents.
5. The auction is now open and closes at nine (9pm) on the 24th of January 2011 (This will be Sydney/Australian time).
6. I will contact the winner at the conclusion of the auction. The winner must commit to sending their bid to the Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal and provide an email receipt as evidence of payment.
7. Once I have evidence of payment "Hey, Check Out the Chicks!" will be posted to its new owner.

Thank you for participating and Happy Bidding!!



"Hey, Check Out the Chicks!"
UNFRAMED (easier to post worldwide)

Watercolour, 300gm rough
60cm x 30cm ( 23.5" x 12")

Your generosity is much appreciated, particularly by those most affected by the floods. I offer you my thanks on their behalf. 

Please share this auction with as many people as you can. Other Auctions are currently underway and a full list is available at the Make it Perfect blog. 

Please note finishing time is 9pm instead of midnight so people don't have to stay up late for last minute bidding.

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Tropical Storm Vania South Pacific Ocean

Tropical Storm Vania on January 12 at 1246 UTC (7:46 a.m. EST). TRMM noticed that some of the thunderstorms reached more than 9 miles (~15 kilometers) high, indicating strong uplift and a heavy rainmakers. TRMM also noticed that the heaviest rains were falling in the northeastern quadrant of the storm and indicate rainfall at about 2 inches per hour. Other quadrants of the storm were generating moderate rainfall rates between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. TRMM is managed by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA.

TRMM captured the rainfall rates of Tropical Storm Vania on January 12 at 1246 UTC. The yellow and green areas indicate moderate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. The heaviest rains were falling in the northeastern quadrant of the storm (Red) and indicate rainfall at about 2 inches per hour.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

System 93P

Tropical Storm
System 93P, which is also designated in the Fiji Islands as “03F” for third tropical disturbance formed in the South Pacific Ocean. On Monday, January 10, 2011 at 0600 UTC (1 a.m. EST), it was located about 115 miles east-northeast of Port Vila, Vanuatu near 16.9 South and 170.0 East.

Vanuatu is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,090 miles (1,750 kilometers) east of northern Australia, and 301 miles (500 kilometers) northeast of New Caledonia and west of Fiji.

The infrared image provided an appearances of circular motion, but didn’t show a well-organized storm. Areas that are brighter white are areas of stronger convection

A Country in Shock .....

With  more than 3/4 of Queensland under water and this is a large state (1,852,642 km2); floods in northern NSW, SA, Vic, Tas and WA; cyclone in the Pilbarra (WA); bush fires in near Perth WA...... Australia seems to be playing host to Mother Nature's fury at the moment.

The floods cover a vast area of the state - an area the size of France and Germany combined. 

Received news last night that my niece and her children have evacuated to high ground as their house is in an area of Ipswich that is certain to go under when the flood peak comes through.

Flood waters reached  Brisbane - river expected to peak on Thurs.
I don't think there is anyone in Australia who has not been touched in some way by all this fury.

I just read this - and remember this is only for the Brisbane floods not Ipswich or for the rest of Queensland - 

Up to 40,000 properties are expected to be impacted by flooding by Thursday based on the latest flood modelling.
Of these, 19,700 are residential properties which will have flooding across their entire property. A further 12,000 are expected to have flooding across part of their property.
About 3500 commercial premises will have flooding across their entire property and a further 2500 will have flooding across part of their property.
A further 2300 properties such as parks and vacant land will also be flooded.
The depth of flooding on individual properties is not known because this flood event is expected to exceed all previous records.
Toowoomba
The figures were produced using Brisbane City Council's computer modelling using information provided by the Bureau of Meteorology and SEQ Water.
More than 2100 streets across Brisbane will be impacted.

Sadly 10 people have died in the State and a further 90 are still missing with authorities warning us that the toll will rise.
  
Toowoomba
Toowoomba
I don't think we can really grasp the vastness of the floods. We see pictures from different areas but it is just a drop in the ocean compared to how vast this is. 
The devastation of Toowoomba has created a real impact because it is a city like one many of us live in and is now a ruin. 

Now we see Brisbane - a large city (the state's capital) a ghost town as the flood rushes toward it; Ipswich laying in the path of the deadly torrent.  It is becoming surreal as the magnitude becomes incomprehensible to us.

We try to come to grasp with the numbers but they are so huge that we try and deal with one city at a time.  Rain has eased but is still continuing to fall.

We Aussie's are a strange mob - we are laid back and have a 'she'll be right' attitude but when something happens we are the first to dig into our pockets or to jump to our feet to help in some way.  A telethon raised $10mill in one evening; people from all over Australia have volunteered help in some way or another.  

Facebook and Twitter have been used to send messages of support, help and assistance - people offering to board animals affected, offering accommodation, organising donations, you name it there are people willing to do it.  Our volunteer organisations - SES, Red Cross, Sallies, etc deserve all the help you can give - this crisis is not over and is going to get much worse before it gets better.

I feel such sadness for all those whose lives have been impacted and now forever changed.

If you haven't already watched this footage of the flood reaching Toowoomba take a few moments to watch - it is incomprehensible yet amazing footage!



The irony of all this is that my elder son and his partner move to Queensland next Weds - the house is sold and they have rented a place in Torquay!

They have no idea if they are even going to be able to drive through with so  many roads cut and likely to be cut for a while. 

 

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Sunday, January 9, 2011

A Lucky Fall .....

 Now how can a fall be lucky you say?

Well, the other day I was trying (operative word) to clean up my back yard which I hadn't been able to get to for some months due to a problem with my back door.  Anyway, I was shovelling muck and mess and was doing okay; at least I thought I was.

I had just filled the shovel and was 'throwing' the contents when one leg went one way and I went the other.  My left foot was on a piece of plastic and as I changed my centre of gravity, the plastic slid taking my foot with it but as my centre of gravity was on the other foot the rest of me went the opposite direction.

I tried desperately to save myself and managed to use the shovel in some weird way that would do a Shaolin monk proud.  The outcome was I ended up in a crumpled heap with a few scratches which was fine; the downside was that within half an hour I was so sore I could barely move.

My back feels like one of those petite Japanese masseuse are walking on it - but with 6" stiletto heels; one leg has decided it is time to go on strike and the other has gone out in sympathy.

The arm I broke a few years back took some of the brunt and now feels like it belongs to someone else. 


It is almost two days since it happened and I know you have to get worse before you get better but really?  I would just like to get dressed without feeling like I am a 120 year old lady .... rotfl.... ever tried to do up a bra when your arms and hands don't really want to go behind your back?  Oh, and said back would much rather spend a week or so hanging out in bed!

I had planned to get some serious artwork done this weekend but instead have resorted to hobbling between the computer and the sofa; even carrying a full cup of tea or coffee is an achievement.......sadly the worst thing is there is barely anything to show - a few scratches here and there, and a small cut on one of my toes - so even though I feel like I have been hit by a Mack truck I can't even get the sympathy vote by showing my 'battle scars'!
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Friday, January 7, 2011

Silence is Golden .....

Sometimes, saying nothing is better than saying something!

I seem to so easily get into strife by opening my mouth and inserting my foot. Now I think it is time for me to adopt a 'silence is golden approach' or just speak of innocent nothings and safe subjects; question is how long can I last, especially when things occur that I would like to talk about? ....... rotfl. 
...............................................
Stay tuned for my first attempt at recycled journal pages from the Strathmore workshop.

In the meantime, here is my first page for the Sketchbook Challenge; this month's theme was Highly Prized.  I decided to make my own journal for this challenge as most journals you buy are not heavy enough (as in paper) for watercolour work.

I used 300 gsm (not) Arches paper approx 14cm x 21cm.  Just the one signature of 7 pages so that gives me 14 for the year's challenge.  If I decided I need more I will just add another signature.


The cover is some heavy duty card I had lying around and I used an old acrylic painting for the cover.

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Monday, January 3, 2011

Tropical Storm Tasha

Cyclone Tasha recently made landfall just south of Cairns along the northeast coast of Queensland, Australia during the early morning hours on Christmas Day.

The storm, which had formed just off the coast, came ashore as a Category 1 cyclone (equivalent to a tropical storm on the U.S. Saffir-Simpson scale) with wind gusts of up to 105 kph (~65 mph) reported just offshore. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (known as TRMM) was launched back in 1997 with the primary purpose of measuring rainfall in the Tropics.

With its unique combination of active radar and passive microwave sensors, TRMM has also served as a valuable platform for monitoring tropical cyclones. TRMM captured an image of Tasha at 15:32 UTC (5:32 am AEST) on the 24th of December 2010 just before it became a Category 1 cyclone. Tasha appears as an area of enhanced rainfall with moderate to localized areas of heavy rain embedded within a broader area of light to moderate rain draped along the coast of northeastern Australia.

Tasha has no eye and little evidence of banding, which indicates that it is not an intense system. In fact, Tasha's winds did little damage and the storm was quickly downgraded from a cyclone by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre; however, heavy rains from the storm and its remnants had a substantial impact on the region by exacerbating flood conditions already in place as a result of prior excessive rainfall across eastern Australia. The result was widespread flooding with many areas cut off.