Hi Maureen will try to post some Roses to you I have some nice photos some of which I've posted on my blog posts to cheer everyone up during your long hard winter...hoping you have been able to get outside...Mum-in-Law hasn't checked your weather(we get regular bulletins) because of these awful fires...thank goodness most of them seem to be under control now the hard work really starts...so many people needing cover and clothing so we are raiding our wardrobes and linen cupboards to try to find stuff to donate...thankyou for your kind wishes

Hi Maureen it sounded like my favorite sort of night out too...

Me again Maureen ran out of words...sometimes gluttony is worth it especially when you don't have to cook it yourself...hope your class will be able to paint that lovely rose...I have some pictures of this years roses if you want them there is a lovely golden one so if you have a web site I can send some if not i'll post them in my gallery and feel free to paint them as you wish I've had enough of flowers for a while...thank-you Maureen for caring about us over here i'm afraid fires are a way of life over here and for some reason arson seem to be on the rise...in all my years in Oz I have never seen anything like this just awful...I will keep in touch

Hi Maureen fortunately we live in the West these awful fires are in the Eastern States they estimate the death toll will reach 200 or more...we had some awful fires a few weeks ago our beautiful Kings Park was set alight by an arsonist the scar across the escarpment is appalling it will take years to recover and all the native animals that killed in the process...Kings Park is one of those places we take visitors because the views over the city are fabulous...an arsonist set alight to the golf course just across the road from us last March and it turned into a fire storm with strong winds blowing it our way we were up all night hosing water over the house...but when we got up in the morning we found a ceiling fire we had the engines out twice...no electricity or telephone the wires got burnt through luckily I always carry a mobile and the company were so good and gave us 20 cent calls through the mobile...we had just done a mini reno and of course the room with the most damage was our bedroom which we had just finished new carpet the lot...the smell took 6 months to go...and the repairs 3 months...there were bonuses we got the ceilings painted throughout the house, new insulation and the air conditioning completely overhauled so it wasn't all bad...I sometimes go unto a site called Australian Art Forum it's not as good as this one but not bad...the daughter of one of the ladies had lost her house and her and her 2 children have only the clothes they stand up in but as she said they are alive...the lady herself has her car and pets ready for evacuation in case the fire jumps the river it's awful...I cried when I read what had happened...now we have to be careful as we are expecting very hot weather and high winds and the arsonists just love this type of weather...hoping it's not our turn this year again...there's some sick people out there but the funny thing is for all the bad they do the closer the neighbourhood gets so got to look on the positives