Heat Wave in Ontario, Snow in NSW, Australia

My friend Megan, who lives in the lovely village/town/hamlet of Crookwell, New South Wales, where it's the dead of winter, is currently visiting Ontario, where it's the dead of summer, so to speak.

Her hubby sent this link to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald to show her what she's missing: Snow! (Here's Canada Snow that she left!)

But after enduring and worrying about drought for some seasons now, heavy rain is more 'welcome' than not, and should go a long way towards filling up a few cisterns in the area.

The photo below shows Megan's Studio, on their farm, near Crookwell. You can see how arid the land usually is. When I first visited, I arrived after dark, and my first proper view was the following morning, around 6 a.m. The views from the porch over the rolling hills and valleys made me think I was somehow in Africa. In the distance, sheep moving in the pre-dawn light added to the magical 'wild kingdom' feeling.


Megan is an artist, and one of her talents is with textiles -- wool, mohair, silk and much else -- which she knits or weaves into wonderful garments. On her last visit to Canada, she had just begun knitting a wedding gown with full floor-length skirt from the finest alpaca. She has been known to raise her own goats,sheep,alpaca, etc, then shear them, clean, spin and dye the wool (in natural dyes she makes from barks and leaves and stuff), then knit, crochet and weave a garment she has designed herself. It's a wonder she hasn't started raising silk worms, though I suppose it's just a matter of time. I am in awe!

Her current foray into wearable art are her detachable collars made from wool and / or mohair, like this one below:
. . . And this one, in mohair, dyed midnight blue:
Seeing these photos reminds me I should get scanning my own photos of this area. After I put these photos of Australia on my site, I got busy with other things, and it slipped from mind. This summer for sure!