2014 Begins with a Heatwave

We've been back a week.  We ended our lovely trip with three days in Los Angeles including two at Disneyland.  It's a good thing that we spent some time at the happiest place on earth because J was about the unhappiest little boy on earth.  He feels the absence of his family immediately following our departure from them as keenly as ripping a bandaid off of a fresh cut.   He's better now that we're back in Melbourne.

I hit the ground running, I landed last Monday battling a bad cold but was back at work Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we had to unpack, put away all the Christmas decorations and detritus, clean the house, work with my physiotherapist, plant our summer herbs, and flowers, sweep about 10km of spider webs from the house, wash all the windows, and do 10 loads of laundry, just in time for an unprecedented heatwave to hit Melbourne. 

I don't know why but this just struck us as hilarious since "tossers" is a somewhat pejorative term down under!

The "Nightmare Before Christmas" haunted house at Disneyland - one of our favorites

Two days ago, the outside temperature gauge in my car registered 48c at 5:30pm!  That is pretty stinkin' hot!  We have a/c in our bedrooms and have managed to keep the rest of the house relatively cool by closing it up, but with temperatures not even dropping below 28c during the night, it's only barely tolerable.  C2 has had to relocate his office from the sunny front room to the air-conditioned guest bedroom.  Still many are suffering much more.  Even poor Murphy is having difficulty coping; she's had a couple of seizures brought on by the heat and we're not taking her out more than to do what she has to do twice a day. 

In addition to continuing to battle my cold, the intense heat has caused a bought of migraines in the last 36 hours.  I've taken multiple migraine meds which have brought me some relief but haven't sent this particular monster fully packing yet.  We joined some friends from the U.K. at the beach for a picnic yesterday evening.  The sea breezes were delicious and our Melbourne sea still refreshingly cool.  We're doing it all over again this evening.  Today and tomorrow are forecast to be the hottest days yet.  I don't know how the Australian Open tennis players are playing; J will be doing tennis camps next week, good thing it wasn't this week!

At Elwood Beach in Melbourne with U.K. Gina  on a stinkin' hot evening

Ten days left of school holidays.  C2 has been home since our return from Canada but resumes his punishing travel schedule on Monday.  If Melbourne's heat has been bad, 50+c is normal in the Pilbara region of Western Australia where he is headed.

It's hard to believe another year is over.  It's hard to believe we have been in Australia THREE years now; it feels like we were just planning this move.  Still, as I continue to lament the passage of time, now in the early part of 2014, I am grateful for my family and our devotion to each other, for all of our health, and for all of the opportunity we have been given.