Never on Saturday ...

We never do lunch on Saturday but today we did. Today Stephen baked lamb, beef, potatoes, pumpkin, carrots and turnips with gravy for the meat and mushroom, white, wine gravy for the greens. A day of firsts. Saturday roast, hmmmm. Turned out a good idea because it feels like Sunday and when I wake up tomorrow I'll still have one day of the weekend left to relax and enjoy ... Flowers for my birthday made a great centre-piece for the table. A bottle of bubbles, a small platter and we sat to smell the roses (metaphorically speaking.) Helen, John, Katherine, Christopher, Nan and Maire gathered to break bread and chat. Dessert - individual, rhubarb puddings topped with a cinnamon and sugar crust; courtesy of Helen. Must also mention the dollop of double cream on the side for good measure. Weather this weekend was expected to match the horrific flood situation of June, 2007. So far so good. Even a condemned man has his choice of last meals. Hopefully today's lunch won't be our last. Skies are very grey and showers have contributed to the dam levels almost all week. We'll just have to wait and see what eventuates tomorrow. We have enough leftovers from today's lunch to feed a large gathering so I expect that we'll manage. Early this morning the bom radar site was an amazing array of colour showing where it was raining rather heavily. We spent 12 hours last time the weather broke bucketing water until we were so cold that our skin burnt from the extreme cold. We even put in a call to the SES for assistance just before midnight as we were so exhausted and could do no more. We'd decided to let whatever happen, as our efforts had proved fruitless against the relentless storm and wind. Water ran like a river from our driveway across the entire front of the house. I sent Kate and Stephen to bed while I sat up all night bucketing water in the pool room; 10 lites every 7 minutes until 6 am the following morning. That was the time when we made a decision to buy a water tank and pump. The tank to take away the excess roof water and to reduce the risk of flooding in the house and the pump to redirect the river-like, flood waters that made their way to our house. Everyone in the Hunter has vivid memories of that weekend.Warnings have been issued for tomorrow but in a more southerly location. I expect or hope to miss the worst of it here in the Hunter. Now,on a cheerful note the flowers that were sent for my birthday I've uploaded, just because I could.

Today's tomorrow has arrived... It is really windy this morning and clouds are appearing on the horizon. Could the warnings possibly be true?