Sunday 22 December

The first time I've celebrated my birthday in the northern hemisphere in 62 years! When I was called for breakfast, there were three helium balloons tied to my chair. J

We woke to an icy (as opposed to snowy) wonderland. Everything is either thickly coated with ice or has icicles hanging off it. Even low ground cover and weeds, all coated with ice and everything looks like it’s made of glass. Branches of trees are so heavy with ice and so brittle, being frozen, that a couple of branches have broken off Steve and Dianne’s birch out the front. This is the first view of out the front; notice the icicles on the lantern:

A frozen tree:

We heard that church was still on because the main roads have been salted this morning, so Steve salted the little path to the car and we walked out carefully. When I opened the car door it crunched and cracked; the windows were all iced up, so that required vigorous scraping by Steve.

On our way to Maccas, there were lots of huge tree branches down because of the wind and ice. Dianne opened her window to look at something; it hadn’t been scraped, so when she wound the window down, there was a solid thick sheet of ice still there, like looking through frosted glass.

We stopped for gas – icicles on everything and a car still coated with ice:

My side mirror - no, silly, it's not the driver's side in this country!

Church wasn’t too down on numbers, about 40-50 people?? However, at the end of music practice, as the service started, the power went down. So out came the baby grand piano and we all gathered around that for a worship time. Then a few reflections on Christmas, followed by the Christmas story from Luke. I was sitting near one of the only two windows in the auditorium which aren’t coloured, frosted glass, listening to the time-old verses: straight through the window was a winter wonderland – so pretty. God said “it’s just for you!” What a lovely birthday gift! J

This church doesn’t have a Christmas Day service, so with the advent wreath, having lit four candles last Sunday, they lit the four again today and then the four people each took their candle from the wreath and lit the “Jesus” candle together. They then relit their four candles and passed through the church with each of our candles being lit by them – very similar to the Easter candle ceremony on Holy Saturday.

Walking to and from the car had to be done carefully: very slippery in parts. Notice the branch down on the pathway:

The trip home was a scene of huge storm damage: the frozen branches, some very large and heavy have been devastated on trees everywhere by the strong wind. Branches are down on streets, some closed off; branches are down on power lines, cutting power to many parts of the area. Malls are in darkness, parking lots empty. Cafes and restaurants are dark and empty - a major tragedy for all retail and food service on the Sunday before Christmas. Many homes have no power for heating or cooking.

We have everything working here; at lunchtime Steve and Dianne gave me a birthday present – Steve had gone out and chosen fabric himself and made me an Amish style apron; there’s a matching pot holder in each pocket. You can see why he chose the pattern:

Frozen tree in the backyard over the frozen clothesline (sorry, it's through a flyscreen).

Dianne and Steve wanted to take me to a museum after lunch but when we arrived there, not only had the police cordoned off that section of road because of fallen branches but the place was in darkness – no power. We heard there are 17000 homes without power tonight: in sub-zero weather, that's not good. 

So we went to Coffee Culture, quite similar to the Cheesecake Factory in style but without the opulence in decor and food. Great cuppa and they actually froth the milk manually, rather than machined milk and froth that most specialist coffee places serve. While we sat there, chunks of ice fell from overhead deposits onto the street – quite enthralling to watch.

Toboggans were out there on the toboggan hill we passed: very cold and damp up there (although it was about 1º degree – a sweltering day!).

When we got home after being shocked at all the damage along the way, we found out that the restaurant that was supposed to provide my birthday dinner was also shut down, without power. However, phone calls revealed another source, so we headed out Del Dente, an Italian restaurant. There were quite a few tables filled when we got there but we got fancy armchairs at a table right in the middle of the dining floor (everyone else had normal straight-back chairs). By the end of the evening (about 9.00) there were only a handful of people left. On a night just before Christmas they should have been very busy but the weather has caused many people to stay home.

The meal was wonderful – bruschetta to die for; bread made in flower pots with herb butter and cinnamon butter; Caesar salad for entrees for Steve and Dianne. Steve had lasagne; Dianne had an amazing eggplant stack; I had a chicken futtucini with wonderful  stuff and was grateful I only ordered a small. We took away 6 little doggy bag boxes. Then out came the “birthday cake” – a flourless chocolate cake slice with cherry port sorbet: squisito!

The streets were much clearer on the way home and some of the ice had melted from parts of the trees. The paths are still icy; it’s -1º at the moment but expected to drop tonight to about -1º I think.

So ended an amazing birthday!