Gratitude 30: Tree of Creativity

A tree of creativity, flourishing with ideas and joys :-)

Gratitude 29: Book Browsing

I had every intention of browsing potential presents. Instead a number of books were calling my name... So plaintively, irresistibly...

Gratitude 28: Friday!!

That mysterious spring in one's step which appears on Fridays... Often as one nears the end of the workday...

Gratitude 27: A Hint of a Direction

Gratitude 26: The Late-Night Inspirational Book

Gratitude 25: Thinking Hard for that Breakthrough

Concentrating hard until you get that triumphant lightbulb "A-HA!!" moment. 

Gratitude 24: Treasure

Gratitude 23: A Veritable Feast

Lovely food, all made with love.

Just ignore the tempura-shrimp-shaped knife and trident that seem to be the only eating utensils available :-)

Gratitude 22: Doing a Vegie Shop

Yum!! :-)

Gratitude 21: Feeding a Pigeon

I stalked this pigeon halfway across the train station as it grooved along oblivious to me. I eventually got close enough to toss down some little breadcrumbs that the pigeon then pounced onto with matter-of-fact relish. 

Gratitude 20: Enjoy the Sun

All cardigans, jumpers, shawls or scarves were in hiding today. 

Gratitude 19: Writing to a Friend

It is much easier to draw a figure writing a letter than it is to draw someone tapping on a smartphone, in order to convey the act of communicating with a friend. 

Gratitude 18: Handed in some Reports due

It was nice to submit a number of reports all around the same time! It results in a few nice desk-clearing moments. 

This drawing is how I imagine the reports look  jetting off to their destination in cyberspace...

Gratitude 16: Compliments

I received a number of compliments on Twitter - as in, genuinely thoughtful and lovely compliments about my writing! 

The compliments were unexpected and contained wholehearted praise. To make it even better, they all came out of the blue, right on the heels of a crippling patch of self-doubt - which made them all the more wonderful!! I am very grateful to these generous folk in the FridayPhrases community!

(And no, I'm not repeating them here ;-p You can plough through my Twitter timeline if you really, really, really want to see them ;-)

Gratitude 15: Running in the Sun

With happy Yipsters!

Gratitude 14: Dodging Fire

Friday 14Nov14 was hot. Very hot. 40+ degrees with winds. A bushfire started in the lower Blue Mountains (Warrimoo).  

At 3:30, I received a call from a fellow-Mountains-residing work colleague letting me know about the bushfire, and also that the highway was either closed or partly closed. I passed on the message to all my fellow Mountains residents in my building, and there was an early mass departure that had nothing to do with it being a Friday. 

The highway is the main road in and out of the Mountains, and for the most part, the railway lines align with the highway so trains were also affected. 

A lovely friend gave me a lift on the only alternate road up the Mountains (dotted line), which joined the back onto the highway above the fires, at Springwood. 

From the alternate route, we could see the smoke from the fires rising impossibly thick and high, with two helicopters looking like tiny mosquitos as they hovered above. 

We saw first hand, that the police had blocked off the highway at Springwood, funnelling a large backlog of drivers onto the alternate route to either continue their journey or to do a u-ey (Aussie expression for a u-turn). 

There were hundreds at the Springwood train station, unable to go any further down the Mountains. I can only imagine similar numbers were waiting at Glenbrook (at the bottom of the Mountains) on the other side of the fire. 

A train was waiting as though just for me. You'll appreciate of course that the regular timetables had been thrown into chaos. But anyway, the warning whistle went as I got onto the platform and I dived inelegantly for the nearest door. The train which left immediately and we slid smoothly towards the Upper Mountains. 

So thanks to a lovely friend who gave me a lift, and the perfectly-timed train, I wasn't at all affected by the bushfire, and count myself as enormously fortunate. 

I'm happy to say also that, within a couple of hours, the amazing firies had done enough to keep the fire away from the highway and train lines to allow them to be re-opened. Hopefully everyone would have gotten home with only a couple of hours' delay - which, under chaotic and unpredictable bushfire circumstances - is amazing. 

Thoughts are with those in the Warrimoo and Blaxland areas, who had to be temporarily evacuated, but who were allowed back within a day. Hopefully the bushfire will remain contained and will peter out...

Gratitude 13: When the Sun comes Out

Gratitude 12: Grooving Inside

Not sure if it's clear but this is meant to depict travel on a train. 

And the internal grooving to the music in the headphones hidden beneath the calm exterior...

Gratitude 11: Hot Chocky!

Yummy. 

Gratitude 10: Saying Goodbye

A lovely colleague and friend is starting a new position tomorrow. Wishing her all the best and very excited for her (cause she's brilliant) but I still reserve the right to over-react ;-)