Ditto here. After Sunday's spectacular autumn beauty, we got about an inch of cool rain overnight. Now it's a cloudy 55F/12C.

Our first frost comes October 7 on average; this year it will be a bit later. First frost is expected this upcoming weekend.

Good to know you don't readily get flooding, IlF.

Saying that I would freeze to death during the uk winter.

Or in a Canadian one. No worries: we'd make sure you were warm and cozy.

I've experienced 42C but didn't enjoy it at all. I'm sure I'm one of those who would melt under your hot weather, IloveFauns. Give me 50F/10C anytime of the year!

Hear-hear! And, you know, I have often wondered if I would be as much of a polar bear if I had grown up in the deep south. Who knows?

I do have a sugar maple that has one branch with a vivid red to it while the rest of the tree is still holding on to it's green.

We have some like that here. The trees I especially love are the ones who have such a lovely shape, whose colour begins to turn at the very top, and almost daily we can see the beauty move down its fullness. Simply gorgeous! As I am typing here, there are two outside my window now doing just that. ♥

Sounds beautiful, fantasia!

We are now rapidly approaching the middle of October... what is the temperature? 75 degrees!

Yep! Since what we had of spring was so late this year, our autumn timeline has been pushed back as well. And while it has not been quite that warm here recently, Gen, the temperature is, on average, 5° warmer than usual. So, we have not yet had any number of those really crisp fall days that are so grand. Like my MN friends, we here in southern Ontario have usually experienced the peak of colours by now. It's close, but not quite yet. Looking at the Niagara escarpment, there is still a beautiful mix of green in all the reds, yellows, and oranges. From the Fall Colour Report, anywhere from 35 - 75% colour change has taken place, whereas places in the Bruce Peninsula a few hours north of us have just passed the peak. We are hoping to travel up there next week, so there should still hopefully be a bit of autumnal beauty left.

Rain has been plentiful, along with sunny days. Everything is so lush! The only time our grass had a hint of brown in this summer was in early September when we had our longest spell with no precipitation. Usually that comes in July, but this year was a vastly different story. On Friday our temperatures are dropping to seasonal (yay) with great hiking/campfire/stargazing/apple-picking/leaf-colour enjoyment weather firmly in place. Hoping for a frost soon (none as yet, which is unusual), but that also means I have to keep a close eye on all my plants, especially the hibiscus, which will not tolerate that cold nip, so need to be removed indoors as soon as there is any hint of Jack.

Bush fires over east and and it has gone back to winter weather where I am. Honestly yesterday was fantastic as was the 2 days before. Please decide on the season already. Today it was windy and raining. I would of gave New south wales our rain if I could.

Thanks ILF, we need it out east. Yesterday was beautiful, but there is only so much beautiful anyone can take. We went for an excursion on Sydney Harbour at its most picturesque. There was even one of those tall ships being led out of the harbour by a tugboat, a leftover from last week's navy jollities with Prince Harry as guest speaker.

Today was horrendous, with bushfires surrounding Sydney, in the Hunter, Blue Mountains, Central Tablelands and Illawarra regions. Everything is so dry that it isn't funny. No rain much since winter. At least Perth in the west isn't drought-stricken for once.

There was even one of those tall ships being led out of the harbour by a tugboat

Whew! What a sight to see! That must have been very impressive. Did you get any photos?

It's FINALLY starting to feel fallish here. Our high for today is 57 degrees (about 13 Celsius). Gonna break out the scarves for the first day of the season today

No, unfortunately, Digory Kirke. Or, at least, I took a couple of photos on my mobile phone, which I'm awkward with, and so they didn't come out very well. The tug & the ship were framed by Sydney Harbour Bridge from where we were, some distance away. There were no sails on the masts of the Tall ship. I'd have loved to have seen the flotilla of warships and all the sailing ships the previous week, but both hubby and I have been ill, so we didn't get to go, after all. The week before that, husband had been in hospital with suspected heart trouble, whilst I have been in a lot of pain with arthritis, which makes it harder for me to walk.

We did get to see some of the festivities on TV. As well as a fireworks display, there was a laser show commemorating the centenary of the Australian navy, & using the sails of the Opera House as a screen. Prince Harry represented his grandmother, and both the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, and the Prime Minister were present, on HMAS Leeuwin. There were Australian ships, of course, but there were many from several other countries as well, according to the lift-out in the Daily Telegraph. It seems there were ships from New Zealand, UK, France, Spain, Papua Niugini, China, Japan, Singapore & Indonesia, and yes, there was one ship from USA.

The group we were to go with the previous Wednesday, didn't go to the Botanical gardens as planned, originally. Instead, they got a very good view of all the ships by catching one of the Harbour ferries, and having an impromptu harbour cruise.

Yesterday's bushfires have died down, as have the higher temperatures we have been having. But still there is not even a hint of rain. Meanwhile I'm worried about people we know who live in some of the worst affected parts of the Blue Mountains, not at all far away. At one point, the bushfires leapt over the Nepean River, coming within 6 km from where I am now.

Oh my, those bush fires are awful, wagga. In an opposite vein, though, your excursion to Sydney Harbour sounds delightful!

Please decide on the season already.

We can relate to that here in the past few weeks, although finally we have reached the turning point. Any mugginess has disappeared and the air is filled with that glorious autumnal crispness. Up until today, we had been 4 or 5° (Celsius) above average, but now we're hitting normal temperatures, which are around 11C/nearly 52F, but at night, down to 4 or 5C/39 or 41F. Now, that's living!

Loving my early morning walks with the brilliant starry sky above.

And, just heard this morning we could be receiving wet flurries next week! Very cool. Literally.

Unbelievably, it's snowing! Well, sort of. There are clumps of snow mixed in with the rain, and it's certainly not sticking to the ground. It's not unusual for us to not see snow til January, so this is kind of funny. We'll be back in the 60Fs again tomorrow.

Wow. . . lucky you! I wish we had some snow. We're still in the heinous stretch of infernal sunshine. Where are my nice cloudy, cold, dreary autumn days?

People from small countries. Sometime don't understand the vast spaces between places with in the same country(like we have in Aus and the USA). I have people asking me if my house survived the bush fires and it is pouring outside. This goes with travelling distances. They are so surprised when I saw I live close to perth and than say I don't when I say it is an hour and a half away.

Yes Wagawaga we are not in drought here in south-west for once. It is great for the farmer I guess. I am not a huge out door person so I don't mind at all.

IlF, I know what you mean. Australia is the sixth largest country in the world in terms of area, following Russia, Canada, United States, China, and Brazil. But on some maps it doesn't look all that big. India is the seventh biggest country.

When in UK, in a small town called Silchester, we stopped at the rather small local mobile library to ask about the Roman ruins and any museums at that place. We met a bloke with a handlebar moustache & plus fours who wanted to know if we had as large and fine a mobile library in Australia. Maybe he thought we had kangaroos employed at Australian libraries, delivering books from their pouches or something.

He wanted to know if we knew some relative or other of his who lived at Narooma or Nambucca Heads, I forget which. I live near Sydney, Narooma is a good four or five hours away south, Nambucca Heads is even further in the opposite direction, and I've done no more than pass through either destination once or twice.

Then there was the bloke in York who told us tourists of how he wanted to take a taxi from Brisbane to Cairns to look up some friends or relatives. Much to his surprise and amazement, the Brisbane taxi driver took him to the airport and said he'd collect him from there in a couple of days' time. One day to get up there, one day to do his visiting, the third day to return. The bloke in York hadn't realised just how far Cairns is from Brisbane, and he wondered why we fell about laughing at the mere idea of taking a taxi so far.

On the other hand, the bushfires, which decided to get a long way worse, have flared up again, and they are rather too close for my liking. It is smoky outside from the fires at Springwood and Winmalee, and doesn't do much for my health at the moment.

Wagga, they showed some pictures of Sydney harbor tonight on the evening news. The smoke clouds overhead had turned the sky blood red. . . it was quite impressive, albeit ominous! Hoping that these fires can be quenched soon by some spring rains.

Impressive indeed! I've also seen satellite pictures showing the smoke from the fires blowing to the southeast, over Sydney out over the ocean.

The accompanying article talked about the heat (over 30C there). Kind of hard to imagine that right now, with the season's first snow expected here tonight.

Yes, the glow would be seen in Sydney and from space. The smoke extended 50 km to Sydney, with fires at Lithgow and Mt Victoria over 50 km in the opposite direction. The smoke was so thick that the sun was red this morning, and visibility was low for the helicopters going to fight the fires. I'm supposed to stay at home indoors since I get asthma.

The temperatures were a bit lower today, and the weather calmer, so we spent it cleaning up. The fires aren't over yet. On Wednesday we are faced with temperatures of nearly 40 degrees Celsius, and high winds as well. The fireys are terrified that some of these fires might join up as 17 are still out of control, especially around Lithgow, and closer at hand at Springwood & Winmalee. Whilst there were more than 80 fires across the state yesterday, there are now about 60 left. No rain in sight, though we might get a drop or two later in the week. I think I will clean the car tomorrow. That might hurry along the rain.

Enjoy the snow for me, please? Oddly, Thredbo, in the South of NSW, near Mt Kosciuszko, got quite heavy snow and low temperatures of 6 degrees C last Thursday, whilst we were baking in 34 degrees C.

IlF,
He wanted to know if we knew some relative or other of his who lived at Narooma or Nambucca Heads, I forget which. I live near Sydney, Narooma is a good four or five hours away south, Nambucca Heads is even further in the opposite direction, and I've done no more than pass through either destination once or twice.

Then there was the bloke in York who told us tourists of how he wanted to take a taxi from Brisbane to Cairns to look up some friends or relatives. Much to his surprise and amazement, the Brisbane taxi driver took him to the airport and said he'd collect him from there in a couple of days' time. One day to get up there, one day to do his visiting, the third day to return. The bloke in York hadn't realised just how far Cairns is from Brisbane, and he wondered why we fell about laughing at the mere idea of taking a taxi so far.

On the other hand, the bushfires, which decided to get a long way worse, have flared up again, and they are rather too close for my liking. It is smoky outside from the fires at Springwood and Winmalee, and doesn't do much for my health at the moment.

Ha just thinking of the fare of taking a taxi that far.

whether here has been great. I wish it would stay like this for the whole year but no it will not.

I have heard the bush fires in nsw were deliberately lit. I can not understand why these idiots do such things when they know the fire danger in nsw at this time of year. They have seen previous years and what has happened. It drives me insane and the ruin of peoples homes and even lives they cause for no reason.