Thankful to be alive!
I've been thankful for every minute of each day ever since the aftermath of the destructive sub-tropical cyclone that ravished everything in its path, swallowing property and many lives.
It became a cut-off low that developed into a subtropical depression ISSA; not sure if I got that right, but the weather fundis can correct me!
Walking around through our garden today with blue skies all around, it feels quite surreal to think about what happened on that awful night. Our property thankfully was saved; I believe because hubby installed a major stormwater system behind all our retaining walls and used extra reinforcing.
This storm destroyed two properties on the one side of ours and nearly took the life of a young man who thankfully was awake and heard the rumble so ran out as the bricks started falling!
Seeing our neighbours' wrecked cottage is just so heartbreaking, as they had recently refurbished it beautifully and turned it into an Airbnb to help with finances!
Restoration can only begin once the municipality secures the steep bank above the cottage, as the road is above the cottage.
I see the sight of this building crumbling away every time I take a look next door when walking up to our parking area. The owners cannot go near it nor touch anything until the structural engineer has done an assessment, and they then have to wait for the demolishers, as I cannot see anything here being saved.
However, I would like to share more pleasing sights of my garden; some edible and some definitely not, as this was where I was walking today for @tattoodjay's #wednesdaywalk, while he was In Search Of Osprey.
As we live in a subtropical mild climate - except for the possibility of more cyclones now with global warming - plantlife still is lush and green here throughout winter, which is our dry season; perfect time to restore the infrastructure and private properties that's been damaged or destroyed.
I will let you eyes do the walking.
The graceful leaf sprouts of a Tree Fern.
The very attractive Dieffenbachia seguine with spotted leaves actually is poisonous if handled improperly or eaten!
The Pomelo tree is not loaded with fruit as it was last year. This fruit is not as sour as a Lemon, nor as bitter as Grapefruit. It has a ton of juice, is loaded with Vitamin C and makes a refreshing drink by adding ice cold water.
A previous year's crop, absolutely loaded with fruit.
The Tamarillo is a small tree from South America and is commonly called a Tree Tomato. The fruit is delicious, with the flavor almost like passion fruit.
Cherry Tomatoes straight from the plant and the other image shows the tomato flowers.
I have two types of chillies growing in my garden - the pretty one that looks like an ornamental plant, is in fact edible sweet red chillies, and the other smaller one just a common chili, both very hot! No rubbing of your eyes after picking them!
I have to end with #alwaysaflower - a red Hibiscus and a stunning purple Bougainvillea.
And so we come to the end of my walk in our tranquil garden; my hope is that my neighbours will soon have their property restored back to its former glory!
We're given 24 hours each day, and should try to not waste those precious hours complaining about trivial things, but rather look for the beauty around us! Once those hours are gone, we can never retrieve them.
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Seeing your neighbors damage is heart breaking
It’s good your hubby had installed the storm water system and reinforcing
Beautiful images from your property you share with us you clearly out a lot of love and effort to keep it so beautiful
Thanks for joining Wednesday Walk :), I truly enjoy exploring the world virtually each Wednesday seeing walks from all around the globe and feeling I am there and experiencing it all myself, such as I did in your post just now :)
I'm so glad I could do a #wednesdaywalk again, been so engrossed in the Silver Bloggers!
Our other friends who live next door to them, suffered even bigger damage as a massive landslide sliced through half of their home, so they've had to rent a house as those walls were destroyed!
Thankfully everone escaped injury, over 400 did not survive!
I must admit I have been a total slacker with Silver bloggers, I really should check it out more and get more active
The destruction has been vast 😞 @lizelle
Luckily it soared your home.
It’s beautiful to see the garden come alive. The flowers and veggies.
Big hug 🤗
Thank you @littlebee4, we were very fortunate the mudslide did not happen opposite our home!
Hugs back to you🤗
You are welcome @lizelle 😊🤗
Thank you kindly.
hello dear friend @lizelle good afternoon
I am very sorry for the situation you are experiencing there, it is sad to see what happened to your neighbors' home, luckily there is no loss of life.
What a beautiful garden you have, thank you very much for showing us the beauty you have there
have a beautiful afternoon
Thank you so much for your kind message @jlufer, yes it was a miracle they survived.
Their neighbours lost half their home in a second mudslide that night, it was absolutely terrifying.
Yeek, that was horrible for them and still scary for you. Hopefully it gets fixed quickly and another doesn't appear
Oh please don't say that, it was terrifying hearing the thunderous sound when that mudslide took place and hearing the screaming from our neighbours! We fortunately have a dry winter, which is the perfect time to do restoration. Our dream of retiring properly at that little house by the sea has been shattered, as the weather fundis predict these kind of events will become more regular along the coastal regions because of climate change. I think we'll move inland closer to the children but it's freezing there in winter, so what to do is our conundrum 🤔
Climate change is visible all around, I hate it when people refuse to see the signs. It is such a terrible shame. I hope you come up with a good solution that doesn't involve being freezing. Coming from Scotland I feel your pain at the idea of moving somewhere that is cold, yuk
glad that yiu are alive and well and it is so sad that your neighbors house got destroyed and thanks for sharing your beautiful garden with us . stay safe awesome and alive
We are very lucky indeed, there is so much damage everywhere, it's quite unbelievable! Glad you enjoyed the garden @femcy-willcy 😊
You are welcome have a great day @lizelle
A well written story, glad I read it. Although it begins with a frightening incident, it ends with a beauty. May the beauty of life always be with you
Thank you @ojak, glad you enjoyed it. Yes, we should keep our eyes open for the beauty around us!
You're welcome. I like optimism
Fortunately , no one died. We cannot defeat nature. Your home environment is very plasant. The fruits of yr house are amazing. 🎋🌶🍈
How scary Lizelle! I'm so glad your family and your property were spared.