What a difference a year makes.

I can only watch from afar, the devastation greater than I can fathom.

Using numbers doesn’t help me understand the magnitude when it’s ten and one hundred times bigger than my closest reference. And even that I cannot comprehend.

How do I explain this? How do I tell others that what I saw, is now gone? How do I explain this to my five year old?

I can only imagine. The green is black. The blue hazy sky, red and brown in desolation. The smell of eucalyptus, now charred remains. The taste of fruity wine and savoury cheeses, distant memories. The fur I touched, the animals I met gone… I can’t even…

People died. Businesses are at risk. The people I love are safe, unharmed but scarred. And for that I am overjoyed. But joy is mixed with shock.

They point fingers now. Denying leaders disappeared and everyone lays the blame at someone’s feet. Praying for rain, and realizing maybe the world should take notice, lest it be too late.

Still others rush in to help, as the fire rages on. Volunteers support the volunteers who put their lives at risk, no time off from the fight.

With winter at my door, it’s hard to fathom the utter devastation, until I see the pictures in the news. Places I’ve been, destroyed.

If you can, please support the rural fire fighters. They need all the help they can get.

For other ways you can help, here is a list of places to donate.