Another hot season is upon us, earlier and hotter, and a time for us to be on our toes. Fires rage in Western Australia and Victoria, and we are up for a few hot days at the beginning of next week.

Meanwhile, there are lots to look forward to, despite the dreadful news items coming from overseas. Some things that we are sad about last year, have continued, and despite best efforts, don’t seem to have an end.

The Red Cross Garden Party takes place in a couple of weeks, and it is already booked out. Sophie Thomson will again be our guest speaker, and she is always great fun.

The MP Community Association will again be holding a ‘Meet Your Neighbours’ event in the CWA Garden on the 23rd February. Last year was the first time we had held such an event, and we were so pleased with the outcome and reaction from many members of our community, that we resolved to hold more of the same style of event. We would like to encourage anyone who is new (or newish) to our community to pop along and have a lovely morning tea, and chat with members of the Community Association - but more importantly - meet your neighbours! The event is free, but any donation is welcomed. Also - if the weather is not kind to us, we’ll be in the Hall - with the airconditioning going! (Unless of course, it is a designated Catastrophic Day, and it will be postponed.) Even if you came last year, please feel free to come again.

A couple of us attended the Tilt Renewables workshop at Tungkillo last night, where we discussed the contribution the project would be making to the community in the form of grants. There were many ideas discussed - and a few categories that would best help the local communities, and there will be more information about this released further down the track. This won’t be an overnight process, but the good thing is that we will have the time to consult with our communities and possibly put some strategies and plans in place to get the most out of this that will benefit our communities for a long time to come.

Anyhow - one of my New Year’s resolutions was to make more time to write blogs and give out news to the community its in as many ways as I could this year. Let’s hope it lasts!

There are groups around the district putting together essential information for locals, there will be links added to pages and information dispersed. Hopefully it will be kept up-to-date, and we won’t have to do this for too much longer.

I’ve added a page with quarantine information, that details what I’ve found about those local businesses that are still providing a service.

I also added one called Things to do in quarantine, that has some links on it with some Quite Interesting stuff (that I’ll add to the Quite Interesting page when this is all over).

Sophie Thomson - who has been a great supporter of our local Red Cross branch for nearly thirty years and is a well known Gardening Australia presenter - has put up some videos on establishing gardens. If you are a novice, it’s a great way to get some solid, practical advice.

Maggie Beer has also filmed some videos and I’ve included a link. Taste Australia is a great website to find recipes, and Jamie Oliver’s children also have their own videos.

Keeping your body active is a must. There are some simple things you can do that will assist, and I’ve added a link from Britain’s NHS, which has some good ideas and practical advice.

Clearly you need to keep your brain engaged and there are some really good links from Australia Reads to TED Talks. TED talks particularly cover topics as varied as the design of flags, to housing, to charity, to comedy. The list goes on. Dr Karl is an Australian icon, and he has a great page with information on all sorts of subjects - including COVID-19.

All through this and trying to keep positive is the real fear that so many of our small businesses may never recover, and that makes me sad, not only for those who have worked so hard, but also for our local economy. I am sure w’ll all do our part and support them as much as we can.

It’s a beautiful day for a picnic in the garden.