Posted on by Debbie

Cyclone Debbie – Musings on a Monday

Welcome to my weekly Monday Musings – a summary of things going on in my world and the world at large

It’s Monday again (already?) here in the Land of Oz and my recent musings have been overshadowed by a few dreadful events.

There’s the headlines about Cyclone Debbie which is heading towards the North Queensland coast.  Thankfully I have never experienced a cyclone and I feel for those now trying to prepare for this destructive weather phenomenon.

The other awful event in London was scary, as like many other travellers, my family and I have walked that very same area on numerous occasions. My heart goes out to those caught up in the London attack.

Riding around London
Loved riding in London

These two events one of a natural disaster, and the other man-made, make me stop and think about life.  I have decided that we have very little control over things and need to enjoy, more than ever it seems, the life we have.  It might not be perfect or comfortable at times, it can be very stressful and demanding but we have to make the most of it. In a recent post I wrote in response to the weekly photo challenge of Green, I used this  photo of my own backyard. I cherish my home and my family and I am very lucky to live the life I do.

I shared the photo on my Facebook page with this update:  Living here is the best! Life is so precarious at times, it’s good to get out and soak up the views in your own backyard, especially when it looks like this! How lucky are we to live where we live?  

I decided that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side and I love the green, green grass of home.  Sometimes we don’t appreciate what we have in our own backyard, but the older I get the more I am understanding this age-old adage.

Have you seen the movie London Has Fallen? Not the best movie to watch the day after the attack in London, which I confess to doing.  It was very scary!

I am also trying not to stress about things at the moment!  I found this quote and decided it sums me up perfectly:

Cyclone Debbie

I’m very sorry my name has been used to name a cyclone.  I live nowhere near the area which will be affected by Cyclone Debbie but due to the media I am kept up to date as to how those in North Queensland are preparing to cope over the next few days.  I can’t imagine how they must be feeling.

I have always wondered how they name storms and I found the answer in the article below.  I love the fact that if a storm has a female name then it could be taken as less threatening??  Where do these people do their research??  I was really interested to read the information on how storm events are named, I knew about the alphabetical listing but some of the other info was new to me.  Did you know some of this stuff?

Do others have similar thoughts about their name being used for such destructive weather events?

Research showing female-named storms seen as less threatening ‘worth considering’

Cyclone names: a complex system

…..giving a cyclone a name was no simple matter, and could be quite political.

Until 1975 all cyclones in Australia were given female names, but to mark the International Women’s Year male names were added to the list, because the then Science Minister thought that both sexes “should bear the odium of the devastation caused by cyclones”.

About seven years ago Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology came up with a list of 105 cyclone names it decided it would rotate through.

This system would see the names alternate between being male or female, and continue through a list of names that begin with a new letter of the alphabet each time.

But that system has also caused problems, with some saying the list did not have enough multicultural names, so other names were added about three years ago…

For reasons of cultural sensitivity in using the names of Indigenous people who have died, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names are not used.

To avoid confusion over major storms, if a large cyclone becomes well known its name is permanently retired, so there will be no other Cyclone Tracy’s for instance.

Here are some articles about the cyclone and its path.

Cyclone Debbie forces coastal evacuations in north Queensland communities ahead of tidal surge

Cyclone Debbie turns towards coast, likely to strengthen to category four

On a lighter note, I’m visiting my youngest daughter soon and she has alluded to her own ‘Cyclone Debbie’ arriving 🙂

Blog Birthday:

Just the other day I was advised by WordPress that I was celebrating my 5 year blog anniversary.  Apparently I registered my blog 5 years ago!  I admit to deleting my early posts and only got into regular blogging a while after this.  But still it’s something worth celebrating which I did with this post in response to the Daily Post prompt Ordinary  – Just another ordinary day or something a bit special

Mondays are for musings and I hope you have learnt something from today’s offerings, I know I have!

Thanks for coming along!  I’d love to hear your thoughts on a Monday if you’d like to share 🙂

Take care and have a lovely week.

Deb 🙂

My About me  page is up to date and you can also follow Deb’s World on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook, if you are so inclined 🙂

 

33 Replies to “Cyclone Debbie – Musings on a Monday”

  2. A lovely musings on Monday; having lived in Brisbane for just over a year now, and I know we are a long way from the FNQ coast where ‘Debbie’ is due to hit, the air feels full of anticipation today. Isn’t it amazing how much information is available about the cyclone and how much warning can be provided these days? Having lived in South Australia for 11 years and the Summer threat of bush fires, we didn’t have that luxury of knowing so far in advance that a disaster was imminent. Great photo too!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. I love your regular gratitude, Debbie … and am very inspired by it!
    You also inspired me to look up ‘Cyclone Donna’. What I found was the devastating ‘Hurricane Donna’ off the East Coast of the US (especially Florida) in 1960. Interesting fact to know!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  4. HI Deb, I found out about the cyclone up north this morning and too was a tad concerned about the p0wers that be giving OUR name to a cyclone. a list they cycle through? i never thought that all the Tracey’s might be peeved after Darwin, until just now. I must say I dont much like it. I wonder how this habit of personalizing or humanizing cyclones came from anyhow? and weird ‘they’ found that female names are less destructive. anyhow lets hope the cyclone, whatever its name, doesnt cause too much damage. happy monday! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Glad you feel the same way about our babe being used in this way!! I learnt a lot from my research. Hopefully it isn’t too destructive and everyone comes through it safely. Happy Monday to you too 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. I love the photo of your back yard. It reminds me of the landscape of northern Maine where I grew up. Big sky, wide open spaces and lush trees/green (in the summer of course!) I hope there isn’t too much damage/harm from the cyclone.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. It is an amazing place to live and I am so lucky to call it home. I do love to travel but it’s always nice to come home too. Hoping the cyclone doesn’t do too much damage up north – it must be a scary thing to go through.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. I have a daughter named Debbie and felt much the same when I first heard of Cyclone Debbie! Thanks for sharing some of your research into cyclone names. Fascinating. Your backyard looks wonderful and could easily be a backyard in South Africa where I am. Thanks for your Monday Musings – I love the idea.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks Shirley, I’m glad you can relate to what I was saying about Cyclone Debbie! I’m glad my photo hit a chord with you, I love living here with the big sky and paddocks and space around me. South Africa is a lovely place too. Feel free to join in with me on Monday Musings!

      Like

      Reply

  9. Loved your quote about stress. Reminded me of growing up. My mother would eat peanut butter crackers when she was stressed about her children being out. Once, I found her at the dining room table eating peanut butter crackers and asked why because all her children were home, there was nothing to stress eat about. And in classic mother fashion, she told me she was worried about the things were were going to do.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  10. Really enjoyed your Musings Debbie and despite all of the ‘bad’ happening in the world (especially our own back yard in Nth Queensland) we still need to find the good in life – otherwise what is the point. Where would we be without the BOM radar images? Life is too short so I agree appreciate our home and loved ones that is the most important things in life anything else is a bonus. Have a great week. xx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  11. Pingback: Share Your World – March 27 2017 – Deb's World

  12. You, lovely Debbie are nothing like a cyclone. If you are sny form of air movement it would be a motivating fresh sort of breeze….nothing lime a destructive cyclone! It’s terrible what’s happening in QLD. I LOVE the stress quote. I’m about to pinch it. I’ve been on leave for a week and got called by work about the most inconsequential thing and I preceded to stress and worry so I did 5 mins od mindfulness, blocked my colleague’s number on my personal phone then went for a run!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Aww you’ve made my day with your lovely comment! I’m glad to hear you’ve blocked the number and practised some mindfulness exercises and went for a run- good for you! Now sit back out and enjoy your break. I’ve just been out for a short training run and enjoyed it. Thanks so much for your positive thoughts.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  13. Stay safe! I love the view of your backyard. The stress quote reminds me of myself. And Happy Blogiversary! Thanks Deb for sharing this post at the #WednesdayAIMLinkParty. I shared it on social media.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  14. Pingback: Melbourne fun – Musings on a Monday – Deb's World
  15. Pingback: Wednesday AIM Link Party #11 – Grammy's Grid
  17. Pingback: A Surprise find – Deb's World
  18. Pingback: Musings on a Monday from Murwillumbah – Deb's World

  19. Last year made us British folk stop! Take stock and reassess. As I am sure an awful lot of folks from all walks of life did. Cyclone Debbie looked scary but your posative vibe and the quote are enough to reassure me all will be alright with the world. Positivity and mindfulness go a long way to help. #ThrowbackThursday tweeted this and happy Easter.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Let's keep the conversation going...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog at WordPress.com.
%d bloggers like this: