I SNAPPED up these beads from Etsy store Early Bird Creations as posted on the Etsy Victorian Bushfire Appeal store. Go take a peek. There’s so much generosity represented there it’s hard not to get swept up in it all (do watch for that Australian to US currency conversion though, it’s a doozy).

I chose these beads because they’re the colours of fire, and new growth. Fires swept through national parks here a couple of years ago. One firefighter, a volunteer no less, told the paper I work at the temperature at the fire front was 50C. I can’t fathom that kind of heat and the words of those who survived the February 7 fires - fires that killed nearly 200 people in Victoria - can't help but bring a tear to the eye. There are so many stories of fear and desolation and trauma. There’s so much to repair; so many lives to rebuild and new memories to make.

So orange resin and dark timber are, for me, the colours of the fire. The brilliant green is the colour of the new growth that will start to show, very soon.

In the meantime I have a Girl Guide unit's worth of boxed toiletries - plus those donated by work colleagues - to pack and deposit to the driver who is taking them interstate tomorrow.