Col Maybury was motoring along Les Darcy Drive at South Maitland on Sunday when he spotted some kids to his left.
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"We were just going past. I said to my mate who was driving, 'Hey look at those kids - they're playing in the water at Louth Park'," Col said.
"I waved to the kids. They waved back, then they put on a show for me."
That youngster on the board is doing well there. Could be a future water ski champion, we reckon. And just look at that dog.
Carping On
Meanwhile, Col tells us his eight Japanese koi carp are much happier after the weekend's rain.
Before the rain, their pond was only about 60 millimetres deep.
"Their dorsal fins have been out of the water when they were feeding," Col said.
Since the downpour, the pond is now about three-quarters of a metre deep.
"I noticed them on Sunday diving down to the bottom and coming back up and breaking the surface and diving back down to the bottom again.
"They had such pleasure with the nice fresh water there."
But what if the water had become any shallower before the rain?
It's possible Col may have found a way to fill the pond that fits in with water restrictions.
But Topics did wonder whether he might have instead fancied some koi fillets for dinner.
"Koi fillets would be good, except that they're bottom feeders," Col said.
"They feed in the mud, so they mightn't taste that good.
"But I've always said if things get real bad, that one's called Monday, that one's Tuesday and so on through to Sunday."
One Drought Broken
Is the drought broken? Not quite, but it feels like a good start.
Another kind of drought, though, was broken in Newcastle on Sunday. In beating Central Coast Mariners 4-3, Newcastle Jets broke a nine-game winless streak.
The crowd was a few thousand down on the season average, but 4151 souls did brave the elements. True fans, those.
It's A Sign
We're not sure where this photo of an electronic sign was taken, but it's probably fair to say it could only happen in Australia.
The Rural Fire Service tweeted a picture of the Know Your Bushfire Plan sign on Sunday night, jesting: "OK. May not get our deposit back on that sign".
"We are loving the rain - but please stay safe during this wild weather."
Fire and Flood
This from Merewether's Elaine Street: "A friend of mine reminded me this morning that the present weather forecast is similar to the Australian weather pattern of the 1955 Maitland flood, 65 years ago".
A land of fire and flood, aye.
