Victorian bushfires a sad reason for Australia to be in the spotlight

Wherever you turn in Australia right now, there's bushfire news. And with good reason, because the fires in Victoria are the worst in recorded history. Yesterday when I woke up, they were saying the death toll could go to 200; now they're saying it could be 300. That's without thinking about the hundreds of homes that have been destroyed.

Yesterday I had to blog about the bushfires for Jaunted.com - way over there in the United States, my editor had put the topic first on my schedule for the week. I struggled to write something about the bushfires in just a paragraph and as soon as I'd sent the piece off, I went to the Australian Red Cross site and donated my earnings (and a bit more) to their Victorian Bushfire Appeal. I've also heard that you can donate at Bunnings and Myers stores here and that on Friday, Coles supermarkets will donate their profits so there are plenty of ways to help out.

Blogger friends of mine from around the world have been talking about our bushfires. Ex-pat Heath in London wrote about them; world traveller Gary Arndt wrote about the issue philosophically; and Nora from The Professional Hobo had the scariest report of all, as she was evacuated from her newest accommodation in Victoria just after moving out of a farm that's believed to have been destroyed by the fires. I hope she's safe.