BRILLIANT blue skies can be deceiving.

They charm you, convincing you that the weather outside is more hospitable than it is.

Those crystal clear days are, in fact, the most bitterly cold in an Ontarian winter and the times when you're driven indoors by minus 30C wind chills.

They were also the toughest for me living in Toronto, Canada - days when I would long for my native Queensland.

I'd console myself on those days by dreaming bucolic thoughts of home: the warmth; the space; jacarandas; kookaburras foretelling of rain; the view from Picnic Point looking over the Lockyer Valley.

And when things got really desperate, even memories of the languid heat of the middle of summer and sticky flies could make my heart sing.

Love for my Canadian husband took me to Toronto, and our careers kept us there for all these years.

Work was rewarding, we were able to duck down to New York for weekends and I discovered the joys of post-season baseball as well as the perennial disappointment that comes with being a Maple Leafs fan.

But Toowoomba courses through my veins, and I wanted to bring my family home to the good life.

And so, after years of working in news in Toronto, I'm back.

I began my reporting career at The Chronicle, and I'm immensely pleased to be back in its newsroom as the Deputy Editor.

I believe in the Darling Downs and the stories to be told; that this is an exciting, energised part of the world where perplexing, tragic, unscrupulous, sensational events are unfolding.

I look forward to telling those stories.

So be in touch and share your news tips with me: news@thechronicle.com.au