Friday, March 04, 2011

I'm b-a-a-a-a-c-k!!!!

I finally have internet again --
It's been so frustrating having to log on to E's computer and use mail2web which keeps timing out. Even more frustrating were my phone conversations with Telstra, but that's all a thing of the past now. Hope you've all been having fun while I was away. We've been very busy cleaning up after Yasi and of course, I still had to get on with my next book.

Since the cyclone, the guineas have not gone back in their pen, but they seem happy to roam around on our block and not to wander off to bother neighnours, so we love having them. (That funny looking thing in the foreground is E's special Argentian barbecue and smoker).

They've even had friends over to play...
And they roost in one of our trees.
Our monthly trip back to Townsville was sobering as we had to drive through all the country devastated by Yasi. I think it's no exaggeration to say that from Innisfail to Ingham (takes about three and a half hours to drive) there's not a tree untouched.
This is typical of beautiful country that used to be famously, lush and green. We know it will recover. It recovered after Larry -- but it took five years -- and then this happened again. Still, I think I prefer cyclones to floods and earthquakes. What a terrible start to 2011.
Hope things are better in your part of the world.

2 comments:

2paw said...

Glad you are back. It has just been a dreadful start to the year. makes me glad I live where I live!!
Oh those lucky fowls, having play dates!!
The positive thing about the tropics is that everything does grow back at lightning speed!!

Anne said...

Barbara, so lovely to have you back on line and with us again. We've missed you.

I know the bush regenerates, but still, it's devastating to see. I remember driving down to Lorne the Monday after the Ash Wednesday bushfires many years ago, and for most of the way everything was black, all the land, all the vegetation, just charred and lifeless-looking. The only colour was the blue of sky and sea and a thin strip of bright, clean golden sand. It made me weep to think of the lush beauty that had been destroyed.

It rained most of that week-- I was there for work -- and when I drove back on the weekend there was the thinnest, most delicate veil of green over everything. That made me cry, too.