Still no wet season this year.

These are "tumbleweeds" because I don't know what else to call them, you can see they are about a metre in diameter and they roll across the paddocks and pile up against the fences. This is usual for the end of the wet season, but there's been no rain. Evening brings heavy cloud, but no rain.

Cloncurry relies on the annual flowing of the Cloncurry River to fill the dam and supply the town with water - this year it rained a bit in December, and created a few waterholes, but nothing since.


The landscape would normally be starting
to dry off, not being this dry already. These tumbleweeds are amazing to watch when they are picked up by red dust devils and thrown into the air. But they can move fast and are awful if you hit one with the car, they are quite solid.

ANZAC Day 25th April, 2008.

I went to my first ANZAC dawn service today, and I think I'll make it part of the things I do. War is so stupid, and so many young lives are lost - what for? some meglomaniac need for power, revenge or control?

4:30 was a bit daunting, but even though I was in Richmond and there were maybe 35 people there, the airforce had sent in 4 young blokes to do the corner guard stuff, one had been in Iraq. They had an officer with them, and someone to blow the trumpet for the last post.

My photos arn't good but I'll try to upload them.

the local RSL then put on breakfast - sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, sandwiches and LAMINGTONS! much too early for me but I had a coffee, though I declined the tot of rum as I still had to drive home - 500km - and being up so early was going to make it tough enough.

Over a million young lives were lost world wide in WW1, even if only 10 people grieved for each of them that is so much sadness and such loss.

Quilts progress and speeding journeys

It seems I shouldn't upload photos then wait a week to add the text, two of the photos are visiable and two have reverted to the little "X" thingy! I'll try again!

There were to be the next two stages of Jess's Japanese Quilt. I now suspect it is going to be very "busy" I found I didn't have enough material to make 25 x 7" blocks for the 50 half triangles, so I used two fabrics, I don't have high hopes for this quilt, it's kept me guessing right from the start.

This week I finished making the Dresden plates for Mum's quilt and I now have about 3 weeks to get it all together and hand quilt it - I doubt that will happen but I will have something for her.

there should also be two photos of the anthills! Darn - I just deleted the one that was visable, while trying to delete the others - oh well back to my other computer - which is dialup - ok new thought maybe I should do the transfer to memory stick and up load using my laptops broadband. I'm slowly getting the hang of switching information from one computer to another when they hold different programs.

These anthills are taken 20km east of Mt Isa - I know the exact location because after getting a speeding ticket, I sat on the speed limit and the journey was sooooo long I was loosing concentration so I pulled up and decided that taking a few photos would re-centre me.

I love the colours.

April already!

April Already.

My weeks continue to race by, although I seem to have slowed down, my days are fully booked and there's always work for tomorrow. This last week I travelled to Julia Creek and Richmond.

and I thought I'd add a map but technology has me defeated today. I made a great map using Google Maps but it won't let me copy it!

So here is someone else's map that shows the shire boundaries. Mt isa to Richmond is about 600km and around the halfway to Townsville point. The blue bit at the top is the gulf and the line on the left is the Northern territory border.

This weekend is the Julia Creek "Dirt and Dust" Festival, they expected around 3,000 visitors and with the usual population around 600 people on a day when the station people are in town this is a huge difference.

http://www.dirtndust.com/index.htm

Even at the beginning of the week, there were cars parked in the mainstreet and no bread or milk available, I think the locals were stocking up. On Friday as I came back from Richmond I stopped in at the hospital at Julia Creek to see a client and as I headed out of town about 20 kms out I saw a police car coming towards me, I wasn't at all worried I was sitting on around 110, then darn - he flashed his lights and pulled me over. I always sit on 110 ok, maybe 115km, between Cloncurry and Richmond the roads are straight and the view is endless. it's a 6hr drive and I'm heading home. I admitted to 110, which is the speed limit for most of the way - but darn I was in a 100km zone and doing 112. So annoyed - it feels such a waste of $100. I'm sure they were revenue raising with the crowds expected in Julia Creek, as they were from the Cloncurry traffic section and a long way from home. Usually I hardly see another vehicle let alone a police car.

But I did see some beautiful eagles, a whole mob of emus with the little ones trying hard to keep up and the grasses have red seed heads so as far as the eye can see is this mass of deep oche grasslands.

The size of these eagles is amazing - I used this photo to show the size they are. I had an encounter with two on a dirt road going out to a station. the road is one lane width, and there was a road kill the eagles thought belonged to them and they weren't going to give it up despite my need to pass. I revved the engine, having had to come to a stop, tooted and all they deigned was to regally look along the bonnet at me and continue with their dinner. It was me who gave up and took to the scrub to get round them.