Consider the long now.

I like the idea of a clock that will run for 10,000 years.

One is being built in West Texas.

It is programmed to play a different tune each day for 10,000 years -if someone is there to wind up the mechanism and occasionally if no-one winds it up.

It would be worth making a pilgrimage to hear a tune that will never be repeated.

Upper Middle Bogan

I was watching this comedy show on TV- usually a good diversion. 

But one episode really grabbed me. A younger character composed a tribute to his hero, another character who could be described as an idiot.

The hero was considered to be happy-

1) He had something to do - his job.

2) He looked forward to something - drag racing.

3) People loved him - his family

Thuringowa City

Thuringowa City is no more. 

Years ago Thuringowa City was amalgamated with Townsville City and the name Thuringowa is just the name of a suburb and a street. It is a pity that the name Townsville was not the one to go.

Townsville does not make sense. It means town-village. Townsville is also the fictional joke name of the town where the cartoon characters The Powder-Puff Girls reside.

Townsville was named after one of the original investors who founded the town. He was also a ship owner involved in abducting Pacific Islanders f(called blackbirding)or forced labour in Queensland and he paid them in trinkets rather than cash. Payment in coin was the law.

He also gained title to land near Townsville by planting roasted coffee beans rather than coffee beans that could germinate.

When it was proposed in the 1990s to erect a statue of the Townsville's namesake in the City there was an outcry. It was realised that if completed the project would be subject to constant vandalism, so it did not proceed.

A mural of founding identities including the blackbirder was painted. But when I last checked the mural has been over painted.

I don't want to be reminded of the man, Thuringowa is a better name.

Rita in Charters Towers

Rita sat on the back steps of her house in Charters Towers. It was late afternoon. She watched the aboriginal men being herded along the gully out of the town. This happened every afternoon when Rita was a young girl in the early 20th Century.

Rita told me when she was in her nineties. I must have been a powerful memory because she did not tell me of any other memories from her childhood.

Rita was my grandmother and she lived to celebrate her 100th birthday. I remember what she told me.

Winter home

An ear out for trouble

A possum - probably a brushtail - is using one of the nest boxes I made.

Qapla'

Hairpin Banksia

Banksia spinulosa var cunninghamii

The local environment group planted this Banksia about four years ago and it has already flowered. The site was tough - hard ground facing west and there was drought.

The natives grew up and made their own more hospitable environment. today the area is shady and flourishing.

Okefenokee

A great cover.

At the age of 12, I read this book. I loved it and remember it still.

It was about a boy who explored a swamp near his home. As a child I explored the mangrove swamp near my home- sand and mud and tides and fish and birds and crabs and snakes. I even found a stash of stolen goods and cash once -but I will save that story.

Now my swamp has been filled in and multi-storey mansions built over it. The area is barely above sea level and will likely flood as the sea levels rise.