We have a reprieve in the form of rain and cooler conditions. Suddenly everything seems rather flat after we were all geared up to fight fires. This time last year we had over seas workers here but with the danger this year we have not taken on travellers. I have put the donga on an air B and B list as accommodation offered free for disaster victims but so far nothing has happened.
It is just so quiet here. Indi tells me that she and Ben have now separated. The beautiful little settlement they set up on the farm has been abandoned, and I miss having all the young people around. We are very worried about how Indi and baby will manage in the longer term. Life is hard enough for couples working together, it is lucky she has been able to move back to live with her mother, but this is not the long-term plan.
There is, of course plenty of work for us to do on the farm. Last week the hay we arranged to have made at a neighbour’s property was cut. The day it was due to be baled we had storms forecast. Edd wisely checked up on the workers and said he would have small rounds instead of squares because that was the machine, they were using first in Steels Creek. This meant that our hay was baled before the rain struck. It is fairly secure left outside in round bales and if it had stayed on the ground it would all have been ruined. That gives us enough hay so another of our yearly tasks has been completed.
The fires have awakened memories for all the people affected in 2009. One of my friends said she was not concerned at all about losing possessions as it is only stuff. I think many of us feel that way and once you acknowledge the feeling it means that acquiring stuff loses its attraction. Working hard to make a beautiful home and garden seems pointless when you know it could all be lost in a matter of minutes and one of life’s pleasures is diminished.
Bo is much in demand for her work as a music therapist and therapy organiser for the local fire affected areas. She has a few private clients and a school teaching job so that there is probably too much work lined up wanting her services. Simon has been making cider as well as beer and reorganising the brewery. Indi has been working helping them with the open brewery set up on Fridays when they get in a food truck and host a pop-up venue. Simon made fabulous wooden tables with benches that stack up in a huge pile when not in use at the entrance of the brewery.
Tomorrow Josh flies over to join Bobby in Perth. She rang me yesterday to tell us that the rats had all arrived and survived the journey. I was a bit worried about the rats, so I am relieved with this news. Perth is hot and very quiet after Brisbane, I am told. Today parts of Brisbane are flooded again, I Just hope Josh can get out. Bobby says he has got a job close to where they are renting, and he did his master’s degree in Perth, so he already knows his way around. She has found that public transport over there is not very good so they may need a second car. Her lecturing job at the university is in the opposite direction to Josh’s work which doers not help. Hopefully these are just teething problems.
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