Miss Lilly fights a fence

a little blood... humm no ALOT of Blood.

Once again I earn mother of the year… or not.  *SIGH* Seem to be doing that a fair bit lately….

Thought I’d pop down what happened on Wednesday last week.. in case you missed it on Facebook.

We’ve recently changed studios with the dance classes Morgan and Lilly do. Its much further out - but Morgan was desperate to do hip hop and this studio was the only one on the southside who accommodated kids as young as he. ( he loves it by the way - so much better he says than dumb jazz ballet...he might be right)

Anyway - its so far out of town there are fields of cows beside the studio - which my two city born kids are endlessey delighted with.  After class Lilly and two little friends went up to the barbed wire fence and patted the very calm heifers.  Squeels of delight from them all and they began to puck out long grass to feed them.

I had the dog so we went for a walk around the huge paddock.  Suddenly I hear running feet and one of the girls shrieking that Lilly had blood on her head.

Mother of the Year here shrugs and thinks whatever.. but ambles over anyway.

My heart stopped as Lilly walked over the hill towards me.  She wasn’t crying - which is a bad sign.  Her face was streaming with blood. Her shirt soaked and it was dripping onto her dance shoes so bad her white socks were red.

I ripped her dance top off - which of course was made of non absorbent lycra and walked her calmly up to the studio. The blood soaked through her shirt and was gushing through my fingers. That scared me a bit. Poor little thing was fine till she looked down and saw the streaming blood and then asked me if she was going to die.

I think I said not today sweety…

The excitement was all on when I arrived. Although the girls up there were keen to get an ambo, I knew face and scalp wounds bled alot and it was probably pretty minor.  Eventhough my heart was pounding and panicing...

It took alot longer to stem the flow of blood and Lilly to her credit remained very calm and didn’t cry.  A lent jacket got soaked in blood as well. I knew she was taking cues from me - so I kept up some sort of stupid banter.

The cuts were in her hair and its matted with blood and I left it like that for a few days.  Its pretty amazing how quickly it healed.

I had two buckets of cold water which were rich and red with blood, trying to soak out all the stains for a few days.. niiiiice.

so - thats the excitement here at the moment…  hows your week been?

I recorded my reaction on Audio Boo here.

Last Night in Longreach

My last night here in Longreach. Its bitterly cold and the wind, in Julies eloquent words, is described as smelling of penguin shit…. or polar bear arseholes…. humm classy - thanks Jules!!

 The rain has made it over from Bedourie, where one of Dougals crushing plants is currently…. Which means that things will halt and hunker down till it stops raining… again... 

I’d love to go and see the channel country now and compare it with the thick dusty roads we drove through for thousands of miles last year.  I caught up briefly with my brother Geordie who’d flown in from Birdsville on the weekend.  He reckons the countryside is incredible, transformed into huge lakes, vegetation and flowers. seems almost impossible to me - having see those long read expanses.  It was like driving on the moon. Not a stick, not a blade of grass for thousands of Miles. Poor old Bourke and Wills.

Having been here a number of times theres only so many times you can do the touristy stuff.  I’ve really come out here to see Jules and the kids - so that my kids can continue to get know their cousins and to experience some real Australian bush life.  Julie and her gang drive to mum and dads for Christmas every year and we generally spend two weeks with each other a year.  Its really not enough.  Every time we part I cry. I know I’ll cry tomorrow.  Distance kind of makes you forget how nice it is to have  a sister.  Someone who knows you so well that you don’t really have to talk. Boy and I am lucky,,, or unlucky.  I have three sisters all thousands of miles away from me in far flung dusty country towns. And its times like this I really really miss them. 

Poor Lilly has been crying alot tonight. She has had such a wonderful time with her cousins. 

and I totally understand. When I was growing up, we had cousins who lived in Mackay who we only saw once a year.  We adored those times and were so close to them as we grew up.  you know its crazy too. We didnt’ grow up in a luvy huggy kissy family.  But you knew where  you stood and that your family was always going to be there; you just have to say the word and you know they will travel thousands of miles to be there.

We’ve already begun planning our next trip out here. Julie and Dougal both turn 40 next year - so its got to be a big shin ding!  Morgan has committed to mastering riding his push bike so that at Easter next year, he can learn to ride a motorcycle. We will all get a bit better at our fishing skills ( like the tying of knots) so we can go fishing in the boat next time as well.

I’ve been posting photos up of our trip onto facebook - so go over there and check them out.. with my new Iphone - I’ve gotten very lazy with all of this - its so easy to upload to facebook I just don't do my blog much.. 

I've done this as an Audio Boo here   and there was a quick one done when I was in Roma on the way home here. 

My Audio Boos get posted directly onto my Facebook  - all you need to do is click on them while you are scrolling down and checking out what other people are doing and it will play in the background... otherwise just go to my AudioBoo site and follow me from there.  Every Sunday I will be reading one of my short stories - first drafts of them at least.

cheers!!

A week in Longreach

You think its a long time - but its not really...

A little about what we have been up to whilst in Longreach. Having been here a number of times theres only so many times you can do the touristy stuff.  I’ve come out here to see my sister and for my kids to both get to know their cousins and to experience some real Australian bush life.  When I was growing up, we had cousins who lived in Mackay who we only saw once a year.  We adored those times and were so close to them as we grew up.

Although some of them are a little older than my kids, the age differences aren’t so great that we can’t all do fun stuff together. Morgan has committed to mastering riding his push bike so that at Easter next year, he can learn to ride a motorcycle. We will all get a bit better at our fishing skills ( like the tying of knots) so we can go fishing in the boat next time as well.

Last night I sat  looking up at the velvety darkness, sprinkled with stars so bright and near  reckoned  if I reached my hand up just a bit higher I could reach them. The bonfire was gorgeous, so warm and full of fire dragons, I wished I could have sat there all night. 

I really love it out here and want Morgan and Lilly to keep experiencing the bush and country life.  We get so sedated in the city. Its all so clean and safe.  I do know I couldn’t live in the country again for a long stint; but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying the stillness, the beauty, honesty and harshness of it all.

Its been a very relaxed holiday; unlike our last trek out here where we covered nearly 4 thousand km over 5 days going from Longreach out to Birdsville and back in a very round trip.

Yesterday we went fishing at the billabong; where Lilly caught a tiddler.  I’m sorry to say I didn’t believe her when she said she had a bite - not until she hauled it in.. and she reeled it in on her own hot pink fishing rod all by herself. She was so delighted and proud. We did throw it back - just in case you were wondering.

Morgan cast some good lines out into the middle of the waterhole, but his bait was taken each time. I got a bit frustrated with the fishing rods continually tangling. Cheap  and nasty lines and ineffectual sinkers.  I’m going to raid some of our old ones when I go to visit my parents in a few days.

Julie and I are taking it a bit steady with the drinking. A few nights ago we went for a few quiet ones at a neighbours.  Two bottles of port, a bottle of vodka and a bottle of wine later we were singing at the tops of our voices to the country and western radio show; phoning in requests and laughing so hard my ribs still hurt.  gotta say I’m embarrassed how much country and western lyrics I actually know.  The first bottle of port was a really good one - $50 one.. the other one was a clayton special - a great big goony… anyone remember that mcwillimas cream port?  it still tastes the same. gross on the way down, worse on the way up. We made it home and straight into PJs and bed.. who knows how with kids in tow.

We’ve been to the Hall of Fame and to the Qantas Museum, have had picnics, played board games and driven round the town and property.  There are enough kids at Julies to play a decent game of baseball - so we had a hoot doing that - limited rules to include the little kids and to dampen the competitive spirit of the teenagers.  Today we had a huge table of craft and art things with plenty of inspiring creations happening.

On the cards over the net few days is a very competitive game of squatter with some neighbours.  cracks me up that farming folk love this game so much - well we did when we were kids. the banter and wise cracks as we go along I think is the best part of it.  Some craft and painting sessions, visit to the new heated pool the town has and dinner at Longway Station with a tour of the house.

Then its pack up shoot off down to Mum and Dads where they are shearing, stay there a few nights and back to Brisbane, just in time to catch a Lions Match and for me to shriek remembering I have to prepare for a term of teaching science and that the kids have a dance competition the following weekend.