Smokin' Pyramid

The middle of last week, when I was driving home from in town (not that I can remember why I was in there), baby Possum had fallen asleep and the Pyramid was smokin' so I took a little detour.

I'm not sure how far it got in newsworthyness but the burning off of Walsh's Pyramid certainly made the news here.

There were even some people from other areas convinced it was a 'for real' volcanic eruption.

Haha, the jokes.

Anyway, I didn't see it that day but noticed it the next day.

Walsh's Pyramid definitely wasn't looking volcanic anymore but the smoke was still pretty impressive.

This is the time of year for controlled burning off around here, before it gets too hot and before the hot weather and pre wet season arrives when storms might do the job, resulting in big fires and lots of damage.

That is what this smoke display was from, a controlled burn of the national park. A clean up you could say. Actually, I haven't seen them burn off the Pyramid since I moved here so it has been a few years (unless I missed it).

It was nice to have the excuse of an only just fallen asleep baby to so a bit of driving around. He had missed his sleep after all and no one likes a sleep deprived baby.

At the moment we are in the middle of the cane season so there are trains and harvesting everywhere. Not that I have seen much because I haven't been gallivanting around the countryside this year.

The sugar cane is a varying ages, some newly harvested, some not long planted, some regrowing and some still waiting its turn.

It won't be long until the heat of summer is here so it is nice to get the chance to enjoy the cooler weather while we can. Mind you as said in a discussion this morning with Mr Sparky about enjoying seasons "there aren't really seasons here just summer and hot summer" 😁. Not quite true but close enough, we have been having some cooler nights and mornings after all.

Winter Solstice

The 22nd of June, Winter Solstice in this part of the world.

I was hoping the day would dawn with a lovely, fine day after rain and clouds the day before.

It did!

The funny thing is that today is back to rain.

The shortest day of the year here in Cairns apparently lasted 11hours 

The sunrise was an interesting one with a line of light coming up from where the sun was yet to rise.

That was something I hadn't seen before.

Down on the Esplanade, what a way to start the shortest day of the year.

Discussing solstice in class yesterday lead to one of the students learning about opposite. Japan, being in the northern hemisphere, is in the opposite season to Australia so of cause yesterday was their Summer solstice. I love it when our learning ends up related to real life discussions, things that interest the students or even that they bring up, rather than just what is in the texts.

How was your winter solstice?

Did you fit a lot into the shortest amount of daylight this year?

I fit in early morning photos, obviously, work including a bus and walking tour, a quick trip to the shop for bread and milk on the way home and some dinner cooking. Just the normal stuff. The day just disappeared but it was a nice one.

But to be completely honest the start of it and the real end of it when I fell into bed after midnight were probably the highlights. That and our lovely older male student who is a bit of a clown and completely excited about everything in his stilted English. His wife, who is also in our group, is a patient women but also a lot of fun.

Now to go and be a bit productive today like washing my uniform for tonight and getting it dry. Also I should probably make that jam I need to make and clean up some stuff I am supposed to clean up. Or maybe I might read a book and have a nap.

Have a good week!

Winter Sky

I do love those icy, wispy clouds way up high.

I especially love them in the early morning light.

With the chill and freshness of the morning, 

and light changing the sky and colours,

It is just nice to sit and watch a winter dawn.

What is even better is that at the family farm, it is a very quiet time.

The dawn is just mine and that sunrise is a show put on just for me.

It is all mine, my precioussss.

It is often said that those high wispy clouds made of ice mean a change in the weather.

I think in this case they just mean it is bloody cold up there.

Windy too, by the looks of the curling clouds, despite the fact that on the ground it was still.

This morning pictured, the 9th, wasn't a particularly cold one.

Well, there wasn't frost anyway. It was still an under 10 degree C morning.

And I had reverted back to wearing thongs with my jammies (crazy lady coming through).

Disappointing really, I came down here for some winter. Where has it gone?

Today turned out to be a lovely spring/autumn day but snow down south says there is a cold change on the way. Maybe the clouds are right and the weather man wrong.

People here will be living it up while they can, before that icy breeze sneaks in for a chat and ends up crashing the party for a couple of months.

Meanwhile I am just going to live up the rest of my family time. It is running far too short.

Can I have another week ... another two weeks ... a month?

How is the weather in your part of the world?

Have you been enjoying family time, just spending time together?