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That's a considerable improvement on most holiday photos, Max. I love that 'yairs' ! 2009/5/27 Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> > Holiday Snap with Antechinus > > > In the ‘big scrub’ bush hills up behind > Mullumbimby, northern New South Wales, > > my son showed me round: winding > up a long narrow unsealed track > > to his rented big tin shed, mostly set up > as his music recording studio, with tiny > > living quarters installed in one corner, > unpainted ceilings, a gas cooker, > > windows that look over lush trees > to a half circle of timbered cliffs > > and during the (unreliable) wet season > waterfalls waterfalls waterfalls. > > A big weather system – said to be from > the Himalayas! – had been pouring steadily > > on the region for many hours; his radio was on: > ‘flooding on the Clarence River threatens > > the town of Lismore’ nearby, the new levee, > eleven metres high, the predicted flood > > ten metres something, changed upwards every hour. > Our one road soon closed; before others were, > > people were advised to ‘self-evacuate’. > Electricity failed almost everywhere; > > we heard the power spokesman say: > ‘yairs, we’ve had thirty thousand phone calls, > > and we thank people for their patience’. > The websites of the river system showed > > graphs for each creek, levels rising, rising, > if near the coast falling a bit at low tide, > > rising again. Settling in for a quiet time, > we went to bed early. Should I dislodge > > the big huntsman spider from its corner? > No, ignore it, it should ignore me, and did. > > Should a trap be set again for the rodents > nightly visiting the pantry? Of course, somewhere > > warm and dry is what they need just now. > Better if trapping meant caging, but > > it hasn’t worked. The late Steve Irwin’s > ‘Australia Zoo’, not far away, might even pay > > for some of these deserving indigenes. > See! between the rice and the rolled oats > > big ears and eyes, tremulously staring back > at us ... no, set the trap to snap. > > Next morning, not that precious antechinus > (the one that in the mating season > > exerts himself to death upon the female – > self-evacuating? – to perpetuate their kind; > > no, merely a mouse, not quite extinguished, > deserving release into the wet bush again. > > > Wednesday 27 May 2009 > > Max Richards > > now safely back in dry Melbourne > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > This email was sent from Netspace Webmail: http://www.netspace.net.au > -- David Bircumshaw "Nothing can be done in the face of ordinary unhappiness" - PP Website and A Chide's Alphabet http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk