Drought Series #3: My Country

G’Day Mob,

Welcome to the last of the drought series posts (wouldn’t it be lovely to think this was the last drought post I EVER wrote?).This was originally written at the end of 2009 when our long dry spell finally broke, and I hope it gives promise to those of you doing it tough now – the good seasons will come again. Boil the billy and settle in with a cuppa for a long ramble.

Glove Box Guide to Mental Health

G’Day Mob,

That last Ramble (If You Love Her You Will Understand) was a bit depressing wasn’t it? After I wrote it I picked up the latest copy of “The Land” and out fell a glossy booklet titled “Glove Box Guide to Mental Health”. Ha, are the gods trying to tell me something? I didn’t actually read it but it did inspire me to create my own mental health survival guide:

If You Love Her You Will Understand

G’Day Mob,

It’s 8am and I’m not in the cattle yards, nor in a cattle truck, nor even chasing paperwork for cattle. In fact I didn’t even get out of bed until 30 minutes ago. We are having a rare quiet morning and to be able to just sit and write is cathartic; a wonderful contrast to the last six weeks or so when I have been flat out like a lizard drinking.

Ring-barked

G’Day Mob,

I won’t claim to be a photographer but some of you have been asking what I do all day. Today was stripping out an old fence, cursing barb wire, pulling star pickets out of the ground, zzzzzzzz; best part of the job was the drive home.

“Stark white ring-barked forests” -Dorothea Mackellar, My Country