little blue speed bumps....

Things you learn from complete strangers

Recently on a trip home from the Big Smoke I stopped at the service station for a rest and coffee. I was sitting outside on a bench in the Smokers area, luckily no one was polluting the atmosphere. A lady with a small suite case sat on an adjoining table and it was obvious she was waiting for a bus. We could have kept to ourselves and moved on in our different directions without ever speaking a word. But I decided to break the ice with a question about some earth works that was nearby. I guessed that she was a local and would have my answer, which she did. We then went on to have a brief conversation about her travel plans and a bit of her past life. She was a retired widow from a sheep station some 300 miles north of Broken Hill.......now that is a remote area to live. Conversation turned to the good things about living on the land, and she went on to tell me about the goods that her son brings down to her from the station. One of her favourites was the occasional package of kangaroo meat. This is where I learnt of a great tip for the budding chef in me. She told me that the best way to eat kangaroo meat was to marinate it for 24 hours before cooking with lemonade.............interesting. I haven't tried it yet, but I decided to share it with you. Let me know if it works.

Kites and dreams of soaring.......

Out walking recently and I spied this fantastic homemade kite flying in the fairly breezy sky. What struck me was how well this kite was flying and I could see that a fair bit of time and effort had gone into making this beautiful flying machine. I could not see the "pilot" as he/she were out of sight to me. It sparked a whole heap of memories that came flooding to me from my younger days. The kites we tried to make out of brown paper and string, some that worked, and some that were not so good at flying. I remember the first fighting kite my parents bought me at the Adelaide Show. There was a man selling them and he had several colourful examples all flying together so high in the sky. I remember waiting for a windy day to try out my new kite. It was so fragile, but robust and very light compared to our cumbersome bombers. That kite was the first kite I had that you could make dive and soar and it was fast and furious. Too many close shaves in the diving manouvre destroyed the kite in a cloud of dust. Another memory was from grade 3 and at our small school all the students were involved with the making of a huge box kite. This was something different again and the fact that is was so large it made the anticipation greater. This kite was then taken to the local community show and was set up as a fund raiser for the school. This kite was launched and flown so high in the sky, and it flew with dominance and beauty. The money raising idea was this, pay a small amount, probably 1 shilling and guess the length of the twine that was used flying the kite.I so much wanted to win that kite!!!.......Well it would have been part of our family if my sister had filled out her coupon correctly. She guess the correct length, but stated feet instead of yards.......so close but so far. I don't really remember who won the kite but I hope they appreciated the new flying machine.

So many kites came to mind since, some bought many made but the dream of flying was just that a dream and that is probably where my dreams of being able to fly like a plane came from.

Back to the kite in the photo........I wonder if that child had similar dreams and desires while flying that fantastic kite. A bit further down the road I heard a high flying plane, and laughed to myself..........that kite has turned into a real flying machine. Did the kites dream come true? Did the child flying the kite also see the high flying plane? I'm sure that is the case and did that child see the link between the homemade kite and the high flying plane. We had something in common that day and our paths never really crossed.

The long and winding road.....

I took this photo on the road that heads east from Broken Hill to Menindee and the Lakes. There is a natural beauty in the landscape up in the centre of Australia, I love the contrast between the dry brown earth and the brilliant blue sky speckled with clouds. It's a road that invites you to travel down, tempts you with sweeps bends and undulations. You can almost see the Road Runner heading towards you, going.....Beep Beep !!!!

Textures.........that's it

I found my street.....

It's like loosing an old friend....

It's been over a week without the Internet, just returned yesterday. What did we do before we had the world wide web to surf, emails to check, news to follow, blogs and forums to keep up to date not to metion weather updates and many other things that we love to peruse each day? Did I get out and exercise more? maybe a little. I did get a veggie garden started and I did spray a lot of weeds around the garden and drive way. You know how you promise yourself that you will sort out your Documents folders and back up files,well that is another thing I decided to do with all the spare time. Ahhhhhhh this computer is so tidy now. I was talking to a bloke at work yesterday and I asked him if he had the Internet on at home. His answer was NO........how do these people survive, don't they know what they are missing out on??? Isn't it interesting to see the education of the masses as they learn how a computer works. Remember when computers started to be used at work and some folk took it all onboard with enthusism, and then there were the avoiders. They only used them for the bare basics, just the things they needed to do for work, record readings and type up the daily diary etc. Once the baby boomers have all died out will there be anyone who doesn't use the internet????