Sulfurous clouds and banshee winds

Everyone is talking about this dust storm aren't they! It's something never before seen in Sydney, but not so uncommon in other parts of Australia.

I recently read The Road From Coorain, by Jill Ker Conway. In it she describes a three day dust storm her family experienced on their property in far western NSW:

"One sweltering late afternoon in March, I walked out to collect wood for the stove. Glancing towards the west, I saw a terrifying sight. A vast boiling cloud was mounting in the sky, black and sulfurous yellow at the heart, varying shades of ocher red at the edges. Where I stood, the air was utterly still, but the writhing cloud was approaching silently and with great speed.

...

A dust storm usually lasts days, blotting out the sun, launching banshee winds day and night. It is dangerous to stray far from shelter, because the sand and grit lodge in one's eyes, and a visibility often reduced to a few feet can make one completely disoriented. Animals which become exhausted and lie down are often sanded over and smothered. There is nothing anyone can do but stay inside, waiting for the calm after the storm. Inside, it is stifling. Every window must be closed against the dust, which seeps relentlessly through the slightest crack. Meals are gritty and sleep elusive. Rising in the morning, one sees a perfect outline of one's body, an afterimage of white where the dust has not collected on the sheets."

Windy

I hung some washing on the line this morning, and lazily left some small socks in the bottom of the basket, thinking as it was going to be a hot day, they would dry without having to be hung up.

Later on, I went outside, and was surprised to see the socks scattered over the garden. The basket? It was nowhere to be seen! I think the wind must have picked it up and carried it who knows where - although I suspect it could be at the bottom of the pool. (I can't tell if it is or not because the water is green and murky at the moment.)

I did find something in the pool though - a big fat frog. I scooped him up in the dustpan and transferred him back to the pond.

A Crime Has Been Committed

Oh dear - this is really quite bad.

Guess what I found in the carport this afternoon?

A quite large, and quite dead, guinea-pig.

Not sure if one of our cats killed it, or just found it and dragged it home, but it's not good either way.

I had to put it in the bin, it made me want to cry. I hate the way dead animals feel. Poor thing - not a pleasant way to go.

In Honour of Fathers Day...

Here is a picture of a Cumquat tree that my dad has been looking after for me for many years - it was given to me as a present and as it is at his house, it's become part of the orchard. I'm told it looks very impressive in real life, so I'm looking forward to seeing it soon.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad - and Papa, and of course Adam!

Garden shots