The weather is seriously weird. The last week or so it has seemed like conditions were right for it to rain, but it never does anymore. I'm sick of the smell of smoke and the constant threats of high fire danger, not to mention the eerie yellow days, that are like something out of Life on Mars. Rather than continue trying to describe the dryness and the mood, here are a few photos from February (click for larger pics).

The day of the fires J and L went riding early - all lessons had moved, but it was still a hard day for the horses, even before it hit 46.4 Celsius. I don't think Fitz was ridden that day (he's fairly old).

Taken by L the night after the fires - everything remained yellow for days, but the evening light was particularly strange. This is taken at our place - you can see why we're worried by the current fire danger.

I pulled off the road early in the morning to take this, as the Sun was bright red.

Here it is a little later, out towards Warburton.

Don't get me started on the long-established industry that is climate change denial!

Labels: Bushfires, Global warming

Marysville is gone. I can't believe it! I was worrying about the potential for fire at my own, bush-surrounded house on the day we hit our highest recorded temperature 46.4 Celsius (117 Fahrenheit), and didn't hear about this disaster until Sunday.

Marysville was one of my favourite places on earth, but Saturday's fires have almost entirely destroyed it. I've spent so much time there, including nearly every weekend at one time in my life.

On Christmas Day, we all went to Jill's mother's house in Marysville for the family gathering and I'm so glad we did.

Jill's Mum was away on holiday this last weekend and rang on Saturday evening to see if Marysville was in danger. I didn't think so at that stage, but then the wind - and everything - changed.

Below is an etching from 1870 that shows the main street and it captures Marysville's gentle, small town nature. I can't think of a way to pay sufficient tribute to this wonderful place, but the following two galleries convey a sense of its recent beauty.

Marysville 2007 by Worldpeaz

Marysville by Ben Roberts

Marysville by Scott Davis (thanks to Scott for first picture here)

After the fire - this last link is to an ABC aerial survey of damage (caution - may be upsetting): Bushfire devastates Marysville

Labels: Bushfires, Global warming, Marysville

We live in a time of the revisiting of old bad ideas, when the limited ideas guys of the world press for the promotion of "safe" nuclear energy, a return to whaling, totally oppressive working conditions, arms races between neighbouring countries, fundamendalist intolerant religions, overt political corruption that no-one cares about, etc., etc. Meanwhile, the Earth dies.

It can seem at times there's nothing that can be done, but I'm a great believer in the power of small things, and of changes being made by every individual person. In Tim Flannery's fine recent book, The Weathermakers, he lists 11 Realistic Ways You Can Help Reduce Global Warming. I've just done another one of them - I rang our power company and got all our gas and electricity changed to Green Power. If you're in Australia, you might like to click on the picture above and find out more, or overseas you could contact your power company and ask - please consider...

Labels: Global warming