felt’s Neighborhood

Went to the country today. We drove to the country town of Gatton about 45 minutes from our home in Brisbane, and had lunch at their new "cultural" centre. Knowing the local "culture" a little bit too well, I was somewhat concerned about what we were going to experience, but I need not have feared at all. It was very well done, and though relatively newly opened, and obvious that there is still work to do on the landscaping etc, it was equal to any other "cultural" center we have experienced within Australia.

Cultural Centre

Many years ago, back in the early 1970s, a very forwarded thinking gentleman from the local agricualtural college lobbied very, very hard for a lake to be created in a swampy area just outside the town. The local people thought he was a "mad bastard" in the Aussie vernacular, but he kept at it and eventually won the local council over. Now look at it! The birds have such a haven and many of the locals take their daily walks around the lake. The centre was built in 2009 and houses the library, an art gallery that displays local artists and a truck museum. The town of Gatton is the hub of a rich agricultural area "the salad bowl of the Lockey Valley" and so the trucking industry is a major employer for the town.

So, the center not only has a trucking museum, but on a slight rise next to the lake they have created a monument that lists the names of all the local drivers that have died - too many in accidents, but also as part of the cycle of life. Families pay a small amount to have the name of their loved one inscribed.

Lights on the Hill memorial to deceased truckers

There is a lovely sandstone carving outside the cultural centre that commenorates the agricultural pioneers of the district.

Gatton, Lockyer Valley, Queensland, Australia

sandstone pumpkins or "punkin" as the local might say!

sandstone potatoes - staple crop!

and next door to the centre is the local historical village :

historical village

Not far away, on the other side of the historical village, a terrible murder was committed at the end of the 19th century. Three members of the Murphy family - two sisters and a brother- were murdered on their way home from a local dance. Their murder was never solved and to this day all the locals have theories about who killed them - irish family vendetta: a jilted lover; incestuous relationship; vargrant who diappeared into the night?  I guess now, no one will ever know for sure.

egrets in the trees

Lights on the Hill - song lyrics by Slim Dusty

It's a long straight road and the engine is deep

I can't help thinkin' of a good night's sleep

And the long long roads of my li-ife were a callin' me

These rough old hands are a-glued to the wheel

My eyes full of sand from the way they feel

And the lights comin' over the hi-ill are a-blindin' me

It's a long tough haul from a-way down south

A man's gotta find a little bread for his mouth

And a home for a girl as swee-eet as my honey can be

So it's down through the gears, she's a-startin' to pull

The gauge on the tank is a-showin' they're full

And the lights comin' over the hi-ill are a-blindin' me

There's rain on the road and I can feel the load start a-shiftin'

I-i-in a dance

Too late, I see the post and I haven't got a ghost of a chance

Ah-hah-hah-no

The windscreen wipers are a-beatin' in time

The song they sing is a part of my mind

And I can't believe it's a-really happenin' to me

Oh, but I'm over the edge and down the mountain side

I know they'll tell about the night I died

In the rain when the lights on the hi-ill were a-blindin' me

Hey!

There's rain on the road and I can feel the load start a-shiftin'

I-i-in a dance

Too late, I see the post and I haven't got a ghost of a chance

Ah-hah-hah-no

The windscreen wipers are a-beatin' in time

The song they sing is a part of my mind

And I can't believe it's a-really happenin' to me

Oh, but I'm over the edge and down the mountain side

I know they'll tell about the night I died

In the rain when the lights on the hi-ill were a-blindin' me

In the rain when the lights on t

Bernardo Sena sez : 

"I crawled the earth, but now I'm higher. 2010, watch it go to fire."

Mr FD and I were discussing whether to watch a particular program on teleivsion when Mr FD said we didn't need to as "I have the VD."

I burst out laughing at his delusion of grandeur.

His reply was "there is no way out of this is there?"

Best laugh I have had all year (you didn't think I was going to miss the opportunity to say that did you really?)

And Mr FD didn't watch the program as he has the DVD.

May peace, health and happiness be yours throughout 2010!

 No chance of missing the New Year in the Flamingo Dancer household as the neighbours had some very illegal fireworks that they exploded right on time. Happy New Year! Now to bed!

If you want to see fireworks, catch a replay of the fireworks at Sydney Harbour - incredible is the word.

It's coming!

1 comment

The new year is just hours away now. Mr FD and I are already celebrating with a cheese platter along with dried apricots and quince paste. If only I could have some bubbly, but alas the medication I am on does not allow it. Even if I don't manage to stay awake, even if I end up snoring in my chair, it will have been a nice evening.

But alas and alack, now it seems that Mr FD may not make it - as we are currently watching one of the Lord of the Rings movies and he keeps repeating all of Gollom's lines after him. I give Mr FD about another 10 minutes of life,

-make that 3 minutes as he has taken to comparing me to the ugliest characters in the movie: "did they ask permission to use your photo?" Death is about to come to him. It will hurt too,