over the mushrooms

over the mushrooms, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

Nearly home...Jump 21

through the trees

through the trees, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

I was getting very familiar with these particular trees and after four hours of being the judge for two jumps in the cross country course was nearly cross eyed and cross legged.

A GUEST AT THE LOCAL JUMP CLUB

A GUEST AT THE LOCAL JUMP CLUB, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

Working one of the young rider's mounts assessing the potential.

MEGAN JONES SILVER MEDALLIST BEIJING

MEGAN JONES SILVER MEDALLIST BEIJING, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

Ms Jones was instructing the local junior squad of potential One Day Event Riders at the local Jump Club in Toowoomba today.

HAPPINESS IS.........

HAPPINESS IS........., originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

being three years old and living a dream

Joe and lil lizzie remaned lil lilly to avoid confusion

Joe and lil lizzie remaned lil lilly to avoid confusion, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

Lil lizzie has been renamed lil lilly to avoid confusion.....me mistaken for a horse......not so bad as is quite a cute horse.

Great niece, Rose, Eddie, the Horse, Joe and Rose's friend Trese

Great niece, Rose, Eddie and Rose's friend Trese, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

Eddie & Joe

Eddie & Joe, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

"I womp to ride the big horse now"

Eddie, retired, who worked every day for eight years helping me educate the young thoroughbred racehorses, pushing them into the barriers, coaxing them into confidence on their first outings around the training tracks. Eddie would look after them and took it very personal if another horse danced too close to one of his babies.

Eddie in semi retirement took children to trophies in gymkhana on Sporting days, as long as they could stick to his gait if he broke into a pace. Eddie is supposed to be fully retired but a mob of kids visited today and Eddie, renown for his reliability was asked to oblige which he did.

Eddie is a Standardbred.

A BANANA?

glitter-graphics.com

The price of this bit of fruit has gone through the roof...at the local over $5.00 a kilogram....what's happenin'

Storms, hail and lightning strikes with a resounding clap of thunder...finished my working shift crawled home through the hail.... think I had best turn off this machine until these storm cells move on and anyway have an early shift tomorrow morning.....

STORMS AHEAD

Is getting to that time of year in Queensland when we can expect the wild storms to eventuate...Looked like was upon us tonight but not a drop...will build and build tomorrow....

The Tom Quilty 100 mile, 160 k, endurance ride is in the area, 100k's north up the road and is kicking off at 4 am tomorrow morning. Hope they have finished before the storms could move in in the afternoon. Usually a Saudi Prince or two compete and the Malaysian King was at the prelude so expect will do a re run. I have noticed a few Japanese riders. They keep stables in Australia and fly over and compete on the Australian purchased and trained horses.

Unfortunately I have been called in to work this weekend. The sort of work where can not just take off unless arrange a replacement as nursing staff is short on the ground these days. Everything happening, a cultural and visual feast in Toowoomba, 40 k's south, with the Carnival of Flowers, foodies, philistines, artists, rockers, wouldbe's if they could be, its all happenin'.

MOON ATTEMPT

I need this to be sharp.....and was the best I could do will try again tonight weather permitting.

"Stock market investing" if your comment was legit I apologise for deleting, but a couple of months ago received some particularly nasty malware.

The other moon attempt was on my broomstick last year with the eclipse and I need the detail for posterity ha h

WHAT DOES A WORKING SCOTTISH LASS DO

WHAT DOES A WORKING SCOTTISH LASS DO, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

..on a cold day, puts on the heater, nose in a book, and back to bed.....This is my working dog!!!!!

Yesterday was tropic and today is arctic with a cold wind blowing.....Ah well...I do live on a mountain

Ah yes she is an Aussie with Scottish ancestry and what does a laid back sensible Ostralian do "Takes a sickie".....Onya Shadow the Sheepdog.

The other Aussie with Scottish ancestry would never do this !!

YEAH SPRING ONCE MORE

YEAH SPRING ONCE MORE, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

At last the flowers after a particularly chilly, for Queensland, winter, have started to bloom......a riot of colour on the beautiful Darling Downs, a temperate climate in the tropics.

SCHOOL'S IN

SCHOOL'S IN, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

First lesson in leading and they both are talkin'

An older brain teaching the youngster.

CROWS NEST GORGE

CROWS NEST GORGE, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

DOWN THE CASCADES

DOWN THE CASCADES, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

After rain last summer, Crows Nest Creek February, 2008.

Summer is just around the corner and am looking forward to the longer days.....

FLAGS

GERALDTON WAX

GERALDTON WAX, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

This flower is exported all over the world as a cut flower and lasts weeks in a vase. Genetic engineering has produced startling colours in the past few years, yellow and orange. The flower is also grown in Israel and the horticulturists in that country have produced a variety of pink that is stunning. The flower originates from the West Australian semi arid areas.
A beauttiful gem of an Australian extensively grown and farmed for export in this area of Queensland.

BOYS TOYS

BOYS TOYS, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

A Boy's day out .....

HORROR WEEKEND

The car wreck I will not publish (The Toowoomba Chronicle did publish a graphic shot of the wrecked car) but was located to the right of this photograph still in the dark.....this was when emergency services were clearing the area because of the power lines down everywhere..


On Friday night was working late at the hospital and at the end of my shift the lights went out and the huge complex emergency generator kicked in.....Wondered briefly what had caused the outage but was not overly concerned as have my own generator at home in case of an emergency.

Let myself out of the secure complex drove to my car and set off home and noticed the whole town was black and not a light anywhere.......Turned the corner on to the road that would take me home and spied movement on the road ahead......a car was wrapped around a power pole and the pole was at a dreadful precarious angle. The street has a nature strip down the middle and have a SUV drove up on to the nature strip as the ambulance was pulling up and caught in the headlights my niece, Rose standing a little away from the vehicle and in the dark and the sweep of my headlights made out pedestrians who had vacated a nearby church hall where attending a function. I started to turn on to the other side of the road and discovered power lines down and the Emergency Services had yet to secure the site. My niece lives on the opposite side of the road where the accident occurred and had rushed out when she heard the thump. Rose is a Registered Nurse and with disregard for the leaning power pole and the dangling power lines had wrenched open the car door to render aid should the accident victim warrant assistance. Rose checked the carotid artery and discovered no life. She declared his death as a district ambulance office arrived. She endeavored to leave the immediate area as the Emergency Services were securing the area reequiring everyone out and though for a horrible moment, but knew it was not possible because of what she had discovered in the car, that she had heard a sound raced back to the car...the radio had kicked in for a moment or two.
The victim was a thirty two year old man who I have known since a lad who lived in the same district as myself and my boys and boarded the same country school bus, attended the district Christmas Tree with Santa every year..

This is a real life tragedy. The victim by the wheel tracks did not brake and had accelerated into the power pole was only 150 yards from where he had started his journey. Friday was the anniversary of the day his uncle had shot himself when we had ridden the mountains with anguished hearts trying to locate him. He, the uncle, was located in a shallow cave. Friday night's victim's mother had driven her car into a tree to her death nine years ago on Christmas Eve..

I stood with one of the family who was required to ID the body with a sense of dejavu as had done this before, he and I standing about with a person dead before us waiting until forensics could complete their investigations. The power authority to declare the area safe so that the body could be cut from the vehicle did not happen until after 3 am in the morning. I stayed feeling a sense of helplessness talking with my niece who selflessly had jumped in that car to see if she could revive the driver. Not a good weekend.

TREV, THE MAIL CONTRACTOR WITH ASSISTANT

TREV, THE MAIL CONTRACTOR WITH ASSISTANT, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

The unusual mail contractors......one door away from heaven yes.....

A MICKEY BULL-IN THE STOCK CAMPS MID 1970's

A MICKEY BULL-IN THE STOCK CAMPS MID 1970's, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

One million acres of unfenced country .......the wild scrubber bulls would not stay in a mob......run down, jump off the horse, tie him on the ground and bring the coachers, quiet cattle around and let him up and he usually stayed with the mob thinking about not getting out on his own as he would be thrown to the ground or the stockman gored which happened and the Aerial Ambulance summoned to take the ringer to civilization for his stomack to be sewn back in......
These days helicopters are used and most cattle behind fences.

1975

1973, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

My beat up little 1948 MG.......

When in civilization loved driving this little goer....

We were born to boogie......
glitter-graphics.com

OLD FLAMES

OLD FLAMES, originally uploaded by cnlizziebns.

I've known one or two........