Despite the scrambled start to the morning, I did get my work done and then spent some time at the Seat of Knowledge. Later, I kicked my shoes off and went for a long walk along the beach as the tide came in.
I sloshed, ankle deep, through the shallow water which was icy cold in patches, but comfortable in others.
There were quite a few pelicans resting on the beach, so I took a few quick snaps of them, until a lady stopped to chat. Her name was Christine and she was in her early 60s and a self proclaimed hippie.
She had lived in Gladstone for 39 years, then sold her house and bought one for $20000 in Cracow, which is about 300 km west of here. It's a very small and old gold mining town with a population of about 120 people.
She was travelling in an old 4WD, but was planning on getting a small camper and painting it bright colours and then travelling wherever life wanted to take her. She makes dream catchers out of the bird feathers that she collects on her long walks.
She did confess to stopping for road kill .. a dead Wedge-tailed Eagle on the road, to steal it's feathers for her dream catchers! I told her that I thought that was pretty sick .. and not in a good way! She laughed and said "Well, it's not like I killed it for the feathers. It was already dead!" We both laughed.
We shared a little of our life history and then went our separate ways. She is taking a sick friend to Brisbane for surgery and then they are coming back here for recovery time and then home to Cracow.
I walked for another 45 minutes and then pedalled to my local haunt, got my usual take-away coffee and sat outside in the sunshine for about an hour. A few locals stopped by for a chat and finally, I arrived home at about 11.30am.
I had some lunch and then set myself up in bed with my laptop and study material, ready to spend a couple of hours studying before the football started. Yes, it probably seems strange to do this in bed, when I have a perfectly good desk to sit at .. but the air and light in the bedroom was so lovely, it just seemed like the right place to be.
After a while, I got a phone call from Vegan Chickie, who has been very ill for a couple of weeks with every ailment known to mankind, from the flu to food poisoning to infections to serious allergies!
The poor thing. Luckily, she is on the mend now, but it might take a while for her poor body to fully recover from such an onslaught! It was really nice to hear from her and I loved listening to Chicklet chatting in the background. I miss them and need to get down there for a visit soon.
I decided to go for another ride before the football started and as I rode along the path beside the river, there was a Whistling Kite floating above me ...
I waited patiently for the White Breasted Sea Eagle that was soaring in the skies across the river, to head in my direction, but even though he teased me a couple of times, he never got close enough to photograph and eventually I gave up and rushed home to watch the football.
There were 3 games today and I tipped the losing teams in all three games .. not happy Jan!
I think I will now climb into bed and watch the end of the movie "Armageddon". It's highly possible that I will fall asleep before it finishes, considering it's now 10.40pm and it doesn't finish til midnight!
So, nite all.
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