Sunday, March 11, 2018

As the Storm Rolls Across


The light flees as the storm rolls across from the mainland. Thick cloud cover hides star and moon and all but a few faint rays of the setting sun. The kids leave the shoreline for the jetty, watching entranced as a woman throws in her cast net and then drags it in full of an abundance of small silver fish. 
The lights send shimmering ribbons of reflection across Pumicestone Passage and boats drive in, bringing in their haul (or not) or just stopping to pick up their fish and chips from the cafe. A much more sure-thing for a meal of fish. The light is soft, muted, the temperature gentle. The clouds bulge darker. Thunder rumbles, lightning crashes. A welcome storm. Just as we finally succeed in rounding up the children and bundling them into the car, the sky opens and the downpour begins. 
We drive home in night and rain. 










Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Pumicestone Passage



Pumicestone Passage, a narrow strip of water between Bribie Island and the mainland, is not far from us. Sheltered from the swell of the sea, looking onto the Glasshouse Mountains, it is one of my very favourite places. There is mud, and white sand for the kids to play in. There are dugongs and dolphins to spot - on this trip three dolphins -or maybe porpoises - swam by, slowly surfacing and resurfacing over the space of around ten minutes, while we all squealed and ran to the shore to observe the magic. Recently, night fishing, my Wild-Boy caught in his hands, and was inked by, a small squid. He caught many more in his net, while I nearly caught a foot long crab on my fishing hook. 

Under a bulging dark sky, the storm not far, lightning and thunder in waiting, Beloved fishes and the children explore the mud-flats exposed by low tide. 

Beloved and I were talking recently and one of the best things for kids on the autism spectrum is occupational therapy. While I am not entirely averse to starting our Wild-Boy back at OT when he was going he kept trying to jump out of the moving car and running off before his sessions. Seeing as they went for half an hour and if he we missed half a session that was pretty much the price of a few fingers and a leg I'm not entirely for it, either. And as I pointed out, when it comes to sensory therapy, our kids get a lot from the wild. 
Mud, mud, glorious mud.