it's still hot. and the smell of burning is stronger. 30 fires starting within the space of one hour this afternoon. i just wish it would rain. everything needs a wash, a drink, a bit of dampening. the long since vacated spider webs need to be washed out of the eaves, the crumbly dry earth needs to be saturated, dust and grit needs to be scrubbed away.

and this is just living in the city, where i don't make my living off the land and i am nowhere near a potentially explosive national park or bushland. where i still have as much water as i need when i turn on the tap and i am not sitting around watching my farm turn to dust and my animals wither and die.

i wish it would rain.