Burnt

It's our dry season here. There's a fire somewhere around every day and the smoke stays low on the horizon. All the hills are slowly turning black and then softening to a dark charcoal grey.  So many negatives about the fires around.  The kids worry terribly about the animals caught in the path of the slick moving flames.  Asthma sufferers are staying indoors on the worst afternoons.  It's rare for any properties or people to be caught in the bush fires around here, we are so thankful for that, but it has taken a while to convince the kids.  The hills that were still tinged with green from our fantastic wet season are looking depressing now.  But I know that for many plants this season of fire means they will have a chance to flourish.  As grey and dark as it is now, soon we will see shoot of green sprouting on the hills.  Seeds brought alive by the heat of the fire, fed by the ash on the ground, growing and sprouting ready for the next wet season.

For now though, we can enjoy the beautiful colours of the sunsets caused by all the smoke in the air.

These were taken on two afternoons recently.  The first one, I got home with the kids and saw the beautiful colours changing as I drove down the street.  I had just enough time to dash inside, throw my stuff down and grab the camera.  I got off very few shots before all the light was gone.  The second one was taken while we were playing with the kids out on the street, riding bikes and taking sunset photos.  Taking advantage of a slightly warmer afternoon than usual.  Our usual rule is that it's inside time once the streetlight at the bottom of our driveway comes on... I saw it flick on and prayed that the kids wouldn't notice because I wanted "just a few more minutes".  I'm glad they didn't notice it because I got this shot long after it came on.

Both photos taken on my lovely new camera that my wonderful family bought me for my birthday :-)