10 Months on from Yasi and we have a new pet Mynah bird – a cane toad of the sky – but it’s been removed from the gene pool to be our beloved pet. It fell out of a tree. Hubby and everyone love the bird. It is so sensitive and loves to snuggle up to us just like a kitten. We thought it had taken off yesterday forever as it disappeared from the house – but no it had gone to explore the garden and got trapped from some other bully birds. It was rescued, and unlike a kitten with some coaxing it could fly down. My hubby is enjoying holidays from teaching, and is relaxing ready for next year.

My youngest son remains and will ever be cricket obsessed. He is still a bit frightened of thunder storms. However, he can talk very matter of factedly about cyclones and he laughs and giggles a lot. He loves Copper and just this morning came to wake me up with the bird on his shoulder.

My daughter 10 months on is enjoying our tablet – we bought this on special and she loves taking panoramic photographs with it, and talking to her dear friend who spoke to us during Yasi. They have become even closer friends and met up in Melbourne in September and regularly skype each other. She smiles a lot.

I love gardens and take loads of pictures of plants, trees, light and am reading more about them. We won some plants in a school raffle, that was a big surprise and it included some books on rare tropical plants.

My eldest son is enjoying bonding with his brother and sister. He is kicking some goals for the future and ready to take on the world.  He has come a long way from the boy falling asleep on the stairs in those days after the cyclone and is still in love with his guitar and now owns a bass as well.  He is a man of few words and rarely talks about the cyclone, but is very caring towards his pets and his family.

Next year we are looking forward to the future and Yasi becomes a chapter of our story and we are ready for the next one.  We are all mindful that for some this will take a year or more as they are still in the midst of recovery and without houses.   We think of them and hope their new books open soon!

(c) June Perkins, all rights reserved.