Lost and Found

Images collected from the internet

Daily Writing Excercise from: The Dig Tree Activity
http://www.outbackonline.net/dig_activity10.htm


Unfortuantely Burke was not so meticulous and the desire for glory clouded his decision making. The race to get to the Gulf first skewed his judgment and the final decision to head towards Mt Hopeless proved fatal. Most bizarre of all was the fact that Burke and Wills never left new markings or signs at the Dig Tree and so, when Brahe came back to check if they had returned, he thought the camp had been undisturbed. Was this a cruel twist of fate or plain stupidity?
Even The Camels Perished
Dig Tree Activity
Heather Blakey


Here in the United States there is the true story about a Colony of 112 men, women and children who disappeared from Roanoke Island in 1587. Legend has it they did leave a message carved on a tree, it simply said

“ Croatan”

I first heard about this Colony when I was about 10. Shortly after I started to have nightmares about a woman carving the word “ Croatan” into a tree with her bare hands. Then she turns around and motions for me to follow her.

That’s when I would wake up and run around the house and start turning every single light on. I don’t do that anymore.

Now I make my husband do it for me.

When I read about the Burke and Wills expedition in this project I thought they did leave a message; they knew they weren’t going to be coming back from the place they were walking towards.

I imagine that for them, putting this into words would have been like carving their own tombstones.

I can’t imagine it. How do you sit down and write, “ Meeting Death"
when really all you want to do is live. Its in our nature, the human body wants to survive even when the spirit and the mind know it’s not possible anymore.

They didn't write their message down but they left one all the same and in the end they told us what it was.

It would have read "went to Oblivion via Mt Hopeless."

I wrote about a character named Livia Cotard in a short story here at the Café called
“ Gone to Croatan “ In the end Livia does go to Croatan and in my heart I know I can never bring her back from there.

I’ve tried different endings and none of them work because that’s the rules of Croatan.

Just ask the Lost Colonists of Roanoke, or Burke and Wills.





Camels, like artists, have exceptional inner reserves. In her book 'Passion for the Possible' Jean Houston observes that creative geniuses have one thing in common. "They were each familiar with their interior world and believed that the ideas and images could spark their projects. Each has become an archaeologist of the mind, a spelunker in the cave of inner inspiration."
Even The Camels Perished
Digtree Activity


When I started taking writing classes as a child one of the exercises I loved went like this: the teacher would tape to the blackboard a picture or a news article or a word written in big block letters and you were suppose to write a story about it.

The majority of the stories had all the elements of the picture or of the news article or the word featured prominently somehow in their pieces.

All except for one student

She would look at the picture of the dog and write about a man she once knew that liked dogs. Only the story would be about the man and that he was really a Spy or a Vampire. There was never one single word about the dog.

I was that student and each time I did that I thought for sure I was going to score a low grade and find a note from the teacher in angry red ink saying “ didn’t you see what was up on the board?”

The thing is, I saw plenty on that board every single day. I’d close my eyes and see that picture of the dog and the stories would write themselves.

Visit the Dig Tree and then ask yourself, “Okay, let me look at this…” and then do what I did…what I still do…

Close your eyes and tell us what you see.