Happy Mother's Day ... & I'm back from the Snowy Mountains

amazed at all the colours of Autumn outside the Buchan Caves in the Snowies ... courtesy of all the non-native trees planted in this park ... definitely a taste of "home" for me :)

Happy Mother's Day to all you splendid Mama's out there :)

I am sending my warm wishes of peace & love out to each & every one of the Mother's in my life ...
... Mom, Cecilia, ... Baba B., Baba R., ... Xenia, Tammie ... Nancy, Mrs. C., Gail, Mrs. Dec ...

... plus my many spendid friends & family who are wonder-full Mama's of your little ones (& Grand MAMA's too), whom I enjoy extending my Auntie Teresa fun & energy with ... Erin, the newest Mama in my circle of friends, Jill, Shelley, Mary-Frances, Evon, Cheryl, Sheri, Kristin & Claudette, Antonia, Joan, Karen, Shagufta, Tracey, Michele, Kerry, Lori, Mair, Ollie, Claudette, Mary, Sheril, Lara, Colleen ... my cousin Kathy, A. Carol Lynn, A. Sharon, A. Shirley, ... all of my Seed Mate who are Mama's and the rest of my friends who have mothered, birthed, and tended to the little, growing beings in your lives

I know there's heaps more of you whom I have not named above but you know who you are & I am sending my love to you as well ... please forgive me, my head is spinning a little & I don't want to miss anyone but is likely that I have. You are all special and I'm grateful for ALL of you MAMA's who are in my life, for your caring, patience, guidance, fussing and support that you shared with me over the years ... and for all of you who have shared your little ones with me ... I do miss getting together with you & my little (& no longer so little) buddies, please send me a few pic's and/or an update on how you are doing :) BIG, BIG hugs to Alexis, Bailey, & Carissa, ... Aidan, Eva, Gavin, Alisdair, Ethan, Isabel, Andrea, Izaak, Kezia, Sydney, Ryan, Kodi, the newly arrived Lotus, one year young Scarlet ... Brent, Jamie, ... Alex, Adam, Jarrod, & Jenna, Matthew, Simon, & the rest of my merry "little buddy" mob! Included in this list of precious little buddies are all of the furry, four-legged "babies" that many of you have been spoiling & I've enjoyed playing with such as You-Jean, Lucky, Piccola, Moby, ... Guinea ... Jesse, Jake, Yarra, Carly, ... Birch, Ladybug, Maseo, ... Basil, Ginger, ... Iris, Charles, ... Sheeba, Cashmere, ... Pixel, Kiai ... ;)

~~~

I am back from a month in the Snowy Mountains where we had 4 days of River Training to kick things off for us on the Snowy River ... this was followed by one day off & then the next two Course Experiences opportunities for all of us interns to have more time mixing it up with participants (Papa's as we also call them, since P in the phonetic alphabet is PAPA) out on course with two different schools.

For the first of these two courses, I had my OBSERVE with yr. 9 students from Beaconhills School, Nick from New Zealand (from April 26-May 6) was my mentor instructor for this course experience. The second course I did my ASSIST with my mentor Jay, another instructor from Canada, we were with yr. 10 students from St. Fancis Xavier (which is in the same area east of Melbourne as the Beaconhills School). My OBSERVE was quite a lot more satisfying since I was able to connect with the kids as the primary instructor from the "get go" and they responded with a level of maturity & respect that was quite welcome that they were able to maintain for the first half of the course before they got caught up with being the 15-16 year olds they are. All in all, I had a very good course experience, heaps of learning and great experience to build on in the next course.

I'll share a few more tidbits on my OBSERVE & ASSIST over the next couple of days (we have 3 RDO"S in a row), it's already evening today & somehow this first RDO has filled up and I am already in winding down mode. Today I spent getting laundry going and sorting out a number of loose ends and getting a few things organized so that I could meet up with my Seed Mate kt in Tuggeranong after the appointment I had with the physiotherapist there ... to help me figure out how to deal with the tingling/numb toes & fingers that I have been struggling with since our Expedition Training back in mid-March. I've got another appointment for Wednesday and some stretches to do as my "homework" to help loosen things up with my feet & hands.

It was really great to reconnect with kt & catch up with her over the little picnic lunch we had near one of the man-made lakes in Tuggeranong. Thanks again for such a tasty and enjoyable picnic my friend! Both of us had bikes to transport us about, so once kt headed off on the bus, with her borrowed bike on the front of the bus, I headed back to Tharwa on my nice 48 minute bike ride. It was also really great fun to be with you when you had the exciting phone call about the potential 2 month music gig in Hong Kong later this year. Please keep me posted on how these plans shake out ;) Also, I know you will have a great time reconnecting with our Seed Mates up in Sydney, please pass along my hugs & love to all of the Sydney mob while you are up there and with the WA mob once you are back in the west.

A bunch of us just got back from dinner ("tea") in the dining hall a little while ago ... soooo very nice not to enjoy fully the meal we had ... no cooking or supervising of the cooking was involved ... much more relaxing and appealing to the taste buds!

I am slowly catching up on the e-mail that built up while I was out of touch this past month ...

CONGRATULATIONS Erin & Scott on the arrival of your splendid, smiling, and very adorable little Lotus Elizabeth!!! What a treat to be able to see pic's of the three of you so very close on the heels of Lotus' arrival on the 29th of April ... what a mighty fine Mother's Day gift for you to have your new bundle of love arrive with such splendid timing! Thanks Ollie & Irene for sharing the news & pic's/blog address with me :) I've added Lotus' (the McAnsh's) blog to my Canadian Lynx list on my blog as well. If you can try to search out a copy of "Oh Baby, The Places You'll Go" ... an awesome spin on Dr. Seuss' original, you'll love it! (I may have given a copy to Shelley & Steve, see if you can borrow it to read to Lotus if the Edm. Public Library doesn't have it).

Potluck Pals, I trust you had a lovely April potluck gathering, do let me know how things are going Maureen, Mair, Catherine, Colette, Laurelie, Laura, Joy ... sure do miss those get togethers and am glad to hear that thigns are back in the swing of things for the poltuck evenings.

Xenia, I'm sorry I wasn't able to connect with you over your birthday, I'll be trying to connect with you over the next couple of days to catch up and to share my birthday & mother's day greetings with you. Looking forward to catching up with a bunch of you, so hopefully I can reach you during the more optimal calling times across the time zones for us.

And WOW, WOW, WOW, ... Nadia, 21 years young now ... what great fun for you to be able to celebrate this birthday over in Germany ... I hope you were able to find some fine German chocloate or black forest cake to make the festive occasion that much more memorable!

Also, Happy Anniversary U. Billie & A. Shirley!

In the meantime, I wish all of you a splendid Spring time and heaps of sunshine and all things green as you prepare for the coming of Summer. We've been experiencing some fairly cool/cold evenings this past while although the days are more often than not quite sunny & warm. I wore shorts into Tuggeranong today and had a great bike ride to get back to the national base. No need for more than shorts & T-shirt :)

Looking forward to hearing how you are doing, so please send me an e-mail when you can or snail mail if you like :)

Things are really building toward the big finish ... our ASSESSMENT course that will take place sometime in June/July/August while we are up in northern New South Wales at/near Kyogle ... so lots to keep on top of, prepare, and do to get the remaining assignments completed and to be on top of our game for the remaining training blocks we have coming up. I will do my best to get some pic's posted on my blog over the next couple of days along with a few more details of the past 2 course experiences and the awesome water training we did along the Snowy River. If you are curious about some activities that I have mentioned before but haven't posted pic's or stories, just let me know, I'd appreciate the reminder :)

Jill & Ethan, it will be great to meet up with you in August when you are Down Unda for you big adventures. Let's connect sometime soon to talk about where we'll meet up given that I'll be up in northern NSW instead of down here near Canberra during your time here in the Land of Oz.

Time for me to sign off for now, I'll be in touch again soon, likely tomorrow. Time to get ready for another cozy night's sleep in my bed ...

Be well my dear friends & family & thanks for being you, ... I miss you & trust you are keeping yourselves, happy, healthy, & at peace,

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa

p.s. for anyone that wants to try to catch me over the phone over the next couple of days, my number is (02) 6235 5743 or 5764 ... I believe I am 16 hours ahead of Alberta time ... I'll be up by 9 a.m. my time for sure, likely even 8 a.m.