Thursday, June 28, 2007

Teresa's paws ... plus Mt. Tennent under snow ... & a rainbow

Mt. Tennent under a light blanket of snow (June 26, 2007)

Hello my Dear Family & Friends,

That's right, it has been cold enough lately that we have had snow accumulate on the top of Mt. Tennent, which is basically in our backyard here at the national base ...

although as you look at the whole "mountain" ...

... you see that it was not a major snowfall by any Canadian standards ;)

Then two days after the snow, today, that is ... after waking up, stretching, showering, & then looking out the window to see a glorious rainbow over Mt. Tennent ...

splendid spectrum of colour & part of the FULL rainbow over Mt. Tennent (June 28,2007)

arc of colour to help me greet the new day (June 28, 2007)

Then, after returning, to get a different car that had all the tires fully inflated, instead of the flat back tire that I discoverd 1 km along the way ... the rainbow was a great sign that the day was going to be fine, even with a flat tire to add a twist to the start ... I had a full day of appointments starting with Dr. Marshall the only Canadian chiropractor in Canberra ... she's excellent! After lunch, to the neurologist, Dr. Andrews & the nerve conduction test the nurse did on my left hand & foot ...

RESULTS: the peripheral nerves in both my arms & feet are ALL GOOD!!!

The tests were pretty cool ... after the nurse hooked the electrode nodes on my hand (or foot) & somewhere along my forearm (or calf muscle) ... she sent an impulse through to check on the speed which the nerve transfers the impulse ... Dr. Andrews even got in on the testing midway through the ones with my foot. All in all, as he had indicated earlier in my appointment with him ... he didn't think there would be any kind of peripheral neuropathy & the nerve conduction test confirmed that, RIGHT ON!

All in all, my spirits have been lifting since a few days ago (I started listening to Eckhart Tolle's Power of Now on CD, which helped shift things for me ... what AWESOME insights & teachings!!) ... & I have set my mind on making the best of whatever situation was to arise with my "paws" ... I'm looking forward to getting more physically active with my two upcoming courses & our water training ... the tingliness & numbness are still persisting & I look forward to when thigns subside & go away with these sensations ... Brett gave me another great shiatsu treatment today after my appt. with Dr. Andrews ...

I'll keep up with my stretches & keeping things spiraling around the positive & the upcoming full moon & it's glorious presence that will help me reconnect out with my Seed Mates & everyone else I hold close around this dear planet we call home.

If any of my Seed Mates could help me get word to Bobbi, that I will for sure be up in Kyogle starting Saturday, June 30 until ~August 21 ... as well, I have a fairly big chunk of RDO's from ~ Aug. 3-18 ... the rest of my schedule from a few postings ago should be fairly reliable still ... not sure if I will still have the whole 15 days in August but I hope so ... it will be a great chance to get caught up on more assignments & visit my wonder-full friends up that way.

Jill, please let me know if your dates for Sydney are still firm & what they are ... I can still plan to meet up with you then ... I just need to plan my travel down by train ... it's a fairly big trip but well worth it to reconnect wtih you & Ethan :)

Time for me to sign off & get some sleep ... I have to be ready for 7:30 a.m. to get my ride into Canberra ... I'll be on the 9:00 a.m. Murray's bus to Sydney & then on the 4:20 p.m. Country line train that arrives into Kyogle at 4:15 a.m. the next morning, YIKES!!

Sooooo, I won't be in touch for awhile but if I get a chance to hop on the Internet on some of my RDO's in July, I will let you know how my ASSIST went & whatever updates I can fit in to the time I have to post a new note to you lovely beings :)

Be well my dear ones,

Sunday, June 24, 2007

mini-update on Teresa's "paws"

Teresa enjoying her morning walk in the woodlands of Namadgi (June 25, 2007)

Hello again Everyone,

I've finally added pic's to the posting titled "Reconnecting with my Sydney Seed Mates" ... so scroll down 2 postings & you can see the splendour of the Blue Mountains & the splendid Seed Mates who I reconnected with over the Easter long week-end ...

It's only a few more days until the appointment I have with the neurologist (Dr. Andrews) ... here's the update I have for you from other appointment I had last week (June 18th) with the Occupational Therapist.

The main advice the OT Doctor (Dr. Wharfe) offered was for me to search out some orthotics to help support my high arch, which will help redistribute the weight acorss my whole foot, instead of bearing the majority of the load on the front part of my foot. He didn't have anything extra to offer up to help my fingers, but encouraged me to keep doing the stretches I have been doing for the past couple of months. He figures I am experiencing some carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrists as a result of using my trekking poles while wearing a heavy pack ... this is really unfortunate since my "sticks" have been so instrumental in helping me negotiate my way down the steep hillsides that we have been trekking down.

At any rate, according to the folks I have been consulting, ... physiotherapists, massage therapists, & doctors, ... the tingly/numb sensations that I have been experiencing in my toes & fingers will likely persist for some time (months) even without doing any major backpack hiking. Soooo, lately, I have found myself waivering between moments of despondency, frustration, helplessness, just to mention a few of the challenging minds that have been arising for me ... On the more positive side, I've also been of the mind that I very much want to at least push forward to complete my Certificate IV requirements ... with the idea that after I go up to Kyogle to do my ASSIST & ASSESSMENT courses (the plan is for me to head to Kyogle on Friday, the day after my neuro appt. ... not sure yet if the neurologist will have any opinions that may alter these plans, we'll see ...). I could then back off of the major backpacking after these two Kyogle courses, until I can get things back on track for my tender little tootsies/paws. We'll see what's in store for me once I have my appointment on Thursday ... if I need to just really back off of the heavy pack trekking, then I'll figure out the best way to cross that bridge.

The past couple of weeks here at the national base have had me keeping busy with odd jobs for folks here at OBA ... revising/editing a new aspiring leaders journal for course participants, photocopying, cooking in the kitchen on the week-ends ... baking cakes & muffins for a couple of courses that have run over the week-ends has been the best part ...

Teresa's specialty ... Never Fail Chocolate Cake

NFCC all served up & ready for the Aspiring Leader participants

... of course, another culinary highlight was making perogies & lazy holubchi (cabbage rolls) with the help of Vilas, Bianca, Lisa, & Radu, with Bjorn cooking them up in the big pot on the industrial size gas stove). Everyone enjoyed the perohy, even though some of them were a little on the less intact side of things, they were still quite tasty!

"many hands make light work" ... thanks heaps, Radu, Vilas, Bianca, Lisa, & Bjorn :)
finishing off the reemainder of the perogy dough & getting ready to eat them!

everyone enjoying the Ukrainian "feast"

Vilas has been in on all the fun with me baking up cake & muffins & the Ukrainian food too. Yesterday, Radu decided he also wanted to be a "Muffin Man," so he made the banana muffins & I made the apple cinnamon ... they smelled awesome & tasted quite delicious ... thanks guys, for being my Muffin Men" :)

Radu's banana muffins

Despite this additional time on base ... my main accopmlishments for my Cert IV were during the first week here, when I did the 3 written driving exams. The bulk of the rest of my time here has been allocated as work time ... & eventhough I asked for today to be an RDO so that I could make more progress on some of my assignments, I have not made much headway on anything in particular, just a few little things. I have been very diligently doing my stretches & getting some swims in & one bike ride ...

Some highlights of my time here at Tharwa in the month of June has been my visits, swimming excursions & DVD movie watching with Vilas, plus the fun we've have cooking yummy food up in the kitchen & tasting Vilas' excellent Indian dishes ... as well as reconnecting with Lisa now that she has returned from her month long yoga retreat in Bali, and ...

this morning, going out for a walk on the little interpretive trail at the Namadgi National Park Visitor's Centre where I came across TWO mama kangaroos & their little joeys having breakfast with their heads fully tucked into their mama's pouches ...

breakfast time for the little joey ... how cool!!!

curious joey checking out the 2 legged observer, while Mama munches on her own breakfast :)

wood ducks on the pond behind the Namadgi N. P. Visitors Centre

Missing all of you heaps and looking forward to sorting out my path forward as I learn more about how I can take care of my "paws" and still do the active things I enjoy doing ...

I will add a little update note on Thursday night after I return from my neuro appt. and my Shiatsu massage appointment (I've had a couple of these treatments so far & they have been very helpful ... thanks to Brett, I started exercising my hands with some Chinese meditation balls, & I now know 3 Qi Gong movements to help with my tingly "paws."

I'll be in touch again soon ...

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa

Friday, June 1, 2007

Teresa's OBA ROMEO training schedule 2007 (part 2) ... & update on Teresa's "paws"

feathery clouds moving aloft on a sunny day in the Blue Mountains

Here's a splendid poem I've been wanting to share with all my northern hemisphere folks back home who are enjoying the onset of summer ...

We welcome summer and the glorious blessing of light.
We are rich with light;
We are loved by the sun.
Let us empty our hearts into the brilliance.
Let us pour our darkness into the glorious , forgiving light.
For this loving abundance, let us give thanks.
And offer joy.
Amen!

~Michalel Leunig, The Prayer Tree

...

Hello my dear family & friends ... & early HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes out to Laurelie!!!

Back here in Tharwa, the changing of the seasons means that "winter" has set in with colder temperatures and shorter days while preparations for heading north to slightly warmer temperatures have been ramping up. It is time for the ROMEO's & much of the OBA staff to be heading north for the mobile season up near Kyogle, in northern New South Wales. I am looking forward to exploring the new landscapes up around Kyogle AND to reconnecting with a few of my Seed Mates & other folks I know up that way from the Womyn, Earth, & Change conference that I volunteered at a couple of years ago (Bobbi & John, Ruth & John, Terri, Nan & Hugh, Jill, Elaina & Jess, ... perhaps Pauline from Maleny. My dear friends Jill & her son Ethan who will be enjoying their big Aussie adventures around the time that I have my big RDO break in August, YIPPEE!!

bogong moth ... a master of transformation & physical changes :)

Bianca holding this magnificent moth

...

JUNE 11, 2007 ...

I have quite a full schedule for the next couple of months, which culminates with my ASSESSMENT course in August ... yet change is ever present in this world, as with the day-to-day goings on of my life with Outward Bound ...

here's a roo with an update on Teresa's "paws" ...

From the discussions I had with Chris, my Canadian physiotherapist, this past Friday, he is not satisfied with the tingly/numb sensations that are still persisting with my tingly/numb toes & fingers, despite the physio work he has been doing with me, and the stretches he has had me doing since the first physio appointment I had ...

Sooooo, Chris wants me to see a neurologist so that we can get a better understanding of what is going on with the nerves that go out to my "paws" ... my feet & hands that is ;) Although Chris thought it would take a couple of months for me to get in on such an appointment, it turns out I was able to get an appointment for June 28th. As well, the Dr. I saw to get the neurologist's referral wants me to see an Occupational Therapist to assess & document these challenges in my paws for the purpose of Workers' Compensation diagnoses, etc. I managed to get an OT appointment earlier than perhaps possible on a cancellation that had opened up a spot, & that appointment is set for June 18 ...

All this said, in discussing things with the OBA folks here & given the 700 km (~14 hours driving time) between Tharwa & Kyogle, I have opted to hold off on heading up to Kyogle until after my June 28th appointment. I'll be able to head up there on my RDO's on the 29 & 30 in time for preparing for the Amercian FIeld Society course that I'll be ASSISTING on. Unfortunately, I will miss the first 2 weeks of the Kyogle season, but I'll help out around here wherever I may be needed ... otherwise, I will have time to dig into more of my Cert IV course work and exams & get that much closer to completing my certificate ... and I will get a solid routine going with my stretches. So, this morning, I sent the ROMEO's off on their 2 day road trip to Kyogle with some treats (biscuits ... or cookies as I know them in Canada) to enjoy when they need a sugar hit ... it will be great to meet up again in 19 days & see how they've done with the first course that some of them are involved in with ( a mix with some on BACK-UP, ASSIST, & about 4 of them on their ASSESSMENT course) while others are on some time off ...

I will also have a chance to get back into some kind of cyclng & swimming routine which will be great for my body & mind :) Vilas, my OB friend, who is also one of my new "pod mates" (we are in the same accommodations now that the ROMEO's have moved out of the apartments), .. Vilas is cycling into Tuggeranong every second day to practice his swimming so that he can do his Bronze Medallion, so I look forward to joining him for most, if not all of his trips in for a swim :) I've also been helping Vilas in the kitchen a few times, since he has been our week-end chef as of late & treating us to many delightful & tasty Indian dishes that are completely veggo (vegetarian or vegtabelarian as I like to say) and not too spicey :) :) :)

I imagine that the 16 day break I have scheduled in August may be impacted by the additional RDO's I will be having in June, but I will request leave for the first part of that RDO break so that I can meet up with Jill & Ethan for sure. Jill, I hope to connect with you over the phone while I am still here in Tharwa so that we can make some plans for the beginning of August.

...

Here's how my schedule has been planned out for the next 3 months ...

JUNE

1-3 RDO's
4-5 All Staff Symposium
6-7 4WD (4 wheel drive) training
8-9 RDO's
10 pack up day for transport to Kyogle - northern New South Wales (NSW)

11-12 transport to Kyogle
13-15 touring begins at Kyogle, NSW
16 preparations of Kyogle mobile base
17 & 18 RDO's
19 prepare for Hunter Valley course
20-26 Hunter Valley (BACK-UP)
27 deissue & maintenance day (D & M)

NOTE ... June 11-28 ... instead of the above schedule, I will be here in Tharwa at the national OBA base, awaiting the above mentioned medical appointments

28-30 RDO's
29 & 30 transport to Kyogle

JULY

1 prepare for American Field Society course
2-9 American Field Society (ASSIST)
10 D & M day
11 RDO
12-14 Core Modules 3
15 & 16 RDO's
17 prepare for A. B. Patterson course
18-26 A. B. Patterson (ASSESSMENT)
27 D & M day
28 ALL Staff Day
29 RDO
30 & 31 River Training

AUGUST

1 & 2 River Training (con't)
3-18 RDO's ... YIPPEE!!! ... meeting up with Jill & Ethan hopefully :) ... this break may end up beint shorter but I'll book off time so that we can meet up still :)
19 & 20 pack up Kygole mobile base camp
21 & 22 transport back to Tharwa (National Base near Canberra)
23-25 Core Modules 4 (wrap up Cert IV as well)
26 RDO
27 8 Month Review
28 RDO
29 --> ...

Since I'll be around the national base for awhile now, I'll be able to add a number of new postings in thetime I now have before I head up to Kyogle & before I am "in communicado" for all of July & a chunk of August. Once I am up there, I'll try to make a few phone calls on some of my RDO's & if I am able to hop onto an Internet connection I will do what I can to post a brief update ...

Until then, enjoy the warmer, 27 degree Celsius summer temperatures that Laurelie & my Dad & Cecilia have been telling me about. You can bask in knowing that it is much warmer in Canada that where I am ...

sun bathing lizard (back in January when it was hot outside)

I am feeling rather lizard-like with these colder temperatures & temperamental paws of mine ... they seem to be feeling the cold much more than usual for me, especially in the winter months back in Canada ... and/or they seem to become much more uncomfortable in the colder temperatures we now have. I need to wear pants & jackets these days & have the heater on in my room if I am hanging around for any length of time. Only some afternoons can I have my shorts on for a little while ... then warmer clothes are needed for the evenings for sure. We even had frost forming on the under side of our bivvies/tarps when we were out for our Safe Leadership field time & this morning on the windshields of the cars!!

I hope all is well for each of you and that there is an abundance of light blessing you as you enjoy the seasonal transition into summer ... and for those of my friends Down Unda, I wish you time to nurture and take care of yourself in this time of decreased light while we are positioned further away from the sun for awhile. I will make the most of this convalescing time and keep you posted on how things shape up with my Cert IV course work, my stretching, cycling, swimming routines, and what I learn from the OT & neuro appointments.

Be well,

Hugs 'n' Bugs,

Teresa

p.s. I will still be able to receive mail up in Kyogle (my address is below), it will just come by way of our National Base near Canberra ... so if you get a chance to send me a note, I'd love to hear from you & find out what you've been up to lately :)

Naas Road (OBA)
Tharwa, ACT 2620
Australia

my new telephone # is:

(02) 6235 5738 (Murray cottage/pod)

or while I am up in Kyogle, if an urgent message needs to get to me, you can call the OBA reception desk ... it will still take time to get a message to me but this is likely the fastest way to get a message to me

(02) 6235 5700 (Sandra at OBA reception line)

... Tango Charlie (Romeo #13) ... OUT

Global Sunlight Map

Lunar Phase

"Awakening the Dreamer ... Changing the Dream"

Joanna Macy & David Korten Dialogue on the Great Turning ("For the Grandchildren" event)

Money as Debt video - Paul Grignon

The Story of Cap & Trade (Annie Leonard)

YouTube

How It All Ends - http://www.gregcraven.org/en/the-videos

Oh, the Places You'll Go! - Dr. Seuss