promising news for Teresa's "paws"

relief upon successfully completing my ASSESSMENT course with Tom ... I DID IT!!! ... pretty nice charcoal spirals & whiskers on my cheeks in this pic. & one below ... courtesy of Ellen one of our "girls" (September 6, 2007)

Hello my friends & family,

My big roo friend & I have a most excellent update for you on my "paws" ... at least as it pertains to my feet for sure ... following the appointment I had a few days ago with a new podiatrist Michelle Prophet-Pearson, based here in Canberra ... & finally, some pic's from my ASSESS with Tom & the ROMEO's graduation ...

big kangaroo ... our "watch roo" at Link Gully campsite

I am considering it somewhat of a breakthrough in getting this whole thing sorted out. Michelle is quite confident that these tingly/numb sensations can be treated with a pair of orthotics that are meant for my type of foot, as opposed to the ones that I got from the 1st podiatrist, which are too hard, not the full length of my foot, and have added support behind only some instead of all of my 5 toes. She also identified how my posture will be significantly improved by the new orthotics she will make for me :)

Sooo, the next trick is to work out if/when I can get in on an appointment earlier than the next available one on the 26th of October, so that I can get fitted for my new orthotics before my plans to head back up to Nan & Hugh's so that I can housesit for them at their farm near Terania Creek. The potential is high given the higher likelihood of some cancellations over the upcoming school holidays. So please keep the positive energy going for me that an opening is offered to me for as early as possible the week of the 10th October.

Once I muck about between here & northern NSW, I will be making my way back over to WA to visit my Seed Mates & OBA friends in Western Australia (for hopefully ~ 15 days), then over to Melbourne (3rd week of November) to reconnect with Glenda , Ruth, & hopefully Dot, possibly to Tassie to reconnect with the 4 Seed Mates down there before hopping back to Sydney & Canberra briefly before my flight to Aotearoa (New Zealand) on December 1st. I'll update this travel plan once I connect with some of my Seed Mates & confirm travel dates, etc. Lookout Pheebs & kt and all the rest of our Seed Mates, I can't wait to catch up with you :)

If anyone is interested in a splendid vacation in NZ, do let me know, I am planning to be there for the 1st 10 days of Dec. before I fly back to N. America, where I'll land into San Francisco for ~10 days before I head up to Seattle & beyond to Edmonton before Christmas ... phew!

wispy clouds & the blue sky splendour of the Orroral Valley (September 2007)

I am getting very close to winding up my Cert. IV ... only one final assignment to go and a few practical sign-offs, which I will take care of this week when I help out the Staff with the Vision Australia group. It's a great group of visually impaired kids, some of who are completely blind, others with some amount of vision or ability to make out shapes/colours/shadows and a few with the ability to sense things such as large buildings and other objects using echo location!!! I helped out with their climbing wall activity this morning and hung out with them while they had their abseil tower fun this afternoon. What an amazing & special group of young adults and what a privilege to be able to work with them today ... plus a few more times this week when I'll be out with them at NORA for their abeiling on Tuesday & back here when they do the High Ropes course.

Speaking of NORA, here are a few pic's I've been wanting to post from my ASSESSMENT course with Tom ... these ones were up on the ridge before getting to the abseil site ...

Tom practicing his "Atlas" pose

The main activity at a site called "Legoland", which is understood to have significance to the local Indigenous people in the area, is scrambling around in the big cave-like spaces created by a whole mess of very large boulders. As it turned out with our time when Tom & I were there with the Ascham Girls College, we only ended up with 30 minutes, instead of the ~1.5 hours I had intended for us. So, I had the girls enter in silence and we circled up around the fire ring in the center of the main chamber. The girls were amazingly attentive and respectful as we sat there in the chilly, windy, and inspiring space and I read them the Gaia Meditation from Joanna Macy's book Coming Back to Life. It was such a special experience and I am so pleased to have made the decision I did in facilitating our time in this way :)

Gaia Meditation in the main chamber

main chamber at "Legoland"

We had a great afternoon at NORA with everyone doing as much as they were able to at the abseil site ...

Teresa's "comfort zone" briefing

learning & growth happen when? ... when you to go into your "stretch zone"?

abseil briefing (con't)

Teresa's abseil demonstration

spectacular blue sky day amid the greenest I'll ever see these hills along Honeysuckle Creek!

Tom & Tess ... knowing that I have successfully completed the most challenging sections of my assessment course, including the steep 2 km downhill walk the day before from the ridge to our campsite near Honeysuckle Creek ... yippee!!!

The Ascham group were a great bunch of young womyn whom I am very pleased to have had out with me for my successful assessment course. What a treat to connect with such amazing and unique individuals and to be able to bring them along through the 9 days we were together, form somewhat squeamish, hesitant girls to more confident and critically thinking young womyn :) Thanks Carter House "girls", you are truly mahvellous!!

That's enough for this update, I am overdue for getting myself to bed for some much needed sleep. I need to be especialy diliget tomorrow in making great strides on my final assignment so that I can wrap it up by the end of this week ...

I will share a few final pic's with you ... of my ROMEO buddy Christopher & his grandmother Jan from the afternoon at the low ropes course on our ROMEO graduation day ...

Jan on the low ropes course

Chris & his grandmother (she's 76 years young!)

A few more of our ROMEO mob with Mount Tennent in the background on August 28, 2007, our graduation day :) Unfortunately, these pic's are not from my camera or my set-up ... but they still capture us ... THE ROMEO's on our special celebration day






Be well my dear ones, I look forward to reconnecting with many of you in the next few months, YIPPEE!!

Hugs 'n' Bugs,

Teresa

time to check in ... long overdue

Teresa at Protestor's Falls (near Terania Creek, NSW - August 2007)

Hello my Dear Family & Friends,

So sorry it has taken me much longer to post another update. I've been waiting to do so until I have something more concrete to report on my next steps, but alas, it is taking longer to get these details sorted out ... so here is a little update from me now & a few pic's to fill in the overview I shared about my recently successful assessment course.

Given the state my "paws" have been in since our Expedition Training mid-March, and more significantly since April/May and even more significantly since August ... I am now able to be giving my feet a break from the long hikes with a backpack adding extra weight to distribute over my feet. My feet & hands are not as majorly tingly this week as they were the past few weeks & I have had a chance to get out to my Shiatsu massage therapist, my chiropractor, (once each of the past two weeks) ... and out to the swimming pool (4 times in the past 2 weeks this is expecially excellent since it is not so easy for me to get any decent exercise out walking ... or even cycling just yet :(

Resting my "paws" is exactly what I have been doing for the past 2 weeks & will continue to do until this tingly/numb toe thing finally clears up. Instead of going out on any of the more recently offered OBA courses, I have been diligently finishing up the last half dozen outstanding written assignments that I need to complete for my Certificate IV in Outdoor Recreation. Only 1 major assignment left for me to write up, which I intend to do by the end of September, along with a few outstanding practical sign-offs that should be fairly easy to take care of.

The details I am awaiting are pertaining to decisions by OBA on the timing they would like to proceed in moving forward on the proposal I gave them, to rejuvenate OBA field approach with some new facilitation processes such as The Work that Reconnects of Joanna Macy & Molly Young Brown which includes the deep ecology, systems thinking, and spiritual traditions that I have come to be quite familiar with since 2003. Another main body of work I would like to introduce more completely to OBA is that of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) ... I'll post a new note once I know more hopefully later this week ...

As much as I would like to share pic's from my assessment course with Tom, I haven't been successful in downloading this last batch of pic's yet, so that will need to wait until I sort that out. In the meantime, I realize I haven't shared any pic's or many stories from my great time off in the Terania Creek area of northern New South Wales.

So, I will share some of the higlights of this 3 week break with you now ... I will also endeavour to share more than just a few pic's with you throug my BLOG by way of posting them to my new Facebook site ... you can search me out through the "badge" I have added to this blog.

Highlights of my 3 week break go like this:

* similarly, reconnecting with Nan, Hugh, & Teri Nicholson, the friends I made from Terania Creek when I was volunteering at the Womyn, Earth, & Change conference 2 years ago

Nan & Hugh Nicholson in their splendid, sustainable "home sweet home"

* staying out at Nan & Hugh's farm near Night Cap National Park with their chooks (chickens) running across the open grass as I sat every day out on the verandah (of their first house just near their second, somewhat larger but still very modest sized house, where I had the house to myself) ... eating breakfast, working on assignments, & reading ... listening to all the lovely bird songs, watching birds, chooks, & Amber the Australian cattle dog, and just immersing myself in this most peacefully delightful, beauty-fillled place :)

"chicken run" ... chook running across the grass

* visiting with Nan & Hugh (& Nan's mother Erma) and enjoying the stimulating, entertaining, and thought-provoking conversations we had over lunch & dinner ... as we enjoyed fresh veggies, fruits (heaps of bananas & oranges, plust many others), macadamian nuts, pecans, & eggs from their gardens, orchards, and chooks

* showering and HAVING BATHS in the outdoor tub ... what a TREAT!!!

relaxing under the clear, star-filled skies was a most delightful treat at Terania Creek :)

view from "the loo" (outdoor composting toilet) ... of the banana trees in the garden

Nicholson Farm at Terania Ceek

blue skies, lush rainforest terrain, and the tranquility of Nan & Hugh's farm


rainforest solitude of Terania Creek

It was lovely to hear the cows calling out from the section of the farm on the other side of Erma's home
cute little chocolate coloured "calfer"

Nan's delightful Brahma bull

Since I had offered to make myself useful to my Seed Mate Bobbi, she aranged for me to help her good friend Anne with some of the final sorting and cleaning up of things as she prepared to move from The Channon to Melbourne ...

"tea time" with Bobbi & Anne

* reconnecting with my Seed Mate Bobbi (& her partner John) in The Channon, the little town where they live in northern NSW

After spending 3 nights with Nan & Hugh, I hopped over to Bobbi & John's & spent 3 nights with them in The Channon ... on the second day of our visit, I joined Bobbi for a trip out to Byron Bay to pick up her grandchildren ... it was great to finally make it out to this amazingly beauty-full coastal area of Oz again ... & to have access IN & OUT without getting caught up in the tourist side of things!

Bobbi's grandchildren playing in the tide at Byron Bay

Bobbi & her granddaughter looking for whales off the shore of Byron Bay

lone goat still living on the cliffside by the Byron Bay lighthouse

Teresa at the most easterly point in Australia along the shore of Byron Bay ... I waved to everyone back in North America when I was here ;)

It's time I finally post this update ... I'll post pt. 2 of my splendid adventures during my time off in northern NSW much sooner than it took me to finally post this one ... stay tuned ;)

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa

Teresa's ASSESSMENT course with Tom ... SUCCESS!!

Hi Everyone,

I finished up my ASSESSMENT course with the Ascham Girls College year 8's and I have news of my SUCCESS :) At the end of our final debrief/wrap-up circle yesterday morning, Tom announced to me & our group that he would be signing me off for my assessment course ... YIPPEE!!

So, while I am waiting for Tom to put the finishing touches on his assessment report, I have a chance to share this quick update with you. Once we meet up to discuss his report, he'll also sign me off in the various sections of my logbook pertaining to my assessment course, plus a few other expedition related sign-offs.

Overall, this course went very well, ...

* I was quite comfortable with all that I needed to do to deliver this program,

* we had a great group ... we had 12 young womyn and an excellent teacher, Johann, who had done a few OB courses as a teacher before,

* Tom & I worked really well together ... we were T 'n' T (Teresa/Tess & Tom) ... Tom's mentoring style and his relaxed approach were great,

* we had a few weather related challenges including gale force winds in the Orroral Valley on our first afternoon while we were trying to issue the girls their OB gear and frosty overnight temperatures most of the nights but I/we were able to deal with it in good form and the group was not too phased by these weather challenges, although they likely would have been had we experienced more rain or more severely cold nights,

* I was able to share a few of the Work that Reconnects practices that I have learned from Joanna Macy & Molly Young Brown's work during our Enviro Day (Systems Game, Open Sentences, Mirror Walk, & the Web of Life Meditation) and ...

* on another day when we explored some of the massive boulders that have special significance to the indigenous peoples here in the Orroral Valley ... we experienced this sacred space in silence and circled up in the main chamber (which is quite large, yet under a variety of massive boulders that are all supporting each other above this large space) and I shared the Gaia Meditation with them, separating each section with a few notes from my clay okarina that I brought with me from Canada (if I remember correctly, this was a gift from Evon, thanks friend :) Johann, the Ascham teacher was quite pleased with how respectful and attentive the girls were during this activity, especially with the colder temperatures and winds blowing through this cave-like space. Tom & I were quite pleased with how this activity went as well.

* all in all, I was very pleased with how the course went, the progress each of the young womyn made from the beginning to the end of the course, the connect I had with their teacher, all that we did, and the all the catch up chats I had with Tom throughout the course ...

more soon ...

I'll hop into cyberspace again, likely tomorrow to post a more fulsome update of my course & pic's of course, since what I most need to do after I meet up with Tom & Marcelo the intern training manager is sleep, stay warm, and give my feet a good rest. I am looking forward to catching up with a bunch of you over the phone this week-end, please feel free to post a comment on my BLOG or send an e-mail to my sherpadoginoz@care2.com e-mail address with a time it would work out best to call you.

Tom's just given me my copy of my assessment report, so I have to sign off now & post this update. I'll be in touch again real soon.

Until then, be well,

For the Earth,

Teresa

Teresa's next assessment course

G'daye Mates,

I wanted to post a quick message to y'all to let you know that tomorrow I go out for my next assessment course. It will be with the Ascham Girls, Yr. 8 (grade 8). We start on the 31 August & the girls go home on the 6th of September. Soooo, I am visualizing success, a full sign off of my assessment sheets, by my assessor Tom, and a very excited Teresa posting an update to you with such wonderful news in 8 days.

I will also update you in just over a week, on the splendid time off I had up in northern NSW ... in the mean time, know that I am thinking of you all & wishing you well as the Summer starts to wind down for you ... All the best to everyone who has more going on in the next little while as school gets ready to start ... have fun with the start of your 4th year Nadia, YOU GO SISTA!!

Early "Happy Birthday" out to Auntie Carol Lynn and my friend Shagufta.

Be well my dear family & friends!

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa

p.s. Pheebs, so sorry I missed your call last night. I had my earplugs in so I could get a solid night's sleep. Many thanks for your call. I look forward to catching up with you once I am done my course with the Ascham Girls :) :) :)

p.s.s. Cheryl, the timezones have made it a challenge to call you back :( ... but I will definitely call you on the 8th (for me, 7th for you) and I look forward to catching up with you then :) :) :)

Teresa's ASSESSMENT course with Roman

weary & weathered Teresa with a "stiff" upper lip ... but still smiling ;) ... quite an appropriate picture for this posting as you will you read on ...

my scraped upper lip was a remnant of my ASSIST with Taz ... from when I caught it on the tight bivvy cord that held up our bivvy/tarp ... also one of the last nights I had my awesome Petzl head torch with its red cover before it somehow went missing from my pack during my trip to the podiatrist :( :(


The news I have to share with you about my ASSESSMENT course is somewhat of a paradox ...

Without a doubt, ... it was my best, most enjoyable course yet ... the connections I made with the A. B. Paterson students ... the "Lantana Bashing Pengins" as we fondly came to know ourselves & their teacher Penny , was most excellent!! I taught the group a song that Taz shared with the group on our previous course, ...

I'm a penguin,
You're a penguin,
We are penguins all.
& when we get together, we do the penguin call.

PENGUINS TOGETHER!
PENGUINS UNITE!

... my AB Paterson kids scooped it up ... & in no time, their Penguin identity was secured :)

My Bush Nurse skills were also put to task, predominantly with a variety of blisters and ticks needing to be removed, a rolled ankle that needed wrapping, ... plus a few Papa's who need to get a few things tended to away from the group ... one with low energy/dizziness, another with a sprained wrist, ... then another that had a bump on the side of the head with a rock after falling along a dry creek bed.

All in all, the course went very well, the Papa's were safe, they had a great time, learned heaps about themselves, each other, & the places we explored, plus how to work together as a team, and support themselves as a "penguin family."

mossy logs along one of the many creekbeds we tramped past during our 2 day Rainforest Walk

Typically, most groups get through the Rainforest Walk in one day, usually around 4-5 hours ... but our first full day out on course had us start later due to the medical concerns I had to tend to for one of our Papa's which had our Back-Up staff come pick them up to get rested, be watched, & if need be taken to the Doctor. As a result, we ended up making an expedition campsite in the rainforest just before sunset ... in a location that wouldn't have been a first choice for most folks but our group quick got to work on setting up camp ... & in no time, we had a super bivvy in place over a newly tramped patch of lantana ... and dinner was cooking over our expedition firepit ... "home sweet home"

amazing campsite the penguins made in the rainforest by bashing down a patch of lantana to make space to sleep on the ground :)


hiking up to a ridge before heading down to Bells Bay

view from one of the higher elevations we reached during our circuit around Iron Pot Creek

On the flip side of my assessment course, ... out of the extensive list of competencies that need to be checked off on our ASSESSMENT course logsheet, there are about half a dozen competencies that I still need to show more evidence of ... sooooo, that means I will be doing another ASSESS starting the end of August with the year 8 Ascham all girls school.

It was quite a disappointing and frustrating time when I had my mid-course review with my assessor Roman, especially since it ended up taking place very late at night (a day later than we had originally intended it to take place) and my energy of course was very low and my emotions more heightened, ... to find out that there were a number of things that I still needed to show more evidence of my competence.

Needless to say, amid what was quite an overwhelming time, late at night/early in the morning ... I woke up about 3 hours later, for our early wake up to prepare for our rafting day ... & I managed to greet the new day & embrace the challenge of continuing forward, with the reality that my assessment course was over and the remainder of the course would proceed moreso as an assist with the opportunity for various coaching points from Roman as we journeyed through the final two & a half days of the course.

Quite splendidly, the last few days of the course went very well with my group. We never skipped a beat, despite the weary night I had, the great rapoort that I had established with my Papa's & our teacher Penny which carried us forward in a totally wonderful way. We also had a great SERVICE activity toward the end of our rafting activity, where we were helping a fellow named Craig pull up about 71 bags!! of water hyacinth, which is a terribly invasive weed species that is threatening to block up a section of Iron Pot Creek if it is left untouched.

A. B. Paterson Penguins making & moving piles of water hyacinth we pulled out of the ground

After we pulled out our rafts and packed them away, we still had a hike up to our campsite, which once we got to the 4 wheel drive track & the sun was setting, we prepared to road walk in the dark. Our group worked so well together, keeping track of the pacing, keeping the group together, staying paired up as we travelled forward, and keeping in good spirits the whole way along :) We travelled past some embers and remnants of some lantana clearing scrub fires to finally arrive at the campsite we stayed in that night, which was about 500m closer than our originally intended campsite. our course coordinator had us stay at the one lower down to avoid any of the smoke & residual fires that were possibly still going at that time of the evening.

The penguins were pleased to arrive at our new campsite ahead of the one we were originally traveling toward. The next day we had a great time at the Giant Ladder, then waited for one of our penguins to be taken back to the base camp to rest her back muscles that were strained during the last leg of the Ladder. Then, onward ho! ... we proceeded, and finally got the group set up for their Buddy Walk later in the afternoon than originally intended but quite successful nonetheless. The group quite enjoyed finishing up their Buddy Walk in the dark :)

Once we met up as a group ~4km later along the trail, we crossed a little stream and then crossed Iron Pot Creek stepping on a little rock path to get to the other side to then make our way to our campsite after one final cross of Iron Pot Creek courtesy of another small boulder crossing. Roman set the pengins up that night so that they operated completely without my involvement and the night went wonderfully well, ending up with hot chocolate, my reading of "Oh The Places You'll Go!" courtesy of Dr. Seuss, and the penguins connecting with each other with other stories of their own, some of which were quite heartfelt and only possible in the safe space that the group had created where they could feel comfortable in sharing so deeply with each other.

Our final morning together involved breakfast, packing up camp one final time, washing up all the personal & group gear, a final debrief circle which went very well, & quickly "wolfing" down some lunch before heading a couple hundred metres up the road to meet our shuttle ride to the bus turnaround point after getting a group picture for the folks with cameras, mine included :)

All in all, I am very pleased with the course experience I had with the "Lantana Bashing Penguins" from A. B. Paterson ... It was great fun, I learned heaps & so did the Penguins/Papa's, and I know what I need to more fully cover for my next go at being assessed. Navigation, group management, & time management are the main areas that I need to spruce up and I know that I can get these things in line the next time around.

Sooooo, with that, I will sign off and assure you that my own Outward Bound journey continues to unfold and offer various opportunities for me to learn more about myself, how I interact with others, and how I tap into the skills I have been acquiring along the way. There have been numerous occasions where I have wished many of you closer by my side, to lean on, listen to my troubles, encourage me on, massage my sore feet & back, run me a hot bath (oh how I look forward to the next time I can have a hot bath!!!!!), ... & just remind me to keep breathing.

Somehow, even in your absence, I have felt you nearby and I continue to draw upon my own strength and the support I know you are sending my way, and I keep moving forward, stepping along this journey that is my life. Ever grateful for having all that I enjoy in my life ... the abundance of love & support from my family & friends ... my strong spirit & perseverance that have enabled me to continue forward amid the trouble with my "paws" and the significant physical & mental challenges that have been part of my OBA internship adventures ... freedom to be who I am and do the many splendid things I do that make me who I am ... my dedication to making a difference in the world and creatively utilizing the resources that I have within me & around me to help facilitate personal transformations for the folks that I interact with and to help protect this fragile planet we call home ... plus countless other things I am truly grateful for in my life ...

It is now time for me to enjoy an abundance of "Hotto Suru" (to relax because one has taken a deep breath) as I begin this much need time off. I look forward to reconnecting with all of you more often here in cyberspace through my blog but also over the telephone wires & perhaps the iChat waves ... and most welcomingly, through snail mail as well ... it's always a great treat to have mail from home to greet me when I am in my nomadic/gypsy ways ...

I miss all of you heaps, & send big hugs & warm wishes of an abundance of "hotto suru" your way, wherever you are ...

Be well & keep breathing deeply ...

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa


p.s. this past course, we saw 3 different carpet pythons & 1 goanna (big lizard) who travelled around us at the Giant Ladder,

carpet python in a big hole

goanna checking us out at the Giant Ladder

... and the bell miner birds kept chirping their continuous bell tones wherever we travelled through "the bush", with the exception of the sections and patches of intact rainforest that have been excluded from the logging operations that have altered the forest ecosystems throughout the Toonumbar National Park area.

p.s.s. I posted another update just below, with more on my July OBA activities & what I am planning to do during my eagerly anticipated big break of TIME OFF :)

frost in mid- July ... who could imagine such a thing?

frosty morning for Tess & Taz's Papa's who slept out under the stars ... & the morning FROST!

Greetings my dear family & friends!

It's been awhile since I've been able to hop into cyberspace to let you all know what I have been up to ...

As I mentioned on my last posting, my ASSIST with Taz went extremely well. It was a great feeling to be able to connect with the participants as I did. They were a keen, mature group of teenagers from the U.S. who have come down to OZ for about 7 weeks with the big kick-off being their 9 days Outward Bound with Tess & Taz. Their "teacher"/chaperone, Sandi, who was with our group was also great to have with us. She shared stories of the activists doing tree sits up in Humboldt County in northern California where she currently lives and our group travelled quite well through the circuit that we did for their OB program.


abseil briefing by Tess (Teresa)

hoisting Tess up "Tinkerbell" the 27 meter tall Abseil Tree

Tess near the top of "Tinkerbell" ... preparing to abseil down, Yeehaa!

As you saw in my last posting, we also had the splendid fortune to enjoy a stunning sunset over Bells Bay the night before we went rafting.


Rafting our way along the Toonumbar Dam reservoir ...

One of the most excellent rainforest plants we saw along the way was the Staghorn, which is an epiphytic plant (grows on rocks or on trees without having a negative impact on them) ...

large staghorn growing on the underside of this big boulder

many staghorns hanging on & enjoying their shelf-like homes on the sides of the big trees

Part of the OB circuit includes this section of rainforest, we had our AFS participants doing their "Buddy Walk" at this time.

sunbeams lighting up the rainforest

rainforest splendour

So the participants were walking in pairs, getting to know someone else in their group that they didn't know very well (or at all) before coming to the OB course. They were to explore the following questions ... the impact of their OB experience that they felt would carry forward with them in 6 months, 1 year, perhaps even 2-3 years or longer; happiest & saddest moments of their lives, 2-3 values they have. I was at the front of our pack with Sandi, who was my buddy for the Buddy Walk, Taz held up the rear and enjoyed a solo walk through the splendid rainforest.

flowing water fun with my camera

Our "Papas" opted to sleep under the stars, without bivvies overhead ... the result, over this very cold night, was the lovely formation of frost that covered all sleeping bags, backpacks, and anything else that was not under cover ... Taz, Sandi, & I were protected from the frost by our bivvy, that we cleverly chose to put up :)



frosty morning at our expedition campsite near Iron Pot Creek

All in all, it was great to get out with this group of young adults from all corners of the US and to introduce them to some of the amazing landscapes and spaces that the Land of Oz has to offer. They came together very well as a group and connected with each other and themselves in a variety of ways that will help carry themselves through the rest of their adventures and service activities here in Australia and when they return back home to the U.S. Thanks heaps to all the AFS gang, it was great to get out & about with you near Toonumbar National Park :)

~~~

In the couple of days off that I had between my ASSIST with Taz & my ASSESSMENT course, I had the chance to go to the podiatrist in Lismore, who then set me up to see his colleague in Ballina (a town 30 minutes closer to the coast) so that I could get fitted for some orthotics. Just yesterday, I was finally able to pick up my new orthotics and will slowly start using them (an hour or so each day, increasing the time I wear them as the days go by).

Sending big hugs & a huge WELCOME HOME to my traveling, multi-lingual sister Nadia. How awesome that you were able to spend this past term over in Deutschland and to do the studying & traveling you did over there!!

To my twin nieces Roo & Boo, although I couldn't talk to you directly for your birthday while I was in Ballina, it was fun singing "Happy Birthday" to you on the answering machine. How fun that you were up in the Canadian Rockies when you celebrated turning 6 with Dad, Cecilia, A. Evelyn, U. Jerrold, and Schmookie Loo & Mommy & Daddy too!! Sorry I missed your visit to Canada ... I look forward to seeing you on your next visit once I return from the Land of Oz.

Trudy, I hope that you received my special delivery birthday card and that you had a most splendid time celebrating your special day as well ... same day as my twin nieces :) Did you get out for a wonder-full hike or other groovy outdoor adventure??

Margaret, I imagine you were in the thick of winding things down with your work in Colorado & preparing for your big move to D.C. when your birthday arrived. I hope that you were able to take some time to treat yourself to something special and that Jesse took you out for a little time outside to get some fresh air & take some time to stop & smell the roses.

I also have birthday wishes to send out to my cousins Kathy & Michelle, all the best to you in the coming year. I am sure A, A, J, & J & the rest of the Sheptak gang helped make your day extra special Kathy and perhaps Michelle, you had some fun out near the ocean in CA for yours or did you head up to Canada for a family visit??

There's a few more birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions that I am afraid I am not around to help celebrate ... To all of you, I send my best wishes for another great year and many wonder-filled moments with family & friends, including all your 4-legged friends too!

Ollie, it's very excellent to get your e-mail updates and encouragement as I have been moving through this OBA internship. Your support is much appreciated! So glad you received my latest cards and that you have been able to share my greetings to the rest of our DOE friends across the country. Thanks heaps :)

It would be great to hear how things are going for Shelley & your lovely "Bubby Bunch", also, M-F, what news have you to send my way. Cheryl, thanks for your recent note, it was great to hear from you & that you were preparing to go to the Summer Festival. I look forward to hearing about your Dharma adventures in the UK and more on how you, Gleb, & Aidan are settling in to life in Palo Alto.

I still have an update to share with you about my last course, which was my ASSESS with one of the international OBA guys from the Czech Republic. I will post that in a new note ...

But before I sign off from this posting, I wanted to let you all know that I will have a chance to be plugged in a little more often for the next few weeks because my big RDO BREAK has finally arrived, YIPPEE!!!

Soooo, I am now off until I return to Tharwa (where our National base is located SW of Canberra) for August 23rd. In the time between now & then, I will be getting myself organized to shuffle on from our mobile base here near Kyogle & Toonumbar National Park.

1st on my calendar will be spending time with Nan & Hugh Nicholson, some wonderfull folks whom I met during my time in northern New South Wales 2 years ago, when I was volunteering at the Womyn, Earth, & Change conference. They have extended a welcome to me that includes an opportunity to WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) for them (help with their organic gardening activities) while they work on finishing a few big updates on a couple of their Rainforests of Australia books that are no longer in print. I'll also have a chance to rest & work on finishing up some of my Cert. IV assignments.

I am also looking forward to reconnecting with one of my Seed Mates, Bobbi, and her partner John, who are also out in the Terania Creek area near Nan & Hugh, in a town called The Channon. Nan & Hugh live among large tracts of splendid Rainforest which were protected back in the late 70's by their very own activist efforts (those of Nan, Hugh, Bobbi & John, & their kids) plus those of many, many other concerned folks. Nightcap National Park was formed after the peaceful protesting that went on for over a month was successful in changing the minds of the politicians at the state & I believe federal levels to ensure that environmental impact assessments that the government stated in its policies were required before logging of such diveres areas could occur ... the EIA's then revealed how important the rainforest diversity in this area was, especially given the quickly shrinking areas of rainforest in Australia because of the intense logging pressures ... & the government decided to protect this area which then led to numerous other areas in NSW & I believe elsewhere in Australia to be protected as National Parks & other protected areas.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead

Ruth Rosenhek & John Seed (directors of the Rainforest Information Centre & colleagues of Joanna Macy) are up in this area as well & it will be great to meet up with them sometime soon.

After spending time up in the Terania Creek area, ... resting, catching up on a bunch of my assignments, reconnecting with these splendid folks I know from my previous trip to Oz, & perhaps spotting a platypus or two in Nan & Hugh's pond, ... I will head down to Sydney (on the ~12 hour train ride) to reconnect with my Sydney Seed Mates & hopefully even Claire in Newie on the way down ... plus Fumi, John, & Julia and some of the Dharma folks in the Harbour Bridge city ... then the fun of reconnecting with my Canadian mates Jilly Peanut & her son Ethan as they wind down their month of adventures Down Unda.

As it turns out, our ROMEO internship graduation day will be August 28th, ... there may likely be preliminary celebrations taking place on the Sunday, August 26th as well. Sooooo, if any of you lovely beings have occasion to be in the Canberra area around that week-end, or want to connect with me via, any of the vast media options available to us, please do so, it would be lovely to hear from you & share this milestone occasion with you :) WOWEE, not long now until this internship really winds itself down ... I just need to knuckle down to complete a few major assignments ... planning & coordinating an expedition (I am doing my in Wilson's Promontory National Park in the southern tip of the state of Victoria, a very beauty-full space!), emerging technologies (I am working on introducing the Work that Reconnect and Non-Violent Communication into OBA's programming ... stay tuned, I will share my paper once I have written it up & handed it in), and a number of smaller assignments that fulfill our Cert. IV requirements.

Lots to do over the next couple of weeks, as well as a bunch of eagerly anticipated time off to rest my paws ...

Know that I am wishing you well wherever you are, ... amid the high temp's hitting Alberta and the busy schedules that are filling your lives with new adventures and challenges in the journeys of your lives. Please take a moment or ten of them, to visit some of the places that you enjoy or that you know I am fond of, ... take some deep breaths and soak up the beauty, peace, stillness, joy, abundance, and whatever other wonderments abound in the special spaces you seek out.

Be well my dear family & friends,

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa

Teresa's ASSIST with Taz (American Field Service) ... the course was GREAT!!

Syndey Harbour Bridge & the Opera House (June 29, 2007)

... saw them during my 4 hours in Sydney between bus & train trips

HI Everyone,

I had a chance to post a QUICK update while I was in Lismore today, tapping into some free wireless from the nearby cafe ... & here it is ...

The course I just finished (my ASSIST) with the American Field Service went really well.

Tess enjoying the gorgeous sunset at Bells Bay

The kids were great, 16 to almost 19 years of age, very well behaved, keen, respectful, and fun! I even had a young man who is going to Harvard this year, he got 2380 on his SAT, the top score is apparetnly 2400! He was a funy, yet quirky young man who asked interesting questions & was a treat to have on course, along with the 11 other participants from Alaska, Wshington state, California, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan, & New York City.

I went out with an instructor who goes by Whiskey (the phonetic for his last name) but we told the kids our names were Tess (me) & Taz (Whiskey is from Tasmania). They went with it but figured those weren't our real names & we told them our names on the last night ... they figured they liked Tess better than Teresa, how funny!

Sandi (AFS chaperone), Taz, & Tess after the Buddy walk in the rainforest

I will add more to this update when I am back in Lismore on Friday for my podiatrist appointment.

Hugs 'n' Bugs, love,

Teresa

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,