A couple of years ago, I went for a long weekend to Bainbridge Island, WA to stay with some family of the guy I was dating at the time. They were absolutely the coolest couple -- teaching me all about how exquisite orange juice in champagne glasses is during a morning shower, plus how to live more sustainably and appreciate rice milk! We had the best weekend with them, but more than anything I remember this poem. The house they lived in had previously been built by a couple who had the last line of this poem etched into their mantle. They liked it so much, they decided to keep it in the house and had a framed copy of this poem for everyone to see. I thought it was really great. Birches by Robert Frost When I see birches bend to left and right Across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy's been swinging them. But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay. Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load, And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed So low for long, they never right themselves: You may see their trunks arching in the woods Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground, Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair Before them over their heads to dry in the sun. But I was going to say when Truth broke in With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm, I should prefer to have some boy bend them As he went out and in to fetch the cows-- Some boy too far from town to learn baseball, Whose only play was what he found himself, Summer or winter, and could play alone. One by one he subdued his father's trees By riding them down over and over again Until he took the stiffness out of them, And not one but hung limp, not one was left For him to conquer. He learned all there was To learn about not launching out too soon And so not carrying the tree away Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise To the top branches, climbing carefully With the same pains you use to fill a cup Up to the brim, and even above the brim. Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish, Kicking his way down through the air to the ground. So was I once myself a swinger of birches. And so I dream of going back to be. It's when I'm weary of considerations, And life is too much like a pathless wood Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs Broken across it, and one eye is weeping >From a twig's having lashed across it open. I'd like to get away from earth awhile And then come back to it and begin over. May no fate willfully misunderstand me And half grant what I wish and snatch me away Not to return. Earth's the right place for love: I don't know where it's likely to go better. I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more, But dipped its top and set me down again. That would be good both going and coming back. One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

Who Knew?...

...that carrots could grow polka-dot mold?









...that dogs could be so mangy! and still be alive.















...or that donkey's dicks swing!

Ah, the joys of living in 'the bush'. All this stuff that I'm learning.

The Essence of the Thing

The Essence of the Thing

Madeleine St. John

What a heart-wrencher! This book was about a break-up story, and without meaning to, I found myself feeling so much for these characters. It shouldn’t ever have to be this hard. Based in London, Nicola and Jonathan had a fine life together: happy, healthy, and whole…or so Nicola thought. Without any prior discussions, Jonathan decided to break up. This happened on page 2 (literally) and the rest of the book was about the pain and misery each went through disentangling their lives together. The author did an excellent job correctly articulating the stages of emotions a break-up causes, all the highs and lows and the games we play with ourselves to move forward.

My own pain from terrible break-up memories bubbled right under the surface the entire 2 days it took me to finish the book. Nonetheless, It was a good read because it was of a story most everyone can identify with. And, if you can’t, I believe that you should: everyone needs their heart broken one good time.

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1997, this book was a memorable one. I liked it and recommend it. The ending makes you just want to slap him, though.

Some trace of genuine emotion seemed to have gripped him. “ I can’t seem to make you realize that I’ve done what was right not only for me but for you too,” he said. He wasn’t indifferent any longer. “ It seems never to have occurred to you, that entering into a permanent relationship, e.g. marriage, e.g. parenthood, is probably more dangerous than walking across a minefield. And the possible suffering is more prolonged, and affects everyone near you. When it isn’t absolutely right it’s absolutely wrong. And when it’s absolutely wrong you’ve got your back against the wall for the rest of your life. Did you really want to risk that?”

“Yes,” she said. “I loved you. That’s what it means, to love someone: to be willing to take that risk.”

“Then love is only a kind of insanity,” he said.

“So be it,” she replied.

Boost Your Life

Janine Allis

This was a part memoir, part business book by the founder of Boost Juice Bars. Allis claims not to have been born with an entrepreneurial spirit and consequently did not start the business until she was 35. With nothing more than guts and gumption, she developed a multi-billion dollar business via juice shops across Australia. The book offered lots of tips, but the moral of the story was simply: Go for it! And Do what it takes to be your own boss! Both I already knew.

Good book, but too simplistic. Wouldn’t recommend it. Better business books out there.

Busy Bee

Time flies when you’re busy, and busy is an understatement for me these days! I arrive at the clinic at 8:30 in the a.m. and most of the time I don’t leave until at least 6 or 7. I then am on call some nights, having to come back for (usually) sick kids. Fortunately, the clinic has a 2 hour lunch break – which is AWESOME! I go non-stop all day, seeing patients, trying my hand at a bit of management, liaising between Alice Springs health offices, plus a million other things – it’s go, go, go. But, I’m learning a lot and that’s the point. My learning cure is at 90 degrees.

We’ve had a great group of nurses to come through here, which has been such an experience to get to meet all these new people that have so many interesting things to teach me – both clinically and ‘how in the world did you end up here, too?’. We all live together, so not only do we work together, we cook together, sleep together and are pretty much intricately intertwined. Fortunately, they’re all cool people and we have fun making the most out of this experience. Now, it’s down to me and another female, Prue, for the next week or so until the main nurse returns from holiday. I’m doing well at adjusting to remote life.

Arriving in a new place there's that need to ubicar, to locate, and not just external things like where the shop is or the trash pit, but to actually be ubicado, to feel yourself located in the place. It is a good process. I find that it's easy for me to exist in this environment and also find that it is far easier to accept the differences than not. It’s an adjustment – don’t get me wrong. However, overall, I’m glad to experience being able to easily exist in so many contexts, not having to have this or that to be happy...I'm not shocked.

Probably the only thing I wish were different was having alcohol! It would be nice to have a cold beer or glass of wine some nights. This community, however, is a voluntary ‘dry’ community, so no alcohol is allowed. Oh well…small issue in the grand scheme of things.

Outside of the clinic, I’m trying to also read several books, waking up to work out every morning before work (Thanks, Dendy & Heather!), spending lots of energy on Dave’s 2 dogs (we’ve mutually fallen in love w/ each other!), trying my hand at some drawing, fiddling around on the guitar, learning juicing and ways to cook w/ a random group of ingredients. I’m also attempting some travel writing and going to submit some to some online sites to see if any of it is good enough. Ultimately, I try each day to do something good for my mind, body and soul, giving each equal attention. However, I am gentle w/myself and don’t judge me on the days that I just want to go to bed at 8:00 after a long day!

According to my sister, my blog sometimes doesn’t say much, so I’ve included some video that might help tell the story. Be patient as I learn about this whole blogging world! Walking to work one day, driving out and working at a remote clinic that I man every Wed. afternoon -- red & dry!, random dust storms that I often see here, the totally adorable, yet terrible ears the dogs have (it’s so terrible, it's cute), and the house I’m house sitting now.

Thanks for keeping up and for all the encouragement.

Love and apples. (as my friend Casey B. adorably says)

Owning Your Own Shadow

Owning Your Own Shadow: Understanding the Dark Side of the Psyche

Robert A Johnson

A bit out there…but a good lesson overall. Johnson explores the need to “own” our own shadow – the dark, hidden part of the ego. This is accomplished by first coming to terms with the shadow, incorporating it and finally aiming to balance it. When I was reading it, I felt that he used lots of left-field jargon, but overall I liked his stance: He views this as a process by which wholeness is restored to the person.

Good, bad and ugly are part of us all. Normally, our culture only makes a comfortable space for the good ones. Becoming intimately whole is partly being able to identify and explore the ugly parts of us too, without the need to hide them away.

Ok, but I wouldn’t run out and find the book.

There is a wonderful saying attributed to Mahatma Gandhi: “If you follow the old code of justice – an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth – you end up with a blind and toothless world.” P. 37

I regret the prevailing attitude at present that goodness or sainthood consists of living as much as possible on the right hand, the good side, of the seesaw. Sainthood has been caricatured as an image of the all-right preson, the person who has transferred everything to the perfect side of his personality. Such a condition would be completely unstable and would flip immediately. The balance would be disrupted and life would be impossible.

The fulcrum, or center point, is the whole (holy) place. I agree that we must relate to the outer world with the refined product of the good side, but this canbe done only by keeping the left side in balance with the right. We must hide our dark side from society in general, or we will be a bloody bore; but we must never try to hide it from ourself. True sainthood-or personal effectiveness-consists in standing at the center of the seesaw and producing only that which can be counterweighted with its opposite. P.14

The balance of light and dark is ultimately possible – and bearable. All nature lives in polarity – light and dark, creation and destruction, up and down, male and female. P. 15

Romulus, My Father

Raimond Gaita

Ironically, I bought a bunch of black-market movies in Boliva and this movie (called Mi Padre) was one of them. In vain, everyone in my family has tried to watch it on all of our TV’s, laptops, Xbox’s, ect…and we couldn’t ever get it to play. I come to an indigenous community and there in the house was this book. Weird.

It is basically a book Gaita wrote in celebration of his father. It’s original form was the eulogy he read at his funeral. Some friends then urged him to try and write a book about their relationship and time together.

His father was born in 1922 in a Romanian speaking part of Yugoslavia. He was born into poverty, having to work hard his entire life. He immigrated to Port Melbourne, Australia in 1950 bringing his new wife and young son, Raimond. The wife turns out to be crazy, leaving her family alone; therefore, Gaita grew up in the home of his father. They worked and survived through years of poverty. In the end, his father becomes mental and dies. Touching story, mainly because it was inspired by love.

Wouldn’t recommend it. Slow read.

We sometimes express our most severe judgment of other people by saying that we will never again speak to them. I never heard my father say that nor can I imagine him saying it. That, perhaps more than anything else, testifies to his unqualified sense of common humanity with everyone he met. His severe judgment often caused pain, but the simple honestly of its expression, together with his unhesitating acceptance of those whom he judged so severely, convinces me that he never intentionally caused suffering to anyone. He was truly a man who would rather suffer evil than do it. P. 207

The philosopher Plato said that those who love and seek wisdom are clinging in recollection to things they once saw. Book jacket

A Fair-er Christmas

From the recent prompt by my mother to help her decide on what Xmas gifts to buy our family (those to whom it really doesn't matter!), I have begun thinking alot about gifts and buying and Xmas and consumption. I thought this information might be of interest to those of you who know little of fair-trade and help to possibly direct a few purchases in the future.

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Associated with socially conscious consumption, the fair trade label is gracing a number of products, from bananas to soccer balls, entering mainstream retail outlets.
You may know fair trade’s basic premise–paying producers in developing nations a fair price for their goods–but what else does fair trade entail? What else should you know about what’s behind the label?


1. Fair trade represents a movement.
Fair trade began in the 1940s as a form of charity when religious groups in the West set up specialized stores to sell crafts from developing nations.
As fair trade developed in the ensuing decades, the movement politicized its approach: targeting international trade practices that favored rich nations, including dumping subsidized produce on poor countries (thereby driving down the price of local produce); imposing high duties on imports from developing nations; and forcing bilateral trade deals that flood third world markets with cheap products.

2. Without access to markets or the means of competing on fair grounds, third world producers remain mired in poverty.
Oxfam estimates that if Africa, East Asia, South Asia, and Latin America increased their share of world exports by just one percent, the resulting gains could lift 128 million people out of poverty.
In Africa alone, a one percent increase in exports would generate about $70 billion USD, about five times what the continent currently receives in aid.

3. Fair trade is also a brand.
The name “fair trade” is owned by the Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO), a Bonn-based association of 23 member groups that develop fair trade standards, confer certification, and monitor compliance.
Each member organization also helps traders and wholesalers in its country access fair trade-certified products from around the world. Cutting out middlemen, the process is more streamlined and cost-efficient than conventional trade channels.
FLO members include TransFair in the US; Comercio Justo in Mexico; the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK; and Max Havelaar in Switzerland.

4. Fair trade certification standards vary, depending on the product.
Producers must meet labor standards regarding working conditions, worker organization, and child labor. In some cases, sustainable environmental practices may also be included.
Pricing is determined by calculating a sustainable living wage in the source country; families must be able to afford adequate housing, clean water, food, and basic education. Farmers are guaranteed a minimum price for their produce, regardless of the fluctuation of commodity prices in global markets. Producers can also access credit at fair rates.

5. Coffee makes up the bulk of the fair trade market…
Coffee is a significant exportable product for more than 60 developing nations.
Though fair trade coffee comprises less than 5% of the total coffee consumed in the US, demand is growing. Starbucks recently announced it would double its fair trade coffee purchases to about 40 million pounds this year, making it the largest buyer of fair trade coffee.

6. But fair trade isn’t just about coffee, produce, and handcrafts.
You can find the fair trade label on flowers, sports equipment, wine, cocoa, chocolate, tea, rice, honey, sugar, spices, and many other products. Check the Fair Trade Resource Network to learn what products are covered and where you can find them.
You can also check Ten Thousand Villages,one of the original fair trade craft retailers, which has hundreds of retail shops in the US and Canada. Other large sales and resource networks include Equal Exchange and SERRV International.

7. Fair trade does have its critics.
Fair trade has been compared to farm subsidies, in which artificial price setting encourages market inefficiencies and overproduction, hurting producers elsewhere.
Other contentious issues include the rigidity of certification rules (coffee growers, for example, must be part of a small family farm that is part of a larger cooperative), fees that small producers can’t afford, and poor enforcement of standards.
FLO member groups have been criticized for liberally granting the use of the fair trade label to corporations without considering their overall business practices. For this reason, several American coffee importers have pulled out of the TransFair system, opting to use an alternative label.

Merry Xmas!

Me Likey