Great Barrier Reef

A Short Fable for my Simple Minded/Short On Time Readers

My sister and I went on a trip. We went on a diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef. This reef is one of the world's 7 natural wonders, although we both forgot that at the time!

Our trip was a liveaboard trip (3 days/2 nights on a boat that takes you far off the coast) with a company called Deep Sea Diver's Den. They were great.

Our boat was huge! which was nice and scary-touristy in the beginning. We lucked up and had the whole place to ourselves (plus only 9 others!). Karma was looking over us.

We lived in our bathing suits and "Scuba Steve" gear the entire time, which made me look rather goofy. The weather was great and usually not a cloud in the sky. Elizabeth was scared of being sunburned. She's really white.

We did 12 dives in 3 days, including 2 night dives where we only went down with a small flashlight (or "torch" as they say in Australia). I saw 4 sharks the first night. It wasn't scary but wasn't fun either. Day light is much better to me.

During the day, we saw everything. The reef is beautiful and so colorful when visibility is good and we could stay within 35 feet, which was hardly the case when anyone other than myself was leading the dive.

We saw more sharks!

and stingrays

and turtles

and jellyfish!

It was a great trip. You should go.

Aside from the diving, new friends were made!

New friends with underwater cameras Rock!

Thanks, Mat!

The End.

ps-More pictures and details to come. Thanks to American Airlines, Elizabeth's bag w/ the CD full of photos got lost on the way home. Till then...

Carbon Offsets: TerraPass

Some call me a treehugger... but if you, like me and my friend Nichole, feel terrible for all the flying you do and it's environmental impact, have a look at these guys: http://www.terrapass.com/  With so many companies in the industry, it's nice to have a trusthworthy recommendation for one.

Thanks for the info, Nichole!

Thick, Chewy Granola Bars

We've dubbed these as "crack". Seriously -- The Best!!

1 2/3 C Quick rolled oats
1/2 to 3/4 cup grandulated sugar (use more or less)
1/3 cup oat floar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinammon
2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts (just about anything you want to add)
1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 Tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or corn syrup
2 Tbsp light corn syrup (otherwise substitute with one of the above)
1 Tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 8x8x2 pan with parchment paper, allowing it to go up on opposing sides. Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan, or coat with non stick cooking spray.

Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, liquid sweetners and water. Toss the wet ingred. with the dry (and p butter, if you're using it) until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread out in prepared pan, pressing firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan.

Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until they're brown around the edges -- don't be afraid to get a little color on them. They'll seem soft and almost underbaked in the center when y ou take them out but do not worry, they'll set completely once they cool.

Cool the bars in their pan.

Ti Tree Musings from EJH

Am I being ridiculous to call Elizabeth a "guest blogger"?? Welcome her to the site and maybe she'll appear more often!

Elizabeth's Reflections from Ti Tree:

I have not felt this fantastic in a long time! Life in the Northern Territory has been a balance of mind, body, and soul for me. In medical school, my schedule has been weighted, and I have had a difficult time balancing mind with body and soul. Every day, I tell Stephanie Jane a simplicity of her reality that I appreciate. One morning, I counted the steps from our door to the threshold of the clinic, a total of 150 steps. As we undertake our commute, the ground comes alive. Hidden amongst the red dirt and sporadic tuffs of grass, grasshoppers prelude your arrival, scattering in disarray like popcorn in hot oil having no order to their chaotic retreat. Life is so vivid and raw here!

Most mornings begin with watching the sunrise over the horizon while we jog along red dirt paths. I love watching sunrises, or sunsets. The sun is a daily reminder to be true to oneself. The sun rises and sets without fail. Every morning the sun will rise in the east and every evening the sun will set in the west; it is a constant that we can rely on. We must be honest to ourselves about what makes us happy, what our goals are, and what we find important in life. There is one life to live, and when the sun sets on mine, I want to know that I lived it to the fullest. Medicine has a peculiar way of swallowing you whole and spitting you out well-educated, but incomplete, financially incompetent, and, for the first time, no directional advice. It is a continual struggle to maintain balance. Ti Tree has been a time of reflection for me, a time for me to revisit my motivations, my aspirations, and my goals. Ti Tree is the sunrise that I need before I enter the next era of my medical training.

Some of my favorite parts of Ti Tree have been the night sky with a string of constellations, seeing either a sunset or a sunrise (or both!) every day, red dirt contrasted by the green trees, morning runs, and afternoon tea time. I love the simplicity of the Aboriginal people. But my most favorit-est part of Ti Tree has been time. Time to do anything with nothing to accomplish. I journal, I exercise, I read, I nap. I think about my garden this spring, about Monte’s upcoming retraining-training regime, and the color of my bedroom next year. I plan my marathon training schedule, a financial budget on a resident’s salary, and the night’s meal. I love to think about anything and everything. I aimlessly wander among my field of thought and when I come across and enticing thought, I think about it more.

Stephanie Jane has constantly challenged me to explore parts of myself that have lain dormant for the past several years. This ‘guest posting’ was, needless to say, her idea. I loathe the idea of writing because I feel I can never convey my thoughts appropriately. As I write, she is chiding me with a smile and ‘I told you so’s’ from across the room because I have spent an entire Saturday morning writing. I am so thankful that even though distance usually separates us, we maintain a closeness that only sisters can have. She knows how to encourage like a big sister and to let no answer be the best answer like a best friend. I have loved being part of her reality this past month!

So, here’s to completing my guest/first-ever post and to wholeness! Cheers!

Our Schedule

I always get the question: "What are you doing out there?". This is a difficult one to sum up easily, so with Elizabeth's help, I came up with the following. Maybe this will help.

A Day in the Life at Ti Tree

5:46 Phone alarm goes off to the sweet tunes of an ascending ringtone.

5:46:02 Snooze button already battered twice. Recount dreams, stretch, make excuses not to get out of bed. Elizabeth is usually already brushing her teeth and lacing up her tennis shoes.

6:00 Alarm clock goes off for the second time. I hear Elizabeth in the kitchen taking her morning Vit C (she has had nasal drainage since she has been here!) ready to insert the P90X DVD of choice.

6:15 After fumbling around, having some cold water and wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I join Elizabeth for the six minutes of stretching before exercise begins. I try to make Elizabeth start the mornings off with a trot, but she insists on approaching the mornings as a locomotive bound for New York.

7:08 We dump the vinegar out of the electric kettle. Vinegar is used to clean the overwhelming calcium deposits off the coils so we can boil water for our morning coffee. No worries about osteoporosis in the Northern Territory. The water has the highest content of calcium that I have ever ingested.

7:10 Water is boiling.

7:30 Shower, Breakfast and freeze-dried coffee in alternating order. Ti Tree is not a main consumer of Costa Rican beans so we are forced to the local alternative.

7:59:59 Head out the door to clinic. Our door is steps from the clinic. As we walk, we dodge colliding grasshoppers (no, seriously, these grasshoppers are the size of small birds!) we stir up in the grasses. There are also packs of dogs that escort us to clinic. We have our favorites, esp the Pit/ Rat Terrier pup that has one low slung ear and one perky ear.

8:00 Clinic Starts. Elizabeth starts her mornings off with a thorough reading of the previous night’s emails from America. I start with recording the daily temperature of the various frigs in the clinic waiting for the patients to arrive.

This past week I have been splitting my time between seeing patients and helping get the visiting doctor acquainted with her new space. Elizabeth meanders in and out of each of the rooms with no particular favorite. She sits in with me while I flush flies out of kids’ ears and then mingles back in with the DMO to listen to the management of uncontrolled diabetes.

EJH analogy: The day in a remote Aboriginal clinic is like tripping on mushrooms while watching a Planet Earth series of unsuspecting ants being consumed by a beetle.

SJH analogy: The day in a remote Aboriginal clinic is like licking honey off a thorn.

Too many things can happen in a day, so here is a snapshot of our last 2 weeks:

Antenatal checks. STI treatments. Flushing out stones/tree particles from ears. Filling medicine boxes. Rheumatic Heart prophylaxis. Scabies education. Vaccination administration. Centrifuging blood. Facilitating Hearing checks w/ the ENT team. Impetigo identification. Growth charts. ECG lessons. IV fluids. Toothbrushing demonstration. Deworming protocols. Iron injections. Diabetic ulcer dressing changes. Responding to domestic violence assaults. Death. Medicare enrollment. Asthma nebulizers. Insulin injections. Glomerular filtration rates vs. Albumin/Creatinine Ratio. Lancing boils. Pneumonia diagnosing. Loving on kids. Wiping away tears. Getting frustrated with poor parenting. Removing calcium deposits in the hot water kettle. Changing sheets. Checking oxygen tanks. Drug counts. Writing medical certificates. Arranging transport into town. Fracture identification. Pain management. Strongilydosis labs. Giarrhdia samples. Oral Rehydration education. IV lessons.…..Always, always, always learning.

12:00 Lunch

12:10 Naptime! Elizabeth’s favorite part of the day. I usually read.

12:59:59 Back to the clinic for the afternoon session

15:30 Tea Time! Elizabeth always sneaks back a couple of cookies in her bag after lunch to munch on while we drink Bushel’s tea, sugar, and cream.

17:00 Clinic ends. The days are always so busy, time flies!

17:01 Internet time!

18:00 Elizabeth is prepping for the night’s meal. She seems to think that she needs to use all the vegetables and fruit in every meal she cooks, so it takes her a lot of prep time.

18:30 This part of the day depends on what the mood calls for. Sometimes go for another run (if Elizabeth can talk me into it), read, sew, laugh/chat/tell stories (yes, mom, lots of long conversations), listen to music, and teach Elizabeth computer skills.

20:00 Meal time! It has been fantastic having Elizabeth here. She adorns the self-designated title of “master chef.” Somewhere amongst staple traveler’s food supply, Elizabeth designs a creative masterpiece nightly.

20:15 Wind-down time. I clean the dishes while Elizabeth takes a shower which I follow suit not too far behind.

21:00 By this time we are several pages into our books with our eyelids falling slowly. Not too much longer, turn the lights out and quickly fall asleep. (yes, going to bed early is our speed...)

if you stay too long in the third world

The following poem was given to me by my beautiful adoptive and adopted Australian mother, Connie. Sitting outside in the cool breeze on her back patio, she read this poem out loud to me somehow inferring that I would understand. Understand it, I did and appreciate it, I do. Thank you, Connie, for being being so poetically sound and always having just the right words!

if you stay too long in the third world

you learn

to hawk and spit like an old woman

you become

unfit for dinner parties

in the lands of the well fed

having dropped out of yoru original country

into this space from which

the coast with its oceans and gardens

the party on the terrace

the splash of green water over the bow of the yacht

are images projected on a screen

whoe unreality you resent

the other side of the coin whose gain

is the loss you see all around

if you stay too long in the third world

death becomes a fact of life    the old

die quickly       the young

can't count on being old       this termite death

hollows out the roots of endeavour

as children leave toys you abandon

your previous explantations

if you stay too long in the third world

it will fill the space in your psyche

with a differnt discourse

you will begin to recongise

the unfamiliar in the unfamiliar

the outline of a landscape

in a pattern of dots

the faces of relations in the tragice and violent

repitions of a song        the patterns of daily living

in the holy steps of a dance

if you stay too long in the third world

you will become

accustomed to silence and observation

leading to understanding

to abundance and malnutrition

immutably hand in hand

when that eager and rational voice

whose creature you are

whose instrument you had vounteered to become

grates like the radio on a bad day

you switch it off

if you stay too long in the third world

you will be unable to leave

-Lee Catalidi, Women who live on the Ground

Ampilatwatja Video

Due to the constraints of working within a government run/"Big Brother" health clinic, this video is a bit overdue 2/2 not being able to access most sites. Nevertheless, hope you like it!


Saving 1000's of words: Ampilatwatja 2010 from Stephanie Holcombe on Vimeo.