talking stick

[Viv McWaters]

Hi Ingrid and others

Thank you for your suggestions - I love the idea of a stone and will use
that in the future. I have also used the branch of a gum tree and a rain
stick. In this instance I decided on the inflatable globe as it was a good
symbol for an event that led into an International Landcare Conference.

This event was held in the central business district of melbourne in the
basement (albeit beautiful) of an historic, but restored and enlarged major
bank building. There was no natural light and even if you did go outside it
was unbearably hot (about 37 celcius/100 farenheit) with a strong hot,
northerly wind blowing, lots of taffic, people rushing and very noisy. It
reminded why I work mainly in the country and rural areas.

I am still processing this event which, for me, was full of highs and lows.
Andrew, I can relate to your exhaustion. I too have struggled to hold
spaces from 'space invaders' and find that I also have an internal struggle
to NOT do anything - to let go of my Newtonian concepts of time, to allow
the chaos to reign and the order to emerge, to let authentic struggle just
happen. And if it's hard for me, imagine how it must feel to some of the
participants!

As an introvert I recover by being alone - usually in a loved natural
space. It sounds trite but I really do take time to smell the roses, to
play with my dogs, to make a cup of tea and drink it slowly while sitting
under the tree in my back yard...

Cheers

Viv

Viv McWaters
Beyond the Edge Pty Ltd
45 Valentine Street, Ivanhoe 3079
Victoria Australia
Ph/Fax: 61 3 9499 9300

"Thus the task is not so much to see what no-one yet has seen, but to think
what nobody yet has thought about that which everyone sees." Schopenhauer