Article from Australia that quotes me

This article just appeared June 11 (although it's still June 10 here in New Mexico!) in Australia.

A few more Australia photos

I found these on my camera. They were taken at dusk of the Yarra River in Melbourne. Note the rowers! It reminded me a lot of Boston.

Home Sweet Home

Unfortunately, due to the cost of the internet at the hotel (about $23 US a day which is the most I've ever seen) and the poor public wireless access, I couldn't blog the rest of the trip. The conference went well although I will say it was pretty nutty few days and I'm not sure when I would have blogged anyway! I did one last interview for Sky Television on Friday and gave three talks on Saturday (a plenary, a workshop session on families and pets helping people cope, and then spoke at the remembrance and healing service). Saturday night I had dinner with Frank Campbell and several Living Works people. I ordered the flounder and we all were surprised when my plate appeared with a rather large flounder on it while all the others ordered fish and got these little squares! Needless to say, fish isn't on my list for a while. I also fell in love with sticky date pudding and had that for a second time that night. Thanks to Susan Beaton for introducing me to it! I'm sure I'll figure out how to make it myself. I flew from Melbourne to Sydney and then Sydney to San Francisco on Sunday. I was in the first row of economy which meant I had a little more room. There was a baby next to me who managed to hardly to cry at all during the flight (ah....). He spent part of the night running his fingers across the sleeve of my fleece pullover. I was back in ABQ at 5:00 pm and we headed straight to Frontier for dinner. Suffering from some jet lag (it's now 4:11 am!) and it'll take me a few days to unpack but I always find it amazing how much my world gets smaller each time I travel. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to take this trip and to spend time with people I knew as well as get to know new people. One woman who heard me on the radio (where I mentioned facebook) friended me and came to the healing service. She lost her younger sister two years ago. It's all about connecting people because that's how we find hope.

Radio in Melbourne

Today was the pre conference and I did some radio this afternoon which went really well. We had a full hour and the host was great- Richard Stubbs. A woman called in and you could hear a little dog barking in the background. She then went on to say that her sister had just died and the funeral is tomorrow. They had the dog with them and she said she had a sense of her sister being with her because of that. Sadly, the dog wasn't enough to sustain her sister her in life but she will be a connection to her as time goes by.

Interviews and flying to Melbourne

I ran in the rain this morning in the park by the hotel. There were lots of dogs! Of course none of them were mine. I'm sure as I ran, mine were snoozing in their various spots at home in Albuquerque. I did a newspaper interview and just did a radio interview. One more radio interview before I head to the airport to fly to Melbourne. This last radio interview was from Nowra about two hours south of Sydney on the coast. He asked me about the gun laws and gun lobby in the US. The public relations people, I feel, have somewhat sensationalized the whole piece about guns in schools and such to the radio and tv people. I answer any questions that I am asked but I am always hesitant when it comes to such political issues, especially when I'm in a different country (I almost single-handedly started the troubles again in Northern Ireland during a session I did there when we were discussion religion...religion always gets me in trouble!). Also, my work is more on the postvention side, helping people cope after the suicide. I had to set the producer straight at the Kerri-Anne show that I was not here to discuss prevention (they were going to ask me about warning signs). I'm all about helping people survive their losses to live hopeful lives again.

The Rest of the Day

After the show, I returned to the hotel to shower and get some breakfast (well, it was really lunch by then). I had to be at ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Company) in the afternoon to do a radio interview but had some time so I walked over to King's Cross as my sunglasses had gotten scratched. I bought some new ones at a store across from one that said "Show Girls Fully Licensed." I felt like I was in New Orleans. Then I stumbled on St. Mary's Cathedral where I made my mom proud by stopping for a prayer and to light a candle. I also bought a Pope Benedict pen because I had an idea and wanted to write it down. Any takers on my pen?! It was cheap, too. Less than $2.00 US. Anyway, I bought a rosary as well. I returned to the hotel to catch a cab to ABC where I did the interview in a turdis booth. The radio show was out of Tasmania so they hooked me up here in Sydney. Tonight I am trying to do some catch up as I have two radio interviews, a newspaper reporter interview, the flight to Melbourne, and dinner with friends tomorrow night in Melbourne. The radio interviewer said that she was glad we weren't doing tv because it's difficult when we have tears streaming down our faces. I've been referred to as "Dr. Michelle" all week. The photos are taken from the roof of the hotel overlooking the harbor. I was tempted to swim since the pool is heated but it was too windy and I dreaded getting out. Maybe if I'd had a thick robe....

The Australian Oprah

This morning I appeared on the Kerri-Anne Kennerly Show. She is known as the Australian Oprah. The photo shows me with her and Scott Poland who is an American I know does much of his work around schools and suicide. It had been some time since I had my makeup and hair done for tv, usually it's been that they are my responsibility. I had to take a shower after getting back to the hotel to get back to me! I will have the clip of the show and will put it up on the youtube when I get it.

A cloudy, rainy day at the beach

Well, I guess you can't win them all. It was rainy this morning and cloudy this afternoon. I was supposed to be checked out of the hotel at noon (Jill is coming to get me in about a half hour for dinner and to drop me off at the airport to head to Sydney) but because of the weather, the resort people loaned me an umbrella and let me stay until 5:00. I love the Aussies! Photos of my walk into town are attached in this post and the one that will come after it.

Sunset on the bay and the Sunshine Coast

One last photo from Hervey Bay of sunset last night. Early this morning I climbed back on the bus and returned to the Sunshine Coast. Jill Fisher of the Standby Response team picked me up and took me out inland where she lives. The hilly scenes are from where she lives. The overlook goes out to the ocean where I am tonight. The yellow flowers are Japanese sunflowers which are not native to Australia but are everywhere and very cool. That's her cow Poppy who didn't want to come to her at first because Jill didn't feed Poppy this morning and Poppy was upset. In one photo, Poppy is begging for more grain from Jill. The last photo is of the pool at the Seacove Resort where I am tonight. It's only 6:30 but it feels like midnight. I'm going to try and stay up to watch the Eurovision Song Contest which I first saw in Sweden several years ago. A real treat!

Jellyfish, soldier crabs, and kangaroos

Last time I was here, the only kangaroo I saw was dead on the side of the road on the way to Canberra so Dorothy drove all over trying to find one. But first we went to Burrums Head where there was the most incredible driftwood and some great shelling. The soldier crabs make the funky designs and the jellyfish wasn't poisonous! Then we stopped at Akarra Lagoon to see the black swans but there were just a few ducks. Then she took me to see some friends who usually have kangaroos nearby and Dave was able to point us to see some. The large one is the male and the others are girls. Note how they are right there next to civilization. They were good about posing for me. There were four. Dave and his wife Susan have a yellow lab who loves life about as much as Nestle but is much quieter than Nestle. Dorothy has some other friends we were to see and I'm not sure what their dog was because it's something you can only find here. Her name is Riley and she definitely thinks she should get everything in the world because she is so cute. The kangaroo photos will follow in the next blog.

Lots of photos!

I was too exhausted last night to post photos because the internet was a little slow. I'm in Coolum Beach tonight. Yesterday, I woke up and was starving. My stomach gets really confused on these trips. I went for a run on the reach but I admit I walked a lot of it because there was so much to see. There was coral, big snappers washed up on the beach, and the volcanic rock that dots the shoreline. Dorothy and I went to the Hervey Bay pier and the photos don't do it justice. It was an incredible site and so calm. Lots of kids fishing which was cool. From there we went to the marina and then the fish co-op where I got some red emperor for dinner. Red Emperor is a relative of red snapper. The photo with the pool is taken from Dorothy's balcony and you can see the bay.