Healing Report- Byron Shire and Surrounds

Hello All:
I'm happy to report that things are moving along on schedule. I have been dutifully following my health practitioners' advice and and am now at the point where I've begun to put some weight on the aforementioned foot. I used a combination of western herbal tablets , Japanese acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medical herbs. The last week, I have additionally been waving a moxa stick around my foot first thing in the morning before the application of Zen linament and the required elastic bandage.

About the moxa: I have had to move outside for the burning as the drift out of my room was disconcerting for my housemates. Even so, my clothes still are permeated by the herbal smoke. This causes me some anxiety. I can just picture it. I have ventured out and meet a beautiful woman who is throwing me friendly glances until she gets close and smells what she thinks is the indication of a dope fiend and thus I miss out on my chance for eternal bliss.

It's good to see the reduction in swelling of my foot. The two feet when viewed side by side was a shocking experience. Especially when it is my feet. I am happy to say that the skin around my feet has maintained a smooth finish as they returned to normal size. However, my toes, which are the last to deflate, have become all wrinkly! I will have to see if my private health insurance will cover a bit of nip and tuck.

I have to thank my many friends who have offered me a foot during my recuperation. My especial thanks to Sabina and Manjari who graciously taken on the extra work of having a partially mobile housemate.

This past weekend was quite an event. Being a New Age sensitive Bloke, I emerged into the public sphere at a Grigoryan Brothers classical guitar concert followed the next three days by the Byron Bay Writer's Festival. Both events were incredibly stimulating. I had some interesting conversations with other likewise mobility- challenged individuals and an all around good time. It has been a strange experience to have perfect strangers suddenly break off from a conversation to open a door for me or the like. At the Writer's Festival, I was offered a chair near the stage at an overflowing session. It was a bit disconcerting at first. I did eventually adjust to my status though it was hard to think of myself as 'disabled'. Being a Bloke, I was prepared to soldier on (though the closest I ever came to being a soldier was my year in military academy at age sixteen. Oh, yeh, there was that acid trip I had with my militant White Panther friend in 1970 San Francisco.)


The Grigoryan Brothers- Contemporary classical guitar duets. These guys have been playing since they were not much bigger than the instruments. And, they have been playing together almost as long. If you ever have the chance, you will be justly rewarded. They are on a 40+ stop tour of Australia and then are off for two weeks touring the USA and Europe.

www.grigoryanbrothers.com

The Writer's Festival- I have to admit that this was my first writer's festival ever. I didn't know what to expect. Was I going to be bored or what? Well, I have to say that I had a great time. Four out of five sessions that I attended every day were very relaxed and fun. A lot of humour. Many great stories from the authors' books or their lives. Some readings and more humour. In order that they happen to be stacked next to me, the books I bought were:

James Griffin, Songs for a Season at Ghost Town Bridge (With a cd talking and singing the contents of the book);

Gretel Killeen, The Night My Bum Dropped (This woman is funny!!! She did excerpts from the book like a stand up routine at the festival. It is a long time since I laughed so hard.);

Oren Siedler, Bruce and Me (Growing up half the year with a Buddhist mother in Oz and the other half with a con artist father in the USof A);

Don Walker, Shots (Songwriter/member of Cold Chisel and others. His prose is like poetry. I have to read it outloud to feel the cadences),

Imran Ahmed, Unimagined (A humourous and insightful account of growing up as a "Paki" in England) and finally,

Denise Scott, All That Happened at Number 26 (another Comedian's memiors).

I was tempted by others but managed to restrain myself. I have to say that if I had not attended this festival, I would have had little chance of knowing of these books and would have missed the chance to hear the authors speak of the their books and their lives as well as hear the readings. I will be attending next year's festival for sure.

http://www.byronbaywritersfestival.com.au/v1/index.php



I hope that you are all doing well.

Love, Kundan