Of Joy, Hope and Sadness

Deep Joy-

Dreams do come through! Little Fa has recovered. She's well and certainly has a bounce in her step. As her foster mother, that's all I could ask for BUT there's more. I can still hardly believe it but Hope's (the doggie I'll talk about next) benefactor, MF has offered to adopt Fa and she will be taken care of by someone who herself devotes most of her time to the care and rescue of animals. Fa will have a safe home, a roof over her head, proper meals every day, a bath when she needs it and any medical attention when and if she requires it. She will be with people who respect and love dogs, who have the time and space in their home and heart for her.

Fa has gradually put on weight and finally the vet declares she is well enough to go home. Today she leaves the confines of the kennels at the vet. She has not been out of a kennel for any extended period of time since early November 07 and that takes a lot of patience to sit through. We will visit her regularly at her new home.

(Thank you to some of my dearest friends who helped me with their heartfelt contributions that went towards her medical bills and board at the vet. You have made a difference. A kind stranger who I never met but who came to know about Fa's plight also contributed a significant amount towards settling the bills.)

Fa with her new collar ready for her new home

just chilling out

7 months ago, we never want to go back there

Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
-Emily Dickinson

Hope lying on kid's dough nut floats for swimming to take the pressure off her sores

I started physio with Hope (Fa's kennel neighbour at the vet) 2 weeks ago and we've made progress in some areas. I finally met with Hope's benefactor who agreed with me that to help Hope on the path to recovery, we needed to work on keeping her limbs from losing muscle mass and strength while the vet worked on the repairs to the nerve damage with supplements. Problem was, nobody was doing anything more than having her lie around.

It's amazing how people respond when they see what can actually be done and how it might make a difference. I started with requesting the help of the vet to just get Hope out from her crate and to lay her on the floor in the boarding area. Then I set to work on her physio which took an average of about 30 minutes for all 4 limbs. Only her back legs are paralyzed but it's important to keep the circulation and muscle tone in the front legs to so that in the event that she can walk again, she has some strength in her front legs to help the back ones. It would be an uphill task if we wait too long.

Then the vet took an interest and volunteered to do whatever physio he could in his clinic time if I showed him the therapy routine. This is a veterinary clinic and the staff working at the clinic could not be expected to perform the rehabilitative routine which would require a lot more personal attention and time. What we noticed immediately was that even the gentle PROM (Passive Range of Motion) therapy routine helped with her bowel movement which would in turn improve her sense of well-being. So there's 2 of us working on the therapy. I proposed the idea of home care for Hope which will provide her the regular daily therapy for the effort to be really effective, not daring to hope that it would be possible and to find someone who would do it.

While this goes on, the vet and us battle the struggle with her pressure sores. It's not unlike taking care of a bedridden person and I'm learning a lot. I believe that the contact Hope gets from the therapy makes a difference. I feel we need to motivate her to want to live a life more than just laying there if we were to help her recover. The therapy also encourages sensory awareness and there's a chance the signals will get through to the brain and the stimulation and encouraging sensory awareness is important.

Then a week later, MF, Hope's benefactor, tells us of good friends of hers who are retired and spend much of their time at home. She suggests to them that they are in the ideal position to help Hope with providing home care. I held my breath that night in silent prayer. Yes R&P have decided they will take Hope home for a month despite not having cared for a paralyzed dog before and having to deal with tending to her pressure sores which can be quite daunting at first. There's a whole lot to learn too like helping Hope with her toilet, turning her every hour to lessen the pressure sores and allow the old ones to heal. It is a full-time job but I know how much anything they do means to Hope.

MF and I have visited them to go over the therapy routine with them and to help settle Hope in. Just 2 days after she's taken into their home, we find Hope with her ears perked up trying to hear what we're doing in the next room. She's responding amazingly well to all the new stimulus. In all the weeks I knew her before at the vet's kennels, I didn't see she pick up her ears. She just lay there quietly, sometimes raising her head. There's a bit of a spark kindled in her now.

I go away for a week tomorrow to my home before, Bali. I'm looking forward to seeing Hope when I get back and how things may have changed.

Sorry the next photo is graphic but it's the truth about real life.

the extent of Hope's pressure sores are a constant daily battle

Hope at home care- she's rather serious but is always patient with us and never complains

Sadness

This week we lost Mama Girl. We just heard from the family who adopted her and have no clear details of how she died.
A free-ranging dog on a farm, she had been taken in by some friends of mine for critical surgery as it was suspected that she had either been involved in an accident with a vehicle or badly beaten by some workers who were staying at the farm. She was found to have a ruptured diaphragm and her internal organs from the abdominal cavity were all spilling into the chest cavity.

I went to see her after her surgery. She was listless, silent and unwilling to even stand on her feet. I couldn't begin to imagine what it must be like for a free-ranging dog to be kept in such a foreign environment, (not that the vet's wasn't the best place for her at that time). It's just that the spirit of a free-roaming dog finds it difficult to understand the human constructed environment, my life with free-ranging dogs in Bali whispered to me. I asked to take her home immediately for home care and rehab. That's how our friendship began. Once we shared days of slow, lazy, quiet afternoons.

remembering the good days

rehab and relax

The Living Canvas: Part 2 - Portraits of Children

these are the days of miracle and wonder - Paul Simon

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet
we forget that he is someone today.-Stacia Tauscher

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child.
There are seven million. -Walt Streightiff

Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights,
before the dark hour of reason grows.-John Betjeman, Summoned by Bells

You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What!
Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long?
Never in his life will he be so busy again. -Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

Children make you want to start life over. -Muhammad Ali

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about. -Angela Schwindt

We could never have loved the earth so well
if we had had no childhood in it. -George Elliot

My music is best understood by children and animals. - Igor Stravinsky

Ah! What would the world be to us
If the children were no more?
We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Children find everything in nothing,
men find nothing in everything. -Giacomo Leopardi

There is a garden in every childhood,
an enchanted place where
colors are brighter, the air softer
and the morning more fragrant
then ever again.
– Elizabeth Lawrence

Out of The Woods

WE'RE FINALLY OUT OF THE WOODS!!
It's been four days post-surgery and its not difficult to recognize Joy. Our Fa is lively and doing well. She's wears the biggest smile for me when I go to visit her and the time we spend on our walk or just catching up.

Fa just chilling after our walk
she tires easily as surgery was only yesterday when this photo was taken

Surgery went as well as we could have hoped. The problem was identified and removed skillfully by the vet. Sadly what we found was a botched job by the first vet who performed her spay procedure. For whatever reason that still escapes us, the first vet did not remove the necessary reproductive system in the spay operation. As a result, the parts left behind become infected with pyometra. Had the vet not suggested exploratory surgery, the moment we took Fa off antibiotics, she would have fallen seriously ill again and didn't have a chance of survival.

Fa isn't too fond of being caught on camera with her liz-collar

I've been making endless calls for the past few days trying to seek professional advice on how to pursue this case of gross professional misconduct. Having called so many agencies, government and professional associations, you get a better insight to the host country. I also found an amazing forum participated by practicing vets, some very senior in an open dialogue with members of the public. I find it quite commendable that these veterinary professionals will even take the time to try and explain medical concerns in a forum and the standard of content is not what you'd dredge for at the bottom of the river.

I've tried to contact the first vet but she got on the defensive and started the name calling game which for me is soooo un-cool so that's the end of that avenue. My hope is that this follow-up will lead to preventing another case of gross professional misconduct. We almost lost Fa's life twice. To me she is not a street dog. To me she is a Dog. And she is precious.

Today I managed to speak to the President Elect for the Malaysian Small Animal Veterinary Association (MSAVA) and it's made my day. There is a way forward!! I will be pursuing this.

Fa's barking Friends
I've been visiting Fa at the vet's for the past 2 months and have made some new friends out of Fa's barking companions who are also boarding at the vet's. Ftom being shouted and growled at, I now share an enjoyable snack and companionship time during my visits.

Here's Murphy, his bark is worse than his bit! the longest resident boarding for the last 6 months and with no end in sight. apparently his home is being renovated and there's no place for him while it's being done-hmmm

Fluffy, a street dog- the Ice Queen and pretty snappish at first but really warm and loving. street dogs are often defensive with strangers and shouldn't be quickly judged by their cover.
she was brought in when she was pregnant. her pups have been re-homed and she's found a new home to go to soon

Chubby, the beautiful lab was found abandoned and suspected to have been a breeding machine before. just gave birth to similarly chubby pups all hoping to be re-homed

Lastly this is Hope. She occupies the enclosure next to Fa. A gentleman on the street observed children pelting her with stones and others pouring water over her even though both her rear legs are paralyzed and shows not on once of aggression or defensiveness. She has some spinal injury that's led to the paralysis of her hind legs. She was found severely emaciated because she could not search for food. Her skin looked moth-eaten.

I found it difficult to look at her at the beginning but as soon as Fa was on the mend I had more time to look around and talk with the other dogs. Hope didn't seem so scary any more when I started petting her and bringing her treats.

From the medical point, she's getting supplements that are meant to work on nerve rejuvenation. Other than that, she's healthy but she's not being over fed as she's immobile and cannot get exercise. The biggest immediate concern for her is her pressure sores. Stage one is a red pressure mark which makes the skin look pink. Stage 4 is when there's cell death and flech necrosis. She's suffering Stage 1 on one shoulder and Stage 4 on the other shoulder and both hips as her joints are protruding and painfully thin from muscle atrophy.

Two days ago I started the PROM for her. Not much fun as a prom might suggest but I'm confident it gives her the tiniest spark of life in her days of lying down. The PROM- Passive Range of Motion exercise is especially for spinal injuries and only requires manipulation by the therapist.

Yesterday I rigged up a sling (home made and fashioned from a nylon fabic duffle bag), which was strapped under her belly and hug from the bars on top of her crate to have her in a fully supported standing position. Thankfully I had the assistance of two other gals who dropped by at the right time. This was to ease the pressure off her bed sores. Also in my philosophy that the soul plays a part in healing heals, this was to help her remember her normal life before and perhaps slowly give her the will to hep us work towards getting her to walk again.

Like a lot of our hopes, here's Hope, bundled with the whole reality deal. But it is still Hope.

So Fa So Good

Finally after two and a half weeks of struggling with the appetite blues, our Fa is back to eating her normal healthy meal portion. She's lost weight again due to the serious bout of illness but that's definitely something that can be fixed. Tomorrow's the big day. She'll undergo exploratory surgery as a lump has been found in the abdomen area. An earlier xray was unfortunately, inconclusive. As animals are unable to help with relating symptoms, in cases like this, exploratory surgery is the next step. I worry about how her body will take the surgery as she's still on the path of healing.

We spend our time together every other day and she knows our routine well. Animals appreciate routine. When I arrive there's the initial madness, from Fa and her companions boarding at the vet's. Some of her other long term companions have become my friends too. Then we go for a walk and talk. Lots of play and running and checking out the corners around the block. Then the picnic surprise- these days its hard boiled eggs or chicken with brown rice to try and boost her protein intake. Yesterday's visit activity included a bath to get all ready for the big day tomorrow. With all the excitement at each visit, it's like she ticks off what we do in our routine and then she's all ready to get back to her enclosure and lies down satisfied, until the next visit.

on the examination table
unfortunately she's developed a fear of the vet and does the earthquake shiver when he's near
she was muzzled because the vet had to feel for the lump in her abdonmen which is quite deep in and street dogs can be defensive when they are scared and in pain

This wound on her tail tip has baffled us as she's had it for more than 2 months and considering the antibiotics she's been on, it's strange that it's taking so long to heal. This was the initial reason we thought she might have caught leptospirosis as the infection can be passed on by a bite from a rat and this seemed a possibility at that time. It's causing her considerable pain and she cries when handled for a closer look. The fur off the tail tip has been shaven for better examination and keeping an eye on it. It seems the infection has gone right to the bone and that might be the reason for all that pain. Time and patience.

all happy and ready for a lie-down after the party

The Living Canvas: Part 1-Ambrosia

Capturing the senses at full attention, stimulated purely by the visual ambrosia. Its gets the gastric juices going and it's difficult to suppress the urge to rush out and satisfy that primal urge. That’s what successful food photography aims to do.

Many elements contribute to effective, beautiful food photography- the recipe, the styling, the props, and without doubt, the quality of the food itself.

I got into food photography inspired by my dear friend R, a passionate and dedicated chef who managers two exquisite restaurants in Bali. His resume spans the globe and many renowned and top culinary establishments and hotels. Who better to be inspired by than by someone who lives and eats the good life!

Working with the chef begins with detailed discussions over the dishes to be featured. Each shot is painstakingly designed, prepared and shot. Every ingredient’s colour and texture is given special attention. Props including flatware, tableware and contextual decorations are matched and chosen. The timing from the kitchen to photo shooting is planned as food tends to melt, sweat, wilt, dry out, shrink, discolour or sag, so timing is of the essence. On occasion, a dish may have to be cooked up again, and maybe again, when the ingredients are less stable in form. Creative techniques may be applied to help overcome this problem but most of my shots are done with basic techniques.

The dish is painstakingly composed, sometimes building ingredient by ingredient, to look random and perfect. The perfect unblemished garnish is selected and some creative techniques applied- oil might be brushed on meat for that bursting-with-flavour gloss. The result should cause a spontaneous and unstoppable reaction!!

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

(Not much chance of stopping the shoot to eat!!! So much of temptation to endure!)

The Living Canvas: Preface

The Living Canvas is about a series of photographs I've taken over the last couple of years. Mostly it's sort of getting myself organised and looking categorically at what I've been capturing with the camera.

It's difficult to pinpoint when a love affairs really begins- this love affair with photography must have begun a long time ago but I always kept a shy distance, not even owning a camera of my own. Nonetheless, the silent tenacity of passion lay in waiting.

The true romance saw light and began to blossom when I lived in Bali. Making the choice to live in voluntary simplicity, my home was without internet access, TV or telephone. I found breathing space- and other passions found the latitude to grow.

Living through the camera lens, especially through the macro lens (my personal preference), textures, colours, shapes and shades took on a fascinating definition. Living on my edge of the universe, I began to live with more mindfullness, feasting on this opulence in the heavens that lay at my feet and in infinity above. The magic was in capturing an image, a moment in time and in it becoming an emotion, a feeling, a language.

Without doubt I am inspired and motivated by the beauty of what lies before me and the precious creativity of talented photographers. Seeing through the macro lens has also re-opened the world for me since age and the extended time at the computer have resulted in the inevitable hyperopia (far-sightedness). With the bleak post-Bali bombing aftermath when jobs disappeared overnight, my little foray into photography kept something on the plate with modest freelance projects in photography and design.

My camera and I are close constant companions sharing a rich relationship of new discoveries and improved sight!

The virtue of the camera is not the power it has to transform the photographer into an artist, but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking.-Brooks Anderson

The Green Bowl

of Malaysia, overturned, almost midway down the Titiwangsa mountain range which snakes down the length of Peninsular Malaysia. Most of us know it better as the Cameron Highlands, carpeted by manicured tea shrubs clinging to the steep mountainous terrain.

Leaving KL last Friday afternoon, we avoided the end-of-the-week traffic madness. Once we turned off the highway into the Titiwangsa range, we navigated the bends at leisure, (too slow- grumbled city gal) soaking up the landscape at the elevation of 1,500 meters and climbing. We had been looking forward to the cool retreat of the hill station. Our destination was the Malayan Nature Society chalets, tucked away in the folds of the Boh Tea plantation. Once we got off the main road and tourist route, the panoramas became even more overwhelming.

Nightfall was not far off and a high wind hurried the clouds along. We'd just climbed into the clouds and the gravel mountain track was getting narrower and more difficult to navigate with potholes and loose rocks, not to mention the possibility of making a fast, unintended descent down the steep slopes. Then it happened! We didn't take the fast track down thankfully.The precipitation dropped by the cloud cover, loose gravel and wicked potholes had us skidding and the next thing we knew, we were lying on our backs, moaning and groaning, (me laughing and P cussing) lying next to a reproachful fairing-cracked and chipped bike. Bruised knees and arms, we managed to heave the bike upright motivated by the smell of leaking petrol. We certainly didn't need any more excitement at this point! I'd seen the Hulk do stuff like this so I knew that it was possible to muster the energy burst, never mind that it was a 250kg gal we had to lift. The last light slipped away quickly.

the gravel road, thankfully the way back was less eventful and less slippery

Grateful that it was only 500 meters to end destination, we welcomed help from a kind fellow biker who walked down the path to offer a hand and carried our bag up the last punishing dreaded steps to our room.

tea pickers accommodation perched on the hill slopes

the characteristic green tea pickers abode was our living and dining retreat

The temperature kept dropping, marked by the constant opening and closing of room doors by each person in our company retreating to search for another item of clothing to don for the battle of the chill. 16 degrees- certainly lower than anticipated and we sat on the veranda huddled in candlelight, swathed in clouds, contented.

dawn on the veranda, everyone's still tucked in and asleep
(except me and the 2 four-footed friends)

shrouded in mist and cloud

our constant companions busy with chew sticks I presented them with

staking out the steps to the dining hall

the dining room experience reminiscent of dorms, boarding schools and kiddy camps

checking on the mean machines, dogs included on the inspector roll

reflection of the highlands

one-tree hill

this friendly little one was always waiting around the corner

The Boh Tea estate dates back to 1929. The Green Bowl has the ideal environment for tea growing-cool temperatures, high altitude (1,500 - 2,000 meters), slightly acidic soil, abundant rainfall, log hours of sunshine and well-drained soil. At this altitude, growth is slowed down and the tea acquires better flavour and aroma.

the Boh estate processing plant open for public visits

note the 45 degree angle slopes which offer good drainage and a good day's workout!

each full basket of freshly picked tea leaves weighs about 20kgs

Only the top 1-2 inches of the mature plant are picked every three weeks. These buds and leaves are called flushes.

handheld tea picking machine

rain-beaded flora after the heavy storm in the night

at first light and the cupboard is bare

The 4km walk to the Boh tea house and back was a pleasant trudge with refuelling on tea and scones to keep us going. The smell of damp earth and the chlorophyll of jungle vegetation heavy in the air coursed into my lungs filling my being with the buoyant feeling of goodness.

I breathed deeply, contemplating the rich aroma of life and nature in the air. Fed by the flood of crisp morning air, laden with a million traces of life, my senses were awakened. The intimate relationship between smell and taste came into play, like a wine connoisseur who pauses to "taste" the wine's bouquet before even the very first sip, the taste of damp woodsy earth unfolded on my tongue.

This was Rasah Tanah- the taste of the earth.

"What a salad!", P said. A veritable smorgasbord of every shade of green sprouted from this landscape- the lush green of moss, fern, asparagus, olive, pear, pine, sea, celedon, lime, tea, emerald.

our night light attracted these amazing insects

the largest moth in the world, the Atlas moth gracing us with its appearance on our last morning

without fully-formed mouth parts, the Atlas moth does not feed and survives entirely on larval fat reserves throughout their brief 1-2 week adult life

English styled cottages nestled in the plantations were home to estate managers

a Hindu temple attended by the tea pickers

weekend company



heading home



solitude and serenity

Footnote:

Heeding the prudent advice of a good friend, I'm adding a footnote to this post. To some, it would seem that I had omitted the mention of some aspects of the reality of living in this Eden. My elixir of life may differ vastly from another's. In the royal presence of Nature, other concerns pale for me. But here it is- the lodgings and furniture were charmingly simple and unsophisticated, with no pretense of elegance, mostly made out of inexpensive wood complimented with the ubiquitous red plastic chairs. For the urbanites (who isn't these days!!), the essential hot showers were running (out of a filled bucket). Tired looking blankets kept the nights bearable.These rustic "chalets" were previously home to the humble platation tea pickers, not estate managers- so go figure!