Letter: Water Retention

Letter 5 / 2 / 85

Its very wet here, I guess the "wet" season is properly here now. We ordered some of taht super-absorbent stuff for the garden - if its claims are true then its going to be wonderful! We will have to do a lot of proving before the Islanders will believe us about it though. Its like wallpaper paste - powder that goes jelly-like - only more so.

Minor interruption ...

Oh-oh! Alison just wee-d on Jo's play-mat and a pillow. She just refuses to be trained. I've tried rewards, I've tried ignoring it, its smacks today - I can't handle washing pillows and mats all of the time. She does know - she must know - I can only guess that she needs to get the attention any way she can.

New cot for Jo

I re-made Jo's cot the other day. It was a terrible struggle when I did it for Alison - being highly pregnant at that time -it took days of hard work. this one I whipped up in a few hours, and I made it with snappers (the kind you put on with a hammer) so I can take it off to wash it without dismantling the whole cot.

Another baby?

James wants a brother - no I'm not expecting again. He said yesterday, "I haven't got a brother, but Nathan (red-head in Darwin) is my brother." He may never even see him again. He is full of heavy questions lately, like: "When God made the sea, was it high tide or low tide?"

World Safari

Do go and see World Safari (2) if you get a chance. I gather Murray Island features quite prominently, seeing as this is where their boat sank. Wilfred (who now likes to call himself "the tourist guide for the Torres Strait") has just been with them for their opening of the film in Adelaide, he and Margaret (and 7 kids) just got back this weekend. This seventh child (which was actually a twin but one died) is called Peter, after a certain white "Uncle" the child has.

Letter: Healing the Ducks

Letter 21 / 1 / 85

The ducks have stopped dying - the last sick one did recover after James faithfully prayed for it every night and Peter washed her eyes and squirted aspro down her throat.

Bye-bye baby turtles

Our turtles were pining for the ocean and we had to let them go. They would just float around in the tank, barely eat at all, and were just not interested in anything. But once we got them onto the beach they sure livened up - down the sandy slope and into the water, and off ... little heads bobbing up every few metres.

New School Principal

The new school teacher arrived - rather unexpectedly - about a week ago. He came on his own initiative, realising that if he waited for instructions it could be April before anyone realised that MI school had no principal.

He is the first of a new breed, being under the Education Department which is presently in the process of taking over the schools around here, and plans to stay for about four years.

Gary and his wife, Jane, have three kids: Belinda is 11, quite a pretty little miss. Terry (Theresa) is 6, chubby, bossy, noisy, tom-boy ... and friends with James, unfortunately. Adam has just turned 1 - roly-poly, a bit spoilt. very much your average countrified Australian family, quite easy to get along with.

They brought with them a friend for their first couple of weeks while its school holidays. But their boat (14' with 40hp motor) hasn't arrived yet, so Peter's been taking Gary and friend John out a few times - our fish stocks needed replenishing anyway. Today the tide is low so they are diving for crayfish - which will be a nice change if they get some. Gary is a non-swimmer (!) so he intends to be the shark-watch in the boat. I've got the "citizen's band transceiver" (walkie-talkie) switched on in front of me waiting for Peter to call and say how he's going.

Mr and Mrs Fixit

This morning we took our washing machine apart - not completely. The spinner wasn't emptying. We found two tiny twigs, that's all - and its going again. We wasted a whole morning working on it, but we've forgiven it because it does such a good job washing all our clothes.

Tadpole tally

Our tadpole population has reduced itself to two (which have apparently eaten the rest) in my clear pyrex bowl on our outside table. Today I drained the green sludge out and found them, both with back legs at last. We have been waiting so long that I think James had stopped believing us that it would happen.

Bread problem solved

I discovered why my bread wasn't good. I knew that the (white) flour had some weevils - all flour here does - but then i seived some and discovered more weevils than flour. Things have improved since I opened a fresh drum of flour.

Letter: Keeping on top of it all

Letter 11 / 1 / 85

I am battling with the usual heap of correspondence to keep up with, and I am just about keeping on top of it as long as I ignore the call of my sewing machine and my eagerness to actually get some language work done.

Seawater fish tank

Jo is on the floor behind me - getting quite mobile these days, but also more demanding. James and Alison are "helping" Peter change the water in our (saltwater) fish tank. We've tried sea slugs (or "swea swugs" as James says!) and crabs, and sardines ... but everything dies. Some of the local kids caught us some beautiful little angel fish and they delighted us for about 4 days - but they wouldn't eat anything we offered them, and they died. (The ducks were happy to eat them though!) Then I saw some kids with a batch of newly-hatched turtles, and persuaded them to give us a couple. They are so perfect, like little clockwork toys! Of course, they can grow rather huge - we will let them go when they get bigger.

Dying ducks

Our ducks are dying off one by one - presumably its one of these respiratory diseases that we hear ducks are prone to. Its a shame for them to die so close to the age when thy'll produce eggs. Two black ones have died - we only have one black duck (female) left - and one of the two remaining original oldies died after a prolonged illness while we lovingly nursed her. Now one young white duck has been sick for a couple of days - we are very hopeful of her recovering. And this morning we noticed our young drake is staggery.

The first wheat-germ bread I made was really good - stayed fresh and extra tasty. But every loaf since has been horrible ... so I just don't know why. This last time I forgot the 'lecimax' - to my regret, as it seems to help considerably.

When I was a little boy ...

Alison's talking continues to increase. James chatters on ad nauseum. One of his favourite phrases which refers to any time in the past (even last week) is: "when I was a little boy ..." And our little mimic (Alison) came to me the other day with, "when I was a little boy ..." She speaks so clearly and copies all of James' mistakes very accurately!

All night dances

So I can see today's language helper arriving - I'd better finish this and concentrate on keeping the kids away from Peter. The night before last they danced all night, from 6pm to 6:15am - we live right next to the dance ground! Its a kind of competition (or battle) and both the dance itself and the practices leading up to it have made our language helpers rather irregular lately.

Letter: End of Cheap Phone Calls

Letter 3 / 12 / 84

The wet is here, or almost. Today it thundered and rained - and I couldn't do the washing. I would do it now but the last lot is still on the line and of course its soaked. Now its so steamy.

Our 20c phone calls have at last come to an end. Not that the phone can't do it, but there is a sign saying that we mustn't. Actually, the phone is a private phone, you see, belonging to the council, and they receive a bill regardless of how much money is actually in the box. So the council has the right to ban people from using the phone (on Yorke Island the council insists that you ask permission every time you use the phone!) and Telecom promises to remove the phone if the bills are not paid. It was suggested that people might make a donation to help the council pay for the $1000 that was due over what was in the box, so we went down to make a contribution, as people are aware that we have been using the phone ... but they said it has all been taken care of. We could still phone you on the 20c system (so as not to have the operator butting in) and time ourselves and put in the extra money I guess. But for the time being I had better try to catch tomorrow's plane with a few letters.

Getting on with translation

We feel we have finally 'hit our straps' and started work. Only two of our four men have been coming to do translation, but they have been working well and seem to be learning what its all about now. I guess translating "Nowa" (Noah) was good practice for them - we've nearly finished getting it checked now. They are pretty keen on the new "Sower" (parable) booklet, so hopefully it will go a bit faster.

Even I am getting into the action at last. The priest's wife, Adiana, has made herself available to help me. She seems to have a fairly keen mind and is willing to do her best. Also a lady freshly up from Mackay, after being away from the island for 20 years, is keen to help. She has all the marks of a mainlander - they stick out like a sore thumb with their fancy clothes. She belongs to the "Body-Felt Salvation" group, though she has some quarrel with them over whether the local culture should be preserved and/or taught. She still uses the language, and has taught classes (down south) on island cooking. She is very concerned about the local women, their health problems and those who spend all day "doing nothing". So she will be a good place to start with this cookery book I want to do (to aid literacy in their language among the women especially). I'm also being a bit ambitious and wanting to do a Christmas drama - simple as possible, and in the local language, to be performed maybe at the Christmas service or outside afterwards. These people love to watch any kind of drama, but they don't seem to do much.

Baby Jo likes to eat

Thanks for the Farex, it only took six days to get here. Jo gets quite upset if she doesn't get to eat with the rest of us at tea time. She doesn't eat much of course, but likes to taste different things. She remains such a pleasant little tike. Peter often accuses me when he catches me just cuddling her - "Sometimes I think you enjoy that baby!" - I sure do! She seems to take a special interest in Alison (despite some of the treatment she gets from her!) and often chuckles when Alison dances about. She has a smile for everyone, but has already learnt who Mum is and is not keen to be taken away.

James is unwell

Poor James! His big boil in the corner of his mouth came up and burst and then healed incredibly quickly. But then he developed little ones on his nose, eyebrow, chin, and a row on his top lip. They are all still there, like very large pimples, and he has a huge boil on his shoulder which seems to be taking for ever to either come up or go down. He is on antibiotics, but they don't seem to be doing much good. He still has at least one bad asthma attack each night, but is learning to cope by himself and we've kept him off the wretched medication because it makes him so restless and naughty. He has taught himself when he wakes up choking and coughing to get up on his knees and stick his elbows out. Even if it doesn't really make it better, having something specific to do helps him to cope with the panic of feeling like he can't breathe.

Tues am 11.00

I've got the kids perched in front of the radio ready for Kindy of the Air. Jo is in her "Fraser Chair" - got it in Darwin for $2 and its been good value! I've done the washing and pegged it all out on our little rotary clothes hoist. Peter is working with Fr Tabo - began "The Sower" today, though we still need to check "Nowa” with some 'independent readers'.

Aquarium window

Did we tell you be brought a fish tank up this time? Or, at least, we got our friends Rod and Hazel to carry it up here. It was in pieces, and we have finally got it siliconed together without any leaks (took about three goes). And we have been experimenting with fish and reef creatures - so far everything has died, but we are working on it. Peter knocked a hole in the wall and made another window in the living room especially for it to sit next to, and even just with big shells in it now it looks very pretty.

Well, radio kindy will finish soon, and I guess it will be time for the plane soon so I'd better close.

Letter: Making Bread

Letter 19 / 11 / 84

We are all getting over a virus, even Jo, and the freezer, generator, and washing machine are doing their various jobs saving us so much time and energy while we are so tired. I even put together a few of my 'rest' moments to do some sewing. If I try to sleep I usually get disturbed as soon as I drop off, which makes me feel lousy for hours, so I try to do something relaxing for an hour or so after lunch rather than let myself sleep. I put together some material scraps in rather hurried, rough-and-ready form and came up with a nice bright patchwork bedspread for our bed. I do enjoy using that treadle machine, I find it most relaxing.

The kibble wheat is lovely, but most of it just seems to melt away in the bread, only occasionally do we get a crunchy bit. Even though we now have a freezer I can't seem to keep my bread fresh - its only really nice for the first few hours. In the freezer (which is the absorption type and therefore very slow to actually freeze anything) it just goes dry very quickly. Is there something one can put into bread to stop it going stale so quickly? Would wheat germ keep it moist? - not that we have any.

Our garden plot

'Uncle' Kakam in the hilltop garden

The doldrums are trying to come, we keep getting really calm patches, the turtle season is well under way, and we can often see whales splashing about and spouting water out in front of our place out in the deeper water. We are longing for rain to grow a bit of greenery, fill our tank with non-scummy water, and try out Peter's new rock-wall on the drain!

We've taken possession of our piece of family garden land up on the hill. Its about half an hour's walk away, only the first bit is very steep. Its a fairly barren looking patch, with just scrubby lantana-type bushes - hard to tell what they are as its all been recently burnt. And there is one tree which will have some leaves later. The soil is red, but our section which has not been previously cleaned islander-style is covered with lovely brown humus - dry now, but will be beautiful when its wet. Peter got up there early the other morning and poked a few seeds in ... and now we wait for the rain and hope we don't get a big rain followed by a big dry so that the seeds don't germinate then just die. We live in hope.

Kids

We've got James going to kindy again after some weeks away sick. He even takes himself there on his bike. Its still a constant struggle to keep him on an even keel, he's so emotional and over-sensitive. Next year's school principal (as far as we know) has a six year old boy and a baby about six months old. That information may not be correct, but it would be nice for James to have a real boy to play with!

Alison, today, had half a dozen successes in her potty. I've been sitting her on there every hour - it seems to be taking a lot of my time, but I'm trying to think of it as an investment. Her chatter goes on and on, she's game to try repeating anything she hears.

She misses James when he's at kindy, but when he is away and Jo is asleep she rather enjoys being the only one for a while. Her hair is looking fairly respectable at last and I've been clipping it back or tying a little bunch rather than cutting a fringe - makes her look very cute! Her hair is quite blond, but not white like James.

Jo's hair is still brown (such that there is) and looks like staying that way. James's eyes have remained the same dark grey, but Alison's are a much lighter grey/blue. Jo's eyes are very dark, grey but tending towards brown. Her skin is slightly more sallow than the other two too. James and Alison both look very fair, but neither of them seems to burn easily.

Birthdays

We are celebrating James's birthday sometime next week, just so his little friends will still be here. Nerissa had her birthday this week and Danielle's birthday is a few weeks away so I think they are bringing hers forward after James's so she can also have all her little friends (James and Alison) for a little party.

Anthropologists

A big mob (about 6) of white chaps turned up on a plane today. Heard on the bamboo line that they are from England and have come to up-date the Haddon report - done by the Cambridge expedition around the turn of the century, a six volume work and about the only real study ever done about these parts. Don't know how long they plan to stay - or where they'll stay - but I guess we'll catch up with them in due course. Just now another plane arrived with two more white people (a man and a woman), don't know who they are.

Work

We still haven't managed to get the whole translation team together at one time. We had two meetings and only two out of four came ... reckon they'll all make it on Sunday maybe. Peter wants them to work in pairs for the initial part of a translation. We think we'll do the Parable of the Seed in story book form, and also dramatised for video. To get the women thinking in terms of literacy and realising that books do have something for them too, I'm working on a cookery / health book - haven't got very far yet, the women are so scared, or shy, or just busy.

Chooks and Ducks

Our two chickens are still laying, one each most days, but the two big ducks have gone broody - they don't do anything, hardly even eat, but sit on their nests and hiss at anyone who comes near ... and if we are not quick enough to collect the chickens' eggs they roll them out of the drum where the chickens lay and into their duck's nest and sit on them too.

The ten little ducks are doing well. One has a black spot on her forehead, one has two spots, and one has three. There seems to be only one drake, which we may keep this time. The three black ones are supposed to be magpie muscovies, but we are suspicious that they may not be muscovies at all - maybe that's why the big duck kept rejecting them. The black feathers they have grown now have a greeny sheen.

Uncle Kakam over the road has one black duck - strange looking bird, though - and he keeps it outside the run presumably because the others pick on it all the time.

Garden

We went up to the garden early this morning, managed to leave about 6:30am - not bad with that many kids to get ready! - and we planted a few more rows of corn. James managed to walk all the way up and back by himself - though a lot of the way down was on his bottom. Alison walked most of the flat bits by herself, and for the rest of the way Peter had to struggle with her on one arm, back-pack on his back, and mattock and cane knife in the other hand.

Letter: All Mod Cons

Letter 4 / 11 / 84

The time has come, the time is now! I think I might get a letter written ... allowing for an interruption about every two words. Things are improving, I'm gradually catching up on what has to be done.

We now have a little freezer, which frees me from making bread so often. It doesn't freeze brilliantly (takes at least twelve hours to freeze most things, even small) because its an 'absorption' one and runs on gas. But its still a great help, with storing fish too. Also, we have our little generator AND WASHING MACHINE! What a difference that makes! What used to take hours is done in half an hour, and I can even do it with a baby on my hip!

Doing the washing with the new machine

Visitors left

Our visitors have finally all gone - it was nice to have them here, but it is a relief to be just us again. We enjoyed having Rod and Hazel staying with us, but our house (even with the translation house in full use as well) couldn't really cope with four adults and six kids. Meal-times were a special kind of nightmare, with our picnic table that only seats four - seats are attached to the table and can't be moved - and an extra chair at each end of it - that makes six. Our attempts to put James, Linda and Alison at a separate table failed, and we ended up having two sittings (in which case the kids all hung around for the second sitting anyway ... ) or we all had kids on our knees while we ate.

Nevertheless it was a nice break - a change from our usual routine. We managed to all climb the hill, and I minded the littlies while the others all went right around the island, and we had a trip over to Dawar Island. Poor little Philip had a rough time with fevers, and Linda was under stress because she is very much an 'indoorsy' city girl - so Rod and Hazel got to discover some of the joys of 'mission life'. But they sent Kay to school here, and she loved it.

More visitors

The day they left we were supposed to have two more people coming, so we were most relieved when they delayed their visit for four days. Peter H came from Cairns (he's the 'extension officer' for TAFE college) bringing a lady who is to run a gardening course up here. They only stayed for four days, and it was a relaxing time because they didn't bring any kids and ours really took to them. Kathy rather shocked the locals (and us, for a moment there, as we may have been up here too long ...) with her extremely short shorts - I trust she will adjust her clothing before she returns for the main part of the course.

Jo

Jo continues to develop in her own sweet way. She's so placid and content. She doesn't generally cry when she wakes up, I often go in and find her playing happily. Sometimes at four or five in the morning I'll hear a little voice and find her on her back, wedged across the cot, all tangled up in her mosquito net, playing in the dark. She's full of smiles and little chuckles, especially for things like mobiles, and her 'crib exerciser'. She turns over with ease, and is getting fairly accurate with her hands.

Ali

Alison is as Alison as she ever was. Chatters all day - puts quite a few words together into little sentences now. And copies everything James says. She's getting gentler with Jo, though every now and then she'll suddenly claw at her face, or come running from a distance and jump on her! She has one or two dolls of her own now who get frequent baths and cuddles etc. She's quite the little girl, though she still acts as a magnet to dirt. Her hair is getting thicker, and I'm trying to get her used to having clips and things in it without pulling them straight out again. I have her in pants all day, but we are having no success at all with her training. If I could have just a few successes in the pot to reward we might get somewhere. She knows what she's doing, and rather enjoys the sensation of a puddle around her feet.

James

As for our James James ... he's a long skinny creature these days. He's been very sick - again. His asthma attacks get worse. Last night he had a really bad attack - rather distressing for all of us. Ventolin is a fairly standard treatment - he has it in liquid form. But he coughs and coughs and vomits, and its very difficult to get anything into him while his stomach is in spasms. I think you can get a Ventolin inhaler, which he may be old enough to learn to handle.

Anyway, his new bike arrived 2-3 weeks ago, and he hasn't been willing to ride it. Even with the trainer wheels he was sure he would fall off. We realised after a while that the real reason is because he's feeling so weak and tired he just doesn't have the strength to push it. But he's been getting better as he always does when we give him a course of Incremin tonic, and today he was suddenly willing to try. Once he got going he gained confidence and didn't want to stop. He got faster and faster and went further and further each time. Peter says he remembers his dad said his (dad's) chest troubles started to get better once he got a bike, and Peter had the same experience. I guess exercising with your hands out (and therefore chest expanded) would be good for these problems, and hopefully we'll see James improving fast. I think he'll be up early tomorrow morning wanting to ride. His speech is good these days, still a smattering of Creole language mixed in, but mostly English. He chatters non-stop, louder and louder ...

Ducks and Chooks

Of our three large ducks, two recovered from their broodiness and started laying, but the third took over all the yellow ducklings as her brood and turned nasty towards the three black and yellow ones, and us, and everything else. She was quite a nuisance, so in the end we just gave her away. Now one of the other two who were laying has stopped laying and is looking after the (not-so-little) ducklings ... it seems we can't win. At least the chickens are still laying, about 5 eggs every 3 days between them.

Garden

The citrus trees are still growing well. And we have corn and tomato and bean seedlings on their way. In the kitchen I have parsley and coriander and dill and tarragon growing in teacups on my windowsill! Its the parsley I'm most keen on. They are still very small, but I was very tempted to pick a little leaf to put on a dish today.

Letter: Baby number 3

Letter from Darwin 8 / 8 / 84

Just a quick letter - time is pretty short these days. I tried to write from hospital ... but all the little things become so big and important when you're lying in a hospital bed. Its the strangest thing: this time in hospital, and when I had Alison, and when I was recently in the antenatal ward, I found myself to be the only married woman in the ward. Babies are 'in', families, apparently, are 'out'.

Anyway, Jo Anna is a beautiful little girl. She has dark hair, and that typical 'Wickham' look - just like James and Alison really. But she is so placid - a real "sleepy Jo". When she does wake up, she grunts and rummages - takes ages before she cries. In hospital she had trouble with low blood sugar, then she went yellow (the other two never did) and she still has "sticky eyes", but otherwise she fared pretty well despite a difficult birth.

I guess Peter didn't have time to tell much on the phone. I suddenly felt very unwell on the Thursday (26th) with fever, headache, and pains all over, and I had a sneaking suspicion I could be in labour. I'd been warned not to go into labour. So we rang the hospital and they rustled up an anaesthetist who could do epidurals. We went in about 2pm Friday expecting just a check-up, only to find ourselves ushered hurriedly into labour ward. We passed a miserable 2 hours or so while they put the epidural in ... then waited (in the operating theatre) as my back went numb but my tummy stayed very sensitive! It was quite a relief when they finally insisted on a general anaesthetic. They let Peter be in the room to see Jo born - not that he had really wanted to, he simply wanted to sit with me (with his back to proceedings) during the planned birth by epidural. As it turned out, they had great difficulty getting Jo out - had to do a lot of pounding, pushing, and using forceps - but she was born face first and gave a good yell right from the start. And then after they turfed Peter out they had a hard time stopping me bleeding. Apparently the doctor very nearly had to do a hysterectomy ... I'm so glad I slept through it all!!

Despite all the drama, I got over it all much quicker than I did with Ali. I didn't even need a blood transfusion, and by lunch time Saturday I was walking around with surprisingly little pain. And this Saturday I came home, after 8 days.

Jo's been asleep a long time, I'll have to wake her up soon or she won't sleep tonight ... yes, I know it never works that way for babies. But if I don't feed her soon I'll burst.

The other two really love little Jo - but my time away caused some upset. James has developed a stutter. "I can't talk very well ..." he explains after struggling with a word for several minutes. And he blinks a lot. "My eyes won't work ..." he complains. Alison has been quite sick - fevers, diarrhea etc - poor Peter had to carry her around all day while I was away. But we are all improving now we are back together. Peter's parents are due here on Sunday to help for a while.