Above: Rey Foundation President Nat Scrimshaw hikes in New Zealand’s Nelson Lakes National Park with his son Ben and Whiteblack the Penguin.  The photo above was taken on Robert’s Ridge, a hike that reminded Nat of his beloved Franconia Ridge.  The above trampers spent two nights in New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) excellent and affordable huts along the way.

The Farmers’ Table Program chef Ashley and sous chef Anthony whipped up a fabulous lunch for students, staff and community members of all ages to enjoy. This week we had 54 participants! Come join us on Thursdays from noon – 1:00, there’s plenty of food and great conversation along with stories and drawing for the kids!

An enjoyable time was had by all at The Rey Foundation sponsored ACT! for kids Movement Exploration Workshop. Jeanne Limmer, a dancer, choreographer and  founding director of the Jeanne Limmer Dance Center, had the participants of this workshop stretching, bending and reaching for the stars. These beautiful photographs were taken Laura Campbell.

Whiteblack the Penguin and Nat hike a portion of the Bibbulmun Track, Western Australia’s version of the the Appalachian Trail, and meet new friends. Above: a kangaroo mother and baby. Below: an emu, kin to the African ostrich.

Whiteblack and Nat visited Penguin Island in the Shoals Islands National Marine Park in Perth, Western Australia. There they found a colony for Little Blue Penguins (Eudyptula minor). This is the hottest time of year here — it’s been 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) — and the Little Blues are molting (losing their feathers).  It takes two to three weeks to molt, and they don’t swim as long as they’re molting.  This can be stressful as Little Blues are used to spending the day swimming and feeding.  They drink sea water and have built in desalinization systems, sneezing out the salt.  Little Blues are also the smallest of all penguins and are also known as Fairy Penguins.  Whiteblack had a nice chance to visit with Little Blues, both under shaded boardwalks and bushes, and at the Visitor Center where penguins who cannot live in the wild have their own pool and are taken care of.

Nat spent the afternoon at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (PMH) in Perth, Chalk Talking for a wonderful group of children. Many thanks to Julie Abbot, PMH Coordinator of Recreational Services; Fran Lyons, Public Relations for PMH; Tammy Gibbs, Manager of Public Relations Office for the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research (TICHR);  and Dr. Peter Dallas, Senior Research Officer at TICHR.

Continue reading Hospital Chalk Talks at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth, Western Australia

Above: Whiteblack and Nat with their mahout teacher, Lai, and elephant, Pang Khod.  Below: Whiteblack and Nat relax with Pang Khod. and Nat and Pang Khod take a bath.

Whiteblack and Nat have just completed their three day “mahout” course, learning to train and keep elephants from a people who have been working with elephants for hundreds of years.  Our Mahout teacher was named Lai and our elephant was named Pang Khod.  We bathed twice a day with the elephants — they are very hygienic creatures — and learned various methods of getting on and off an elephant (including sliding down its forehead and trunk); asking the elephant to pick up things and give them to the mahout (which was useful when Whiteblack jumped off unexpectedly and needed help getting back up; how to tell an elephant to go forward, backward and  turn left and right; asking the elephant to kneel, lie down, raise its truck, and much more…  We confess that its’s hard to remember it all, and we definitely think we will need to return for refresher course.  It’s a bit discouraging to realize that the elephants know more Thai than we do… Each evening we brought the elephants to the “jungle” where they spent the night, and picked them up the next morning before the two shows for visitors.  Whiteblack had the easier task of mostly riding in Nat’s pocket while Nat demonstrated how to get on and off an elephant, including vaulting on Pang Khod’s lowered head after sliding down his trunk!

There will be much more on this great experience — pictures, videos, stories.  For now, it’s time for Whiteblack and Nat to go to bed — we know it’s morning for you, but it’s night for us!

Whiteblack and