We're Back!!

Creative Doctors is finally back from its long Christmas break. We have been to places far and wide (Israel, Germany and Italy to be exact and that's only one of us!) and are back again full of ideas and enthusiasm.
Luckily while we've been looking the other way others have been busy.
Most notable was the article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 8th January by Andrew Taylor about Dr Cathy Fraser and the NSW Doctors Orchestra.
Here's the link to the article for those of you who missed it. The article was accompanied by a great photo of the orchestra rehearsing in scrubs taken by our own Howard Gwynne.
Below are some more fabulous photos of the orchestra and its members from Howard's clever camera. Can you see anyone you know?

What are you cooking for Christmas?

I'm in Israel in an unfamiliar kitchen with a guest list of 12 that includes a vegetarian and two Israelis along with assorted Australian "Christmas orphans". The tree is lying horizontal because it is taller than the ceiling and I can't read the labels on anything in the supermarket. Luckily I have a sharp saw and an Ottolenghi cookbook at my disposal, and the internet is not far away. I'm not a great cook but I can wing it and roast pork is not too hard, even in someone else's kitchen. I'm not sure where I'm going to get the pork right now but I have sourced some turkey and found a great recipe for pan roasted turkey breast to solve the oven space problem. Pomegranate and cranberry sauce will give it a local twist. If I can't find the pork it will not be a catastrophe.
We are not a religious family but the tree and the presents are a secular tradition now, and fun to share with people of other traditions as they have shared their traditions with us here in Israel and in other parts of the world.

Berlin 7.40 am 21st Dec -
Still dark and not getting
 much lighter

It is strange to look across the park to the winter blue of the Mediterranean and think of all the conflict so very close at hand. I've been here before in troubled times and it always strikes me that it is odd that the sun keeps shining, the sky stays blue and people keep going to get their groceries.
Berlin a few days ago was grey and bleak despite its Christmas regalia. Ice fell from the sky, thunder rolled and the day was hardly seen. Even the gluhwein at the Christmas markets failed to bring the colour back to the city. That's what I've always imagined days would be like everywhere when the world was in trouble. Maybe I've seen too many black and white movies.
I guess what worries me is that trouble can come even when the sun is shining. There will be no dark soundtrack to warn us that we have crossed the line from peaceful times to troubled ones - just subliminal warnings that we can choose to ignore at our peril.

Creative Writing Workshop Reminder

The March 2015 Creative Doctors creative writing workshop with Dr Hilton Koppe is filling fast. If you want to come please reserve your place by paying the registration fee as per the instructions on your email.
If you are not on the Creative Doctors mailing list and would like to be, contact us via this blog.

Well-deserved praise for a very accomplished poet

Dr Margie Gottlieb

Greg Sheridan in "The Forum" column on Page 2 of the Review Section of this week's Weekend Australian describes a poem by our own Margie Gottlieb as a "savage lament",  "Phillip Larkin-like" in its directness. High praise, but well-deserved, for this very talented creative doctor.

The New Voices Anthology cover
features a beautiful ikebana
arrangement by Prof Dexter Dunphy
who is also one of the poets.

Margie belongs to a group of poets who have been meeting regularly for several years to share and polish their work. Two of them are members of the Creative Doctors network. Twelve of the group have contributed to a newly published anthology entitled New Voices. The collection is an eclectic mix of subject and style held together by the poets collective love of language, and especially of poetry.

The New Voices collection is available from Better Read Than Dead in Newtown (Click here for their website) or from the contributing poets. If we are very lucky Margie might contribute something soon for the blog!

What a wonderful man!

Have you heard of Dr Hilton Koppe?

Hilton is a GP and medical educator from the beautiful NSW North Coast who had a life changing experience when a patient presented him with a poem.

Click HERE to watch Hilton at work and hear him tell the story of the experience that changed his life.

Hilton is coming to Sydney in March 2015 to give a full day writing workshop especially for Creative Doctors.

Watch your email closely for an invitation or contact us now via the comments below or the email contact box on the right if you are interested in attending.