11/30/2014
Anchorage, Alaska, woohoo! 27 degrees this morning and a light snow that fell yesterday, about 3 inches, still dusts the ground. It’s a winter wonderland, perfect for skiing, fluffy stuff that rivals Steamboat Springs’ powder. Of course I’m not here to ski, but to work: I’ll be the only doc in the small town of Cordova for a month as I cover the ER and help out in the outpatient clinic. It’s accessible only by ferry or plane. A plane I missed yesterday, dang it. Well, that’s why I left a day early, to factor in those flight delays. So I’ll be leaving in a few hours for this community of about 1800 residents in the winter, but which expands considerably in Alaska’s summer tourist season. I am really looking forward to meeting the people who call Cordova their year-round home, and to the combination of outpatient, urgent -care and emergency care this assignment will entail. You know me well if you can see me being delighted to be awakened at 3 am to go put some stitches in.
Speaking of those who know me well, and who know my short-comings when it comes to packing, I’d like to say that I rose to the challenge and got here for my month-long assignment in one bag. But I would be lying. 🙁 However, my second bag is very small, just a tiny duffel, really, and holds mostly groceries. Ha! 🙂 Anyway, all of you know I like to dress, and yes, that extends to Alaska. Some things are impossible to change.
Speaking of groceries, which is to say food, what I had the most difficulty leaving was not my grandchildren, though I adore them, or my children, ditto, or my husband, ditto ditto, or my most precious, darlingest Bostons, Tippy and Dudley. No, what my mind kept going back to as I ran from terminal to terminal yesterday through Dayton, Detroit, Seattle and Anchorage, was all the wonderful leftovers in my fridge. My mouth watered from flight to anorexic flight, from homemade chicken noodle soup (I made the noodles too), to the turkey skin I would have broiled again to crackling crispness, to the creamy, ridiculously rich chocolate mousse Katy made, the tiniest remaining bite of apple galette with maple whipped cream, the medium rare tenderloin sliced up for mini-sandwiches for lunch, the cranberry sauce, and moist dark turkey just begging for an open-faced sandwich with gravy, and of course, just one more piece of pumpkin pie. But my leftover regret is balanced by gratitude that Rob will not need to cook for a few weeks.
Let me be the first to wish all of you a Happy December! And come visit Alaska! The weather is fine!
Signed,
Almost Done Traveling, Mary Jo