whew!
so it has been, like, forever. i know, i know, i suck at this whole blog thing. but here goes again.
we are settling in, sort of, in BC. i have started work and it has been pertty good so far. busy, the people i work with are nice. some frustrations with community medicine in a much smaller hospital/city than i am used to. being able to get a CT or ultrasound between 11pm and 8 am takes an act of God, and learning all the names for the canadian meds (same meds as in the us, just different names) i can't tell you how many calls i've gotten from pharmacies asking what the hell i'm writing for. i feel a bit like a med student again in that respect, just fumbling through a new system. everyone has been patient and helpful but i am quite sure they hear my voice in their head at night asking where to find something or how to order something, etc. some days i am sure they just think i am an idiot, which hopefully after doing this job for 9 years i'm not. (at least i didn't feel like one when i was in the states)
anyway, the kids are doing well. finn is nearly walking. mostly cruising around the furniture and taking a few unassisted steps on her own. sam is great, adjusted well to montessori here, although i don't think it is as good as the school he was in back in omaha. it seems like more simple play here rather than the more educational play he got back in nebraska. anyway, he is doing fine and it happy so i guess that is all that matters.
our house is a fair bit smaller than what we had in omaha so we are still living in a cardboard jungle. much of our stuff will stay in boxes, i think untill we move again-probably next spring. but i can't find anything!! knitting needles, summer shoes, kitchen utensils. some things i have bought again, so i'll have double once i do dig out of the boxes.
we just recently went up to a sheep farm about 1:45 north of here. sam and finn got to meet the new lambs, and sam collected fresh eggs from the henhouse. a hayride and scones and lemonde and everyone slept on the way home. so a good day in all. and i bought a big bag of fiber, :) greyish brown and very soft, with alot of lanolin still on the fiber, but certainly not greasy. i have no idea what i will do with it but perhaps in the next 5-10 yrs i'll find time to spin it :>
speaking of which, i did order a new spinning wheel. a 'martha' double wheel from watson wheels right here in BC (out on victoria, i believe) it will be done in about 6-8 months or so.
after i get ahead of some of the bills i left in the US, i'll start saving for my sock knitting machine. (woo-hoo) so maybe next summer/fall.
i have to take the canadian EM boards next spring, so that is not something i am looking forward to, but they have just instituted some reciprocity with american trained docs so i don't have to take all the prelim exams anymore. that would have been an expensive, time-consuming and useless endeavor.
my niece is due in a few weeks and i just finished a few baby hats for her and am about 1/2way through a sweater for sam (for fall obviously, it is canada but we still have summer-haha). and have some yarn for one for finn. there hasn't been much time to knit with the little ones. by the time we get them into bed it is about 8pm and we both collapse on the couch and stare mindlessly into space for about an hour or so and then go to bed. occassionally i can muster up the energy for a few rows, but sometimes it is just zoning out in front of the tv.
oh well, all part of the job, huh :) and even though i am fairly tired all the time and don't get to do any of my hobbies as much as i would like to i actually would never trade it for all the gold in the world.
some pics. a
and lastly, i just wanted to note that it, unbelievably, has been a year today that my dearest brother, John, passed away far too soon. not a day goes by that he doesn't enter my thoughts at least once. i can still hear his laugh, his brotherly advice (i don't think i ever aged past 13 in his mind) and see his smile. i miss him constantly and eternally. love you john.