by request

should jub jub have a brother?








i'm just not sure. she seems so happy with this big house to herself, but she gets SO excited when ira comes to the window...

thanksgiving

thanksgiving started early for me- in the cafeteria of the children's hospital for a traditional dinner at 1 AM. i was on call and up all night, so i slept most of the day away once i got home. i felt bad for keeping sean from celebrating, but when i finally got up, he was sleeping on the couch. it was surprising how little was open, so thai food it was. i keep thinking back to 1 year ago- making thanksgiving dinner for eithne, john, a brand-new atticus, and their family. i miss my people!

we went riding today in anacortes, north of whidbey island. it started out well enough- pleasant drive, beautiful weather, lovely lake- but, as usual, the trail got the best of me. as it turns out, i totally suck at mountain biking. this particular trail just had too many obstacles** for me. regardless, it was fabulous to be outside on a gorgeous day whether riding or hiking with a totally awkward and not helpful walking stick (i.e. bike).

here i am, apparently about to fall.



here's my person. he took this photo of himself, apparently. probably killing time waiting for me to catch up.



i do want to get better, as i have such a great time when i know the trail. someday...

**obstacles for me include the following, in no particular order: climbs, downhills, turns, rocks, gravel, roots, leaves, wetness of any sort, other people on the trail, sean, mud, sand, heights, my gears, being overly hot, and being overly cold.

time flies

i've spent the last month in clinic and lecture with few weekend or evening obligations. these are the final couple days before the reality of internship returns. i'm somewhat torn. i'm definitely weary of sitting in a classroom feeling like a student again, but i'm not so psyched about returning to the world of q 4 call and medical decision making. in any case, my ambivalence is irrelevant, as time marches on.

it has been fun getting to know my 7 fellow interns. we have vastly different experiences and interests, no big surprise. i wouldn't say we're best friends, but we're certainly congenial enough.

i invited the whole clan over last night, only a few came. i made some food, had plenty of wine available. i felt quite vulnerable opening my house and cooking for new people, something that had previously been very calming and fun for me. making friends is hard! sean was a champ, chatting people up, showing folks how to play the wii. we played a game that tests intelligence, and i scored only slightly better than a ten year old. that was post wine, mind you, but still... sean, of course, beat all of the doctors in the room by a significant margin.

sounds like sean and i are headed to vashon island for some biking tomorrow if it doesn't rain too much...

salmon in seattle

we went to see salmon spawning in piper's creek at carkeek park today. what a strange thing to observe. the natives probably don't find it unusual, but i sure did. rarely do urban folks get to witness wildlife in their natural environment on such a large scale.

the salmon are just starting to spawn at this particular site, and already there were several carcasses in various states of decay. i can't imagine what its gonna look like (and smell like) there in a month or so. we saw a couple who were really active and pushing upstream. i kept asking sean questions about the whole thing, but he didn't really seem to know. i guess all of his childhood field trips to the hatcheries didn't really leave an imprint.

it was interesting and quite sad to watch all of these animals at the end of their lives. sean took A LOT of pictures, but this is by far the coolest...