A Week Away

I had one day this week in the clinic and then I spent Wed, Thur, and Fri at a medical education meeting in Chapel Hill. My pal Shannon who worked with me at the Buncombe Co Health Dept several years ago came down from Asheville to attend the meeting too. It was great to have her in our home and to attend the meeting with her. She is so funny and irreverent with her comments about getting rid of her "crackberry" since she was constantly checking email or calling people in every spare moment. I still smile thinking of her telling me about it. Crazy girl. I thought the meeting was a little weak compared to years past, but maybe I am a bit jaded and expect to be dazzled, entertained. and astounded by the learning from "on high" (mostly UNC Internal Medicine Faculty). I do so much reading now that I expect more meaty educational sessions than I did previously.

I did finish a terrific book this week by my guy Abraham Verghese, the Infectious Disease doctor who is also an author. This one was " Cutting for Stone" a story about 3 doctors in Ethiopia and how they got to be the parents of twin boys who grow up to be surgeons with their own interesting histories and stories. That author is so bright and resourceful with medical info that he fashioned bits and pieces of medical lore and cases into a fascinating book about love amongst friends, colleagues, and family. I'm on to "The Marcy Papers" about one women's grief at losing her mother to cancer. It was really well reviewed in the NY Times so I had the Hillsborough library order it for me. They had not even heard of it but ordered it for the system on my recommendation. Wish I could earmark ALL of my taxes to go to them. They really add a lot to my life, always having exactly the book I am looking for or willing to order it for me like this one.

We have had a terrific w-e in Asheville with pizza and microbrew beer at our favorite place around the corner on friday, a run in the woods and NCAA basketball on saturday, and brunch with friends on sunday. We are trying to cover all of the route of the celebratory hike we are doing April 18th here. So each w-e we try to cover a portion of it by foot, scouting out spots for parking cars to access the route along the Parkway. The entire trail is almost 18 miles, and we plan to do most of it that Saturday if the weather cooperates. It's our celebration for my good health and an attempt to push ourselves to do something physically challenging. I have been toying with the idea of running another marathon this year. Holly doesn't want to do a race that long, so we may just find a shorter run we can do together. A half-marathon somewhere we've never been together would be fun too (e.g Chicago). Anyway, I hope many friends will join us on April 18th for hike along the Shut-In trail and a potluck afterwards.

Today's photo: a group of pelicans flying over Emerald Isle.