A cold, cold day

Once again, Seattle is incapacitated by snow. Folks from eastern snowy places sneer, and say scoffingly that Seattleites just don’t understand snow.  True that may well be, but maybe those sneerers don’t quite understand about hills.  When my uncle was in graduate school, he and my aunt (and several babies)  lived in Chicago, where folks understand snow very well.   My aunt was asking a friend for directions to something or other, and the friend said, “Go to the top of the hill and turn left.”  My aunt looked around for the hill, but didn’t see it.   “What hill?” she asked.  “This one right here,” the neighbor pointed.  Pauline still didn’t see a hill.  That might be basic difference in the understanding of snow. 

Ah, the traffic snarls! Click here for an astonishing example. I had to remain at work until the nurse replacing me got there, and I finally left at one-thirty in the morning.  It had taken him nearly eight hours to drive from where ever he lives – not that far.  Fortunately for me, he was supposed to be there at seven, so I only had to wait two hours for him, rather than six.  It had taken him eight hours to drive to work.  Most staff stayed the night, especially if they had to be back the next day.  I was lucky.  My walk home took no longer than usual, and was very pleasant.  I go through Seattle University, and there were students out enjoying a make shift snow festival of sorts, making my walk home an even happier event. 

The next morning I had three doctor appointments.  One of them had called in sick several days ago, and I had the option of rescheduling or going to his nurse practitioner.  I chose the latter.  The other two called in sick (one claimed to have emergency surgery, but I was skeptical.  That is always such a great excuse!) I went to the nurse practitioner of the surgeon, and I liked her very well.  Given that I had never seen that doctor, and the NP was great,  I am officially making the nurse practitioner my caregiver for ladies issues.  You can see the odious evidence of my appointment – way less awful than anticipated, due to her skill, and her caring and friendly attitude.  The NP of my primary doctor was wonderful too.  So a day that I had been dreading turned out to be not so bad, thanks to Deborah and Leslie, the fabulous NP’s.  Once again I walked there and home, and once again, it was a pleasant trip.