Sat 1/29: The good news is ..... that there is some sun out today (temporarily not snowing) and in a short while, I will be leaving for Saco, Maine, to join my Vegan Meet-Up friends for brunch and a museum tour.
What a great bunch they are --- I keep meeting new people, learning new things and get to sight see a little along the way because the meetings are held all over. Next month, we head back to Portland, ME for a night of bowling and vegan eats. I did fairly well this week and only had meat once.
Last weekend, we met in Bangor for a great vegan Mexican meal where the restaurant made a special menu for us with many choices on it. Since Bangor is so far north and I passed through Portland area anyway, I took the liberty to stop at Whole Foods Market (aka Whole Paycheck) and the new Trader Joe's. It was a coooold weekend -- high of 3, so I didn't have to worry about anything not staying frozen in the car. Trader Joe's had a few other frozen dessert things and Whole Foods had more of what I needed, as well as some good vegan bakery items (non-dairy, of course), so I bought a few muffins and scones. They even had my Imagine brand soups on sale.
I drove to a rest stop in Gardiner, ME, which was about 2 hrs from my house. I met friends there and we rode the rest of the way up to Bangor together. The big rest stops here are unlike any I'd ever seen. For one thing, they all have gas stations and food areas, like food courts, and big, clean restrooms. This one did have a Starbucks -- the second one I have seen since my arrival, so you can see how few and far between they are. Each also has a huge building with an art gallery -- Maine Crafts -- which is a cooperative of Maine artists who show and sell their wares. I was able to get a lot of free information about things to do in Maine, and made a mental note that sometime this might be a good cooperative to get involved in to sell artwork.
The Mexican restaurant was very accommodating and we had a huge selection to choose from. They even used vegan cheese! Of course I took advantage of that and ended up being able to take food home. Since I was not the immediate driver, I also enjoyed a glass of their Sangria which they make red and white versions of (I'd never heard of that, but I guess they use a Chablis as the base). Food was great and I met many people, including students from U of Maine and an entire family that is vegan by choice. It was a good opportunity to swap recipes and reasons to switch lifestyles. It would seem allergies are one big reason besides trying to do what is better for the planet.
Here I am at the last meet-up:
More good ... work is going well and I have been extremely busy attending meeting after meeting and trying to learn the new systems and protocols. I feel very supported by administration and everyone seems to like my ideas....we'll see how much they like them when they actually have to do them, ha-ha. But, the work days fly by and I feel very needed so that is a good thing. There is a lot to do. I will be taking an 8 wk evening class for the EMR system they use. This is offered through the local adult education extension service and they are providing this for me.
My prior experience with renovation and expansion has proven useful as we will be doing the same tasks in spring. This will all be good for my health, too, because the campus is so spread out and parking is at a premium (or you have to park out a couple of miles and be shuttled for free), I walk outside a lot. This requires bundling up like and Eskimo, going to the meeting, unbundling during the meeting and then wrapping back up to go to the next place. Thank goodness for YakTraks! They have saved me more than once on the ice.
I did find out something interesting. In 1995, I had the Hep B series of vaccinations and was told I was protected all these years. My actual titer says I am not, so I will be repeating the shots. The nurses tell me this is not unusual and sometimes they have to be repeated. So, if you want to make sure you are protected, ask your doctor to run blood test. Otherwise, get more shots! Even though I work less directly with patients here, I fall under a hospital umbrella and am subject to the same rules as nurses and other health care workers.
Another interesting thing -- medical assistants are not licensed in Maine, as they are in WA. They are not allowed to do triage, because the definition here says only nurses (RN) are allowed to make assessments. MAs do not get training on sterile technique in schools here. They can pretty much do anything else, but what an eye opener that was. I have found a loophole in that MAs can screen a call and then give to an RN for disposition, much as a doctor would then get the chart. RNs can then decide whether or not to phone in a new prescription....which if you ask me is practicing medicine, but they call it assessment here....
The good....I discovered Sea Dog Blueberry Wheat Pale Ale. I had a craving for a beer one night so on my way home, I stopped at the store. Beer is very expensive here -- $10-$15 A SIX PAC. There were many micro brews to choose from so I looked at the shelf that seemed the most empty and chose that. Now I see why -- OMG, it is so delicious! I've tried other fruit-style beers, like a cherry one in Montana, but they tasted like cough syrup. This one, however, is truly delicious! It was so good, I had two that night. I also bought some other regular microbrew kind that had a variety pac. We'll see how that is later...
The good.... the lobster roll sandwich I had in the cafeteria the first day of work, as shown here:
The good...1/30 Had a great meet-up yesterday in Saco! We ate at the Chef and Gardener Restaurant. This is a very small place that besides serving regular food, does many special diets and needs -- they have a regular following that just comes to pick up their food. They made us a special vegan menu for our group, although they also regularly serve vegan and vegetarian dishes.There were so many wonderful choices that many of us opted to order a couple of things each and then share! I had curried lentil cakes, banana-peanut butter stuffed french toast and butternut squash soup. I also got to share some maple grits, grilled pear and mixed greens salad, yukon gold fritatta with tempeh bacon, vegan benedict and an eggplant strata that was absolutely gorgeous to behold with its many layers of veggies. So nice to be able to eat without having to take a Benadryl chaser! The restauarant even served Mimosas, so of course, I had to have one -- cranberry/orange was their special.
I met lots of new and interesting people who follow this lifestyle for a variety of reasons.
Afterward, we were treated to a tour of the Saco Museum as one of our members is the curator there. Not only did we see the regular exhibits, many of which dated back to the 1600's, but we got a private viewing of the collections room, got to see where things come in and how they get cataloged. We also heard some interesting historical tales about museum pieces that normally would not be available to the general public. I learned that every tombstone from those days had separate meanings by whatever design (type of flower or object) that was on the headstone. I also learned that if a portrait was painted with a clock prominent in it, or an upside down flower was on the person, it meant that the portrait was actually painted after death. But the high point for me at this museum was this lobster claw from 1866...can you imagine what the rest of it looked like???
Now for some bad news...
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