Updating life away from the Berkley estate

Well, the first week went well in Saginaw: the new work scene went well for Jamie and rest and relaxation went well for me! Jamie is referring to my new lifestyle as 'the spa' or the Holiday Inn Spa. I think Spa de Saginaw is quite a good name because Americans pronounce the name of the town in such a way that it sounds to me as though it rhymes with 'spa' - in fact initially I thought it must be spelt as 'Saginar' because that is what everyone seemed to be saying. But is was SO NICE to get home on Friday evening to the Berkley estate! I had forgotten how nice the house is and how much wood there is everywhere. I have some more photos that I took recently that I will put on the kodak gallery link. I was really craving some 'normal' food after having every meal either in the hotel or at a restaurant of some sort so we stopped at the supermarket not far from home (whilst we were in there there was a HUGE thunderstorm, so loud it initially sounded like things were falling off the shelves!) and got some provisions for the weekend. No sooner had we walked in the door I was peeling a 5-pound bag of potatoes like a mad-woman! (I did heaps as we were taking lunch items to share on Saturday after church). Also peas/beans and a vegetarian stroganoff that turned out rather well if dont say so myself. I think that as time goes by (and when I stop being a hermit and start wanting to get out of the hotel during the day) we will probably bring more food with us each week as we do have a fridge and microwave in the hotel and we can bring the electric frypan and crock-pot with us. But for now whilst we get our bearings and adjust to the new environment, we are eating out and there have been no complaints from Mrs Finch about the situation! Last week Jamie worked at Covenant Medical Center, a 768-bed facility. This week he might be there again as he was scheduled at St Mary's hospital but their credentialling meeting wasnt until this morning so we assume that after he has been to that and they have given him the a-ok, he can work there as well. Other facilities that the practice (group as they call it), serves are Hills & Dales General Hospital (sounds to me like a cute little country hospital), Open MRI of the Thumb (the Thumb refers to the eastern part of Michigan - if you look at a map, Michigan is shaped like a mitten and this part if the thumb of it!), and Tawas (which apparently is really beautiful and is further up the side of Lake Huron) The Tawas area hospital and Standsh Hospital are further away and so the group has a condominium where whoever is working there for the week can stay. Apparently everyone requests to work there over Summer as it is very nice!

Anyway, back to the weekend, we had a very leisurely time - catching up with friends etc after church and an early night on Saturday night. On Sunday morning we went out to eat at Jamie's favourite breakfast place (The Original Pancake House) for delicious omelettes and then I got to work getting everything washed and packed in order to leave again!