i can smell dryer sheets

perhaps because i'm down the hall from the laundry mat. you know i don't think i've ever typed those words and as i do, i can't help but wonder if that is the way its spelled. is it "laundry mat" or "laundromat". what's with the "mat" anyway? what does that even mean? anyway . . . i'm totally digressing from the point of this post so let me get back on track.

i'm sitting in my new office in the village of mcgrath and it shares a building with the city offices, laundry mat, state troopers, health clinic, and community board room/court room. its a nice little office and although it doesn't have any windows it does have a skylight and its cozy and warm. this will be my new station at least once per quarter and potentially more often than that. the travel schedule here is very flexible and is based simply on the need of the community. between my physical visits here, i will be doing "telemedicine", which is esentially video conferencing . . . or virtual therapy (sort of).

when a colleague of mine recently resigned, the one and only village travel assignment that is available (for the southcentral region) came open again and i jumped at the chance. although i did tire of the frequent travel that i did to the villages in the nome area, i do miss it now that i'm gone. i also know that the opportunity to immerse in another part of alaska is very unique and i know how lucky i am. so i plan to take full advantage of the personal and professional opportunity. i'm looking forward to learning about this community and hopefully getting the chance to make a difference in someone's (hopefully many one's) lives.

in addition to mcgrath, i will also be covering the villages of nikolai and takotna (both are less than 20 air miles away, but are not connected by roads). i will be based in mcgrath, but will take day trips to the other villages when the need arises. its funny that mcgrath is even considered a village actually. so far, i would liken it to a very mini nome.

since landing here this morning, i have learned that there is quite the array of amenities here including: 1 lodge, 1 b&b, 1 bunk house, 2 restaurants, 3 bars, museum, bahai spiritual center, catholic church, interent broadband company, and an espresso shop. there are also several companies including full service construction, lumber supplier, snow removal, fuel, wild game processing, and 3 locally owned airlines (as well as the larger carrier, pen-air). there is 1 school for pre-K to 12, as well as an extension station for university of alaska fairbanks. there is even local television and radio stations. it is a clean community that has a lot of beautiful homes
(versus the functional shack like structures of most villages), grassy yards, and even trees. my favorite find today is "malone's mossy meadows farm". they have farm fresh eggs, custom furniture, chemical-free vegetables, crafts, goat milk soap, and lumber. seems to me that malone might just be living a dream. i took a nice walk this morning and every single person who passed by in their car, on their 4-wheeler, or on their bicycle raised their hand up to wave to me. the population is about 350 people year round. however, in the summer, that number can get up as high as 1,000 with visitors, fisherman, and hunters. only about 50% of the community is alaska native.

my next appointment is going to be here any moment, so this is all for now. tomorrow i'll go to nikolai for half the day and then be back in mcgrath for the afternoon. i won't be going to takotna this time. home on thursday mid morning and off work the rest of the day . . . not a bad perk for a couple of nights in the "village". i have my usual day off on friday and this weekend an added day off on monday. 4 1/2 days . . . nice. seems like i should do something fun an exciting, but actually i'm just looking forward to staying home, going for a hike with duke, and knitting . . . on second thought, maybe a road trip is in order?? hmm. we'll see?