westchester lagoon...

since i was already downtown for westchester lagoon today i cruised over to the city center to check out the ice sculptures there. above is a picture taken from the car of the bridge from the parking lot to the mall in town. just thought it looked cool for some reason. i'm easy to please. of course, i never linger there when i go to the mall. it seems like a bad place to be caught if a big quake were to hit.

city center has the performing arts building. plays and concerts are often held here. there is a small ice rink out from and then ice sculptures in the winter. the one above is of a soldier. we have alot of military in the area so i thought it was cool that they had this particular ice sculptures.

just activity at westchester lagoon. always a popular place in winter and summer. below blossom waits for me to throw her yellow frisbee. nothing beats a happy dog. i wiped her out today with all the running and chasing of toys.

today, after the dog park, which was quite beautiful and pleasant, i took blossom to westchester lagoon. i put on my cleats and took many loops around the ice there on the kicksled. blossom, as usual, looked adorable in her harness, but wouldn't pull. in the end she got her wish and i took the frisbee out. i'd make her run a lap with me and then toss her frisbee. lucky for me she is a really good dog. i'm very happy that i could have her off leash in a place with so many other people and she behaves beautifully. rio would be more tricky at a place like this, but she was happily chilling on the couch with the tv on and a snack of peanut butter to satisfy her.

the skies were quite lovely out there as the sun was starting to set. it's doing that later and later by the way which is wonderful. i love to people watch and this is a great place for that. these kids were having a great time with the one parent out there...he was playing some sort of freeze tag. the kids kept falling and laughing. they have a few barrels out there with fire and wood supplied by the city to keep warm.

just a few pictures of the sky as it was very pretty. there is a big area for open skate, another big area for hockey and then several skating trails that take you around the lagoon.

you can sorta get a feel for the place in this picture. lots of folks out there. there are also ski trails that pass by the lagoon so there were lots of other skiers and walkers out there. i always have a heck of a time getting myself to the lagoon as it's a bit tricky downtown in that area. lots of one way streets that stop or take you back up out of town. i always mess up and then have to circle back...as i had to do again today.

i guess they are paying to fly doctors and nurses to haiti to assist with the earthquake victims down there. as much as that sounds like a wonderful thing to do in my heart...my head knows that it will be dangerous work, especially as resources dwindle and the people get frustrated at not having enough food and water. the government was less than adequate before the quake. i think at one time i had high aspirations for traveling the globe providing medical care. i think people who do this are amazing, i know i can't be one of them. if something happened here i would hope i was the sort to jump in. just not sure i have what it takes to board a plane and head to such a tenuous situation.

week is a bit of a blur. nights of work. i worked overtime on friday. i was kept steady and busy, but nothing too out of control. no drama, work with co-workers was pleasant. we got some snow on wednesday night so i woke up between shifts to get out there and enjoy it. it wasn't enough for a good snowshoe, but i always love the fluff of fresh snow. took the girls out to n. bivouac for a nice loop. i think we went out there on wednesday as well. crazy that i can't remember a few days back. i did get my calendars in so i mailed some off and have a few more to mail off this next week. i'm using one to keep track of my walks for my blogs and just for fun. cool to see where all i walk over the year. how many miles could be somewhat tracked.

the weekend was spent at the dog park. saw a cool bull moose one day sleeping off in the woods...but apparently my camera was focusing on some twig in front of the moose and not the actual moose....so the moose turned out blurry in all. it was a combo of trying to maintain two dogs and deal with a co-worker who had joined me. she is a nice person, but can be a bit much when i am tired as i was. she gets all screechy and loud when she talks. some days i'm fine with her and other days i just get a headache from her.

i took a nap yesterday after working 3 nights and all. my friend called at ten and that woke me up so then i was wide awake. i had a few movies that had come in from netflix. the one movie had to come up from san jose in california so when that happens netflix mails off a second one locally which is cool. i've been quite happy with netflix. i haven't been to blockbuster forever. i was forever late with those dang movies. now i just mail them off after i get around to seeing them. so i stayed up and watched both movies. both were foreign flicks. "elsa and fred" was a cute movie about a couple of folks in thier 80's who end up dating. thier kids are a bit concerned...which is always funny as they are adults and yet often get treated as children as they age. i had started to watch that one earlier in the evening and then gave up and fell asleep. hard to read sub-titles when you are so sleepy. the other movie was called, 'the grocers son". there has obviously been conflict in the family, especially with the father and this son. the father has a heart attack and the son comes home from the city to help out with the small family run grocery store. he is kinda a cocky kid before this but seems to find his way to happiness and stays on at the grocery when his dad decides to retire. there is an element of romance in that one as well. ah...romance.

i really have to sign up for the ski for women. a group from work is planning on going. should be fun. the dogs will just have to cope without me for the day. eek. i have a few more calendars to mail off and i'm still getting a few pictures framed...should get prepped to paint in here once i have those pictures to take to home depot and figure out cool colours for this room. i painted it when i moved in, but have never liked the colour. it just didn't turn out how i'd hoped.

off to bed. got monday walk tomorrow. could be a crowd. it's martin luther king day and the kids are out of school. lena's sons want to get some dog time. should be fun!