sunsets and nurses...

my afternoon walks put me well into sunset these days. nice to see the sun set while i walk, but it is a bit early. i'm sleepy tonight, but know tomorrow will be packed with trip details. don't know how people travel as often as they do. it's just exhausting getting all the pretrip stuff done. i'll only be gone a week and the to do list just always seems so daunting. must pack, charge batteries, get cash, clean house, buy cat litter, write the pet emergency note...tonight, though i'll just sleep...oh and clean the sheets for the pet sitters...can't forget that!!
the mitten above was at the university lake dog park. not sure why i always find the winter bits hanging in trees entertaining, but i love the common courtesy of it all. it's very alaskan to put objects found on trails up on the branches so the owner can locate them and the object won't be buried in snow. not much worry of that this week. just bitter cold. bitter cold is when the temperature becomes so cold as to be a bit unpleasant. less than 10 for me. below neg 15 is super bitter and below 30 or 40 is just miserable.

went to the march of dimes nurse award ceremony and i think fundraiser as well. my friend sharon won in the administrative category. great to see her win. she always goes the extra mile in her job and is most appreciated. i was nominated, but my name wasn't called. was happy to sit in my seat and just applaud. by the end of the evening i was joking that i would now be on suicide watch as the people who won in the various categories have such impressive and selfless lives. i feel like such a loser compared to them. in between doing nursing and raising kids, they volunteer like crazy, work on many commitees, give of thier lives completely and probably help little old ladies across the street. i think i take wonderful care of my patients, but i've never been one to come to work for committee's and work in the community promoting health. while i appreciate the thought of being nominated, i knew i wasn't the sort of nurse that gets selected for such things. it was a nice dinner and i quite enjoyed myself out there with friends.
it's nice to be noticed in any profession for giving more than is just required. being a nurse can be a tough job, but i know that infusing humor and the right attitude can really go a long way in making those 12 hours more pleasant, for staff and the patients. volunteering would probably be a great thing to do, but somedays just being kind is a public service all it's own.

here i am with a few of my favorite people, sharon and margaurite. i work with some great nurses. my outfit was comfy and i think stylish enough for the event.

everyone scattered after the evening was over, but we got a few small group shots. the peds group was divided into 3 tables. our table was fun. we had me, sandra, rhonda, corriene, jacque, tawny, jolene, a few friends and one of the docs, elizabeth. above is me, sandra, sharon, jenny and margaurite and jean. jean just retired this past year and margaurite got the legends award last year. sandra joined me as my "date" for the night. we drove over together.

there are nominee's from across the state. was surprised to find an old co-worker had flown in from ketchikan. a nurse practitioner down there won an advanced nursing award. fun to see kendall. it's been years.

rhonda and i show off our nominee badges. sandra's camera took these last two shots from the evening. she loves that she can take pictures with her phone and put them on facebook right away. those simple pleasures in life, eh?

woke and had time to just bog it before i had to get ready for the evening. the skies were pink. it was quite pretty out. cold, but pretty.

trying to sort out what plans for the upcoming week. should be fun, hopefully, i can see some friends and maybe just relax on the beach and soak up some rays. i know it won't be warm and sunny, but it will be warmer and more sunny. that is enough for the moment. as much as i hate leaving the dogs behind, i know that it's probably good for me to take a vacation from life as i know it. i suspect it's good for the dogs to rest with me away, especially rio. her joints need me to go on vacation from time to time.

work was steady and the last 2 nights passed pretty quickly. i always dread that last night before you go on vacation. being a bit superstitious i always think crazy nights happen before you try to go on vacation. it wasn't bad though. a child that should be dead, isn't. that goes a long ways in helping heal us all from the child that shouldn't have died that did. life is not fair and it's fragile. none of it was an issue of fault, just the way it goes somedays. some are lucky and some aren't. did god intervene? hard for me to give credit for intervention for one child and not for the other. can't imagine that god is so randomly selective in who gets thier prayers answered. you'll hear of some huge accident and only one person lives and people will say, god must have saved them, but i always think what about all the other people that god didn't bother with. doesn't make any sense to me.

went to the dog park between shifts wednesday/thursday. blossom loves going there and rio likes all the attention she invariably gets. just a nice change. we did a loop and then looped back.

the sun was setting there as well.

just so beautiful up here, it doesn't matter what time of year or how cold, it's just pretty.

they are busily putting a fence between the dog park boundaries and the alaska pacific university property. sad that the university feels the need to fence it off, but sadder still that the dog park community just can't follow simple rules. they are supposed to leash the dogs in this area so as to not bother people who may be on the soccer fields doing other activities. if there is nobody out there, then i don't bother, but anytime i see anyone out there, the dogs are on leash and off the fields. fencing will hopefully make better neighbors of us all though.

one thing the university may end up regretting about thier fence is that before the dogs were there the geese were and that field was always covered in goose poops. wonder if the geese will rediscover the area once the dogs are fenced off. will be interesting. for now, the geese are south.

just a few sunset pictures from the lake.

below is a picture from the day before. i walked the neigborhood to this other park i can readily get to from my place. it has a par course in it. not a well used one. relic of the 80's i think, but there are trails that form a few loops and these little exercise spots are scattered around out there. always a pleasant walk.

well, i'm sleepy and now i shall attempt to sleep a few hours before getting up and trying to work on the to do list.