Some of my favorite things.

I'm still thinking on how best to commemorate a year of nursing through photos. It's not an easy task because I can't really just bring my camera to work. Other then the delicate nature of my area of practice (labour & delivery) there are other issues such as privacy, confidentiality, my general lack of medical supplies at home...essentially, no chance I would/could take photos at the workplace. Wow, I can only imagine the negative repercussions that would have!

What I can use for props are my stethescope, ID/swipe card, name badge, bandage scissors, clamp, pen (x2), sharpie, penlight, alcohol swab or two, pair of non-sterile gloves, OR hat, maybe a belly-band button if I have one, reference cards and a tourniquet. Hard to photograph, but I also always have my brain, my hands and my heart. These are the tools I carry with me wherever I go. It's actually part of my pre-shift routine - check each pocket to ensure all stuff that should be there is there. My scrubs are laundered at the hospital as I am expected to be able to enter our operating theaters at a moments notice - no outside clothing! My work shoes are black Birkenstock clogs with a non-slip grip and full back. They are nasty and will not be coming home with me. When they are worn out, they will be disposed of in a bio-hazard bag. No joke. The amount of 'stuff' that gets on them...let's just say the non-slip grip was a VERY good investment.

Other then that, I have my resources at home. They include:

• Penny Simkin's "The Birth Partner: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Doulas and All Other Labor Companions" 3rd Edition
• Ina May Gaskin's "Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding"
• Ina May Gaskin's "Spiritual Midwifery" 4th Edition
• The work of Reva Rubin regarding the phases of motherhood
• The work of Jean Watson regarding her Theory of Caring
• Resources accessible from MOREOb (Managing Obstetrical Risk Effectively)
• Elizabeth Davis' "Heart & Hands: A Midwife's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth" 4th Edition
• Kathleen R. Simpson & Patricia A. Creehan's "Perinatal Nursing" put out by the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, 3rd Edition
• Wong, Hockenberry, Wilson, Perry & Lowdermilk's "Maternal Child Nursing Care" 3rd Edition
• Policies and Procedures developed and utilized by AHS

(You know, I feel guilty not listing these resources in APA format - how well conditioned am I?)

Huh. So. Now that I look at the list, there actually is a fair amount of material to work with. Now I just need to wait for the creative bug to bite and capture some images. Anywho, a snapshot for those who are interested about what I do/think/reference/use in a day at work.

And now for some other photos!

This was from  a set of photos I took back in January when I was first trying out the camera. This is a Christmas mug with honey-ginseng green tea. I was playing around with different angles on the kitchen counter to capture the light streaming through the window.

Early spring sky (April 30) taken just outside the Aspelund Community Hall in Lacombe County, AB.  Many good memories of this little hall. 

In another, completely unrelated, note. Eric is listening to a song in which the main chorus is "I breathe Air...yeah. I breathe Air...yeah. And you're taken' my air. I can't breathe."

Wow. Whoever wrote those lyrics must have an advanced degree in English Lit.

Why a pansy of course! Taken a day or two ago. Location: my front yard. Cheerful little thing isn't it?

 And if anyone needed a song to get them going in the morning, I particularly like this remix of ACDC's Thunderstruck by Crooker.

And that is all. For now. Carpet cleaning and reorganizing the office awaits me this afternoon. I will squeeze in time to harass the cats and pat the dog.

C'mon!

Once again, I'm sitting here with a Piper cat on my lap and my laptop balanced on the extreme end of my knees. What is different from the last post then? I'm listening to Tiesto and Diplo dual it out. Sweet.

Eric and I have been trying something new this week (don't worry, no reference to kinky activities will be made here). We are going for a walk every morning, including after night shifts for me. Admittedly, I was not very excited about doing MORE walking after shift, my feet throb and pulsate enough without recreationally adding to it. However, with commitment to our health in my mind; we did it. And it has been a wonderful thing. The opportunity for taking photos that early in the morning is tremendous! Especially with clear skies and that morning light - stunning. I have two photos from a set I took yesterday morning. There will be more coming, but I have not been inspired with the post-processing of them yet.

The other bonus of taking photos early in the morning is that you do not have people staring out their windows at you while you are capturing images of the flowers they have planted along their sidewalks. Don't worry, I'm not scampering around on people's private property - just imaging what is readily imageable.

I love this photo! I have been experimenting with different filters (this is an infrared one) and thought the result was eye-appealing. Some days I find myself thinking along the lines of a puritan - the photos I capture must be as close to the original image with minimal editing required. Then there are days like today where the photo couldn't be further then the original scene! I think it is important to dally and try and create; but when someone asks me which style I prefer or to define my photo preferences...I can't. Oh well. Too bad for them.

Hah! Eric's listening to a song now that sounds like the refrain is "Nancy...oh Nancy". Of course maybe it's "Pantsy...oh Pantsy". I personally would be very amused if they were singing about pants. There should be more songs about pants...

(passage of about three minutes)

...so I just googled "songs about pants" and found about 79,400,000 results in 0.14 seconds. I guess the world doesn't need any more songs about pants. Maybe there should be a song about Nancy pants.

(passage of about 45 seconds)

Yah I just googled Nancy pants. The Google monster had to work harder for this one, in 0.21 seconds we found (I use the pronoun 'we' as I feel I am a vital and valued part of our relationship [that is the relationship between Google and myself]) about 15,900,000 results.

(I'm textually {It smells [Did you like that brackets within brackets?] crazy!} challenged.)

According to the urban dictionary:
 

Nancy Pants (nah-nn-SEE PAH-nn-tss): A person in an organization (usually in sales) that is definitely a male, but has some very strange metro-sexual, gay, or effeminate traits.

Wild! The internet is just AWESOME.

This last photo is another one of the set I took while poking around Takaka falls in May. I love black and white photos. As I continue along my photography journey, I am learning that you can't simply just convert all color photos to black and white. Well, physically you can - but half of them look like crap. 

 Well, Piper has left my lap and the washing machine has finished washing - should probably get up. Maybe I'll go find Piper and sit on him...

Blast from the past.

So I am sitting here, for the first time in a long time, not knowing what to do with myself. Struck my a bolt of melancholy I think. The house is clean, I finished my book, Eric is working, it's hot and I don't feel motivated to do anything but sit and be hermity. So I looked at some old pictures and found this one - that's Keira when she was 4-5 months old. The car she is sitting under is our old Pontiac Grand AM.

Crazy hey?

Holy Mole Artichokey!

A post this long overdue deserves a corny title.

So I'm sitting here. Trying to type this blog while Piper is simultaneously loving me. Actually, loving might be to weak of a word. Attacked perhaps? Molested? Certainly I am being used. It's hard to write anything with a cat head bonking you in an attempt to get at your sweater strings, drooling (because he is purring so hard), and wiggling his bum onto the keyboard with his tail constantly over the line of text I am composing. As I sit on the couch, I keep moving the laptop further off my knees to keep the cat off of it, in return he keeps scooching down even further. Soon, the laptop will be on the floor and the cat will have won. The things I put up with.

There, I think he's finally settled in somewhat. My arms are extended as far as they will reach as my laptop is at maximum distance away from me. I have cat snot across my chin from where he smoothed me and there is a fuzzy in my nose. Perfect. At least he's finally holding still. Sort of.

So what have I been up to? Not really much actually. Same 'ole schedule of work and housework. Of note though, we are painting the upstairs bedroom. Since it's empty we figured we should seize the opportunity for change.  Eric calls it Kermit the Frog Green - and in reality, it does kind of look like we skinned a muppet and tacked it to the walls. It's very very green. But I'm liking it - It will remain empty for now, but I think that once we get some furniture in there with the curtains up, the green will not be so alarming. At least that is the hope!

side note: Cat is now looking adoringly at me while still purring - which means still drooling. It's so funny, all morning I have been chasing him around the house with a squirt bottle because he's been such a terror, but now he's the most lovable widdle fing in dah whole wide world...I am not fooled. Jerk.

Anywho, thought I would post some pics. These are just a smattering of the 1600 photos I uploaded this morning. Hopefully will post some more soon.

A little blue flower (have not looked up the species yet) found on July long weekend by Ghost Lake Reservoir

A baby spruce tree found on the weekend of May 30, taken just outside Takaka Falls, AB. I have named him Alfie, like the Christmas tree in the John Denver carol.

An amazing wild rose taken in the evening light at Red Lodge Provincial Park on June 26, 2011. The entire campground was filled with wild roses - all of them in their prime!

Another wild rose - this photo taken in the morning, after the rain, on June 25, 2011. Same place.

An oldie but a goldie - well, not that old actually. This photo was taken just behind my friend's house on the outskirts of Calgary on May 6, 2011. Alberta skies never cease to capture my interest and take my breath away.