A fine art...
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"Nursing is an art...", according to Florence Nightingale. As one who has spent the last four years working as a technician in a day surgery center, I would have to agree! The nurses I have had the privilege to work alongside of are well educated, warm, caring, and dedicated to their jobs. They truly do strive to make their patients as comfortable as possible, prior to and post their procedures, with their ever ready smiles and personal interest. Lest you think they are saints, nurses also have no problem speaking very casually about any body part or bodily function with their co-workers.... the conversation in the lunchroom can be quite entertaining!
My mom on her graduation from Fairview School of Nursing
Even prior to working at the surgery center, I highly esteemed the nursing profession. You see, I come from a long line of nurses. My maternal grandmother, Christine, was a nurse in Minnesota. Her oldest daughter, Carola, (my mother), followed her mother's footsteps into nursing. And, mom's oldest daughter, my sister, Evangeline, also became a nurse. My older brother, Jonathan, eventually entered the nursing field, and married Bonnie, you guessed it...a nurse! My dad's sister, Lydia, who I spent much time with growing up, was a nurse. My pastor's wife, Jeannie, who was my friend and mentor for many years, was a nurse. And now, my sister's oldest daughter, Johanna, is completing her bachelor's in Nursing from UW this spring(4th generation). I would describe all of them as some of the most caring and compassionate people I know.
My mother, Carola...early 1940's
Aunt Lydia, my dad's sister...
Recently, my sis saw a photo of a retirement cake I had done for one of the nurses I had worked with (Ruthie) and asked me to do one for a co-worker of hers that was retiring. Ruthie had worked as a surgical nurse in cardiology in the hospital and completed her career in Phase One recovery at the day surgery center....hence, the hearts and EKG strip on the cake.
Fondant nurses' cap and hearts done by my friend, Annika.
My sister and her coworker,Sharon, are postpartum nurses at the UW Medical Center...working with all those newborn babies. She wanted this incorporated in the cake somehow. So, here goes...my postpartum nurse retirement cake!
Notice "secret" ingredient...sour cream!
Baking...love that smell!
Cooling...
My first draft of cake...things changed a bit as I went along..I'm not much of an artist!
Now, I don't normally work with fondant, but I had to use it for this cake for the nurse's cap and accessories. (A nurse friend of mine made the fondant hat and hearts for Ruthie's cake).
Fondant pieces...
"Dirty icing"
Bottom half iced and assembled...
Ta da! Cake is done! Such a great feeling:).
Like those babies...I kind of do!
I just want to close with the complete quote from Florence Nightingale...
"Nursing is an art; And if it is to be made an art, it requires as exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work. For what is the having to do with dead canvas or cold marble, compared with having to do with the living body - the temple of God's spirit? It is one the Fine Arts; I had almost said, the finest of the Fine Arts." (1893).
My hat is off to all of you Nurses!
First image is an old postcard via Pinterest...
