A Gem Of A Day

    Yesterday our daughter Claire, a medical intensive care unit nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, was honored by her hospital for being the national award winner of the Nurse.com GEM award for volunteerism and service.  Nurse.com is a nursing news and resource magazine,

 ...that gives the GEM - Giving  Excellence Meaning - award to one nurse chosen from nominees nationwide in each of five categories:  Advancing and Learning the Profession; Clinical Nursing; Education and Mentorship;  Home, Community and Ambulatory Care; Patient and Staff Management; and Volunteerism and Service. 
    Claire, nominated by her manager, was chosen for the Volunteerism and Service award for her work in Nicaragua,  Haiti, and Sierra Leone. 
     The reception, for Claire and several other Northwestern nurses who were regional GEM finalists in other categories, was scheduled for at 1 pm at the hospital, which gave us plenty of time to go out for brunch beforehand.
      Claire and Miguel walked 15 minutes from their house in Logan Square to meet us at our hostel and from there we walked through Wicker Park,

...to a cute little nearby breakfast eatery called Kanela.

     The food was really good.
   
​     Tommy had the goat-cheese omlet,

...Miguel had pork belly eggs benedict,

...I'm not sure what pork belly is but Miguel says it's really good,
     Claire had a vegetarian bagel,

...and Tom and I had our old stand-by.
,

 
​   After brunch we headed downtown to the hospital via subway,

...then bus,

...then we walked the last block to the Northwestern Memorial campus.

     Northwestern is a massive, beautiful hospital

.....with art everywhere, 

...and an enchanting salt-water aquarium.

 
​   The reception  was held in an atrium overlooking Lake Michigan.

   
​   There was a table full of yummy hors d'oeuvres,

...and a beautiful cake,

...enjoyed by all.

   
​     Claire was honored by hospital management and representatives of Nurse.com,

...and her co-workers.

      Claire also spoke,

.....telling of her love of her work as an intensive care nurse, especially those times of helping and caring for people during the hardest times of their lives.  
     Claire also emphasized that the countries most vulnerable to outbreaks of deadly diseases are those in which large segments of the population lack access to health care.  She encouraged us to be mindful of the importance of the state of our health care system when we vote.

     It was a nice speech.

....and a nice afternoon.

     Afterwards we taxied back to Miguel and Claire's house in Logan Square  where we hung  for a while, 

...until it occurred to us all that it was about time to eat again.
     I suggested that we walk back to Wicker Park and have dinner at a Thai restaurant called Penny's, which plan sounded fine to everyone else.
    So we returned to Wicker Park via the 606, which is the name of a recently completed elevated walking trail along an old elevated train line.

     Off in the distance we could see the tops of the downtown buildings that were displaying blue, white and red lights in honor of France.  It was too dark for my camera to capture the image, but it was a nice sight.
    We descended the 606 at Wicker Park,

...and walked on 'til we arrived at Penny's,

    ... where we ordered ourselves some delicious  dishes.

     As we were next door to Stan's, one of the finest doughnut joints on the planet,

...we couldn't very well pass by without stopping in and sampling the wares.

     'Twas a fine end to a fine day.