Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

After breakfast, Angel Baby and I lounged around in the room, neither one of us in too big a hurry to go anywhere. We had the whole day, and night since it didn't get dark, to explore the city, or at least the part of the city surrounding our hotel. While we lounged, I made reservations on the bus that would take us to the airport the next day. If there was anything I was a bit nervous about, it was missing our flight home. I'm one who likes to get to the airport five hours before departure. When I'm ready to go home, I'm ready to go home. Once the bus reservation was made, we set out to find souvenirs for friends and family. I really didn't want anything for myself. I'm totally happy with having photos and memories, but Angel Baby wanted a few things that would remind him of our time in Iceland. We found the street with all the gift shops just a block away from the hotel and made our way through the shops as we moved up the street. Angel Baby found gifts fo...

Lesson learned this evening: the bus that takes me from Uptown to home makes its last run at 8:25 pm. If you're not on that bus, you're walking home. Guess what. I had to walk home at 9:20 pm. It's only a mile and a half. And most of the sidewalk, other than the odd spot here and there, is lit well enough to feel comfortable walking at night. And I did feel comfortable. Right up until I was almost to my street and I heard a voice call from about a block behind. I wasn't quite sure what I had heard at first, so I looked over my shoulder and saw a car had turned onto a side street then stopped. Something else I couldn't understand was said. I kept walking since I was just across from Farmer Guy's place, who I talk to every now and then. The light was on in the front window, so I figured if I needed to I could knock on his door, which I'm sure would create quite the surprise for him. But it'd give me a place to duck into if I felt I needed to. Then the ...

I was very daring today. I took two buses to get home instead of getting off at the transfer station then walking the mile from there to the house. Because I was so brave, I only had to walk three blocks instead of the mile, not that a mile walk is a horrible thing. It's not. In fact, I enjoy the walk very much. Yesterday, I got off at the transfer station, went to the used book store and bought two books, then went to a diner and had a burger while I read one of my new books. The walk home not only helped my digestive system, but it also gave me the opportunity to find a treasure on the curb. I lugged said treasure home and will make something for the living room out of it. But I digress. Back to taking not one but TWO buses to get home. From work to home, by bike, it's three miles, and I usually ride the three miles in 15 minutes. Half of the ride is trail, so I don't have to deal with traffic, and the other half is mostly residential streets with low traffic. The rid...

This morning I awoke early, just after daybreak, and sleep just wasn't going to come back to me as I was too curious about the bees. I needed to check on them. When I did, all was quiet. No sound came from inside the hive. The image of floating goldfish came to mind. Surely I hadn't killed them all so quickly, I thought. Hubby came out and bent down to listen. He heard a scratching noise. I leaned in but heard nothing. Dismay began to well up inside me. I figured all I could do was wait. Wait for the sun to come up to warm the hive. Wait to see if the bees began humming. So I turned to other things, like . . . planting some flowers in pots and in a pair of old rubber rain boots that had belonged to Funny Delightful Son when he was three or four years old.  putting out my new angel statue, officially putting myself in the "old people who garden and buy silly statues to place here and there."  getting on the road bike and going 10.5 miles, starting slowly since ...

Three years ago marked my first 5k, the Jingle Bell Run. Lovely Beautiful Daughter ran with me to offer encouragement and support if I reached a point of wanting to walk. My goal was to complete the race without resorting to walking. While I wasn't fast by any means, and I can't even remember what my time was, I did jog the entire 3 miles, my daughter at my side. I ran the same race a year later, said no to doing it last November, then said yes to doing it again this year but with the intention of just walking. During these past three years of running, cycling, and swimming, I reconciled myself to the fact that running isn't my strong suit and swimming is just okay. Neither are something that I simply can't wait to do everyday. Walking, however, is much like cycling: I can do each for hours on end, enjoying every single second. So today I walked the three miles to the starting point (which happened to be my place of employment) then walked the 5k, giving me a total of 6...

Since mid September, I haven't done much in regards to working out. Several things were pulling at me--work, my daughter being gone, Hubby still not finding employment--and I let the one thing that really does wonders for my state of mind be the one thing to got pushed to the side. Now, when I look back over the last two and a half months, I realize my semi unhappiness with my life can be chalked up to me stepping away from something as simple as walking for an hour a day. In a way, I'm kind of like the people who get depressed during the wintertime and use a day light to ease their distress. I need exercise to ease mine. So yesterday I got back out there and walked for a little over an hour. The route I took is a path that offers lots of nature--squirrels, lots of different birds, a pretty little black and white cat sunning itself, and a pond with lots of geese coming and going. The path is also away from traffic and doesn't get a lot of use, with me being the only one w...