IWalkEveryDay

Right now, I’m a better walker than I am a blogger.  I’ve walked a lot since I last posted.  The weather has been warm and spring-like.  Today it is verging on hot.  I walked down the road to the usual spot and the wind was whipping, but felt great. 

On the way back, I heard a loud rustling in the leaves and a weird peeping sound.  I crossed the street to look, and the sporadic peeping kept up as I got closer.  Turns out, a snake had caught a frog.  Good day for the snake, bad day for the frog.

Other walks were at an equine expo, along the rail bed and with Larry down the road one day (my favorite).

Had errands to do, so I walked while shopping.  I parked by the home improvement store, way out in the lot, then walked to the garden center and priced mulch.  After checking out the mulch, I cruised the store a bit, never stopping, then left and walked to Walmart.  Once again, I walked at a good clip, and never stopped until I ran into an acquaintance about 50 minutes after I’d started.  Continued shopping and checked out an hour and 20 minutes into it.  After checkout, walked back to my car in the other parking lot, unloaded and then brought the cart back to the cart corral at Walmart. 

 Not as nice as the road in the country, but if I’m out anyway, I might as well turn it into something healthy and fun.  It would be a trick moving the cart across the parking lots in the winter, but as long as there’s no snow and ice, it’s a decent option.

House full of girls.  After lunch, went in the drizzle up the rail bed.  They played in the creek and muck (frog eggs were a big hit, as were making mud concoctions in buckets), while I walked for half an hour.  Beautiful, grey, misty day.

On the go from 5 a.m. – 10 p.m.  No formal walk.

I had to run to town to make a bank deposit, pick up a few things at the store and go to the post office.  I parked at the far end of the loop and walked.  It was a nice change of pace from the road and the weather was so sunny.  Catching glimpses of the lake occasionally was great, too.

Walked down the road – beautiful day!  I heard the first frogs of the season as I was heading out.  Wore my Birks.  Big mistake.  My calves and thighs ached.  Tomorrow, back to hiking boots.

Didn’t get outside before staff left.  Paced while making supper – never stopped moving for 35 min.  Different, but felt good and kept my pledge to myself.

Gorgeous day.  Ended up going out around 3:30.  Tried “Vitalic Breathing”, as best I could remember.  Vitalic Breathing is a type of deep belly breathing I learned about from a book picked up at the local library book sale.  It was published in the 1920’s or ’30’s.  Had testimonials from the NYC Police Commissioner.  Apparently, they trained their recruits in Vitalic Breathing back then.  Strange how certain concepts have been around forever, but people don’t realize it.  Time to dig out the book and pick up where I left off.  I did feel strangely energized (not hyperventilated).  More later. 

 Route:  down the road to the top of the hill.  Beautiful vista of the valley on the return.

Did Easter activities.  Lots of moving, no formal walk.  Does it make sense to have a “day of rest”?

Walked down the road with the girls.  They walked mostly in the ditch, splashing in mud boots through the puddles, stopping to pick up “food” for their “houses” we were going to visit on the return route.  I circled and paced while they collected, then put collecting on hold occasionally to cover some ground.  They ended up with fern fronds (green food), pine cones (pineapple candles), mullien (monkey tongues) and more.

 Beautiful day, but there was still a cut to the wind – even early April in the North Country can be quite chilly. 

On the way home, we cut down the old railroad bed.  I so love walking in the woods.  The deal was the girls were to show me their “houses” and could play for 10 minutes.  The houses were areas in the creek alongside the rail bed.  There were cottages, a play room and Emily’s “mansion”  They did “spring cleaning”, moving mud and leaves around, set up food in “cupboards” on rocks.  What amazing imaginations!

 I kept moving while they played and had a fabulous time.  At the appointed time we headed back toward the house, just barely beating an imaginary snow storm.  The dogs greated us and we decided they were St. Bernard rescue dogs helping us down from the mountain ahead of the snowstorm.