New Walking Path

At my old house I had a beautiful park at my disposal with clear walking paths.  If I wanted a change in scenery I could veer onto one of the other smaller paths or venture through the neighborhood.  It was probably the one thing I liked most about that house.

This morning was my first walk since moving.  And man oh man did my back need that!  Isn't it amazing how something so simple as a 20 minute walk can clear up a whole bunch of problems?  I woke up way too early with an aching back and decided what the hell, get outside.

I get excited whenever I encounter wildlife and the very first thing I heard when I stepped out the door was the hoot of an owl.  I never did see him, but I heard him a couple of times in the distance as I continued to walk (definitely explains the lack of bunny rabbits in my yard).  I opted for the easiest path which was down the street for a few houses.  Had I gone the opposite direction I would have had some hefty hills to hike up - something I'll work towards but not on my first day out in how many months???

On my wish list for my new house was some place green to walk.  Well how much more green can one get than a golf course?  I didn't walk but more than the length of three houses on the golf cart path but who cares?  My wish was fulfilled and I have some wonderful walking paths at my disposal.  I'm not sure if I can get away with it in the middle of the day, not that I'm a mid-day walker anyways, but at 5am? It's just me and the owls (and a rooster in the distance).

Too Hot To Walk

I realized that it had been three weeks since I took my last walk.  THREE WEEKS!

I knew it had been a while, my back was starting to ache.  Yes, daily walks banished the aches in my lower back.  That may be a secret the rest of the world knew, but it was totally unforeseen by me.  So I looked at my calendar and realized three weeks had passed.

Once I stop something, like walking, it takes me forever to nag myself back into doing it again.  It didn't take too much to figure out why I stopped in the first place, the excessive heat courtesy of a ten day long heat wave parked by ass on the couch.

Saturday night I finally broke away from the couch and got some fresh air. 

I definitely worked up a sweat.  It was hot and I was power walking.  And I'm sure a hot flash was setting in - seriously, must I endure both internal and external heat waves concurrently?

There was enough energy to do another block but I was sweating.  A lot.  I headed home. 

Mere houses away from my front door a damn BAT swoops within inches of my head!  Bats don't terrify me, although I'm not fond of one tangling itself in my hair.

Last night I saw a hawk land in a nearby tree.  It's been a couple of years since I've seen a hawk on one of my walks.  When I got closer he flew off and was clearly carrying something, probably a chipmunk or a mouse.

Encounters with wildlife are enough to encourage me to venture out again.

Of course another heatwave (external) is supposed to set in this week.  ugh!

Sunday In My City - Lake Norman

I spent last week near Charlotte, North Carolina (I passed a sign for Lake Lure and thought of fellow blogger "Lake Lure Cottage").  We had splendid weather and one day took advantage of it with a walk to Lake Norman... of course with camera in hand.

Sunday In My City - March 20, 2011

IT'S SPRING!!!!

Yesterday was a glorious farewell to the drab overcast winter.  I drug my husband for a refreshing walk around the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  We even ran into our next door neighbors!

I snapped over 100 pictures - quite amazing when you figure most of the garden is still in winter mode with bushes barely budding and brown leaves clinging onto trees.

Check out the size of these fish!  They're as big as the goose!

Friday Fragments - January 21, 201

WHEW!  What a week!

*I had a friend from Chicago arrive last Friday night to spend a few days away from the chaos of her home.  Don't we all need a break every so often?  I think I could use a weekend in Chicago... SOON!  It was fun to spend a few hours with her catching up and then driving around St. Louis.  We didn't stop anywhere to play like real tourists, but we cruised through town and I managed to get some fairly awesome pictures from the backseat - check out last Sunday's post.

*Saturday night we attended our annual Sangria Party.  Didn't we just hold a sangria party back in September???  It may be an annual party, but WHEN in the year it happens is a crap shoot.  It was a ton of fun.  Our adult sized daughters were able to reconnect and while there was a judo demonstration in the middle of the livingroom, no one was hurt, offended or pissed off... at least when I left.  My Chicago friend said we were a fun group and wants to come back for Sangria Party 2012 - whenever that may be.

*Monday our office was closed to observe the MLK holiday.  I spent the day running errands as the rest of the weekend was consumed with playing with our guest and then recovering from Saturday night.  I could use an extra day in my weekend.  That was nice.

*Tuesday was HELL.  It was the all-staff meeting which is always a stressful day for me with the bagillion requests that roll in with everyone converging on the office at the same time.  But it was also the first day of the work week and Mondays for me never fit any known pattern except I usually walk into a shitstorm of someone else's making, frequently multiple shitstorms of multiple people's making.  I've learned to not schedule anything or anticipate accomplishing anything on these days.  Doing so keeps my stress down at least one notch. 

*For several days the weather people have been predicting a doom and gloom snowstorm for the greater St. Louis area.  The Husband made the mistake of going to the grocery store Wednesday morning, forgetting that the storm was barreling down on us.  He said it was INSANE.  A local DJ says days like this the grocery stores open the Panic Aisle, the last two checkouts that are usually stacked with overstock and other miscellaneous crap.  Even with every checkout running the lines go all the way to the back of the store with people loading up on french toast supplies (bread, eggs, milk).  And salt.  Wednesday night the storm arrived and I have a few pictures that are sort of like a time lapse.

*Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL!  There is close to seven inches on the ground.  Just a few miles north people have close to a foot of snow.  School was out and so was my office.  I took the opportunity to take a walk, something I haven't done for MONTHS.  I managed some really great photographs, but this one excites me the most..

This is the original shot and you can barely see the tiny bird, I think it's a chickadee.

After I attacked the shot in iPhoto, I got this!

Come back next week to find out how my next seven days go.  In the meantime check out everyone else's fragments...

Bees In A Sign

Like I said last week, I have a few nature shots that I need to share.  These are bees that took up residence in a sign at the beginning of the path I walk every morning. 

Uh yeah, those walks aren't happening with as much frequency as they should.  I missed nearly two months because of the excessive heat.  It's totally screwed up that at 6am it's so freaking hot that when you open the front door the heat billows in at you as if you opened an oven door.  I don't have asthma, but earlier this summer I started wheezing after my walks and I can only assume it had to do with the heat and the humidity.  So I stayed on the couch for my health! 

So now the heat has dissipated I need to get back into the swing of taking my walks.  I'm not back into it every day, but getting closer.  Today I took off work and slept in.  I could still get out there hike around the park, but I think I would rather catch up on my blogging friends.

Here are the bees...

I have no idea how many bees... I'm sorry, I guess I should properly call them yellow jackets... are crowded into that tiny spot.  By the way, I did not get very close for these shots - thank God for zoom.