One Step At A Time
Walk as if you're kissing the earth with your feet. - Thich Nhat Hanh
A couple of months ago, I made the momentous decision that taking slow, romantic walks down the craft aisles at Jo-Ann's was not doing me any good. Ditto for places that rhymed with Forever 21 and Ross.
Also, that there was more to life than shopping and weekday-only walks on the treadmill.
That was when I pledged to start walking outdoors in earnest and catch up on the many rare little treats and glimpses of life I'd missed.
Let me share with you some delights of a typical day of walking our Blendon Woods neighborhood.
For starters, it offers you plenty of blue sky above, along with but a few clouds in promise of an early fall day.
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In Early Morning.
All Photos: V.E.V., Columbus, 2021 |
Walking along, I have sometimes felt like ditching my New Balance footwear and putting on some cowboy boots instead so I can start saying, Y’all!
Consider these street names. You walk along Boulder Creek Dam and turn right onto Big Sky. Coming out on the main strip, you walk on toward Bear Tooth, pass by Blue River to the cul de sac on the corner of Wagon Wheel.
There is always something to watch.
Walnut and maple trees that line the streets lift up in the breeze like the arms of ballerinas. Steps away on either side are wildflower-strewn pathways toward homes. They look like they're ready for a floral frolic extravaganza.
Everything is completely calm.
Some houses are still asleep, their garden abundant with hydrangea and black-eyed Susans. Others are just waking up with movement from within.
Peering at frontages, I keep wondering, Why is there always a wreath on the door? It's so farmhouse. But yet, secretly, I keep thinking that I need to make one. Perhaps something different. Like a southwest weaving.
And how fun to have a rocking chair on the front porch, or perhaps an adirondack.
A brown cottontail rabbit hopping in a leisurely way up the wooded preserve disturbs my thoughts. She reminds me of First Daughter's Sniffy. Could it be her spirit restored back to life now romping among the elderberry bush?
A family of squirrels skitters through the leaves. I follow them until they scamper up a tree, their claws clicking and scraping against the bark. Then they sit on a limb, chattering excitedly, scolding me.
Then, these astounding discoveries.
A family of deer, all gangly limbs, stand at a distance, as if acknowledging my presence, and then turn back toward the shadows.
Deer Sighting
The first maple leaf repainted bright orange by fall's brush, almost overnight.
And by the wayside, a squash that has turned to a golden yellow, ready to be picked.
Of late, rounding off the morning with a walk by the back deck, I saw these.
A ruby-throated hummingbird doing backward somersaults toward our nectar feeder. Then, darting so eagerly, so swiftly, sweetly sipping.
A lone white-breasted hummingbird looking like a white petal perched atop a browning lilac branch.
And an old pal, our resident chipmunk which we've named Chip, nibbling on his new-favorite breakfast of a bagel scrap.
The hour is still early. I nod and smile into the brisk early-morning breeze that is blowing directly at me.
Brr... (Yes, Younger Daughter. You told me you had a tank on during your morning run. But it's 59 degrees and I'm wearing a sweatshirt to ward off the 'morning chill' in the air.)
The neighborhood is slowly coming to life. I begin to hear children's voices and the quick beep of a car nosing its way out of the alley. Must be time for school bus pickup.
Everything else, the energizing feeling of the day and the sequence and clarity of its events have been mixed up together. Jumbled up, finally coalescing into one full extraordinary day.
Instead of ice cream and popsicles, here's to dreaming of cozying up with mugs of hot cider and slices of pumpkin pie.
And wishing your day be full of the extraordinary, too.
P.S. All truly great thoughts are envisioned while walking. I conceived of this series on a walk.
