The arbutus is now open everywhere in the woods and groves. How pleasant it is to meet the same flowers year after year ! If the blossoms were liable to change — if they were to become capricious and irregular — they might excite more surprise, more curiosity, but we should love them less; they…
On my morning walk through our little woods, I was reminded of one of the … annoyances? hazards? … to walking, particularly as we get into late summer and early fall. Spiderwebs. The spiders have no idea that they’re building their homes by crossing the path in front of me, and yet they seem to…
Sinch March 2020, we’ve walked nearly daily through our neighborhood path. Less in 2023, but still relatively often. That’s 2020, 2021, 2022, and now 2023 – so four years worth of walking in the path. When I say path, I really mean it. On the north edge, there’s a creek ravine and a row of…
A year ago, on March 1, I registered my highest ever weight. I was kinda shocked, but, honestly, not enough to really get into gear. Then, because of the global pandemic, Jason came home to work. He’s always had a long-ish commute – 45 minutes or so each way, so I knew we needed to…
It’s cold. When I was getting dressed it said 15*F feels like 8*F … It’s cold. I don’t like to be cold. Frankly, I don’t like to be overly warm, either. In some ways cold is preferable, because while you can always add clothes, when it’s hot … you can’t exactly remove them. So, what…
Part of the reason Jason started hiking in the beginning was because we have this dog. Buck. He’s a rescue with separation anxiety issues; severe separation anxiety. A Plott hound, we suspect he was maybe a hunting dog or a farm dog. He exhibits those behaviors, like the time at the Christmas tree farm we…
We don’t actually have a lot of real hills in Central Ohio. I took an hour long walk in the neighborhood this morning and Strava tells me I had a 39 foot elevation gain. The local state park where we do most of our hiking has slightly more varied terrain. It’s around a reservoir and…
Most of the trails we follow are “in and out.” We walk in, there may be a loop, but then we follow the initial trail back out. It isn’t unusual that we follow the trail in and then turn around and follow the same back out. Have you ever read a book that was ……
When we first started walking in the late winter, all was brown – except when it was white with snow. Variation on the theme of brown was cause for notice and celebration. When the harbinger of spring and ramps were out and noticeable, they were noticeable specifically because all else was sameness. But as the…
We’ve been taking three walks each day just out the front door and around our neighborhood. The dog is a fan. When Jason came home, we sort of fell into a walk before work, a walk with the kids at lunchtime, and a lunch after work. He no longer has an hour and a half…