Out and About

I took the first walk of the year just now! It was glorious!

Glad to have the day off, I woke up an hour earlier than normal because I had an early morning breakfast date. I wanted to make sure I had time for a cup of coffee with my Best Friend before I had breakfast with my good friend! Both were wonderful. When I met my buddy at the restaurant, she apologized for her casual garb, saying that she was going to go for a walk after her meeting with me. And suddenly I thought, “That's what I'll do! I'll go for a walk today!”

It's been a long, COLD, winter. The snows have been many, although thankfully small, and there was only one ice storm to contend with. But the days in which the high temperatures were in the double digits below zero were simply too much for most of us, myself included. Today's sunshine and warmer weather just beckoned us to take some steps outside!

Still a little chilly at 46 degrees with a good breeze, the sunshine called me forth. I set out eagerly, phone in hand, as much to take pictures as to keep track of the length of my walk for calorie counting purposes. I spotted a couple of beautiful trees; how nice that the conifers have a little bit of time to steal the show while the hardwoods wait on their leaves!

I laughed when I spotted two horses on neighboring pastures, having a chat over the barbed wire fence between them, reminding me forcibly of my friend and I gabbing over the breakfast table! Similarly, the horses seemed to be rejoicing in their freedom from their barns and catching up after so much time apart. I missed seeing them this winter; I'd even wondered if the one homeowner still had a horse tucked away in his barn, so little activity did I see on his land over the winter. It was good to see them out and about once more.

On the return leg I noticed that a lot of trash had accumulated in front of our side lot, buried repeatedly in returning snows but now uncovered and visible. Adding purpose to my hikes, I pick up a piece on each trip. I noted with satisfaction that it looks like I'll be busy for some time.

Off to a good start; I'm ready to welcome Spring!

"See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come..."

(Song of Songs 2:11-12 NIV)