Walk Journal ~ Finally

Finally! A truly beautiful day.  The thermometer in my car read 84 degrees ('way above average for this time of year) as I headed home from the tax filer's office. Having completed that odious chore for another year, I gave myself the gift of a couple of hours to get outside and walk some @CharityMiles for Nothing But Nets, a charity that provides bed nets to people living in Africa to protect against malaria-carrying mosquitos.  I braced my knee which seems to be keeping it aligned (as opposed to the crazy popping that's been happening a bit) and headed out and over the highway to the lake.  The 84 degrees felt absolutely like I was being wrapped in spring with a gentle breeze swirling all around.
 

Right away I could tell that the apps I use to record my walks, Charity Miles and Map My Walk, were out of sync.  Map My Walk gave me my first mile a few hundred feet before the usual spot and a really fast time.  I think I actually laughed out loud when she (the voice of the app) said I'd walk a 12ish-minute mile.  Maybe some day.  I paused for a couple of minutes on the west shore to post my face book picture (the one above) for this walk.  I do this for all my walks although I'm not sure why.  Perhaps it's just that when I get out, I see so much--there is so much to see, to appreciate, to wonder about--I want to share some of it with whomever might happen to stumble upon it.  

Keeping the lake on my right, I walked the north shore and noticed how the breeze was pushing the waves over the spillway to the lagoon that pools between the lake and the highway.  Sometimes there are some interesting water fowl there to see but not today ... 

Leaving the lake community I headed into town.  Coming out from one of the highway overpasses I was greeted with banks of daffodils and forsythia in bloom along an exit ramp.  There is probably nothing that says spring more than mass plantings of bulbs and this beautiful bank of yellow is a perfect welcome to our lovely little town.  I recalled that last summer the bulbs gave way to a bank of pink and white cleome (spider flowers) that were a tall and cheerful presence and will surely return since they drop hundreds of seeds so readily.

As long as I have time, my walks always include a visit to the river--the Rockaway River. It may not be a river by other peoples' standards ... it's certainly not a Hudson or Mississippi.  A narrow meandering waterway that once was part of the historic Morris Canal system, it is, nonetheless, my favorite river even though it has also caused me so much pain and trouble.  There are a lot of people out and about in town today.  They are pushing children in strollers and pulling dogs on leashes.  And then there were these ducks who fearlessly decided to walk cross the street even though they had the entire river at their disposal.  In the growing dusk, this was not a good idea on their part as was shortly evident when cars stopped just suddenly enough to prevent an untimely end to my feathered friends.

Further along the river's edge, these daffodils were a pop of color in the not-yet-green riverside.  The winter was so harsh in the park and grass and leaves have yet to sprout.  The overall aspect in the park is still one of wintry brownness.  But in the dusk these daffs were glowing and the clear, cold river water was a deep, dark and, undoubtedly cold, blue.  Someone was fishing in the river.  I'd been lucky to be there (walking, of course) last Monday morning when the truck from Fish and Game rolled up.  The trout were "fished" out of barrels on the back of the truck into nets and then literally flung into the river.  Nothing gentle about how the trout landed there and I'm assuming there will be nothing very gentle about how they arrive on someone's table for dinner.  

Not wanting to slow my walk down (although according to one app I was on a record pace while the other one had me on my regular pace but wasn't adding up the miles correctly ... ) I didn't linger in town so as not to be tempted by the window shopping that often is the ruination of my numbers.  I turned to head north to the pond and came upon this lovely elderly couple also out for a walk.  They were holding hands so sweetly as they slowly made their way toward our main street that I felt myself smiling from the inside out.  So obviously still in love and finding ways to keep romance alive even now, they were a symbol of hope and a beautiful inspiration.


Two and a half more miles took me to the pond and back.  I opted not to walk around the wooded side of the pond.  In the waning light and with bears awakening, no doubt with cubs at their sides, it seemed prudent to stick to the sidewalks (where bears have been known to ramble anyway).  

I headed for home puzzling over which of my walking apps was correct.  I've walked these spots so often that I felt sure the miles recording on Map My Walk were correct although I knew the pace was not.  But it made me sad to think that two of my Charity Miles had not been recorded.  I walked up and down my street admiring the nearly full moon until Charity Miles registered an even 6 miles.  That would be $1.50 toward a bed net for someone.  Nets cost between 10.00 and 20.00 dollars apiece.  It's a lot of miles to buy even one but with a lot of people walking every day, we can help make the world free from malaria someday.  If you're a walker, even on an occasional walk, check into Charity Miles.  Why not help while others while doing something nice for yourself.

~~~~~

Playlist for a late Sunday afternoon:
Girls' day!

Ashley Monroe, Like a Rose ~ Title track, Like a Rose
Jaida Dreyer, I Am Jaida Dreyer ~ Confessions
Sara Evans, Slow Me Down ~ Even though it was ladies' day on the walk I still managed to work in some Gavin DeGraw in this lovely duet from her new record:  Not Over You
Sara Bareilles, Brave ~ Chasing the Sun

You said, remember that life is

Not meant to be wasted

We can always be chasing the sun!

So fill up your lungs and just run

But always be chasing the sun!

~~~

Welcome to the river! Trout stocking in early April.