Posted tagged ‘walking’

« home page

You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

March 28, 2016

The story connected with today is a long one. It’s a bit boring but not because of length. It just is. I’ll start at the beginning as I figure that’s where everything starts. I had my annual physical today. My doctor is okay, not spectacular but okay. He had on a nice shirt for which I complimented him. His wife bought it. That was the pleasantry. He then went through the blood tests with me and decided I was relatively healthy for my age. He actually said that last part. He also said something about people of my generation. I ignored that. He said I needed to exercise more to lose weight. I explained as I do every time I see him that my back prevents that. I walk then stop then walk then stop. By then the distance I’ve walked can be easily measure in yards. I told him I take a handful of Aleve when my back is bad. Not a good thing he said. It will affect my kidneys. We then talked about my kidneys. It was an enthralling saga. He asked if I would be averse to a narcotic for pain. Silly question. He also decided I’ll have another MRI and go back to see the surgeon who did my last operation. He said to come back in two weeks. That was it I was done.

The library was next. Leave three books, get three more. I chatted a bit with the librarian then went back out into the pouring rain. I haven’t mentioned the rain before. It was pouring, a deluge, raining cats and dogs, torrential and relentless. I went in and out all day and never really dried.

My next stop was the pharmacy. I waited for prescriptions to be filled. The lady beside was wearing blue Converse sneakers with white laces. I told her I really liked her sneakers. We had a conversation about how we all wore them as kids. She has another in grey. I told her I had pink and purple high tops. She loved it. I got my prescriptions and went back into the rain, the torrential rain. My next stop was to have blood drawn. I just had that done Thursday but had to have it done again after a change in dosage. By then it was after two. I was hungry. I decided on Chinese food.

I went and bought my lunch to eat at home. It was tasty. After eating I decided I needed a nap. I slept until 5:15 so here I am.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about Easter. I was quite a hit.

Categories: Musings
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: 14 Comments

“The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine.”

May 21, 2015

Earlier, when I let Gracie out, I followed her to the deck. The air smelled sweet the way it does on a chilly spring morning. The sun was shining but soon went behind a cloud. The weatherman said maybe rain on Cape Cod today.

When I looked out the upstairs bathroom window, I noticed something red high up on a pine tree. I went outside to investigate. It appears to be a plastic bag, part of the nest of what I think is a grey squirrel. The greys don’t bother me so I don’t mind identifying them. The nest had leaves on the outside, and I could see branches sticking up. Last summer Gracie caught a baby grey which I saved, and the summer before that I watched a mother grey lie down on branches to keep her baby from feeding. I figured it was time to leave the nest day. I’m thinking that same grey might just be back for another round of motherhood.

I woke up early, early for me that is, at 7:30. I had coffee, read the papers, made my bed, got dressed and then did an errand. That’s it for me for the day. I’m thinking I’ve accomplished a lot.

When I was kid, my mother woke us for breakfast then afterwards hustled us to get dressed for school. I think school started around 8. We always left in plenty of time. There were no busses in those days so everybody walked no matter how far away they lived. Our walk wasn’t too long. It took maybe 15 or 20 minutes. One of my friends walked from the other side of town. It was probably a mile or even two. Few cars delivered kids. It was the 50’s and most were one-car families, cars which our dads drove to work. I never thought about the walk even on rainy or freezing cold days. I didn’t ever complained. That was just the way it was.

I did love the springtime when my mother would let me ride my bike to school. I’d park it in the wooden bike rack, and even though my bike wasn’t locked, it was always there at the end of the day. The bikes back then weren’t fancy. They had big tires and back pedal breaks. Mine had a basket off and a silver bell on the handlebars. It had been a Christmas present when I was around nine or ten. It was the best present I ever got.

Categories: Musings
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: 16 Comments

“Night is certainly more novel and less profane than day.”

May 3, 2015

Warm weather is coming. Starting tomorrow we’ll have 60+ degrees for most of the week. Given my penchant for falling, I’ll forego clicking my heels in the air to celebrate. A yay will just have to do.

I walked most places around town even when I was a teenager. None of my friends had their own cars and most of our families had only the one, the one our fathers drove. I remember walking home at night by myself. I was never afraid because we hadn’t learned fear. I never rushed because I loved those night walks, especially in the summer. The air was always warm, the sky covered by stars and night birds sang me home. Circles of light were on the sidewalks courtesy of the streetlights. Few cars were on the road. Houses were always lit and most of the time I could hear TV’s. Sometimes I could even see the flickering black and white screens.

The furthest walk I had was from the diner at the end of the square. I used to belong to a drill team, St. Patrick’s Shamrocks, and we had practice at Recreation Park twice a week in the summer during the competition season. There were no lights at that field so practice ended when it got dark. After practice, we’d walk from the field to the diner for a brownie and a coke. For the walk home, my friends went in the opposite direction, and I walked by myself.

During one late walk, a police car stopped beside me. It was driven by my friend’s brother who offered me a ride home. I took it. He turned on the blue lights just as we got close to my house. He walked me to the door. I can only imagine what my neighbors were thinking.

Those long ago walks gave me a love for the night, and I sit on the deck at night with Gracie beside me. The sky is filled with stars, the night birds sing and peepers from the pond at the end of the street join their chorus. Sometimes I even fall asleep on the lounge with Gracie at my feet.

Categories: Musings
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: 18 Comments

“There’s something about the sound of a train that’s very romantic and nostalgic and hopeful.”

April 25, 2015

The house was cold this morning. I really didn’t want to get out of bed and neither did Gracie. She stood up, shook, then settled back down beside me, leaning against me. She’s into warmth. It was late, 9:20, so I dragged myself downstairs to begin the day.

My mother never woke us up on the weekends or in the summer. The older we got, the longer we slept in, but when we were young, we wanted the whole day. On summer Saturdays we’d get dressed, bolt down our cereals then take off, sometimes on our bikes and sometimes on foot. We’d cut through the woods to get to the horses in the field on Green Street. The house on the property was red, large and old. It was one of those square houses I found out much later were called federal. We’d stand by the fence, and the horses would come over and we’d pat them. My brother and I would try to feed them grass but they weren’t interested. A couple of times we climbed the fence hoping to jump on the horses and ride them. They’d take off as soon as we got close which was a good thing. I’m sure riding bareback would have lasted about a minute or two before I hit the ground.

Once in a while we’d alter our walking route and head for a different side of town, the area where the box factory, the railroad station and the red store were. Back then my town had a lot of factories for a small town: the Jones Shoe factory up town and two other factories which make chemicals, both by the railroad tracks. Those two buildings were brick, not common for buildings where I lived. Across the front of one was a black sign, but I don’t remember the name of the company though I passed it more times than I can remember because that part of the tracks was a shortcut home. All the factories were still active when I was a kid. One of my friend’s mothers worked in the shoe factory, and I remember watching the trains crossing the main road on their way to the chemical factories.

I used to love walking those tracks, none of which remain. Even now I always stop and watch trains. There is something about them which grabs my imagination.

Categories: Musings
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: 17 Comments