Walking

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.
~ Albert Schweitzer

After writing last week about audio books and John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels, I went to the library today and checked out a whole stack of them. I've started walking again, and I discovered that boredom, more than anything else, makes me turn back too soon. So I thought maybe listening to a book on tape would help me stay out longer. I got five or six of the Travis McGee's and a couple of Tony Hillerman's older novels. I tried listening to music a couple of times, but I don't have the capability right now of making tapes from CD's, so I was limited to cassettes that I had from basically before there were CD's.

It was kind of fun re-living the old days for awhile, but it didn't sustain my interest very long.

I've been walking a different route every night; one night I stumbled across a small herd of deer (okay, three deer--I guess that isn't really a herd) crossing the path from the woods to a field, one night there was a plethora of rabbits in a field, and one night I conversed with a toad. Tonight I saw a guy doing tai-chi or something in his front yard. As I walked by, he jumped straight up in the air and did a flip. Shades of Crouching Tiger . . .

Tonight I started off in a different direction and ended up walking farther than I'd planned. I wanted to see if I could walk in a circle and end up at home again, and I did, but it was three miles--probably about the right distance, but it got dark before I got home, and Bob was worried about me. I had the cell phone with me, and he called to see where I was. I wished I had brought a little money with me; if I had, I would have stopped at Wendy's and gotten a Diet Coke, or a bottle of water or something at 7-11.

It's kind of nice to be able to change up and take the trail through the woods one night, then stick to the sidewalks and walk through the neighborhood the next, or through a more commercial area. I knew I was late tonight, so rather than take the trail I stayed on the lighted streets. I had to dodge sprinklers a couple of places, and once I walked by an apartment complex with a beautiful pool lit up with turquoise lights. It looked like a jewel glowing in the dark.

Quite awhile ago, someone suggested I do a page about the cats; I did, but I wasn't sure about putting it up, and forgot about it. But then I remembered it last week, and I went ahead and linked it from the About page: The cats.