Morning Walk

According to a CNBC article, 42 percent of Americans "reported undesired weight gain" this past year due to staying home during the pandemic. I don't know how accurate the figure is, but I've heard lots of people mention they've gained a few pounds due to spending more time in the kitchen making things like sourdough bread and gourmet meals.

Pink Lady apples make a great pie!

I was feeling pretty good about myself, managing to maintain the same weight all year even though I spent a lot of time making sourdough bread, oatmeal dinner rolls, apple pie, as well as Julia Child's boeuf bourguignon and lots of pulled pork (for some reason, the grocery kept putting pork tenderloins on sale this past year). But this spring, as the community started to reopen, I noticed my clothes felt tighter and I stepped on the scales. Yikes! Perhaps the unwanted pounds came from all the accumulated sedentary time in front of my computer while Zooming with book groups, music teachers, and friends. Perhaps it was from the stress of learning to re-engage with the "real" world. Okay, I know, I ate too much and didn't get enough exercise!

It wasn't like I spent the year without any exercise. Like many people in my neighborhood, I've taken lots of walks because it felt so good to get out of the house. And I did yoga (over Zoom), all year, twice a week, with an incredible yoga instructor named Jayme. But this past month, for some reason, I've been far too inert. As things around me reopen, I faced the realization that I still have a lot more I want to accomplish at home before I resume my regular volunteer and other activities.

This week I've taken a first step by getting back into my morning walk routine. Walks are so invigorating and refreshing, especially on a 70-degree morning like this, plus you never know what you will see.

One reason I didn't walk so much this past month was because of the 17-year cicadas, but when I stepped outside yesterday, I no longer heard their deafening chorus. It was so peaceful! And as I walked down the street, I wasn't stepping on a bed of exoskeltons.  

Our yard puts a smile on my face because of all the color. This morning the lily by our doorstep had fourteen blossoms, temporarily overshadowing the deep red geraniums, purple petunias, red and yellow cactus blooms, and gladiolus peeking out of their buds.  

As I walked through the neighborhood, I found myself in the company of ducklings on a stroll with their mom. Two others scurried away before I could snap a family photo. I sure hope they don't make a habit of walking in the street.

On the other side of the street I noticed a doe standing in the middle of the sidewalk staring at me. I didn't think too much about it, but on my return trip I spotted two fawns under a tree on my side of the road. They're in the cute stage now, and it's always easier to admire them in someone else's yard. Thankfully, they and their mom haven't discovered our lilies...yet!

My morning walk wouldn't be complete without a stop at at the community garden, where I have had a plot for a number of years. It's a basic garden--beets, carrots, lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, beans--but it gives me so much pleasure. I get a thrill if recently planted seeds have pushed through the soil, or if I see zucchini or butternut squash forming on the vine. I don't even mind pulling weeds. 

Time for the walk home, where I'm not, repeat not, going to have a snack before I start to work!

Ready to take flight

 

This past year has been so extraordinary--starting in March 2020 with the beginning of our COVID-19 caution and continuing until now, June 2021, with the arrival of billions of cicadas raising their voices to the skies...or should I say, billions of male cicadas raising their voices. I'm going to give the cicadas credit for nudging me back to writing--I couldn't let my blog lie dormant another moment with so many amazing things happening in the world around me. (I published knitwritebton.wordpress.com since June 2014, but found myself so overwhelmed by events of 2020 that I couldn't write. My reluctance to preserve that year in writing lingered well into 2021, but I can't remain silent a moment longer. Inspired by the cicadas, I've decided to take flight with a new blog on a new platform.)

Instead of rehashing challenges of the past year, I'm going to focus on the bright side. After all, Eleanor Porter's Pollyanna, was one of my favorite books as a child. You may wonder why I was reading a novel published in 1913, but I suspect it belonged to my grandmother, who allowed me to borrow books from a suitcase full of turn-of-the-century literature she kept in her attic.

This past year I missed my active social life--going to the theater and concerts, volunteer activities, hosting dinner parties--but I've always been a self-starter so I had no problem filling my COVID-quarantine days with home-based activities. First came the purging of things no longer needed. It felt great to see spaces open up in drawers and cupboards. Second, I found myself more aware of birds, flowers, clouds, and all the colors nature had to offer as I set out on regular walks. I marveled at how many other people took to the city's paths--keeping distance but smiling with their eyes. A knitter with a large stash of yarn, I vowed to finish projects and knit for charity. While I did complete many items, I seem to have acquired more yarn along the way, some of it needed to finish projects, but other skeins purchased to lift my spirits. Then there was a renewal of my interest in sourdough bread baking.  I discovered Zoom--for book clubs, and yoga, and horn and piano lessons.  

All of these activities, plus more, helped pass time and distracted me from the daily news. Better yet were the driveway and garage get-togethers with friends and neighbors, spontaneous conversations on sidewalks, and regular Zoom calls with friends. While we seldom had any earth-shaking news to share, it was nice to compare notes, even if our main topic of conversation was how busy the grocery was at 7 a.m. or where you could find a certain brand of margarine.

Now that more of us are vaccinated, guidelines are changing, people are beginning to resume former activities. It's been hard for me to get used to going without a mask, and I still carry one everywhere I go. But I am venturing out into the world a bit more every week, and it feels good! So, like the cicada, I'm ready to take flight.