Walks in new places. Games in the evening. A few errands. Meals from new-to-us restaurants. A trip to at least one independent bookstore. And plenty of time together. That’s all we hoped for from the week. It was absolutely wonderful.
Category Archives: nature
Walking
Portions of our neighborhood were developed with older residents in mind, and the reasonably well maintained sidewalks and paths make daily walks as easy as after-lunch naps. While my husband and I regularly walk three miles in the neighborhood before he begins work each weekday, though, we prefer to get out to a conservation area or state park on the weekends. The image above was taken last Sunday.
Dandelion days
If ever there were a plant in need of rebranding, it would be the dandelion, right? They have always filled me with such delight, but in my little corner of the world, letting one’s yard o’ergrow with the humble yellow heads and later their happy puffs is generally frowned upon. Still, on our daily morning walks in and around the neighborhood, we encounter patches here and there.
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze
We planted daffodil bulbs years ago, but I think these are the first blooms. Ordinarily, I don’t care for this variety, but today they seem simply splendid.
A walk in the woods
By the time we finished our chores, errands, and late lunch on Saturday, it was raining steadily, so we had the two-mile loop at the state park to ourselves — unheard of on the weekend. We saw cormorants, a teal, an American coot, a great blue heron, and several sandhill cranes.
How’s the weather?
It’s been two weeks since it last rained. In that time, our weather has swung from snow to sun, from overnight frost to temperatures in the high seventies. Most folks we’ve encountered on our daily walks over the last week have remarked on the beautiful weather. My husband and I love autumn and winter proper — cold nights, short days, and all — but we nodded and waved: Yes, lovely. Weather talk is, after all, simply an acknowledgment that we’ve seen one another, a verbal wave.
Although… when we homeschooled, our family kept logs of the weather and temps, listened to Tom Skilling’s extended radio segment, and regularly reviewed ten-day forecasts. My daughters even took a meteorology course at the local college. Weather colored our days and interested us enough to learn about it, to weave it into our narrative. Even now, we regularly compare predictions and daily high and low temperatures. Weather talk is, of course, a way to bridge the distance, a verbal hug.
Walking
As I mentioned, we strive to get about five miles in each day. Our neighborhood is highly walkable, but it’s always a joy to get on the trails in a park, conservation district, or state natural area.
Enchanted
Ordinarily, we get our five miles in by walking the neighborhood and supplementing with the bike and exercise videos, so it’s always a delight to get out and forest bathe. This image is from a walk in Wisconsin last Friday.
Unedited
Seen as we left for our walk yesterday.
Straight out of the (phone) camera
The daytime temperatures have been cooler, and the light has changed, but there has not been enough rain in this area.
Nerdishly 