choices

Walked outside to escape the house

The list of what needs to be done inside keeps growing

The yard made me blanch

All the work done in the last few weeks has been overgrown by new plants

A lot of the spring flowers have now gone to seed

Can't get through the walkway without tromping on something that decided to grow between the pavers

Couldn't go far since my electronic leash was on and I continuously am hearing sirens today

It is a beautiful day so lots of folks will become weekend warriors and end up in the ER and then the OR

A 20 minute heads up is what we get when needed

In the seventies someone said, perhaps Gloria Steinem, women could have it all.

Be a great wife, mother, daughter, friend, cook, housekeeper, gardener and do what ever full time job you wanted.

I am here to testify that she was wrong

It is all about choices

What goes to the top of the list

What continually stays at the bottom

How can you be 100% present when one part of life is going to hell and all the other components also want 100%

Last week was as near to perfect as life has been in a long while

Walk, swim, garden, cook

See family and friends

Plan for the overnight walk

Get up when the sun says to

Eat healthy and when hungry

Stay up late and watch really bad TV

Have the phone and pager off

Then life kicked back in

Ruled by alarm clocks, phones, pagers and schedules

Training walks... none

Swims... a short one last night 

Gardening... none, there are still three huge piles of branches (two in the front yard and one in the back) that Royce and I created from pruning trees the week I was off 

Cooking... not so much, frozen waffles, yogurt, cereal, tortillas with melted cheese 

I had the fantasy that before the Overnight Walk

               I would actually have found and bought living room furniture I love 

               The paint cans would be out the the dining room

               Paintings would have been hung on the walls

               The garage would be clean and all the extraneous stuff in the house would have been disposed of

               People could walk though the courtyard to the front door without having to duck and weave to avoid getting smacked by branches

               I would have pruned the trees outback to allow in a bit more sun

               The walkways would be clear of volunteer plants 

               The spaces between the pavers would be filled with ground cover without divots

               All gophers would be banished 

               All the beds outback would be deadheaded and beautifully blooming

                

In reality

             Folks will need to sit on folding chairs or stand because there will be no living room furniture

             The walls will be devoid of paintings 

             Paint cans will be banished to the uncleaned garage to free up floor space in the dining room for folding chairs or card tables

             Practice your duck and weave

             Bring a sweater, the back yard is shady

             No high heels, the gophers are not going anywhere except from one bed to another

             I will have pruning sheers for those that would like to deadhead and take seed pods home

             Food will reign supreme

             

Because I choose to celebrate with family and friends, everything else can wait

coming down the home stretch

Let's just say that perhaps I should have started a bit sooner with this training thing

I go to Target as an "adventure" and a "destination"
I found that it is a mere 14 miles from the house
I will have to go an additional 4 miles on the overnight walk
That is into Gizditch country
Another destination to pick berries
Pounds and pounds of them, but I get there by car
And it takes a full day

So I started the new schedule
Swim one day (2 to 3 miles)
Walk the next (4.5 up to 8)
This is working because I am not working this week
What happens when I go back remains to be seen

Swimming is the easy part
The water temperature doesn't vary more than a degree or two
I would like to believe that there is no sweating involved
And I do believe because I don't get hot and sticky (and please don't tell me otherwise)
The scenery doesn't change much
The regulars get in, swim, get out
Not much chatting (rule one of women over 50: do NOT talk to me when I am wearing a Speedo)
Occasionally there is a jaw dropping swimsuit 
And while it is noteworthy it is a rare occurrence

Walking is different
I am now walking on roads and through neighborhoods
There is new scenery every trek
Some days it is hot and icky
Others it is cool and foggy
At times the wind is problematic
It grabs my hat and I look like I am having a seizure while I attempt to catch it before it lands in the roadway
You would think that as a somewhat intelligent human that I would have tied a string on the damn thing to attach it to my head but that would be too easy and the general public would no longer be able to cheer, honk, wave as they drive by  and have fodder for the morning water cooler klatch

I also find that I think about food a lot when walking
Perhaps because I get hungry 
Perhaps because I am bored
I know I eat when I am bored 
On Monday I designed an entire menu on foods that were growing in yards, on  hillsides and the occasional piece of roadkill
Amaya said she would not eat one thing that I described
I thought that the dandelion and miners lettuce salad sounded very mainstream
Grilled cactus
Lavender sorbet
Raccoon with acorns, bay and sage, probably not so much

I keep changing the route to increase the distance
It gives me more yards to peruse
Yards to return to in the dark of night to take just one small clipping of that really unusual plant
Julie has suggested that it would be better to ask
She is probably correct
Orange jumpsuit don't really suit my coloring

People never cease to amaze me
The runners run
The biker ride 
The walkers walk
Some smile, some nod, some completely ignore the fact that I am present
So I design a fantasy of all of their lives
Based on nothing  more than their looks, carriage, attitude
I am fairly sure that I am wrong 10 times out of 10 but it keeps me amused
I am also fairly sure that most of the people would be stunned by the life I have assigned  them
Perhaps intrigued, but stunned none the less

And all the while I am equally sure that a fair number are creating a story in their own head about me