Loyalty

Last week I went to the ER for stabbing chest pain. Diagnosis: pneumonia. I spent all week in bed which sounds nice, but really
only is if you are well enough to enjoy it.

To stretch my lungs and legs I went for a walk Thursday night. It was such perfect weather and without bugs to annoy.

As I was walking, and even through headphones, I heard the tinkling of little bells. I looked back to see my two cats walking with me. They braved cars, other cats, and the unknown to keep me company.

Klee (black) got scared and only made it partially around the block. Miles (grey) and I walked her back home where she darted for the front porch and chose not to join us for a second lap.

Miles and I strolled the entire block. I made sure not to get to far ahead. Upon return, I thanked them both with a dinner of wet food. Their favorite.

Now that's loyalty.

-- Post From My iPhone

Images from a Morning Walk in Portland

I was desperate for coffee this morning. I am a squatter at my sister and brothr-in-law's this week as I take a much needed mommy vacation for some alone time.

Anyway, I was left alone with a French press and no clue how to use it. I decided to take a three block walk to Madrona Hill, a locally owned coffee joint with French pastries. Yum.

My walk was solitary, soulful, and awakening. I had time and the presence of mind to take note (and photos) of the colors and patterns made by rocks, branches, and fence slats. Grey sky intensifying the color so much more here than at home.

I noticed how the textures of pillow-like green moss and the spindly leaveless branches of a lavender plant played against each other.

I am sad that I don't take the time for "noticing" walks at home. I am so busy tending to/refereeing kids that I easily forget to enjoy the things around me. But oh how grateful I am when I DO stop to notice.

I attached a few photos from my walk. Hope you enjoy.

More on the most enjoyable experience later.

The maker's mark filled with moss meant to record the company's creation but ends up also recording Portland's history.

A rut in a dirt drive way.  The colors stand out so vividly that I almost forget its mud.

I love landscape structures like stairs, fences, and grates. This was an atypical style for the neighborhood. 

 

    

The intersection of four textures or colors. So interesting how this configuration wasn't planned but just happened by chance.

Car Talk

At 70 degrees, the sun warms my skin just enough to leave my jacket at home. The breeze keeps the sweat off my brow while I take a walk alone for the first time in months.

NPR generally keeps me company if I'm walking with the kids. Morning Edition supplies one half of the adult conversation I so crave in the mornings.

But this morning, alone on a Saturday morning walk, I choose Car Talk. If you've never listened, you MUST. Two genuis mechanics with MIT degrees and strong Boston accents answer bizarre and curious questions about automobiles and the noises they aren't supposed to be making.

The moment I hear the thick accents and the laughs that could only come straight from their bellies, I laugh hard enough to shake the belly that I, myself, am trying to walk off.