Tag: Walk

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Welcome Sight

ellenparkerwrites

Three thousand people makes quite an early morning crowd. And that’s just the runners and walkers. You need to add more for family and friends that came along to encourage plus the few thousand schoolchildren arriving for the events to follow.

We started promptly. The “elite” runners and others that knew what they were doing in the front of the pack. Then we all surged forward, stepped across the electronic timing line, and parted around the photographer on his ladder.

The herd, myself included, advanced on the park road, crossed a bridge, and turned a corner to go up the hill. I saw my first and only casualty prior to the first mile marker. I’m thinking Mr. Squirrel fell victim to the final motor vehicle to pass by instead of a runner or stroller.

Step, step, step. Runners passed me then slowed their pace. I kept steady and eased ahead. Once pause to retie a shoelace. Step, step, step. Accept the cup of water at the half-way point and keep moving. Down a slope, up again, another corner and around the outdoor theater. Mile two is past. Where’s the next one?

The quicker among us have finished and come along the side to encourage others with the sight of the earned necklace. Step, step, step.

The Goal is within Sight!
The Goal is within Sight!

Need to rest after your walk? Starr Tree Farm is now available in paperback.

 

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After the Storm

ellenparkerwrites

Part of the adventure of living in the center of the United States is the weather.

Winds and weather fronts approach from any direction. (Okay, from the East is rare.) During the winter cold arctic air attacks from the North. Then it’s pushed away by some warm air with Gulf moisture. Add a system from the Pacific after it’s shed moisture over the Western mountains. You have a virtual stew of weather — a place where on one day you can have snow, ice, rain, and sunshine.

A few weeks ago we had a snow storm — on of those that went into the record books as one of the top five. Since then we’ve had a mix of warmer sunny days, another ration or two of snow to remind us of the season, and rain to hasten the snow melt. Only remnants of the snow and ice linger in the shady places. I found this example on a popular hiking/biking trail.

Reason to stay alert!
Reason to stay alert!
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Which one???

ellenparkerwrites

It’s a popular activity page for young children. Three or four drawings or photos are shown with a question. Which one does not belong?

Sesame Street does it to music.

It can be reversed. Which two (or three) are the same?

This example showed up during a recent morning walk.

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From my vantage point I’d say that the wind has already removed the gift wrap from one of the new automobiles. Are they post-Christmas presents? I hope they are near the end of their journey.

Are you looking for a post-Christmas read? Try Starr Tree Farm set in the cool climes of January Wisconsin. Available at Amazon.com and bn.com

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Cheerful Couple

ellenparkerwrites
This couple stays outside and welcomes winter visitors.

Many of their December companions are gone now — stakes pulled from the ground, electric cords wrapped, and all put into a box for the next eleven months. But this pair can stay a little longer.

January needs a few bright spots. Perhaps it’s new clothing received at Christmas. Red candles can add a dash of color and a cozy scent to a room. And my personal favorite — comfort food. Chili? Soup? Mashed potatoes beside grilled meat?

Let the welcoming committee greet you, invite you to come inside to warm your toes and nose and enjoy one or more winter pleasure.

Winter Welcoming Couple

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Feast, then Fly

ellenparkerwrites

The airlines are not serving much food or drink included with your ticket these days. Perhaps we need to look up into the sky on a clear fall day for a reminder of flight protocol from those that have been doing it best for centuries.

They flock together near food sources. They know where every grain elevator or field with gleanings is located in their neighborhood. Are they urban or suburban? No problem. Plenty of seeds in the bushes and trees the humans use to landscape. Or in the little strips and patches of untamed vegetation.

Cheep, cheep, cheep. Chatter, chatter. They are always on the look out for threats, ready to flee a predator in a heart beat or a wind flap.

Eat first. Fly later.
Eat first. Fly later.

Special blog guest tomorrow: Sandie Grassino shares a history tidbit.

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End of Season

ellenparkerwrites

We’ve all learned the seasons early in our formal education: spring, summer, fall, and winter.

And along the way we’ve picked up the start and finish of others, the ones you won’t find on most calendars. Fishing season, deer season, planting season, jump rope and marbles season as well as baseball and football for an incomplete list.

Today we highlight patio season. Especially, patio dining. It runs parallel to baseball season in St. Louis, yet it has a certain independence. The exact start date is not determined by a conference of sports exectutives in a hotel room months in advance. No, it’s decided by individual managers with an eye to the local weather and perhaps a determining factor of obtaining an extra server or two.

Size varies from two or three tiny tables on the sidwalk to larger areas with boundaries defined by short fences. Many will allow well behaved dogs on an outing with their owners. Some of the sports bars feature one or two screens to watch the game.

Sunset comes early now that we’ve set the clocks back to “standard” time. The number of patrons requesting outdoor seating dwindles to zero. (Unless a very hearty soul with a Saint Bernard in tow walks up.) The umbrellas remain folded. Soon the tables and chairs will be put into storage. We’ll be back. When fresh flowers poke up in the planters and light jackets become warm in the lunchtime sunshine.

See you in the Spring!
See you in the Spring!
Blog

Double Duty

ellenparkerwrites

Personal fitness gets a lot of attention in America.

Walkers, runners, and bikers use trails in parks and along abandoned rail lines. Many people join a gym. A smaller number use it regular. Another group of people take classes for specific exercises, swimming, or dancing.

Walking is my exercise of choice. I’ve discovered by trial and error that it’s one I’ve been able to maintain for more than a week or two. So six days a week I leave my  home and walk a route of about a mile and a half. This route takes me past a gym. At the hour I pass, several of the treadmills are in use, sometimes a Stairmaster, and other patrons are too deep into the building to see in a casual glance.

At least one patron combines gym time with other exercise. Confirmation? The bike stored between the double doors early one Sunday morning.

 

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Autumn Buffet

ellenparkerwrites

Harvest time!

To this rural girl it brings images of corn fields turning yellow and dry, waiting for the picker. Squash and pumpkins lay at opposite ends of a large garden. Potatoes wait to be dug under dry and shriveled plants. Onions are pulled from the ground and their long hollow leaves braided together.

If the weather had been right, and dad talked to the owners, we gathered nuts. We’d carry, or drag, burlap sacks and collect dark butternuts from the ground. (Yes, I’m aware butternuts to not grow everywhere. Other places it would be walnuts or hickory nuts that were valued.)

We weren’t the only creatures that collected a harvest. Generations of forest creatures collect and store nuts and fruits for weeks of cold winter. They come in different shapes and sizes but one of the most prevalent (and cutest) is the squirrel. Some fall days the oak tree on my lawn is as busy as a hotel at high season.

Nature spreads this fall buffet on my walking route – where the mature trees drop their fruits to share.

Acorns for All!
Acorns for All!
Blog

One Slice or Two?

ellenparkerwrites

Sorry if you misunderstood the title. I’m not serving up pizza today.

A popular frozen custard stand in St. Louis serves a treat called a concrete. It’s a delicious thing – cold, thick, sweet with the flavor you request. And they demonstrate that it’s made right by tipping it upside down in front of you.

But you eat it with a spoon, not a knife. And if neglected it would melt, not harden.

Concrete was sliced in my neighborhood during some curb repair. The results of a pass with a diamond tipped saw blade revealed an inner beauty.

Looking on the Inside

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Following the Trail

ellenparkerwrites

Sound came first. Flowing water leaping and splashing. I walked a little faster along the gravel trail.

In a state park known for caves, I’m hiking the shortest, least demanding trail. A couple of minutes from the visitor’s center and trailhead lies a long, narrow, wide body of water. It’s the sort of thing that makes me wonder where the line is between pond and lake. The surface is quiet, disturbed only by the occasional ripple of an insect landing or a small fish grabbing one for a snack.

Half a dozen Canada geese float on the water, ignoring the humans hiking along the shore. I look for a turtle sunbathing but fail to find one. This is just their sort of lounge area.

The water calls in a constant chorus. It’s a small thing as waterfalls go, guided by a concrete passage between a smaller (definitely pond) body of water several feet higher than the main one I’ve been following.

Follow the sound
Follow the sound