5 June 2021
Barely 8 AM. 70-degree Fahrenheit and I have already walked two miles in 36 minutes. Breakfast before heading out was a single scrambled egg with a crumbled-up piece of thick Wright’s bacon wrapped in a flour tortilla. Topped it with medium Whole Foods 365 salsa. Had to get fed and out before the heat of the day came on in force.
While on my path I saw dog walkers. Six dogs were out being exercised, dewatered and having their bowels evacuated. Glad I don’t own a dog, I really never want to be carrying those plastic bags either before or after. Two fairly large dogs were accompanied by moms with kids in strollers. Two hounds were leading people dressed in spandex on a morning run (okay not technically “walking”.) Two were accompanied by people just as diffuse in focus as the shaggy canines they held on leashes. They shuffled from side to side, the dogs sniffing everything and the leash holders gazing at smartphones.
Walked west first. Then did a serpentine north/south pattern staying on the east side of the street. This pattern allowed the majority of my walk to be in the shade. Oh, how the maples have filled out with their broad leaves. Many a lawn sprinkler was working. We had a number of water and gas lines worked on in the neighborhood over the past six months. Most folks have been watering the reseeded areas above these lines on the regular.
Squirrels were working overtime. Kind of fun to watch them dash up trees and hang virtually upside down as they observed me go by. Flowers were exploding everywhere with bright colors. Reds and yellows, with some pinks and purples were visible in yard after yard. The most visually attractive were the flowers posted along with this writing.
As I walked the Jay Todd station on Apple music kicked out a pretty good stream of songs. It began with Richard Thompson’s The Storm Won’t Come moving into Dave Alvin’s Don’t Make Promises followed by John Gorka’s Riverside. Having a good stream of songs makes the walk go by so much faster and imbues it with a warm gentle smile. John Gorka sang “Every little day can make a difference” and I believed him.
We must celebrate gorgeous mornings. We must embrace the bright palette of colors summer flowers offer us. We must sing along as we walk on a beautiful day with the ear worms we hear.
As I was walking, I was thinking my body with all its faults is akin to a cardboard box, one that has been stored in the attic of the garage. The brown fiber tape that held it closed has lost any adhesive quality and hangs loosely. The sides of the box have some gouges where it has been pushed against the sharp corners of harder objects when the storage space has been rearranged from time to time over the years. And there are grease stains within and without from stuff that has leaked onto and into its six sides.
Right now, the box is still roughly sound but it is showing its age. Over time it has contained many things, but most now it contains remnants of the past. Crammed insider are old scraps of newsprint (probably the Penn’s Grove Record) and bundles of forgotten post cards received from distant places. There are also mysteriously shaped and unidentifiable things that were once part of bigger things. Here they have come to rest; hey they might still belong to something of value. For now, the box is still allowed to remain on the shelf, but who knows for how much longer.
One should not walk too long for stray thoughts can quickly turn from pondering flowers below to thinking about flowers above. Hey the sun is out so I moved onto the next song and began humming along to Warren Zevon singing about Woodrow Wilson’s guns pounding Veracruz. (Have to look that up when I get a moment). All in all there is no question I want to stuff a few more items into the box over the next couple of years.
