a walk

The nasty cold seems to be on its way out and I finally felt well enough for a walk. The kids and I decided to go to the Eastbank Esplanade, and bring along a grandpa and a cousin for fun. After a ridiculous comedy of errors (and cell phones) we finally managed to assemble our group of five for a leisurely stroll with lots of stops for photos. We walked north along the length of the Esplanade, across the Steel Bridge, south through Waterfront Park and back to the east side over the Hawthorne Bridge, a loop of just under 3 miles.

I can't even describe, after days of feeling so rotten, how great it was to move around and breathe fresh air.

I've finally figured out how to make the photo mosaics without spending all day uploading photos to the online mosaic maker. A nice plus--if you click on the mosaic it will open in a much larger format in a new window just in case you want a closer look at anything. The graffiti is definitely worth a second look.

Walking

My doctor called recently to remind me that she needed my blood tested every three months or so to keep an eye on the thyroid hormones and make sure I am staying "balanced" so I made an appointment for yesterday. I've always appreciated living rather close to the naturopathic clinic since I seem to spend rather a lot of time there when things get wacky. But I've always driven--it's a short drive which is helpful when I am running late (my usual state of affairs). Yesterday, though, I decided that if I got up early enough I might just manage to walk at least one way. I brought change for the bus in case I needed to ride home but I ended up walking there and back. It took me nearly an hour and a half including the time I was at the clinic, so I didn't cover the distance particularly quickly, but it was quite enjoyable with my iPod playing one of my very favorite albums. Given how rotten I felt less than a year ago, I am very grateful that I have the energy and strength to be able to walk four miles.

Four miles is slightly less than I've signed up to do next month for the MS Walk. Both MonkeyBoy and The Dark Lord will be walking with me. My mother has MS and we've seen up close what a devastating disease it can be so we thought it would be a good way to honor her struggle.