Monday, February 8, 2010
Walking Quest
I didn't do my own Friday challenge on Friday. I did it yesterday. I took Mr. Hoagy for a trudge through the woods. It was overcast and although I had my camera there wasn't anything that leaped out at me. Anything significant if you know what I mean. Then, quietly, I realized that is what was the important thing. It wasn't a brilliant shining day. It wasn't cold. It was soft, gentle, unassuming. It was like that t-shirt that you just love although no one says a thing when you wear it because it is grey and doesn't have any sequins on it. It is warm and soft and grey and so was the day. And why was I always looking for the big thing? The big cosmic lesson, the buck with his antlers glistening in the sun spangled air, the rabbit beating its way down the trail, the heart-shaped rock or the woodpecker cracking the silence with his rat-a-tat-tat. Why couldn't I just once, just right in that moment, accept the soft grey day as good onto itself? The air was soft, the path was manageable, the dog happy to be sniffing along - checking his various spots for signs of other animals. In short, it was a very good, no big-deal walk. And sometimes that is better than gold.
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9 comments:
Since I'm only seeing Friday's challenge today, Monday, and since I've already had my walk I now have the thought that occurred to me while doing so: why did I have to pick such a heavy fruit to be my favourite? Mondays, the beginning of a new week at work, I stop and get myself a week's worth of fruit en route, and it is typically a watermelon and it is always the case that by the time I get all the way to the office my arms and wrists ache and I'm covered in a fine sweat under my down outerwear and I've had various near misses on icy surfaces, cradling my melon and sacraficing the valuable balancing benefits of wildly flailing arms. If this could be called an ode, my watermelon just received one.
oh anon! I love an ode to a wintery watermelon. I once sat in the quad at Shambhala Mountain Centre in Colorado (Buddhist Bible Camp?) eating watermelon with my dharma pals while it hailed - the contrast was exquisite...
It rained and rained Friday. I am going for a walk in the sun later on today. This morning I went outside and stood by the fence and watched the happy little birds. Even the dogs were watching the birds, as they went after the berries with gusto, we soaked up the sun and did nothing for at least five minutes. Me and the dogs.
We had a beautiful cool, crisp sunshiney winter day here. We've been lucky for the past week - lots of sun :)
That's such a beautiful post, Jan. I love the analogy to the grey t-shirt, because I have one of those which I think is the Rolls Royce of t-shirts (there are t-shirts and there are t-shirts, and there is that T-shirt), but which nobody else even looks at.
The Friday challenge was about seeing what we don't always see, isn't it? And the perfect grey day was a great thing to see.
indeed,
its kind of like he chop wood, carry water kind of story, isn't it?
I'll have a go tomorrow.
my computer ate my carefully worded responses to you all! Dang! Thanks for your comments, they are always appreciated and I look forward to seeing what fruits come of these exercises (besides watermelon which are pretty amazing fruits don't you think?)
I like those days when I can relax and enjoy the moment. When I first retired, there were plenty of them. Then I decided to write...and attend conferences...and create a website...and blog...well, you know the rest of the story.
Jan, I wrote about my Friday challenge today!
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