Walk before we run

Seems not all dogs run when unleashed. Some just walk.

We spent a lovely evening at our favorite restaurant on Friday night complete with drinks. It was fun to watch Mike take in the delicious taste of wine and for the first time in 5 1/2 weeks he had some brandy in his coffee. He took a sip, closed his eyes, tilted his head back and held the warm liquid in his mouth and smiled. Delicious

Saturday was rather lazy. Mike was tired and sore. We ate breakfast - left over prime rib scrambled into farm eggs with basil and asiago cheese. Mike read a while then took a long nap. I went to the garage, put away some gardening stuff and cleaned. When Mike got up we had a snack before heading to the woods with pails. We drove out to our sugar bush and wandered one of the walking trails. I had noticed a large raspberry patch out there last fall and had hopes of finding ripe berries, no such luck. Still, the walk is what we both needed and it was good to be back out in the woods even with all the deer flies and mosquitoes. Thank goodness for bug shirts and head nets.

On the way home we stopped and Mike pulled four long poles from a loggers cutting. He trimmed the branches and we strapped them to the top of the van before heading home. Back in March I had purchased some Tibetan prayer flags for him on my trip to Sedona. The plan was to erect the poles in the same manner as we did our tipi and string the prayer flags to them. We drove to town to pick up a few groceries looking like the bush hippies we once were. I guess it's still in us and hopefully always will be.

At home we cooked and ate dinner, showered and fell into bed exhausted. Mike said he hadn't felt this tired since our 10 portage day on last Canadian canoe trip. I had to agree. It seems we have gotten soft in the past weeks. We were in bed by 9 and slept until 9 yesterday. I think a lot of this was what Mike called "Jet Lag" or rather we were experiencing letdown from the stress of the past weeks. I guess we have to walk before we run.

On Sunday morning we had coffee in bed then made apple cinnamon pecan pancakes for breakfast. We erected our prayer tipi and had a ceremony at it. We will use this space to meditate and offer prayers and welcome anyone who wishes to do the same. It is our own sacred place which sits right outside our main living space as a reminder to be thankful. After the tipi was erected we picked beans and then headed to Lake Bemidji State Park for a walk.

The park was pretty quiet. Not a lot of people. We met a few bikes and a couple of runners on the paved portion of the trail. Our pace was leisurely. Mike picked raspberries along the way and shared them with me. On the dirt trail we took I found one blueberry hanging from it's bush, picked it, and gave it to Mike.

The State Park does not sit that far from town and is flanked by roads. Still, on the dirt paths it is quiet and solitary. We walked among the big pines and tall aspens who would occasionally throw a yellowing leaf down in front of us; an announcement of falls impending arrival. The woods carried an interesting mix of green and brown smells - a competition of summer vs fall. A small flock of birds fed in the pines over head. We stopped to "pish" for them, trying to bring them in closer for ID. I tipped my head back and set to my pishing and before long had a half dozen chickadees staring down at us. Seems the pish is irresistible to them. The birds we had wanted to see remained at the top of the canopy; more interested in feeding than pishing.

We drove the campground on the way out. There were several mini-campers in the park which we both found of great interest. There was talk of having a tiny rolling home and we dreamt out loud about all the places we would go with it. I caught the camping bug and I am sure Mike did too though we didn't talk about it.

We made dinner together, cleaned up the kitchen and headed to bed early, again. So, you see, the mind is willing, the bodies, not so much. We are goning to work on this though. Mike needs to be in good physical health going into his surgery and me? well...I've become a fatty in these past weeks what with stress eating and a new found love of sedentary lifestyle. So, it's slow, but steady, progress back into our usual activities. I'm thankful that the pump is gone and the radiation is done and that we have this time to play, even if it is on a toned down level. It's good to feel like us again. Really good.

Peace,
Karen