Care to take a walk?

Stepping out the back door.

Walking exercises the whole person.  It exercises the body — it gives the arms and legs a workout.  It stimulates the flow of blood; expands the lungs.  It is gentle and relaxing.  It exercises the mind — it shakes up the brain cells.  It fills them with oxygen; drives out the cobwebs.  A famous scientist says he does his best thinking on the two miles of sidewalk between his home and office.

Walking exercises the emotions.  It gives you a chance to observe and enjoy the world.  Open your eyes to beauty.  See the homes, the trees, the gardens.  See the shining faces of little children.  Listen for the church chimes, singing birds and the laughter of happy people.

~ Wilferd A. Peterson

Step

Let’s take a walk, shall we?  You won’t see “the shining faces of little children,” and there won’t be any homes other than my own on our route, but you might here the chiming of the church bells or the laughter of happy people.

By step

The Church in the Shire plays their bells every day at noon, and again at 6:00 pm.  The sound carries across the creek and the marshes, and floats around the Wabi-Sabi Ranch.  I like it that we occasionally have music drifting in with the breeze.

Autumn comes

The weather has been lovely the past day or two.  Warm (still in the 80’s), but dry and breezy.  Don’t tell M I said so but, it doesn’t feel too bad out there.  I’ve been insisting for a long time that anything over 70 degrees is hot to me.  Turns out that’s not true.  After a summer filled with heat indices over 100, 80 is not so terrible after all.  M has been insisting that I’ll acclimate, and I’m not yet ready to concede that he was right.  (Oh okay, I’ll tell him!)

Signs of change

The mornings are different than they have been throughout the summer.  They are cooler, and heavy with dew.  I have to wear my boots when I go out in the early morning or my shoes and feet will end up soaked.

Morning Glory

The meadows are changing.  The grasses are beginning to turn brown.  Goldenrod is blooming.  Morning Glories of various colors are twining in and out of the shrubs and plants.

The heralds of morning

The asters are just starting to bloom.

A tiny sun in the meadow

There are more wasps and yellow jackets out and about.  I always associate them with autumn.  I know they’re around during the summer months, but we don’t see them nearly as often.  Or maybe it’s that I don’t pay as much attention to them.

Wasp on Goldenrod

You don’t have to gear-up for the insects on this walk.  The deer flies and mosquitoes are nowhere to be seen (or felt) right now.  I think that’s due to the lack of rain.  It could be the cooler mornings, as well.

Pretty in yellow

Whatever the reason, it’s wonderful to have the freedom to walk around outside in regular clothing without the stink (to me, it stinks) of insect repellent.

The honeysuckle is blooming again.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen any ticks lately either.  Hooray for that!

Red-Spotted Purple butterfly

You won’t have to look too hard to find a butterfly.  They’re dancing around in the meadows and the woods.

Spooning under the maple.

You won’t have to look too hard to find evidence of the former owners, either.  Little (and big) things show up in all sorts of places.  I ducked under this maple to enjoy the shade and there was the spoon, sunlight bouncing off the back of it.

Let’s stop and smell the roses.

The roses have survived my attempts at pruning, and the Japanese beetles.

White rose

Now that we’ve walked around the meadows and the front yard a bit, let’s head out to the dock and have a seat.  The tide is coming in, the chimes from the church are ringing over the water, and every now and then you’ll see a turtle pop its head up above the water or see a fish swim by.

View from the dock

Thank you for stopping by, and keeping me company on another walk.  I’ve been thinking about hosting another group walk this fall.  If you’re interested, let me know.  (And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, see this post on my old blog.  Or this post.)  We’ll do it sometime in October (which is why it’s called Walktober) provided there’s enough interest.

Watching the clouds roll by.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂