CBWC

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Wednesday Walks

Lenny / Leo has discovered that if he is bothersome, I get out of bed. Today – after yet another night of terrible up-and-down sleep (I am, as you know, a shit sleeper in the best of times, but at least I had been getting a good five consecutive hours of uninterrupted shuteye for awhile there) – the cat decided that 4:45 was a good time to wake up. Nope. Not when my alarm is not to go off for another 35 minutes. I tried to forcibly cuddle him, but he wasn’t having it, and after ten minutes I released him into the hall and closed him out of my bedroom. He allowed me ten more minutes of quiet before knocking over a decorative ghost, at which time I gave up on “sleep.” 

We are nearing the end of Walktober, during which I am documenting my (not-quite-) daily walks as part of Elisabeth’sCBWC. This week I skipped not one but two walks, and on those two days I did no other movement besides playing with the cat. One of those days I went dress shopping with my child (it is b’nai mitzvah season and she has SIX to attend) so let’s please count that as SOMETHING.  

October 22: 

Nothing. I did nothing. This day is a complete mystery. Maybe I went to the grocery store? No idea. 

October 23: 

Thank goodness for my local writing friend, who helps make walking and writing feel non-optional! We did a 4.8 mile (7.7 km) walk together. It was cool enough when we started that I had to wear my winter coat, fleece-lined leggings, AND gloves. But I was able to doff the gloves and unzip my coat by the time we were done. 

October 24: 

Today it rained. I made cookies for the landscapers, who showed up despite the rain. I also did not exercise at all. 

October 25:

My husband started call today, so it was just me and Carla. I am trying to force encourage my kiddo to build strength and endurance for sports. She is not particularly excited about it. But we did do a strength-training workout together, and then I followed it up with a core workout. I didn’t want the beautiful day to go to waste, so I also did a very short half-mile (.9 km) walk and took approximately ninety billion photos of our “new” landscaping. 

October 26:

Another beautiful late-fall day! I took a longer walk today, just over 3 miles (5 km) and took a zillion photos of the same trees I seem to photograph every time I step outside. I can’t help it! The colors fill me with such joy! I did not listen to an audiobook on this walk, so I ended up composing some poems that may never see the light of day. But that’s what crisp air and crackling leaves and vibrant colors will do to a person, fill her with poems. 

October 27: 

My writing partner and I met for a 4.3 mile (6.9 km) walk this morning. The trees’ fancy fall frocks are starting to look a little frayed, but still beautiful. 

October 28:

I did a very challenging barre and strength video this morning. Leo / Lenny was quite irritated that I was paying attention to Not Him, so he made his presence known. Then I caught up with a friend while I did a 3.5 mile (5.7 km) walk outside in the sunshine. Talking with a friend is such a fabulous way to pass the time – an hour was gone before I knew it.  

Three days remain in October. Today, I meet up with my local writing friend so things are looking good for getting a walk in, and I have another walk-and-talk scheduled for Friday. It would be nice to close out this month of movement on a high note.

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Wednesday Walks

It’s another week of walking along with Elisabeth and dozens of bloggers around the world via the CBWC challenge! According to Elisabeth, this challenge is more about ten minutes of intentional movement each day than about walking… so I am going to say that this past week was a success, even though (yet again) I skipped a walk on one of the days. 

October 15:

Getting myself moving was tough today. I finally forced myself to do the teeniest little leg and back workout. It was short but challenging and that was all I had in me for the day. 

October 16: 

Today I got in a morning arm and shoulder workout and followed that with ten minutes of core exercises. Then Carla had a “surprise” practice after school, which I learned right as I was in the car line to pick her up. I did a Trader Joe’s run and then got in a 1.77 mile (2.8 km) walk. The leaves were kind of drab today, but the bare tree trunks were beautiful in their own way, as were the patterns they made on the pavement. 

October 17:

There was frost on the ground this morning! Carla was so excited; she kept insisting it was snow. She loves snow as much as I do, so I think she’s looking forward to winter. After I dropped her at school, I met up with a friend for a walk. She was having a stressful morning, so we did four and a half miles (7.3 km), stopping several times to admire the scenery and try to internalize the morning serenity. 

October 18:

Today I got in just under two and a half miles (3.9 km) and boy did I dilly dally – I could not stop ogling the trees, which were at peak color. My kid is at the point where she groans when I point out how beautiful the foliage is, simply because I do it so often. Apparently, in the car with my husband the other day, he said something complimentary about the fall colors and she moaned that he “sounded like Mom.” After my walk, I felt like I needed a little more sweat so I did a 25-minute strength training workout.

October 19:

It was pouring today, but I wanted to catch up with my long distance bestie and I love a good walk and talk, so I put on my raincoat and headed into the rain. It started out manageable, but about seven minutes in, the rain was coming down in buckets and it started to hail. Well. As long as the hail was tiny raindrop size, I decided to keep going. (The hail lasted about two minutes.) I did a thirty minute circuit (1.7 miles / 2.7 km) and chatted with my friend. Thank goodness for my waterproof jacket and airpods. My poor shoes were squelching wet, though. They took two days on the heating vent to dry.

October 20: 

Another Monday, another day I found it very hard to get moving. After lunch, I dragged myself outside and then took so many photos my normal two-mile (2.5 km) circuit took me more than 40 minutes. It was 55 degrees (13 C) and sunny with big white clouds scudding across the brilliant blue sky. The day was so beautiful, I went for a second walk with my husband when he got home from work. I really wish he enjoyed walking more – I love our strolls together. 

October 21:

Tuesday began with an incredible double rainbow against the backdrop of a rain-spattered sunrise. Carla took so many photos on the way to school, none of which did the rainbow justice. I guess some things aren’t meant to be captured. The traffic was horrible and I like to think we were all creeping along staring at the rainbow rather than focusing on our commutes. After school drop-off and a frustrating phone call, I was in a full-body clench all day, and only managed to scrape myself out of my office chair after lunch for a 20-minute 1.2 mile (1.9 km) walk. The rain had retreated, the sun was out, and the sky was blue. Our trees were still gorgeous so I snapped more photos of all my faves. We had a rainy, windy night last night so I’m expecting that all the leaves will be gone today. 

Okay! That’s a wrap on another week of intentional movement.

Hmm. Wednesdays don’t seem to be my best days for getting outside. Will I walk today? Will the leaves be gone the next time I get my butt outside? Will I spend more time yapping on the phone (I hope so)? Tune in next week to find out when I post another riveting catalog of my weekly walks! 

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Wednesday Walks

Well, somehow October is already half over. So far, I’m enjoying October a heck of a lot more than I enjoyed September, though. Are we finally finding some sort of rhythm, perhaps? Or have the occasionally cooler temperatures simply mellowed me a bit? Hard to say. 

I continue to walk daily, as part of Elisabeth’s CBWC challenge. Near daily, I suppose is more accurate. Let’s take a look at the second week of walks. Several of my walks took place out of state. Here’s a teaser photo – can you guess where I was?

A truly riveting photo, for sure. “WHY are you taking a picture of THAT?” Carla demanded with disdain when I stopped to snap this shot. Why indeed, Carla.

October 8:

I started the day with a lovely three mile walk, accompanied by my friend and writing partner. After the previous day’s drenching rain, today was freshly scrubbed and shiny. I grabbed a photo of a wooly bear although it’s not the most flattering portrait; I find it slightly embarrassing to ask my friend to stop so I can paparazz a caterpillar. She rolled with it, though. 

Perhaps not his best side, but he was a cutie.

October 9: 

A quick one-miler today. This is where Elisabeth’s walking challenge really comes in clutch; I don’t know if I would have forced myself out of whatever stupor I’d been in to go for a walk if it wasn’t for her. As usual, though, I felt much better once I got my rear in gear and enjoyed some fresh air. I also ended up moving all of my vegetable pots – my tomatoes, basil, jalapenos, and zucchini are still producing – in anticipation of some landscaping work we’re having done. 

Now THIS is what fall should look like.

October 10: 

Today, my husband and I loaded Carla into the car, drove to the airport, and flew to Boston for a long weekend! My husband and I have each been to Boston several times, but this was a first for Carla. We checked into our lovely hotel in the Back Bay and took a duck boat tour. Then we spent the rest of the day wandering around Newbury Street. Even though we walked for hours, we only got in seven miles. It felt like more.

October 11:

If you guessed from my teaser photo that we were walking the Freedom Trail, you were right! We took a ferry to the USS Constitution, which was closed to visitors due to the government shutdown, and then did the Freedom Trail in reverse, reading about each stop online as we went. My biggest surprise takeaway was that neither the battle of Bunker Hill nor the Bunker Hill monument took place on Bunker Hill. They were named for where the battle was supposed to take place, but the real battle and monument were on Breed’s Hill. Our day included 9.6 miles of walking and ended in Cambridge. At dinner, my husband ordered a lobster roll, which he deemed delicious. (I prefer my lobster unadulterated by anything but gallons of melted butter.) (I had yummy, yummy halibut.) After dinner, we found ourselves at Carla’s favorite ice cream shop for dessert. She got the same combination (chocolate and raspberry) that she’d fallen in love with during our Paris vacation. We took the subway back to our hotel and I was out like a light.

October 12:

The Nor’easter that the weather people were warning about started spitting on us on Sunday, but we took a train to Salem anyway. I would not recommend visiting Salem in October, unless you love crowds and lines. Everything had a line: coffee shops, bathrooms, kitschy tourist shops. Any attraction available had endless lines and “sold out” signs on the doors. Luckily, my husband – trip planner extraordinaire – had reserved us a walking tour weeks ago. The tour was fun and appropriately spooky, and then our tour guide told us where to eat lunch. The tavern was slightly off the beaten path, and turned out to be a perfect suggestion because not only did we get in immediately, but the food was delicious. My biggest surprise takeaway from our tour was that the Salem Witch Trials lasted a mere thirteen months. Two hundred people were accused, but only (“only”) twenty people were tried and murdered as witches, nineteen by hanging and one by pressing. That minuscule moment in history sure gets a lot of hype! We walked around Salem for 7.8 miles, admiring the creepy sites and shuddering at the crowds, then hopped back on the train to Boston. After a brief stop at Levain Bakery – where we saw the inspiration for my favorite fall cookie in the wild! – we decided we were tired of the rain and weary of walking, so we ate dinner at the Irish pub in our hotel. 

October 13:

I did not do a dedicated walk on Monday, but I will count our pre-dawn hike to the bus stop in pouring rain. No, it was not more than a five-minute slosh from our hotel, but STILL. Despite the growing panic about the storm, our flight was unaffected and we got home around noon. The cat was extremely glad that we’d come home. Apparently the twice-daily visits from the cat sitter AND long daily visits with my parents weren’t enough to convince him he hadn’t been abandoned. 

In this photo from the cat sitter, Leo/Lenny looks like he is on the verge of giving up on life. He has been purring pretty much nonstop since we returned.

October 14: 

Back to normal, and I got in a mid-afternoon 1.6 mile walk around the neighborhood. The leaves are finally starting to don their October finery. I found a tree that matches my nail polish!

Blue skies, gorgeous leaves, and fun fall fingernails!

And that’s another week of fall and another week of walks in the books.  

Have you ever been to Salem? Did you, like me, go through A Witchy Phase (mine occurred in middle school, but I still enjoy witchy things)? What is the most crowded tourist attraction you’ve ever visited?