Daddy's HOME! (Plus 3Day Musings)

Daddy is back home from the hospital - yay. He sounds good on the phone, wish I could be there in person. Thanks to everyone who said a prayer - prayer works!

Tonight I got the front yard cut then Tink and I headed out for our long neighborhood route - we had a beautiful sunset to walk by and I don't think the temperature is above 77.

The Atlanta 3Day is five weeks away - I can hardly believe it. Now's the time to start making up my list and making sure I have a headlamp for night time trips to the potty from the tent, and I still am not sure about my pillow situation. I may hit REI this weekend to look for a travel/camp pillow that will fit better in my duffel. If anyone has a suggestion either email me or leave me an idea here, ok?

My kids and Gene were very generous in buying all my sneakers. I am still doing well with my feet - thank goodness. My fanny pack (which I've had since Arizona) is on its last legs -I'm praying it lasts through the walk, the water bottle stretchy material is really starting to give. I need a few more pair of socks, and I have to get my shirts made up. I will be contacting my supporters to see who they want me to walk in honor or in memory of so I can get all the names on my shirts. I was thinking of fuschia shirts with gold writing - if I can get something that looks just right.

What else? Well, I have my shorts, sleeping bag, sweats/hoody for pjs and campwear, and I know I am missing something - oh, I have a hat this year - I wore it last weekend for the 15 miles and I really liked it. It's one made by UnderArmor so it has very breathable material on the cap and the brim will be perfect. And it feels ok on for me - which is good since I am so not a hat person.

Thank you all for reading and keeping up with me and my training - I really appreciate it.

Butterflies, Goldfinches, an Old Friend, and a Hawk

Tink and I started walking at 9:30 this morning, a balmy 82 degrees wafting over us. We had a tremendous booming storm last night - hard rain, good lightning - perfect. It created a few puddles for the Tink. Most doxies do not like water - not the Tinker! She likes to stand in it and wade through it - I have to get her to the ocean!

We did 5 miles - a route through the neighborhood. First we came upon two bright copper pennies within a half mile of one another - face up. Then we stopped in the dog park, and the other gentleman there had two adorable Welsh terriers, Lucy and Sammy. While there and just after getting out of the dog park two butterflies flew around us. Towards the end of our walk, a male and female goldfinch pair alighted on a nearby tree to say hello, then flew down the street ahead of us. Lastly, a beautiful smallish hawk (not good on my hawk names, sorry) sprinted overhead low enough to share his beautiful markings with us. Ah, a little slice of heaven.

Along the way we ran into a fellow Hockey parent from Nick's travel hockey days here in Georgia. A great family man and wonderful hockey parent - we caught up on life. When the kids started playing together, their youngest child, a girl, was in maybe first grade. She starts high school in the fall! Their son, who played with Nick, is doing study abroad this summer with UGA. I shared the news of my kids, too, including our wedding last summer and what a great addition Paul is to our family. Time passes so fast. And that hockey dad gets a gold star - he says every time he sees me I look younger. Gotta like a man who knows the right thing to say!

Back to Arthurian Myth in the History of Britain...see y'all later!

Walking and Meditation on Easter

Happy Easter Monday! Yesterday was cool, sunny, and a perfect family and walking day. By the time this photo was taken we had changed from our church shoes: here you see my son-in-law, my middle daughter, and myself. And Tink in her Easter necklace! She loves to dress up. She missed the first 2.8 miles as the others in our group had walked to and from church. Tink led us through our final 1.7 loop in the neighborhood. My son is in the restaurant business so he was busy and not able to share in this time with us.

It was my first 4.5 day in quite awhile; I definitely 'felt' it in my feet by the end of the day. So, after the kids left I did the simple yoga stretch of getting vertical on a good wall. I do not know the name of the pose - only that it works! You lay on the ground and 'rest' your legs at a 90 degree angle up the nearest wall. This causes the blood to recirculate and as you practice this move, you can take longer stretches. If you want, you can also meditate in this position. I prefer to rest in this position awhile, then meditate in a sitting pose.

A superb place to find positive and life-filling information on this is the Sacred Forms site. Go to the Meditate link to learn more about meditating, and how it is highly personal for each of us. The Gallery link will give you endless possibilities of sacred forms for your meditations.

Walking Through the Flakes

Welcome! I am so excited by the prospect of sharing my love of walking and talking about health - particularly women's health. I have walked all my life, and remember talking my friends into walking to the mall (we lived in the city, so that took some persuasion), and my first 25 mile walking marathon in the '70s in order to make life easier for the poor of my city of brotherly love, Philadelphia.

As for women's health, in October of 2006 I completed the 60 mile walk in the Susan G. Komen Foundation 3Day Walk for breast cancer. I hope to talk more about my training for that event in 2006 and my early preparations for this year's walk in October of 2008.

Tink, my four year old dachshund, may have some things to report on as we are clicking away the mileage. We did three and a half miles today, and it was glorious being out there with crystalline flakes streaming all about us. We did the last half mile tonight; Tink was not so enamored of the whiteness all about us as you can see.

When you come for a visit my hope is that you will leave having either picked up a new tip on a trail, a new thought on health, or maybe even want more information on how you can be a part of the Atlanta 3Day.