I Bestirred Myself

We did quite well early on in the pandemic, managing to get out for a walk on most days and also doing some exercise indoors to fill in when we couldn't or wouldn't go out. Back in those early days, the wind seemed to be howling on most days, and there were days that we didn't want to face it, which is when we would do a YT routine indoors.

On these walks, I would grab my cane, and off we'd go on a hobble. It isn't a heap of fun to be bothered by a sore foot and to walk with a cane, and some days were less fun than others. It is also not all that joyful for Sue to have to slow down her pace to to my crawl.

But we persisted until around the beginning of June when the hot weather came. And boy oh boy, when it came, it really came. Neither of us do particularly well in the heat, and Sue really suffers with it. About the only time she isn't boiling hot is on the coldest day in January when the windows are wide open and she is wearing only flimsy clothes.

Yes, I do exaggerate a bit, but I think the exaggeration does reveal that it is a serious issue. She will sit in a ladies' coffee circle, for example, and be sweating while the others are bundled in layers. It's crazy!

Anyway, we stopped walking although we didn't really mean to. And we also stopped exercising indoors to YT videos. It just gets boring, y'know?

But I am feeling my legs getting weaker, so off I went in the wee hours this morning while it was still semi cool and while Sue was still slumbering.

Me, my cane, and my shadow.

I am not sure how much the cane helps, and I can certainly get around without it. In fact, I don't use it unless I go on a deliberate walk. I certainly don't use it in a store or to walk across a parking lot.

With phone in hand, or at least in pocket, I took a few photos. In fact, I am prone to take more snapshots with my phone than my regular, bulky camera.

When I got around the corner and into the park, I took a few photos of the pond. The sun was up, so I tried to find a spot where it was hidden from the camera.

The houses that fringe the park often try to buffer their property with flower beds and so on to give the illusion that it is their property and thus keep wanderers at bay. I can't make up my mind what I think of this. On one hand the gardens do add to the ambiance, but on the other hand, it seems rather bold and smacks of privilege to me.

You can see the edge of their actual property in the background of the first photo.

This is a very nice rock garden but well outside the property boundary, but it doesn't bother me as I see this one as more an attempt at beautification than of exclusion.

Some people make a wide buffer, but these owners have just made a narrow one, basically where the stones begin.

I did rather like the light through the fence as I exited the park. I would be less likely to take this photo with my big camera.

When I got home, there was my compact camera (not my main camera) waiting right where I left it — on the floor, near the door. I had meant to bring it on the walk, but I have a mind like a sieve.

The advantage of a compact camera over a phone is that the lens does zoom. When you employ the zoom, the image is still recorded on the whole sensor. When you zoom on a phone, you are effectively cropping the image and only using part of the sensor. However, this is fine for most phone shots to show on social media. When I use the phone camera, I don't usually zoom. I might as well crop later on the computer. It amounts to the same thing.

And that was my morning walkie. My foot didn't bother me excessively, and I feel mentally better for having made the effort.