Tag Archives: walking

Aug10

land as community.

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 a beautiful morning walk

sharing earhart park with this lovely creature

an evening spent at the first and second sister lakes in dolph nature area

“when we begin to see land as a community to which we belong, 

we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

– aldo leopold

—

*i’ve now walked 60 of the ann arbor parks,

(all of the way through the letter ‘e’), only 100ish more to go-

i hope to have found and walked all of them by halloween, october 31

as i look forward to the beauty to be found in the change of seasons.

Jul21

magic place.

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Magic Place

see the mermaid bathing in her pool,
as fairies scamper through the woods.

-jack horne







--
*still walking the 150 parks, 
into the b parks on the list now
more beautiful discoveries every day
shot above taken in bird hills park, ann arbor
Jul14

parks – a

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and so –

my ann arbor parks walk (150+) has begun

here are the ‘a’s

#1 – Allmendinger Park

 old school merry go round, in neighborhood in town, near the stadium, got really lost walking home from there and doubled my walk, picnic spots with grills, volleyball, old trees, basketball, tennis, baseball diamonds, ice skating in winter

– 8 acres

#2 – arbor hills nature area

between neighborhoods, ponds, loud frogs, birds, picnic spots in sweeping expanses under trees, wooded trails, scared a woman when i emerged from the woods who was shocked that i had found it

– 6 acres

#3 –  Arbor Oaks

neighborhood park, basketball, open pergolas, open fields, picnic area, pirate themed playground, rain garden, baseball, i was the only person there on the day i visited

-8 acres

#4 –  Argo Nature Area

– unpaved trails with beautiful views of the river, livery with canoes/kayak/paddle board rentals,  river cascades, long, narrow park, large variety of trees, wildflowers, very quiet in the woods

-22 acres 

and onward……many more to follow

—

“i believe that there is a subtle magnetism in nature,

which, if we unconsciously yield to it,

will direct us aright.”

―henry david thoreau

Jul3

parks.

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as i’ve been walking and exploring

the parks and outdoor recreation areas around town 

i realize how many i have yet to visit

so i’ve decided to walk in each of the parks 

in ann arbor

all 159+ of them

to see what is unique about each

with more than

2,000 acres of parkland

 50,000 trees

a river, dams, falls, hills, ponds, gardens,

woods, meadows, prairies, and rec areas

found in spaces ranging from

tiny neighborhood green spots to wide open expanses

i see an adventure ahead

with no planned deadline or timeline

 so i began the list alphabetically yesterday

and have walked 2 of them so far

only 157+ to go.
—

“parks are works of art just as a painting or sculpture is.”

-thomas hoving

—

credits: ann arbor parks and recreation

May17

trail.

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out on an adventure hike

with the kinders

we came across a sign…..

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“i could never resist the call of the trail.”

-buffalo bill

Feb11

nature is never finished. – robert smithson

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out walking with the kinders

we happened upon

a white swan

happy

and

in between seasons.

the same as us.

Jul22

“it’s summer and time for wandering…” ― kellie elmore

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you never know

what beauties

you’ll

cross paths with

while wandering

on a warm summer’s day

Jan26

run with your legs to be fast, run with your mind to be faster, run with your heart to be unstoppable. – aalaynah thompson

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we trained together for a year

to be ready

for a long

3-day event

for charity

and

we thought

it would

also

 make us healthier

in the process.

***

except that

we weren’t

the most natural

or best

walkers/runners

but we pushed on

and for

many, many days

we walked

through town

or

in the countryside

or

on the road

or

inside the mall

with

the hardcore seniors

during blizzards

or

anywhere we could find

an open space.

***

funny-galapagos-olympics-tortoise-turtles-racing-grass-pics

then one day

upon arriving at a park

for another training day

we saw a race beginning

and

on a whim

we decided

to start late

and  join in

at the back

just for practice

and

we somehow

started moving up

in spite of ourselves

slowly but surely

until we were

near

the front of the pack

and suddenly

out of the blue

i got crazily competitive

not my usual mindset

at all

and i yelled out

‘i can take them!’

as i raced past

the front two people.

****

okay,

so

they happened to be

a very elderly man

and

a person with a noticeable limp

and

i

won the race

and

got a gold medal and a massage and a granola bar

and

i felt like

forrest gump

just dropping

into

the middle

of something

and

somehow

winning

by accident

and

it was

that moment of

crazy heart

that

made me unstoppable

and i’m sorry to have run past you –

people who thought you were going to win

and were in the front

and i know

you were old and infirm

but at last

i had found my pace

and my tribe

and

it was

quite a day.

****

photo-of-funny-animal

—

image credits: flickr.com

Sep24

if you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one. – dolly parton

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GOOD NEWS! I-96 reopened 3 weeks early, and morning commutes became easier on Monday morning after 6 months of 7 miles of total road closure.  On Sunday afternoon thousands of people came down to a stretch of the reconstructed I-96 to enjoy a Metro Detroit freeway as never before … by walking, on bike and with anything else they could ride – even a marching band showed up. Any and all were invited to join in the celebration. That’s how we roll in the motor city.

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if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.
– lewis carroll

 

—

credits: dailydetroit. com

 

Sep6

“you have to jump into disaster with both feet.” ― chuck palahniuk

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Pato-1

worst walk ever

yesterday

on a very, very hot

late summer’s eve

humid as hell

headed out

on a

forced death march

downtown

all in the name

of being healthy

and

enjoying the city

at eye level

when i

noticed the signs

that i was headed

right

new line cinema

looked up

37301116

into a black cloudy sky

rain

the air began to swirl

 rain blew sideways

into my eyes

i had happened

into

a

wizard of oz

storm

somehow

and

made a decision

to head on back

lightning_south_annarbor-thumb-590x393-44841

lightning flashed

a mile to go

put my phone

in my shorts

to save my connection

to the world

i-pod

deep in my pocket

 to save the music

people running

kind of scary

as i

quickly

transformed

into

an

unwitting

wet t-shirt contestant

cut through the park

ran into wall

of construction

turned around

shortcut down street

closed off

for resurfacing

finally made it

home to the cottage

nacho the cat not the food

was outside and missing

flipped on light

to put key in door

no light

opened door

glowing in the dark

pitch black

only light

came from my eyes

power out

fumbled for flashlight

demo1

apparently it is a 1910 model

didn’t have much effect

on the darkness

so, so sweaty

and

rain sodden

no hot shower

cell phone

powering off

internet gone

decided

only thing to do

was go to bed

stumbled up the dark stairs

still no cat

still no light

room was 157 degrees

or so

no fan

no air

heard sirens

fire department

on my street

buzzing

 flashes of electric light

couldn’t just lay

on the bed

naked

and

fall asleep

in all my glory

trying

to cool things down a bit

had to be on high alert

kept the teva’s on

shorts, shirt

ready to flee

at a

moment’s notice

drifted off

dreaming of a better day to come..

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woke up this morning

bright and cool

nacho the cat not the food

came home

to the cottage

police tape

decorated

 the town

transformers blown

power lines down

mighty trees

toppled

car

in garage

at mercy

of electric opener

walked

back downtown

to a

 friendly coffee shop

read

and

wrote

and

talked to other

blackout neighbors

and

had

a

very, very, very

large

coffee

power company

estimates

i will

have power

restored

by

wednesday

night

at 11:30

or so

—

“the major difference between a thing that might go wrong

and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong

is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong

it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair”

– douglas adams

—

 credits: planetcurioso.com, new line cinema