Off

I don't normally post about my off days, which Monday was, but Sunday (after I walked) and Monday were so full and amazing that I had to check in early. Remember how weirded out I was at the prospect of two hours amongs the "walkers" during the Easter service? They were adorable. Beyond adorable. All the kids were divided into groups of about seven, with several attendants in each "petting zoo," as we volunteers called the cordoned-off areas to which we were assigned. After brief and sometimes awkward introductory periods immediately after the kids were dropped off, they explored a few toys, walked unsteadily around a bit, and, to a toddler, eventually decided to party. Some were rather serious, some light-hearted, but eventually they all produced gummy smiles, snuggled when they got tired, playfully crawled around on top of us when we stretched out on the floor. We did not have one crier. I told my sister yesterday that I never really thought of myself as a "kid person" but, if I do say so myself, those kids loved me! :-) How fun it was to see how many college-aged guys there were. Their goofiness and utter lack of self-consciousness (you could hear one of them singing Elvis songs from thirty yards away) were the perfect complement to the nurturing and attentive women.

After tear-down, it was on to my sister's house for a delicious brunch, with most of the guests from her workplace. It's always fun to finally meet people who you've heard about for years.

Then it was on to The Great Outdoors, a beautiful locally-owned nursery just a few blocks from my house. My next-door neighbor John, a landscape architect, had offered to accompany me there, after listening in horror to my plans to decorate my back yard with Home Depot foliage. He helped me pick out plants and flowers, mostly native, that were drought-resistant and flourished in shade. (I had always assumed impatiens were my only shade options). We picked out a beautiful variety, which are still sitting on my patio in anticipation of my having a couple of hours to put them together.

Early Monday morning I learned that my nephew Josiah, as well as his mom Jana (my ex-sister-in-law) were in town to pick up a car for Josiah, who just returned from a tour of Afghanistan. I happily threw my walk plans out the window, and made reservations for the two of them, as well as Lynn, Sam and me, at Fogo de Chao. Just before Josiah deployed, we took him there, and he loved it, so we promised to go back upon his safe return. Oh, how that boy can put away meat. Believe me, no money was made by Fogo at our table, not with Josiah and Sam trying to out-do each other. The staff, upon learning of Josiah's service, provided a free cheesecake dessert for him, as well as a 10 percent "military discount" for the rest of the meal.  It could not have been a more wonderful and festive evening, a reminder that no matter what happens in civil courts, family will always be family.

Tonight will mark almost 60 hours between walks. I'm feeling antsy.


John, on the lookout for succulent plants

Lynn, Jana, Josiah, Sam and me at Fogo

Easter Sunday

I started my walk at 4:30 AM, this is not a typo, 4:30 AM,  because I have a crazy day ahead of me and I am STRESSED.  Nursery duty starts at 7:00 AM, the whole thing is over by noon, and it's those five hours in between that I'm stressing about.  There are going to be hundreds of kids and hundreds of volunteers.  There are very specific instructions as to where we park, where we meet for check-in, how we tear down the nursery.  New, out-of-the-routine situations are not my favorite.  How I envy those who can treat everything as an adventure. Knowing me, I'm going to come back exhausted and want nothing more than to take a nap.  So, since I got up at 3:00 anyway, and started obsessing, I figured I'd do my five and kill two birds with one stone --  get the walk checked off, and maybe relieve a little stress. No drive to the lake this time -- I walked Banks around St. Ed's for 45 minutes (didn't want him to overdo it since we'd walked less than 12 hours before), brought him home, and returned to St. Ed's for another 45 minutes.

I know I'm a jerk for feeling this way.  This should be a happy, celebratory day, and chances are, it will be.  The anticipation is always the hard part.  I hope you all enjoy your day, and I'll check in tomorrow.  Seriously.  Monday has been my off day for I think the past four weeks, but I am determined to push it back this week.

I Gotta Get Shorty on my Iphone

Once again, Banks and I tried to enter the trail via the Auditorium Shores parking lot yesterday after work, only to be turned away -- yet another event is going on, and I'm not sure what.  So we drove to the footbridge near Zilker Park -- the exact 2-mile mark -- and started there.  And once again, it's amazing how much more quickly the walk goes when you just mix it up a little.

I brought a new toy with me -- an FM radio clip-on which is compatible with my ipod ear plugs.  I got the idea it might be fun to listen to NPR, rather than music all the time, and boy was I right.  I loved it.  I just got lost in the stories, and the time flew by.  I will definitely be doing this a lot of the time -- I especially love Morning Edition, and maybe this will help me take my early walks.

When NPR finishes, KUT reverts back to its format of non-mainstream music, and I now have a new favorite song:  "I Gotta Get Shorty Out of Jail," by Andre Williams.  He's an ancient-sounding black man who growls, rather than sings this song, which is evocative of smoke, booze and the streets, and still manages to be hilarious and weirdly danceable.

I woke up last night about 3:00 AM, with my right knee aching.  Really aching.  I was tempted to get some Aleve, but decided to hold off until morning, and to wear my brace and walk slowly today.  I woke up five hours later and it felt just fine.  The knee -- or at least my knee -- is a moody contraption.

It's been a crazy day of mostly shopping -- how I am loving buying clothes two sizes smaller than when I started this project! -- and I haven't gotten my walk in, but it will happen.  I hope everyone has a beautiful Easter tomorrow.

Five Miles. Eighty-Seven Degrees. A Desperate Plan.

Today's walk was a bit of an experiment. Is it going to be feasible to take my lunchtime walks during the dog days of summer? Today is was close to 90; in August, it'll be over 100.  But the trail has a lot of tree overhang, and it's always a little cooler next to the water, and there are like 10 water fountains along the way....

None of it mattered except the water.  Thank God for the water.  I stopped at every single fountain and water stop, and drank DEEPLY -- I estimate I downed a half gallon of water on this walk, and I never had to go the bathroom.  The only other time I can remember this happening was at a Rufus Wainwright outdoor concert at Stubbs Barbecue several years ago, on an August night. Even Rufus wondered if he needed to get a new agent. I gulped water after water, and it just leaked out through my pores.

I also felt myself petering out at about marker 3.75.  I didn't make note of the time when I left, but I'd wager I was gone closer to two hours than 1.5.  My boss is patient, but he is not endlessly patient.

So I've been thinking of alternatives.  Even the nights in the summer can be brutal, and it appears I have all but lost my appetite for 5:00 a.m. walks. What about a gym? I hate joining a gym, they're expensive and I'm not crazy about treadmills, but these Texas summers are unbearable.  Here's what I've been thinking: around the first of June, approach all the gyms in a 10-mile radius, and ask fetchingly if they would consider a one-week trial membership. Wear out that one, and move on to the next.  I could get a couple of free months that way. That is how cheap I am, and that is how hot it gets. 

Speaking of barbecue -- yes, Artz has closed, and filed for Chapter 7. Their take-out has been part of my family's dinner rotation for the past 18 years. Somehow it was appropriate that I showed up on the day they closed. 

False Alarm

I found my phone.  Apparently Jackson's definition of "really looked for it" does not include looking on the third shelf of the bookcase in my bedroom, which is exactly at his eye level.  In all fairness, I did have it on silent.  I'm just glad -- so glad -- to have it back. 

Tonight's walk started out shakily.  I loaded Banks into the car, we drove to the lake, had to wait about five minutes for a parking spot to open up, got out of the car....and I realized I'd forgotten Banks' leash.  That's not quite as brainless as it might sound -- I take him in the car with me all the time, to my office, to the grocery store -- without a leash, so it feels very natural.  As we drove back to get the leash, I resigned myself to the usual neighborhood walk, but in the end, I couldn't do it. Banks had already got a taste of his favorite place, and truthfully, so had I.  So we  returned to the lake for a much later start than usual.

But it was a great walk.  I had brought my phone along to listen to the four random songs I'd had Aimee download for me just so I could see (and promptly forget) how it was done. "Hair" by the Cowsills, "Jamie's Crying" by Van Halen, "Godless Brother in Love" by Iron and Wine, and "Calamity Song" by the Decemberists.  It's been weeks since I walked to music, and I'd forgotten how freeing it was, and how much faster the walk goes. 

By around 9:00, with a half hour still to go, the trail was ours, Banks' and mine.  No matter how dark it is, or how late, or how alone we are, I am fearless when Banks is with me.  But I think these warm springtime walks take a lot out of him.  He usually hangs out with me until I go to bed, but tonight he went straight to my room, jumped on my bed, and when I go into the kitchen, I can hear his soft snoring.  Sleep tight, buddy.

Back among my peeps

I hope you are sitting down.  There is evidence, still inconclusive, that I may have lost my iphone.  And if I have, I don't want to live anymore.  Okay, I don't mean that.  Not entirely.  And I haven't given up hope yet. But I am as attached to that thing as everyone else I know -- and I was among the last of the holdouts to purchase one. Until this very moment, I didn't appreciate how inextricably that phone is bound up with my blog.  That's the emotional component.  The financial piece?  I never purchased insurance, figuring my family plan with three phones cost plenty, and I have a hazy memory of playing with the thing, besotted, as the saleswoman talked about replacement costs.   But I believe I heard the words "six hundred."  So, I am requesting a national day of prayer and fasting as I turn my home, car and office upside down over the next 12 hours.

Did you see the film footage of the tornadoes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area?  The sky here in Austin was dark blue-gray as I left the office at 5:00, and with visions of airborne 18-wheelers dancing in my head, I took off down South 1st at a run.  The rain waited til I got under the tree coverage on the trail, but it was sporadic and actually kind of refreshing.  I loved being out there.  Once again, I started out with that odd feeling of "something's not quite right" because I hadn't walked in 36 hours, but 20 minutes or so into it, I was exchanging smiles with other wet pedestrians, admiring their handsome dogs and working up a pleasurable sweat.  I was back among my peeps, and all was right with the world.

Except for the phone.  I'll get back to you on the phone.

Best Laid Plans

Here's what I didn't do this weekend:  Buy a hammock.  Buy a bunch of flowers and plants.  Take before and after pictures of my patio.  I did go to Lowe's and attempt these things, but the same thing happened that happened about this time last year.  I got overwhelmed.  There were thousands of living things there, some shade, some sun, and I forgot to make a note of how many flower pots, and what sizes, I needed to fill.  So I walked out. 

But I did walk five miles.  Everything else can wait til tomorrow.

I had a full and hectic morning in the nursery, lunch with Lynn, a meeting in Liberty Hill, and then home at about 6:30.  I was so tired.  I thought about taking a nap before Mad Men, then watching it, then walking, but I love that show so much, and I knew I wouldn't enjoy it if this thing was hanging over my head.  So I went at 7:00, and since Jackson had taken Banks for two walks today, and it was hot and muggy, I went alone.  What a workout.  The once-around loop at Stacy Park, but this time, I took Mary, Annie, Woodward and one other street from East Side to as far as they went up the hill, sometimes to Congress, and then back down the same street, left again on East Side, and up and down the next hill.  I was drenched by the time I got home.  A glass of cold water, a hot shower, and now Mad Men is on.  I earned it.