rambling

i went for a long walk this morning on my own. here are the pictures.

i'd been talking with a friend the other night and he asked me what I would prefer to do, after a hard week: walk around with friends, or stay home and curl up with a book? i don't think i'd asked myself that question in too long, and i had not deliberately taken a walk in much, much too long.

i got up early, got a bagel and a coffee and headed for the hills. i worked up a good sweat going up and down. it was perfect. it had rained during the night and everything was glistening still. the dog walkers were out, and probably constituted 80% of the people i saw on my 3 and a half hour walk. it is funny what it takes to get us outdoors.

the neighborhoods were mostly empty, the most common sounds being cars in the distance, and birds, although some neighborhoods seemed to lack even the birds. one ritzy-ish little neighborhood was so still that i felt as though i needed to tip toe through it so as to avoid disturbing anyone -- the only ones that i disturbed were two bluejays, flying out of some shrubery to keep an eye on me. one neighborhood had people out doing chores, a few cars and a motorcycle being washed, two kids being pulled on a wagon, two older hispanic woman on walk, a mom and two boys: one dressed in a karate uniform standing next to his mother as she opened a garage door, the other in soccer gear, standing on the stairs. An older man, trying to get his three dogs to pay attention and not get tangled in their leashes and around trees.

there were the usual strange houses, odd knickknacks in windows ( a horse draped by an american flag, a silver bird lengthened into a bench ), ugly strip malls, vistas of ocean, the city, the far bay, rain clouds passing in the distance.

i want to say that i will make a habit of this because it generally makes me happy, it is good and meditative, the ideas flow; alas i know myself and habits well :-)