Exercise, Errands, and Nature

One of the things I like the most about living here is that much of what we need is within walking distance.

Today is cool, gray, and wet, but without any of the snow or freezing rain that had been a possibility.  We needed some things from the farmers market, and some light bulbs for the porch light, and I needed a couple of things I could get at the drug store.

Pam was taking the car to a yoga class in Takoma Park, so I decided to hoof it for the errands.  I dressed for the weather, emptied my backpack of the usual work and yoga items, and set out.

The first part of the walk is through the neighborhood.  Beads of water clung, glistening, to the bare twig ends.  Walking through the damp, calm, grayness, the cawing of crows took my mind back in time and far away to the sound of ravens calling in the damp Southeast Alaska forest.  I mused for a bit on how my present experience is shaped by past memories as well as the current reality.

I made a circuit of about 2 miles - first to the bank for some cash, then to the market, the drug and hardware stores, and then back home a different way.

At the market I saw one of my yoga students, and stopped to chat.  She was headed for a class at the Maryland Youth Ballet.  She said she had taken a stretching class there taught by a 93 year old (young) woman, and that was inspiration for her to keep going.

As I came back through the neighborhood, I heard a bit of commotion and stopped to watch three squirrels chasing around a utility pole.  One seemed more aggressive than the others, one of which seemed to be the primary object of the chase.  It became cornered out on the end of one support, but seemed able to fend off any further approach.  Then the other two engaged in some back and forth - up and down and around the pole for a couple of minutes, until the cornered squirrel saw an opening and scooted down to a larger wire and scampered along it above the sidewalk.  Quickly, the other two took off after it, chasing it down the street, across the street along another wire, and out of sight.  When that last chase began, two more squirrels came into view from behind the tree and followed along a fence top.  

When it is cold or stormy, the squirrels will be tucked away out of sight - sometimes for several days.  Then it warms up and they come out.  I seldom see this many in one place though.  I'm unsure what was going on, but my guess is a territorial dispute.

The cardinals were out too, seeming brighter red than on some days, perhaps the color is accentuated by the flat, gray light.

Back home - feeling satisfied by a well spent hour and a half of exercise, errands, and nature.