2006!

22 June 2025: I was sort of keeping track of the upcoming milestone of 2000 days of at least 10,000 steps, but then lost sight of it. Checked yesterday and saw that that was day 2005. Ha!

Anyway, today I hit 2006 days. I think it's pretty cool and weird, but in a good way.

(By the way, a while ago, I realized I was calculating the days a bit incorrectly. So my milestone posts marking the first 1800 days or so were off by a day. Day 365, for instance, was actually day 366.) 

Sidewalk beauty...

21 April 2025: I knew today would have some hard moments, so I made myself pause at a sight that strikes me with its bittersweet beauty every spring on my walks: these little sidewalk crack that fill with redbud petals. 

Stadium Tree

2 April 2025: I started my walk this morning in maybe not the best mood, though it's hard to say why. I couldn't help but notice, though, how the morning sun was coloring the sky (especially just beyond the Potomac, though I didn't get a picture of that). As I came to the top of the hill near Ram Stadium, I stopped to admire this tree, doing its thing this year like it does every year, with that pretty light in the backgroud. It didn't fix everything, but it sure didn't hurt. 

Just ahead...

28 March 2025: For a bunch of reasons (construction on Mill Street, the need for some variety), I don't think I had done my old, usual morning walk--with a stop at Rumsey Park--all semester long. This mornimg, I realized that the forsythia down that way might be doing their thing. I got excited at just the idea of seeing them. And just when I turned the bend, I could see that pop of yellow up ahead and my heart soared. 

1904

12 March 2025: I keep missing "number" milestones on this crazy 10K steps streak I am on. Just realized I hadn't checked (that is, googled "how many days since December 25, 2019?") in a while and just missed one. Today is day 1904. Doesn't roll off the tongue, but still pretty cool. 

Let's see if I miss the big 2-0-0-0 (if it happens) in mid-June. 

Proofing and indexing...

19 January 2025: The snow set in by 10:00 or so and made my walk really pretty--and slip-free, since it hadn't started sticking yet. That changed by 1:00 when it really poured and piled up. I think we've got five inches or so? I cleared the first three or four from the driveway around 5:00. The rest can wait until tomorrow, though Lord knows it will be pretty icy by that point. (Now a few days of bitter cold sets in and I am trying really hard not to let that get in my head too much.)

Otherwise, a productive and pleasant day mostly inside. Some chores, some TV, and some work on the book's proofs and index. 

Boy, I have been worried about the index and the proofing since the start. Fortunately, though, I think I have figured out the big intellectual puzzles of the index. (Not surprisingly, not that much of a puzzle. Just had to start it and figure out what I wanted to do.) 

Unfortunately, I am so anxious about missing mistakes as I proof. I've been reading the pages aloud to myself, a strange activity. With some cringing, I am proud to say that I do think the writing is pretty good. That's satisfying. But I keep telling myself, "slow down, be careful, don't miss anything." That part's not fun.

Anyway, about thirty-seven pages done. Two-hundred and sixty or so to go.

Bit by bit...

Better (snow) angels...

6 January 2025: I mean, at the risk of saying something very obvious that is also a ridiculous understatement, it is surreal watching certification of an election where the winner stoked a violent insurrection against the government. It's just infuriating, bewildering, and so very sad. 

Not good vibes for a snow day, which already aren't good vibes day for me.

But, as is so often the case, the Lord sends hope and light. 

As I did a first pass on my driveway this morning, my neighbors Pam and Ann came over to help me finish up. I told them I could handle it, but they insisted. As we finished up, I explained that I was grateful on this otherwise grim day for a reminder of good people doing good things for others. (We think alike, thank goodness.)

When I was done, I took a shorter version of my usual walk (thanks, YakTrax, as always). Of course, the first house that I passed was Pam and Ann's. Imagine my delight as I saw them--two women in their 50s--laying in the front yard, hands clasped, making snow angels. I yelled over, "I don't think you could be any cuter if you tried!" 

Then, maybe a half a block up, another neighbor--definitely in her late 50s/early 60s--passed me, walking back from shoveling someone else's driveway. At first, from far away, I thought she was another teenager, out making a few bucks. I told her as much and she said, "Thanks for the compliment!"

Anyway, goodness endures. People still take care of each other. We laugh. We play in the snow. We live and we love. It's the only option.

5 years and 1 day...

26 December 2024: Somehow my 10K-step streak hit five years yesterday. It's gotta end at some point, but weather, health, and scheduling somehow continued to cooperate for another 366 days.

Morning walk...

7 October 2024: Snapped this picture at around 7:30 a.m. this morning on my walk. Stopped and breathed in the beauty of that moment. Felt how much lighter this morning felt compared to last Monday morning. Said to myself, "Oh, this can be your daily post. And since today won't be as busy, you can post it in any five free minutes you find--early, even!" (My goodness: I wish I had gotten a picture of the sunrise just 45 minutes or so earlier, but I was driving...)

Well, it's almost 5:30 and I haven't had five free minutes until right now and even right now I am stressed about using these five minutes for anything other than work. Because, as I've known, the real dash that began last Monday doesn't end until tomorrow night. 

But that's okay. Because today was also very good. And this image set the tone.

Out early, then inside all day...

22 June 2024: The song playing on Pandora right now is pretty on point: 

A heat wave has settled into its most intense (I hope?) day so far. This screenshot from just a few minutes ago says it all. 

I planned ahead--got my walk and my trip to the supermarket done early. Since then, I've been inside with the girls. Lots of chores done, some work on the book (soooooo close!), and some work on fall syllabi (!). Ready to call it quitting time and do some vegging. The girls, of course, have this vegging thing down pat. 

"The Phantom of the World's Fair"

9 June 2024: I listened to this episode of StoryCorps on my walk today and found it just riveting. The story unfolds in such complex layers--whimsy and adventure, then deep sadness, and finally, hope and strength. Amazing. 

1600!

12 May 2024: Today marks 1600 (!) straight days of at least 10,000 steps. Pretty darn cool.

Also snapped this very charming picture of Jo today, a day where we spent a lot of time together reading and cleaning (me) and sleeping and playing (her). 

1500!

2 Feburary 2024: For reasons I can't fully understand, I slept horribly last night. I think I was anxious because I thought I might be getting sick (still not sure about that one?) and--as often happens--anxious about work I have to get done. But I don't think that was all that was going on. Regardless, I was dragging most of today. Very grateful for a schedule full of teaching and great meetings with students to keep me going. 

And--on a dragging day--I managed to hit a new milestone: 1500 straight days of at least 10,000 steps today. 

My goodness. 

January Late-Afternoon Loop

26 January 2024: It got into the 70s today. By about 4:00, after working or teaching non-stop since 9:00 and know I had a couple of hours of work in front of me still, I was like, "I gotta get out there, if only for a bit." So, for the first time in a while, I did a late-afternoon version of my mid-day loop, complete with this playlist. 

Worked like a charm: took in those lovely (if weird!) temperatures, got some more steps, and was energized to get back to work. 

(Now I am still here working at 7:00, but it's almost done and I am heading home soon--with my steps almost all done, too.)

"Returns"

26 December 2023: Listened to Annie Ernaux's "Returns" on my walk today and could believe how...appropriate it felt. My goodness. 

The 10K streak also hit four years today, which is pretty darn...something?

Furry gangsters...

20 December 2023: Came across this band of furry gangsters on my walk today. There are actually many more members of this group and I always wave to them (each one) when I pass them. There's actually another all black one just to the right and if you look way into the distance, you can see another orange one stretched under a tree. Anyway, imagine my delight when--for the first time ever--two of them let me get some pets in.  

Autumn weekend walk...

19 November 2023:

Things that made me happy on my walk through my neighborhood, in order of appearance, on a truly beautiful autumn day:

1. A very cute family raking leaves. This family is consistently cute, but it was off the charts today: the oldest boy was actually working next to his dad. The younger boy had a toy rake and was “helping” clean out a flowerbed. The baby girl—old enough to sit up, but not to crawl too far—sat on her bum and played with a few leaves. Top-notch cuteness.
2. A dad and his Taylor-Swift-shirt-clad daughter tossing a football. Casual, not too far apart, not too dramatic. Just having fun.  
3. My friends’ boys, outside their house, playing on a skateboard. These kids (there are three total—two boys and a girl) are terrific, but I am always so delighted when they wave at or talk to me when I walk by. I feel like I don’t have enough little kids in my life these days, so I am grateful for their friendliness. 
4. Three cats outside a house whose owners feed a big group of ferals (a calico, a solid black, and an orange tabby) basking in the sun—laying, rolling, just loving it. 

1402 good things...

25 October 2023: 1402 good things...

1400 straight days of 10K+ steps, which really is something. 

1 former student/current Shepherd employee who I am very fond of, telling me she prayed for me last night. I almost wept right there in the hallway.

1 current student who used the phrase "thunderstorms and fireflies" in place of "apples and oranges" and I just thought that was the most wonderful thing. "That's your Appalachain showing, my friend!" I told him.

1203...

11 April 2023: Meant to make this post on day 1200, but missed the milestone. Anyway, today marks 1203 consecutive days of at least ten-thousand steps. I took today's long walk--on a mid-morning work break--in short sleeves on what turned out to be a kind of perfect spring day. 

Snowy Sunday walk

 12 March 2023: Even though I wanted to stay away from campus all weekend, I found myself up there getting a couple of hours of work done. Then, just after the snow started falling, I set out of my usual "when I'm on campus" walk through town. This isn't the best picture, but I liked the idea of stopping in one of my favorite spots for a "seasonal/walking shot" to take in the beauty. The snow won't come to much--and I think that we might just go a whole seaosn without a signifcant snowfall--but it was still really pretty and invigorating.