Today's Walking Haikus

Below I've written three hiakus that are reflections after my seven mile walk today on area roads and trails.

15 Fahrenheit
Ontario County Pathways
Rails to Trails

Bitting North West Wind

Burning Christmas Calories

Sunday, January 3rd

Six billion people

Cold and snow discourage all

Solitude today

Mileage Log - 2009

With yesterdays walk into Newark for a few grocery items, a stop at the hareware store, public library, and Post Office, before walking back; I completed 1, 529 miles of walking or an average of 4.9 miles/day for 2009.
During those walks I:

• completed the entire Finger Lakes Trail system - 840 miles
• eliminated 200 plus miles of gasoline propelled trips into Newark and back
• picked up returnable cans/popbottles that were exchanged for over $50 worth of groceries
• collected over 4 cubic feet of crushed Aluminum cans to be exchanged for cash with recyclers
• located over 40 large basketball sized or larger road side boulders; that I coordinated with trips to town and simultaneously pick up with my truck.
• maintained cardiovascular-pulmonary and psychological health that have been well worth the time
• enjoyed changing seasons over the same walking loops
• wore out the equivalent of one pair of hiking boots

And next year ...?

Looking back!

One aspect of "retirement" has been the time to focus on reading for the first time ever. The "V &V" (variety and volume) have been fun. I am currently reading $20 Per Gallon by Christopher Steiner. Below is my reading list for the past year...see any pattern?

Books Read, Author and Date
The World is Flat – Thomas Friedman 11/08
Hot, Flat, and Crowded – Thomas Friedman 12/08
Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson 12/08
This Republic of Suffering – Death & the Am. C. War 12/08
The Future of Life - E.O. Wilson 01/09
The Creation – E.O. Wilson 01/09
In Defense of Food – Michael Pollan 02/09
American Lion – Jon Meacham 02/09
Into the Wild – John Krauker 03/09
The Korean War; A View From the Rear – Grant W. Cole 03/09
Called to Question – Joan Chittister 04/09
The Lost City of Z – David Grann 04/09
A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson 04/09
The Way of Ignorance and other Essays – Wendell Berry 05/09
Between a Rock and A Hard Place – Aron Ralston 05/09
Jesus, Interrupted – Bart D. Ehrman 06/09
First on Everest – Tom Holzel & Audrey Salkeld 06/09
Picking Cotton; Our Memoir of Injustice & Redemption
Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, Ronald Cotton & Erin Torneo 07/09
Down the Great Unknown, John Wesley Powell’s 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon – Edward Dolnick 07/09
The Greatest Generation – Tom Brokaw 07/09
Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt 08/09
Why We Buy – Paco Underhill 08/09
Last Lion, the Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy – by the team at the Boston Globe and edited by Peter S. Canellos 08/09
The Third Chapter Passion, Risk and Adventure in the 25 years After 50
Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot 09/09
Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization – Lester R. Brown 09/09
Born To Run – A hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen – Christopher McDougall 10/09
The Ethics of Climate Change – James Garvey 10/09
Human Origins, what bones and genomes tell us about ourselves – Robert DeSalles & Ian Tattersall 10/09
The Healing of America – T.R. Reid 11/09
Places In-between – Rory Stuart 11/09
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies - Diamond, Jared 12/09
Earth: The Sequel - Fred Krupp and Miriam Horn 12/09

R x R Crossing ...Stop! Look! & Listen! ... a reflection.

Here the train is making the 24th or 25th Christmas lap around the tree.

It was Christmas Eve when I constructed the familar, crude wooden train in the unheated barn at the old Alloway homestead in 1976 or 1977 for Todd and Jason. I remember the discomfort of cold fingers and feet by the time I completed the train well after midnight. Two days ago Grandson Nolan and I were completing "rumbling" laps around the tree, a quarter century later on the resonating wooden floor.

Time moves on!

Winter Greens!

Outside temperatures last evening were in the single digits as I harvested the above Swiss Chard from the passive green house for our evening meal. Very COOL, despite the cold!

Who did this?

What do you see in the photo taken of our bathroom mirror?

Sue and I have notice this for the last three days. I think we were silently blaming each other. But why would either of us do such a thing? If it were the 1980 - 90's with the "kids" still here, then it would be easy to assess the blame. Yesterday, I finally asked Sue if she could explain the pranksterish sign.

Well this morning it dawned me that three days ago I had taken grandson Nolan into the bathroom and stood him on the counter top to look in the mirror at his chalk mustache. We had been drawing on the chalk board in the dinning room when I smugged a chalky mustache on Nolan. Apparently Nolan reached out and dragged his chalky fingers across the mirror, resulting in a smug looking very much like "Hi".

So who is the real prankster here?

Season Haiku

The other day I was searching for an original idea that I could use to make a homemade season greeting card. I decided it would be fun to try my hand at composing a haiku that would reflect the upcoming Christmas/New Year season.

If you would like to refresh your memory as to what a haiku is; then click on the link below: http://volweb.utk.edu/school/bedford/harrisms/haiku.htm

Below is my haiku constructive effort.

Snow flying,
hungry cardinal watches our feeder.
... New Year Anticipation!

Did I meet the criteria?