Character Review #1

I have introduced nearly 30 characters in my blog.   I'm taking some time to clarify and update them.

Patience: My longest walking partner.   One of four animals to become a character.   One of two characters to have a photo available.
Violet:  Walking partner, animal character, photo available, princess of Dallas County.
Paper Boy: My only regular walking partner that never walks.   His car is why I wear red flashers.
Daring Dee:  Walking partner away from home.  Caring Kim's good friend and travel partner.   Sometimes not that daring.
Louisiana Bob: Made a mean dove breast gumbo.
Fix-it Chuck:  A good neighbor when I walked more west in Dallas County.   His name says it all.
Poker Dave: A friend we lost too soon.
Park Ranger: The only character to introduce himself.   Shows up when I screw up my nature facts.
The Farmer: Current neighbor who serves both as a character and a landmark. 

Memory Web

I've been questioned for why I waste a good walk with thinking.   I guess some folks clear their minds and it becomes meditation.   I'd be worried if I cleared my mind I wouldn't find my way home.   Caring Kim would be worried about the dogs.   Anyway, I love the time to think without interruption.

I easily forget half of my aha's on the road.    It used to bother me until I was reminded that I easily have forgotten half of everything I think about.  

I have contemplated strategies or tried a few ideas to bring my thoughts from the road to the computer.   For a while I tried to write everything down as soon as I got home.    That became a job.   I thought about bringing a mini-recorder but I would either lose it or lose a dog.   Now I just jot down a few words on a scrap of paper whenever the memory flashes.

Actually, I like the process of writing the blog in my head, editing as I walk and then leaving it on the road.    My ideas are all out there suspended above the gravel like a spider web.   When I walk through them the thoughts will return.

The Golf Cart Lady

People that live far from heavily populated, residential areas are out there for a reason.   There are as many reasons as there are people but they are where they need to be.    They are not hermits or criminal deviants; they just have peculiar habits that have become a life style.   In the "neighborhoods", they would be the topic of whispered conversations and never invited to the barbeque.    I know.   I live on a dead end lane surrounded by trees.   My nearest neighbor is a quarter mile.   I am one of those relegated to living in semi-isolation and I love it.

So is the golf cart lady.   She lives on a beautiful sprawling acreage that looks like a set for the Dallas TV series.   A large brick ranch home with an attached cottage;  well-aged, beautiful landscaping, plenty of garage space for vehicles, fine stables with horses, freshly painted white wooden fences and three dogs.   It's the dogs that form the peculiar habit.

I first noticed it during the 5th mile of a 9 mile walk with my dogs.   Instead of walking down gravel roads, she exercises her dogs by chasing them around her acreage.   I was expecting maybe her galloping on horseback along side her dogs; or speeding along on a four-wheeler, dogs on each side.   But not a golf cart with the canopy roof bumping along, dogs running ahead.

The golf cart lady, wrangling her dogs, will always live in he country.

I'm Back with Decisions

It has been a while since I sat to write this blog.   I've done plenty of writing.   Most of it technical for the job.   So my excuse is: Between this being my busy time of year and trying to stay in shape I haven't written any reflective thoughts.

However, most of that time my mind was working.   I even made a few decisions. 

There are too many benefits to my morning walk to ever make a list and the benefits change regularly.   One benefit that stays constant is a walks ability to clarify decisions.    My first moment of clarity arrived and it became clear that Caring Kim and I should get married.    We are not married, be we made the decision to do it.    I thought about the tax implications and she thought about strangling me for having the thought.  

Then there is big decision number two.   How I spend my days.   For 56 years straight I have been part of a school community as a student, teacher or principal.    I think that needs to change.   It hasn't changed yet, but I made the decision to do it.   Some folks may suggest that I left the building already, but they should leave that type of humor to me.

Marriage and a new job...whew...that's a lot of deciding.   Maybe on my walks I'll think about great smells, frogs, the golf cart lady, deer, spiders, and ancient Eastern philosophy.