A walk in the park

gratitude with my 'Superhero' pen
gratitude with my ‘Superhero’ pen

It rained Thursday morning, at least part of the day, when the rain ended, it left a beautiful afternoon. W and I made it to school and got all of my teacher stuff moved to my new rooms. It took only a couple of hours, having W move the boxes made it easier for me to work on the pitch, the pitch where I looked through stuff and tossed into the recycle bin. It felt good, but there is more to toss, but that will have to wait for another day.

Friday was beautiful, the kind of early summer morning when it is not quite summer and yet, still not quite spring, either – cool crisp air, bright sun, a sky so blue that it makes the green deeper and brighter. A perfect day for a walk in the park.

A couple of months ago we took Ivy to the vet for a round of shots. The vet looked me directly in the eye and told me she was concerned. I get the kind of look I get from my doctor, too. I suspected it was coming. Ivy needed to lose some weight. Since then, we’ve walked her, held back on treats, and it has worked – she has slimmed down a little. One of my summer goals, it is one which pops up annually, is to get back in the groove and slim down, too. It is easier in the summer, but it is also easy to fall back to old habits when the schedule cranks up in the fall.

Friday morning Ivy, O, and I took off for the dog park and a walk in the park. Ivy always knows when we are going to the dog park and whines, barks, and howls as we get closer. We are surrounded by open land owned by the county forest preserve much of it prairie and woods with trails and bike paths. One of the preserves is a dog park and it is close to the house. It is fenced in so Ivy can run free without us having to worry about her running off. We’ve been using the park for a few years, but I hadn’t renewed the license this year. The last time we were there, another dog nipped Ivy’s ear and we hadn’t been back. But, I decided to give it another try, she needs to run and our backyard isn’t big enough for her to really run. Yesterday was a good day to visit; hardly anyone was there so the chance of a repeat incident was slim. Ivy knew where we were going whining and barking the closer we got. The dog park has upgraded to limestone walking paths for two-legged visitors and there is plenty of open prairie for the four-legged variety. O and I walked and talked. Ivy ran and ran and ran. She was tired by the time we left.

Ivy lay down when we got home and enjoyed the sun warming herself in the yard. O played with a neighbor and I wrote my ‘thank you’ notes. W worked on organizing his gear for his trip to Sea Base next week. He leaves Sunday morning for a week of scuba diving in the Florida Keys. He’s gonna have a great time. The rest of the day was a lazy summer afternoon. O had a softball game and W left for a night camping with the scout troop. He’s white water rafting today, and he’ll be back to finish packing and get a good night’s rest before his trip. It was a pretty quiet evening.

It’s Saturday morning now and the sun is as bright as it was yesterday. Today promises to be a great day. O has softball, I have things to do and places to go, so I’d better get up and get moving. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, even on a short walk at the dog park.

Do you ever take a walk in the park? Where do you go?

 

8 thoughts on “A walk in the park

    1. thanks – I had most of it in boxes already, I reuse them every year. we used to have to pack everything up every year, even if we were not changing classrooms, it was a huge drain of time and energy. This will be my tenth classroom in fifteen years – most of the moves come as a way to adapt to changing school populations – last year seventh grade had eleven sections, the coming year ten. The dog park is fun – it’s a good place to visit year round, especially in the summer when I can visit any time – when I feel like it. She is a good dog and right now, she is standing guard to the deck and keeping the yard safe!

    1. It’s a good place to go and walk and let Ivy run.. and let my mind run as well. My daughter O and I go together often and has has fun with the other dogs and running after Ivy. It does us both good- actually all three!

    1. Summer is off to a great start – got back to the dog park Saturday, gardening on Sunday, and summer recreation – kid’s softball, basketball, football, and wrestling kicks in today! Time to fold and clean out closets! Woohoo! We will probably be breaking a sweat and commiserating with you folks in NYC aka sweat rolling down your back, ugghhh!

    1. thanks, sad to hear about your Brittany. We went back yesterday and she ran and ran some more. She was all tired out when we got home. That night she was visibly upset with us because the Blackhawk’s game went into double OT and her place on the couch was taken by a couple of Hawkey (sic) fans! She’s been up patrolling the backyard since 5.30! A beautiful day in store. maybe I’ll drop some pounds, too!

Thanks for visiting MtDC. How are YOU Making YOUR Days Count?