Anyway, I came through Friday, November 13th, unscathed. Woo hoo...
Saturday had started off pretty mellow. One word: football. Since Glenn was engaged in his current weekend activity of watching many football games, I spent a bit of time glued to the computer. The afternoon arrived and a discussion was had about how beer needed to be purchased because on Sunday Georgia has a law...no buy-ee the beer-o. For the most part, I'm the one who usually ventures out to Kroger for whatever needs to be procured from there. Glenn is less than fond of going, and I have no problem making the trip so...there you go. As I've mentioned before, I've been trying to make an effort to start walking more. This was a prime instance for me to put that effort into effect. I decided to walk to Kroger. However, I wasn't about to walk back with a weighty box of beer. Another discussion was had and it was decided that I would walk to Kroger, and call Glenn to come pick me up. So, after putting on my tennies and sunglasses, and tucking fresh batteries for the camera into my pocket (the current ones were rather low), I headed out.
I made my way to the main entrance and the asphalt bike path. Was deciding pretty rapidly that I hadn't picked the best time of day to go for a walk. It was mid-afternoon, so the sun was intensely bright and (of course) in my eyes. (Snapped a couple of pictures to illustrate the fact.) Was hoping that my corneas wouldn't be permanently damaged by the walks end. Anyway, I made my way to the bike path and hung a left this time. The sun was kind of a nuisance. It's hard to scope out possible photos when ol' Sol up there is reducing your eyeballs to raisins. I quickened my pace towards the next street, Walthour (pronounced Walt-our). The bike path made a left down this street and I was hoping that there would be fewer rays there. After dodging a few bikers and a mailman, I reached Walthour and did a left. Took a picture of the Piggly Wiggly billboard on the corner. Don't know if it was really that picture worthy, but for whatever reason I snapped a photo. It was only a couple of blocks to the next street that I'd be hanging a right on, Concord. (That's where the bike path goes.) This was a more preferable route to take than down Johnny Mercer Boulevard. I could go that way, but there isn't any type of sidewalk or roadside path. This route was more 'walker friendly'. Once I turned the corner, I encountered a number of runners. Not together, but individuals out for there afternoon run. They all said hello as they passed. I said hello, or gave an occassional "Nice day for it"...got a couple of odd looks with that one. Oh well. Guess I've seen 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' one too many times. One of the joggers had his dog with him. A Pit Bull. Very glad that they were moving at a nice little clip and that the dog was on a leash. He kind of looked at me like a piece of kibble. I will say that even with that close encounter and the sun being rather piercing, I was enjoying myself quite a bit. I love to walk, and enjoy it even more when it's down a path I haven't traveled on foot before. Very nice indeed.
Got to Concord and turned right with the path. Something I've really loved on these walks I've been taking is that there are yards here. There are trees here. I lived in Los Angeles for years which is technically a desert, and everything is so close together and covered with more concrete and asphalt than grass. (I tossed a picture in the collection up there of a couple of houses and the greenery around them.) That's what the majority of the homes around here are like. Brilliant. At the corner of Concord there was another sign I felt the need to snap a shot of. 'No Dogs Allowed Seeing Eye Dogs Only'. Guess the guy with the Pit Bull was shining the sign on, cause no way is that dog of the 'seeing eye' ilk. Oh well...moving right along. Continuing down the road I passed a school (think its a high school), a sports field, and the dump/recycling center. Looked like there was some sort of parent/teacher gathering going on at the school; the field was inactive; there were a few people dropping off or dumping stuff. To any of my Los Angeles friends who might be reading this, over here on the island this is where we have to haul our recycling. Think they have a limited pick-up service in limited areas, but at the condos here if we want to recycle we have to throw it in the back of the truck and drive it to the center. My guess? That not as many people recycle here as they did out there. It was so easy to just toss ones recyclables in the bins that West Hollywood provided. The blue truck would come around and empty them. Oh well...I will admit that I'm badder about recyling since coming here. Another thing to make an effort on.
Once I passed the recycling place, there was nothing but trees on my right for a ways. Trees and a number of chattery squirells. I got a pic of one of the more active tree rodents, but it was extremely blurry...didn't include it. He was very jumpy and had eyes the size of dinner plates. A bit of a spaz really. High up in the trees, there was conversation amoung the squirrels that sounded like...I guess the best way to describe it is if Donald Duck were speaking jibberish. Yeah...I know...think Donald speak without the words. Moving right along...There was a ditch to my left filled with water and a thick layer of algae. Made me think of Swamp Thing. Expected to see his head pop out of there at any moment. Well, didn't encounter Swamp Thing, but I did meet another critter. He popped up a little farther on.
About a block or so from the corner of the next street I'd be turning down (Kroger is right off of there) was the first of the weathered boats. Several different rather rustic abodes with boats at various stages of decay lined this last leg of Concord. The actual houses were set back a bit and had leaf covered earthen driveways. Snapped a pic of one of the houses...it sat back from the road beyond a wide dirt path through some trees. In many ways, that's the kind of house I would like. On a nice plot of land with lots of trees and greenery around it. Anyway, it was at this point that I had a visitor pop out at me. An older grey cat (at least part Siamese, I'd say) that I'll call Salty. Like an 'Old Salt of the Sea'. He had blue droopy lidded eyes, and his tongue poked slightly out of the front of his mouth. I remember thinking that if he could talk, I bet he'd sound like Sylvester. He was a little loopy (slow on the reaction), but a friendly little guy. Scratched him on the head for a minute, and then he decided it was time to take a roll in the dirt. It was at that point that I gave him a farewell and made my way down to Kroger. Got what I went there to get, called Glenn, and came home. The rest of the evening was as mellow as the rest of the day, but I did feel great after my walk. Just reminded me how much I miss walking.
Sunday was kind of a poopy day. My arms were bothering me quite a bit. I get this pain (especially in my right arm) that starts in the shoulder and radiates down through to my hand. Th best way I can describe the pain is that my arm feels like it's bruised from the inside. Like the nerves are hurting from the inside out. Don't know how much sense that makes, but it's the pain I hate the most. When my RA is hurting me, I can just hold the achey areas still, but this pain just persists until it stops. I've been up nights in tears because it hurts so bad. A high tolerance for pain is something that I've always had, so if I'm reduced to tears...well, that's some serious pain. Thankfully I'm better today. Pronouced stiffness in my hands, but that's pertty usual.
Well, I've been overly verbose as I am wont to do. I'm sure this is all very fascinating. lol Time to sign off and grab some sustenance.
OH! One last thing...Glenn fiddled with the camera and the macro setting. The last picture I added is of the actual 'Spike'. She's been hanging in there through the weather fluctuations we had for a few days. I must say that I'm glad that none of my neighbors or the grounds crew have trashed her web. I've gotten kind of accustomed to seeing her up there working on her pretty web. You can see a bit of detail on the actual spider under that spikey shell. Good pic, Glenn. :)
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