Spring Has Sprung





Part 1



My friend Liz joined me for a 2.6 mile walk this morning. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed the time together. We were talking the entire time and the miles went by very quickly.


We didn't start until 8:00 this morning, so there was a lot more traffic on the trail. The bicycles were very visible. I rode the MS 150 about 17 years ago, so I'm aware of the etiquette for riders. Many are great and always call "on your left" when they pass. Unfortunately, quite a few are either ignorant of the courtesy or are just rude and fly by without any warning. It is such a small thing and really makes a difference in the safety for the pedestrians. It is aggravating that they don't make the effort.


There were a lot of walkers today and lot fewer runners. That may have been due to our later start. I didn't get a sense of anything particular about the people today because we were involved in our conversation. I did see one really big dog. It looked like a Weimaraner, but was as big as a Great Dane. It was pretty far away, so I couldn't tell for sure the breed.


Tomorrow is another day - and another walk.

Part 2

Sunday was a different day. The sky was clear and the temperature was mild. The wind, however, was very active.

The flower of the day was the Azalea. With the cold, wet weather we've had, the bushes didn't flower as early as they normally do. Every spring in Houston they have the Azalea Trail. It is a fund-raiser where you can pay the fee to look at a number of the beautiful azalea installations around the city. Some of them are really breath-taking when they are in full bloom. Since this is generally held the first week in March, I don't think they had a very good showing this year. This weekend was when the bushes bloomed. There were bright pink, red, and salmon in evidence at the park and they were beautiful. There were a few patches of Indian Paint Brush, but it will be another couple of weeks before they come into their own. I also saw a couple of bunches of bluebonnets. I think there will be a lot more by next weekend.

The native grasses are getting very tall. They don't mow in many areas of the park in order to keep the native plants alive and strong. It appears that someone does keep the area to either side of the path cleaned up so there isn't a lot of overgrowth. I'm guessing that they have to do it with weed whackers because they could never get mowers so close to the trees. Whatever they do and whoever does it - it looks great and it makes for a wonderful place to enjoy.

When I completed the first half of the walk and was ready to turn around to head back, I decided to take "the high road." That is what I call the alternate path that is on the opposite side of the park. I have seen a lot of people walking their dogs and a number of mountain bikes taking that path. It is higher and much more in the sun that the path I generally walk. It is only partially paved. There is a lot of loose gravel and a couple of place with lots of sand. I hit one spot where the sand was wet and I sunk into it. It wasn't too deep, but it surprised me. I spoke with a number of people out with their dogs. For some reason, they are more talkative than the walkers and runners. The wind was more of a problem, partially due to the limited amount of cover and partially due to the fact that I was walking into it. By the time I got back to my car, my forehead and the muscles around my eyes were very tight - apparently I was squinting even with my sunglasses. It was really tiring and when I got home I was exhausted.

This was really a tougher weekend than I've had before. I will do the same repetition next weekend and hope I do better.