Whistle

I am walking to the river.

Sometimes I whistle when I walk Inviting the breeze to come.

 

The birds whistle to each other.

They hide within the branches of the trees when it rain.

Their wings become heavy when wet.

 

Some places flood when it rains.

Places next to a river.

Houses along a river.

Even after repeated floods people don’t want leave.

 

Some mountains have frequent fires.

People who live there also don’t want to move to another plane.

 

Some people have perseverance.

They have courage to resist.

 

The cool breeze comes.

I continue my walk.

Sometimes I think of you. I wonder of what you are doing.

 

I will see you on Thursday.

note:Color my heart with cookies.

My Holy Moments

 

Today I went for my walk before I had my breakfast. It was 53F and the sun was trying to peek behind the clouds. A light brown, tall poodle lumbered out from a door and ran ahead of me. I heard a young woman called out, “Mozart, Mozart, come back.” The woman and I exchanged pleasantries. I remarked that she has a beautiful dog. I met a walker with his dog, a smaller one thanMozart. We greeted each other, Good morning. They were walking on opposite direction.

I continued my walk to the river. A few fishermen were socializing among themselves. Their lines resting on the riverbank.

Two towering palm trees across each other on the sidewalk greeted passerby’s. They remind me of a warmer place somewhere. The yucca plants did not give me a similar memory. 

Perhaps because of a rain for the last 2 days the street was fairly clean. The birds sang joyfully.

 

By the time I turned around to walk back home the sun has burst out. The top of the hills has risen above the clouds. The breeze 55F grazed my face like a whisper. 

My morning of holy moments.

Walking

During my walk
when one foot touches the earth
am I honoring someone or something?
The bones buried under the land?
Or the sustenance that rises up the roots
Or the stories heard by the tress told
by storms and musical wind?

I’m resting on a bench, listening
to the music around me, movements
like breaking twigs and leaves scattering
an older lady passes by, we exchange greetings
and talk about the 100 vines of newly planted cabernet,
surrounded by special grain of sand,
on the bend of the walkway.in front of us.

We walk along the path everyday and only
now we do meet. A casual conversation,
tidbits of solace during solitary walks.
They add like intertwining yarn
in beauty and strength.

After a while we say so long
resume our ordinary time.

photo: from m mobile phone.

A day like today

The day is mildly cloudy with a cool breeze.
I climb the bridge that arches over the river
I stop once, before the crest, for my heart to catch up
At the Riverfront I rest on a bench for sips of water
Lunch at CIA-Copia at the Oxbow Market
My return walk home, the hour is more sunny, warmer
14, 000 steps.

My Monday walk to fitness

For the last 2 weeks I started to walk everyday with two days off a week. Today is hot with a mild cool breeze. What did I see today?

From top of Maxwell Bridge in Imola Avenue looking down Napa River are kayakers.

I climbed the bridge and down to Kennedy Park where the trail joins the Napa River Trail and I met a gentleman pushing a stroller where his big dog is riding. Sometimes the dog rides a surfboard, sometime the dog walks and other times rides the stroller he said.That’s the bridge I climbed and down.

Napa Downtown’s renovation includes a new hotel, Archer Hotel and new stores and wine tasting venues. The hotel has a simple modern architecture. Very pleasing to the eye.

On the way back I passed by a samll garden with pink trumpets.

I made my 10, 000 steps for the day.

My Monday walk

note: Lately I have been walking almost everyday. On Monday I did one of my long walks. There are are a lot to see outdoors.

New encounters

87 degrees, sunny with some breeze. Mrs. Abstract kisses me goodbye. She is going to play Mexican Train with her friends from the Women’s Guild. I have a good reason to stay home and read.

Athletes subject themselves to “rigorous and exhausting discipline, giving up many comforts and pleasures.The contemplatives, (or monks) also submit themselves also to rigorous regimen.

When I consider the disciplines of the athletes and monks and compare them to myself I’m a small pebble in comparison. Their stories are distant but not too far away from me.

I pick my staff, and my cap and go out the house and start walking towards the river.

A man, paraplegic, sitting on a wheelchair under a shade of a tree near the river, greets me with smile. He is enjoying the breeze. After a short conversation, we part after wishing each other a good day.

While standing on the river bank I see a sail boat with two riders coming to the inlet. I wave to them and the man greets me. I greet him back and wish the two riders a good day.

Returning from the river I meet a gentleman wearing a yellow cap and sitting on a bench. We start talking. I am 93, he says when I ask him how old he is.

Returning home I see a man and his dog walking from the opposite end of the walkway.We exchange pleasantries. He introduces his dog as a cockerpood. He says it’s a breed between a cocker spaniel and a poodle. She is a quiet dog, hardly barks her master says.

My cell phone says 4 miles and 9,000 steps. It may not be accurate..

The meaning of reality is how one faces reality.

Reflections

I have been writing lately mainly about my walks
I’m not that old to know that nasturtiums are edible
The leaves are rich in vitamins and calcium
neglible bitterness which chard also possessed.

I like bitter melons and they are bitter
I don’t have to make it philosophical
like pain and rejections that acceptance makes us stronger

Sweat and scenery ride together each cajoling each other
like two friends ribbing and sometimes hurting each oher

When we were children ghosts made us cry and curious
We told our stories and we laughed.

We follow the bent of our mind with the best effort
without allowing any passing moment without uttering gratitude.

Without a car I am compelled to walk
Which begins as reluctance to accept
converts to a blessing and daily gratitude.

What are these flowers?

Part of the Riverfront walk. Cool and sunny. Nice cloud formations.

Inside Oxbow Public Market

Look for the white heron

How to think your way

For six days in a row I have been walking for at least one hour each day. It was prompted by my heart doctor that I should be more commited to my health and fitness. I started reading a book, Let Your Mind Run, A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory by an American long distance runner and Olympic medalist, Deena Kastor, co-written with Michele Hamilton.

It’s an honest, frank ,and inspiring story of how Deena Kastor started running, baring the essentials of her training and personal insights in what winning and losing mean. Her training helps her tremendously not just to be the best athlete but also how to be a better person.

I find that I can apply her training as a runner to me for my fitness and health. She wrote about how she inspires herself to enjoy the rigors of training. She says: “As an athlete I’ve found aside from hard work, the greatest tools for success are optimism and gratitude.These practices have led to happiness and the routine pause to realize I’m living the life I love and dreamed of.”

Her:blog

Today was warmer than yesterday.I walked for 75 minutes in the neighborhood.

To walk another day

To the river, along the river and over the river. That’s what I did in my walk to fitness today.

Today I drove to library to return a book, After Alice by Gregory Maguire, a book I joyously finished reading. A return to Wonderland of Alice. A return to childhood lightened my heart.

And I got a new book, Ordinary Light, A memoir, by Tracy K. Smith, the Poet Laureate of the United States. I also just finished Life on Mars, one of her book of poems.

From the libaray, I walked on the Riverfront , over a bridge then to the Vine Trail which connect to Kennedy Park.

The weather today was similar to yesterday, sunny with a cool breeze. I had to walk with a warmup top on.

today: 76 minutes.9,000 steps.
Yesterday: 11,000 steps.

I have to alternate in a certain way long and short distances.