The Universe Meeting My Needs

Today, my current day job went a little long than I'd planned, and I found myself relatively late at night trying to find a stranger to make introductions to complete one aspect of the daily practice.  I'd gotten a reasonably good photo of Mobile, and I'd finished my calisthenics but I needed a stranger to complete the day.

Birthplace of Mardi Gras - Mobile, AL

When I find myself in this sort of situation, I usually take a little short cut and try to find some sort of retail establishment to make a trivial purchase and use that interaction to meet the store clerk or manager or on odd occasions a customer. Following that pattern, I headed out to a convenience store about a mile down the road.

As I was walking down the path, I began to get a little restless about the approach. It fit within the rules, but the financial transaction to smooth the road to the introduction always struck me as the lazy way out. Just as I was beginning to come to terms with my decision, I looked up and a man on a bike had pulled up. I walked alongside, and he asked me if I knew if the Gator Alley catwalk closed after dusk.  I introduced myself, and he returned the favor when he told me his name was Rick.

We talked a little, and he shared that he was camping just up the road and was likely heading out in the next couple of days after the presidential election was over. He was a good guy.

The real point in all this was that just at the moment I began to think I was cheating myself by contriving a way to meet someone new, the universe delivered.  Two months ago, I would have avoided Rick.  After a little over a month of practicing introductions, I welcomed the exchange with Rick.

I'm probably overthinking things, but there's a lesson in this experience somewhere. I'd walked almost every step to that convenience store I'd targeted a little over fifteen minutes before. Rick (and the Universe) didn't save me a whole lot of steps, but by doing the work he did save me a little money.

It's impossible to know what's around the next corner, but if you keep walking there's a good chance you'll find out. There's also a better than average chance that the unexpected result will be better (and certainly different) than what you'd imagined.

Fishing on the Menominee River

This is likely my last trip to Marinette, Wi.  The opportunity to combine my evening walk with a brief fishing outing on the Menominee River proved too much to resist, and I spent a very relaxing couple of hours chasing the sunset as well as a some fish.

Like the last time I was hear, I only landed one small mouth bass (colloquially known as a smallie in this area), but it was a bit better fish than I landed last time.

Smallie - Menominee River - Marinette, WI

This little guy put of a good fight, and the thrill of the catch was worth the cost of getting set up for the opportunity. Spending time out on the river was deeply relaxing, and I'm glad that I've gotten to the point in my life that fishing is a much bigger draw than spending any time at all on watching television or some other form of on screen entertainment.

After hooking this one, I spend about the next half an hour largely practicing my casting, and was rewarded at the end with another great sunset.

Sunset on the Menominee - Marinette, WI

The air has a hint of fall in the air, and there was not a breath of moving air. The sky and the river became one at the close of the day, and if it weren't for gravity, it would have been hard to tell them apart.

Today was  an exceptional day.  Safe travel covering over one thousand miles, the opportunity to pit my wits and technology against some fish, and a sunset that is really quite unbelievable when I look back at the photos. I'm not sure what tomorrow may hold, but I'm looking forward to taking another crack at another good day.  Goodness is all around us. I have not always recognized this fact, but now that I do, my life has gotten much better.  It has become a life centered around the experiences that I have...or even make...rather than the things that I own. It's a lesson that I knew once, forgot for a time, and am relearning as I grow a little more seasoned. I grateful for the relearning that's gone on over the last several years, and I continue to greet each day with the respect for the the opportunities that the day will provide if I'm open to seeing them.

New Beginnings

Someone I ran across this weekend suggested that I start each day off with some meditation. It's been my habit to start each day off with some social media gossip browsing, and I've noticed of late that habit has a tendency to grow over time. I took up the meditation suggestion, and it's early in the experiment, but I think the initial results indicate a potentially positive direction.

Heading Out - Capital Rowing Club Sunrise Practice - Washington, DC

I'll give it another round tomorrow, but starting the day that way seemed to put me in a mindset where I was more open to taking a slightly different direction and finding myself with the sunrise rowing practice above cross my path. Perhaps it was just luck of the draw, but I don't think so. I'm beginning to believe that if you reach out to the universe, the great powers that fuel the race of the planets often reach back.

Heading Back - Capital Rowing Club - Washington, DC

Some items that have been percolating for awhile should start making some progress toward closure tomorrow. Today, I'm practicing letting the outcome of those discussions fall where they might. I've done my best, and I've not harmed anyone as far as I know. All that's left is to live out the adventure as it presents itself in the morning...or maybe the afternoon.  Until then...Cheers.

...and it happens every day!

I woke up at a little after 4 am this morning, promptly hit the snooze button, and said to myself "just seven more minutes." Two and a half hours later I jolted awake in a panic because I knew I'd removed any reasonable possibility of making the first scheduled meeting of the day. The panic morphed a little as I plodded downstairs and beheld the fact that a Leprechaun had sprung the trap that my daughter had set for it the evening before, and instead of leaving a pot of gold, he had eaten the carrots, chicken, and most of the chocolate used for bait, he'd slept in the barbie bed, and put little green footprints all over the kitchen floor.

Between the late awakening and the chaos of the Leprechaun, St. Patrick's Day 2016 had gotten off to an inauspicious start.

Events, as they are wont to do, unfolded in a slightly more organized fashion and I was able to see a friend of mine from college who I have not seen in person since 2004 because he went out of his way to drop by my office on his way to another event. I pushed some paper through the process at work because that's what I get paid to do, and I hit the trail in the afternoon with a little bit of relatively comfortable jogging to test out the foot.

It was also a pretty good day to capture photos of the grand ol' lass of the Anacostia as the time of her departure draws closer.

Another Skyline with USS Barry

The USS Barry has become such a centerpiece for quite a bit of my photography during walks that I'm not sure how it will sit with me when she leaves in about six weeks.

Anacostia Afternoon with USS Barry

As I've probably mentioned before, she's been here in DC for about three decades now.

USS Barry and Vietnam era Swift Boat

These two pictures are the first time that I remember taking photos of Barry from the starboard side of the ship. I'm not sure why my habit to date has been to capture only the port side. It's an odd but enduring habit that I thankful to have broken today.

USS Barry and WNYD Saluting Battery

Just after I snapped the series of pictures for this panoramic view, a very large fish jumped right at my feet (I was on the water side of the pedestrian safety chain), and the sudden splash startled me enough to just about cause me to fall into the river. Thankfully, I managed to regain a modicum of composure, although my pride was pretty well shot at this point.

After completing what felt like an overly long commute, I wound up in Annapolis at just the right moment to capture the sun setting over College Creek. This just goes to show that if you let it, the universe will conspire to make you successful in spite of your best efforts to the contrary. Thanks to long lines of traffic, I arrived in the right place at just the right time to capture the following shots.

College Creek Sunset Panorama

This panoramic mashup created by Google Photos captures the scope of the vista pretty well, but the color has shifted enough that it doesn't quite capture the feel of the scene. I'm glad it was made for perspective because the sweep of the sky and the water just can't be adequately expressed in a single framed photo from this vantage point.

College Creek Sunset #2

This image is true to the colors of what greeted me on arrival in Annapolis after sitting in traffic for a little over an hour. The wait was worth it.

College Creek Sunset #3

A friend of mine remarked that this was "Amazing." I responded, "...and it happens every day." Some solar events are more flamboyant than others, but if you're lucky enough to experience one, they are all unique and pretty special...at least they are to me.

I've been very lucky over the last six months or so, and I'm looking for that good luck of good experience and a sliver of planning and action to pay dividends again tomorrow.

Watching the Day Perish

Getting back on the trail has been a slow process over the last four days, but with patience, I'm confident that hill will be conquered. One of the good things to come out of the experience is the opportunity to spend a little more time in places that I've normally just breezed past. The distances covered art not nearly as long, and the pace is certainly slower. That's not all bad since it gives the opportunity to see a little more, to linger a little longer, and if I'm lucky, get in a few more photos.

Severn River - Looking North

This morning dawned crisp and clear. The sun was shining, and the weather, though a bit nippy was about as good as could be hoped for in Maryland during the month of February.  I was hoping to capture some shots of the river iced over this year, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. We'll see how it plays out, but there is always next year.

Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard Bridge - Severn River

A friend of mine noted that the calm wind didn't make for very good sailing weather, and she's not wrong about that aspect of the morning.  I like the calm. The photos are better because of the reflections off the surface of the water, and it would be a glorious (though bracing) day for water skiing.  I'll have to share the tale of water skiing naked behind under the Hathaway Bridge someday. Today is not that day.

Abandoned Boat Slips - Severn River

Now that the days are getting longer and the sun is setting earlier, sunrises on the weekends are getting a bit harder to capture.  I'm up in time, but have other commitments so early morning lighting will be what's on the menu until next fall. Perhaps I'll catch a few dawns while on travel.

Crossing the Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard Bridge

The play of the sky and the water make the quality of light here in Annapolis a thing that competes with the best areas of southern Europe on the Mediterranean. One day, I hope to see these vistas from much, much higher up.

Hospital Point on the Severn River

The walk took me a little farther than I had planned, and my foot felt the burn. I'm pretty sure I didn't overdo things too much, but the freedom of the trail was calling, and pushing things just a bit seemed like it was worth a bit of discomfort. The morning ended my time on the trail, and that gave me the freedom to spend the sunset in a slightly different manner than has been my ambulatory habits of the past.

Sunset on Spa Creek

It takes some patience and a warm hat to fully experience the dying of a day. The warm hat is probably optional, but it proved to be an experience enhancing addition today. 

From the time this picture was taken, till the time the charcoal gray of the night sky had chased the warmth to the western horizon took just under an hour. I spend that time on the Eastport Bridge, looking west, and the experience is something that I think I'd like to repeat. I saw at least a dozen airplanes stream past. Their icy contrails were turned into orange fire as the refracted rays of the setting sun glinted off their lines in the sky. Like slowly moving meteors, the scribed their path to points south.

Spa Creek Sunset

As the blue of the sky faded to indigo, I saw duck and geese fly past with the bellies painted pink by the setting sun. As the death of the day unfolded, I was the only one on the bridge watching it happen. Cars rushed past behind me, and a large number of walkers stopped to snap a few shots. Time slowed down, and the distractions were easy to ignore. I don't get this kind of experience from watching an hour of television. Getting outside and seeing things happen at their natural pace is the only thing that makes me really want to come back and try to describe what it's like. The words are inadequate. The air was cool and the light breeze kept things antiseptic and not very nourishing. I actually loved the peppery heft that the man with the cigar brought to the scene. The fullness of that moment was fleeting as the breeze whisked it away up the creek. A couple of lovers stopped to canoodle up a few paces toward Eastport. A bit of hugging and a nuzzle or two, and they moved on inspired to come together but now stay for the end.

Nightfall on Spa Creek

The inky sky marched westward, and the charcoal blackness of night followed close at its heels. When I finally saw the last rays of the dying day slip below the horizon I turned to my car and walked back across the bridge with Jerry Macker. He's the best bass player in the state of Maryland according to his account anyway. He's certainly fallen on hard times, but it was great to make his acquaintance at the end of the day. He told me to look for him downtown this summer, and that he'd make every effort to play at the Eastport vs. Annapolis tug-o-war tournament. I'll look for him there. Meeting him and making the connection, however brief, was the gift of the day as it receded into history. 

A Changed Approach has Resulted in Unexpected Breakthroughs

A couple of different mental exercises that I've been fussing around with over the last several weeks have been yielding some unexpected and apparently positive (so far anyway) results. Quite a bit of this change has been "forced" upon me by the foot injury, but some of it has been a conscious decision to pursue something quite a bit different from my routine.

The change that's been introduced from the outside has been welcome. Of course this welcoming outlook did not happen initially, but like most change imposed from outside I've come to terms with it.  That aspect of the differing routine is not particularly interesting to me since it is largely the "same old, same old" story of adaptation to my environment.

The deliberate decision making that led to chasing after something completely different has been the much more interesting, and frankly, rewarding process. I'm really not completely clear on why over the last several weeks I decided to begin some relatively simple experiments. Some of it was my exposure over the last several months to the TED Talks. Some of it was borne of frustration with situations that I don't have much influence and almost zero control over how the outcome plays out. Some of it was generated  from a re-emerging foundation of "playful" adventure that has been left to atrophy over the course of some challenging times.

One thing that I've observed as this reawakening has been manifesting itself is that it is building on some of the very foundational changes that have arisen out of the more disciplined routines that I developed over the last year or so.  Those routines have laid in an infrastructure from which this more fun-filled approach to leaning my shoulder into the experience of living can draw experience and sustenance as I peek out fomr behind some of the berms that I've accumulated in the past.

It's really been rewarding and fun, and it's given me a renewed sense of confidence moving forward. I don't know what the outcomes will be, but I believe that I'm prepared to meet them as they unfold.

And So Concludes One Orbit Around the Sun

One year.  Three hundred and sixty five days.  When I started walking regularly (i.e. every day) back on 04 October 2014, I really did not set out to walk or jog every day for a year.  I actually started daily walking to remove the idea of walking across the country from my thoughts.  I should probably tell the whole build-up to where we are today, but it's late, and I have some additional miles to put under my feet pretty early in the morning.

The short version of the story is that about four years ago, I came up with an escape fantasy that revolved around pulling a Johnny Paycheck and heading out across the country on foot.

I talked to Rory Conlan because I knew he was a level headed chap and would convince me that my wild scheme was actually quite crazy.  His initial reaction was promising, but about a week later he seemed to be coming around to the idea that the adventure of a transcontinental pilgrimage might actually be a reasonably good idea.

There was nothing really left to do but start walking and let the physical challenge and monotony of it all solve the problem for me and drive the idea out of my head.  That led me to 04 October 2014 when I walked 11.17 miles from the South Severn Pool in Annapolis, MD to just past College Parkway on the Baltimore and Annapolis Trail and back.

The intent was to walk every day for a month to see if I had the discipline to keep it up day after day.  I set a monthly average target of 10 miles per day to keep things challenging. When I started, I really had no idea if I could even keep things going for a month.  I had shin splints and blisters.  I was at times bored and cold and uncomfortable.  At the end of October of 2014, I had done what I set out to do.  Rory recommended that I rest for a day or two.  I'd been pushing pretty hard, and the physical adjustment was taking a toll.  I was still experiencing shin splints, but they were on the verge of disappearing.  At the time, I had no way of knowing this was the case.

On 01 November 2014, I decided that a month was good enough to keep on going and not upset the streak.  I have not missed a day for a year, and I intend to keep trudging along.  The shortest daily distance that I covered for exercise last year was a 1.5 mile run in mid-November associated with a physical test for work.

Tecumseh decorated for the Navy vs. Air Force football game

Now I find myself at the end of a year with 4050.73 miles and no desire to truncate this adventure at all.  I've seen and experienced things that I never imagined even existed.  I did slow down my life and force myself to experience the moment and the area around me out to about a meter of radius.  The boredom subsided.  I learned quite a bit about walking kit through experimentation.

Submarine Service Memorial Sculpture, USNA, Annapolis, MD

I've worn out nine pairs of shoes during this adventure so far, and I've walked in at least five states and the District of Columbia.  I started out with a pretty short term goal in mind, and now walking has become part and parcel to my daily practice.  I've had a great run of it, and as long as the universe conspires to help me, I plan on keeping this up for quite some time.

We shall see, of course, what the future holds as it unfolds before us, but as for tomorrow, I have no intention of stopping the meditative plodding that I've come to appreciate as a pace of seeing the world that I can comprehend and really do love to experience.