Walkies [your favorite Roman numeral here]

I now have over 10,000 steps on my pedometer since 9 am and I still have over 1000 coming tomorrow before 9 thanks to my walk to work! Yes! That makes up for the pathetic six thousand something of yesterday.

I realized that I need a reason, a real reason to leave the house. You know, an errand or starvation or something. To just stop what I’m doing to go take a walk for the walk’s sake isn’t motivation enough (though sometimes a gorgeous sunset or achy body due to too much sitting will do it). So I got home, had dinner and relaxed, then grabbed my plastic recycling and walked to the recycling bin which is right near where I work. And then took the long way home.

The air was a little bitter, but the temperature was rising. As I rounded the pond the first time, the whiteness was almost gone, suggesting that the temperature was rising in the water, too. And then the firecracker went off. Somebody shot off a bit of fireworks on and across the frozen pond. I passed by an Asian woman, carrying what looked like an unwrapped Roman candle, and wanted to ask her if it was Chinese New Year’s or something or just somebody’s birthday. (Fireworks are sold only the last two workdays before New Year’s in Norway, and are illegal to use at any other time than New Year’s eve.)

I have no pictures of today’s walk. I just kept walking around and around the pond, lost in my own thoughts, feeling my gloved hands get warm, and so I stayed out longer than intended. And still there’s a bit of evening left.