I walked, today (3/2/15), for the first time in two weeks. In years past I would walk in rain or shine, hot or cold. Back when, whether I was walking or jogging, I didn’t care what the temperature was, I exercised. I have jogged, in Upstate New York, when it was 5 degrees and my mustache would freeze. Heck, my face would freeze! No matter, I would “just do it.” My Nike years.

As I have aged, and gracefully I would remind you ;), I have lost my ‘hell bent for leather’ attitude in my cardio pursuits. I have slowed down. Did I just say that? Ugh!

No, the last two weeks, here in Upstate Georgia, it has been brutally cold, precipitating, very windy, or all three of these at once. Therefore, no exercise for this old boy.

My dear mate, Miss LeCroy, Paul, Melodye with an e, or whatever you might call her, goes to the gym. I have tried this in years past, but it is boring and just… I don’t know, I don’t like this method of exercising. All the sweating, grunting, posing, strutting and the little outfits… it’s just not my thing.

I LOVE being in the outdoors… ALONE (Twenty years on the road so you’d better enjoy you)! I love soaking up the sunshine, listening to the birds and being at one with nature. I mentioned, in a ‘Winter Words’ blog last week, listening and enjoying the silence. It’s meditative, peaceful and somehow ‘right’ for me.

To each his/her own.

So today, it is now 58 degrees and so very pleasant. GREAT day for a walk! And I think we’re thawing out. I know there will be some cold days, and particularly nights, ahead but we are thawing. We’re moving steadily through Lent as we continue our journey toward Easter. There are only eighteen more days until the vernal equinox, the first day of SPRING.

The Braves first spring training game is Wednesday! The game will be played against my old adopted team, the New York Mets. It seems fitting.

Now back to the vernal equinox. From Wikipedia… “An equinox occurs twice a year, around 20 March and 22 September… An equinox occurs when the plane of Earth’s Equator passes the center of the Sun. At that instant, the tilt of the Earth’s axis neither inclines away from nor towards the Sun. The two annual equinoxes are the ONLY times when the subsolar point, the place on Earth’s surface where the center of the Sun is overhead, is on the Equator, and, consequently, the Sun is at zenith over the Equator. The subsolar point crosses the equator, moving northward at the March equinox and southward at the September equinox… The equinoxes are the only times when the solar terminator is perpendicular to the Equator, As a result, the northern and southern Hemispheres are illuminated equally.”

Amazing!

The Coming of Spring
by: Mary Dow Brine (1816-1913)

The ice-king trembles on his throne,
And holds his rod with loosened hand;
For there are murmurs in the air
Of one who cometh, sweet and fair,
To break with smiles the monarch’s band.

The skies are dawning a new blue,
To welcome her whose dancing feet
Thro’ cloudland hasten from afar,
Guided by sun, and moon, and star,
Her waiting friends once more to greet

The timid violets lift their heads,
And heavenward turn their gentle eyes,
And catch the fragrance newly born
Which cometh with the Spring’s glad dawn,
And steal their color from the skies.

The merry birds on twig and branch
Trill out the news with fluttering wings,
While Robin seeks the early fruit,
Impatient watching the green shoot,
And the glad tidings gaily sings.

The brook, grown weary of restraint,
Has burst its weakened bonds at last,
And rushing down the mountain-side,
Lends its fresh influence far and wide,
And Winter’s icy reign is past!

Selah