AND THEN I WROTE ...

...that it is time for my annual paraphrase of the line from Shakespeare: Now begins the summer of my discontent.
It is hot and humid early these days, with high temperatures in the upper 80's and low 90's possible each day. After a weight loss of 20 or more pounds and with an improved diet, I do not suffer the heat quite as badly this year as I did last. But it still has me wondering this morning whether or not to take my daily walk outdoors or to turn on the air conditioner and use the treadmill in my room. This old turn of the century house (No. Not THAT century; THAT century! ) does not have central air. Even this morning, the spare room which holds this computer is warm and sticky.
On cool days, the treadmill is okay, but boring. It makes enough noise that I can only get a couple of radio stations in loudly enough to hear anything. And I can only take so much of Rush Limbaugh and truck, car and tractor songs.
I have walked a couple of outdoor venues as the days have gotten warmer. I really enjoyed the city park walks, including the special trail. But last time I was there, the trail had been partly washed away be heavy rain and runoff. On one of those walks, I was told by a fellow walker that the cemetery across the road was a great place to walk, since there are hard-surfaced roads. I hesitate to even bring that up, because I am not sure how the folks in charge of the cemetery feel about exercise walkers or joggers. I have seen only a very few others doing so in many visits. But nobody has asked me to leave.
In addition to the paved surface roads, the cemetery offers the benefit of no dogs.
And while I am one of those who used to wonder about the wisdom of walking streets while listening to music on headphones, I have no such qualms about doing so in the cemetery. There is rarely vehicle traffic and what there is moves slowly.
Time passes much more quickly with music to walk by. I have played a wide variety of tapes, ranging all the way from Patsy Cline and country and western hits through Strauss (Johann) and Mozart and Tchaikovsky to operatic arias and favorite themes from classical music. One Tchaikovsky tape has a violin concerto on one side and a piano concerto on the other, and each takes about 30 minutes, about the duration of my walk. That is quite handy, since stopping to change a tape interrupts what is supposed to be a continuous walk. I also don't stop to smell the roses because I have not noticed any roses. It is mostly geraniums. Why are geraniums the cemetery flowers? The Strauss marches and Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave and 1812 Overture are great for walking. The waltzes are okay, but out there by myself, I am always afraid I will break into a waltz step, and someone seeing me might think...well, never mind what they might think. I also have a tape of Andrew Lloyd Webber hits, and I would sing along more with them except his stuff is always sung by tenors and sopranos. Why are there so few basses or altos featured in Broadway and classical music? Hmm! I'm beginning to sound like Andy Rooney: "Have you ever wondered why..."
When I first started walking in the cemetery, I developed a Francis of Assisi complex. Or shades of "Song of the South." I thought the birds and squirrels I encountered every day about the same place came to see me. With my myopic vision, it wasn't until later that I noticed there is a feeding station (ear corn) back there!
When I tell people I daily walk a mile and a half or half an hour, whichever comes first, I am often asked why I don't walk farther or longer. I explain that I only want to maintain, not train.
It seems that once upon a time, at a city council meeting, I saw park plans which included more trails. The park board got a grant to help with the first trails. Maybe that would work again for repairs and new trails. Other cities (Guttenberg, for example,) have dandy walking trails for those who need exercise. It would be a nice addition to city park.
And the cemetery squirrels could get along with one less nut.