November 18, 2008
-
Walking
I work an odd schedule on Tuesdays to accommodate the needs of the museum’s public evening hours; I have mornings off and I’m writing this on my “lunch” break. I like Tuesdays because Shaun and I take long morning walks together. Today’s morning walk was this:
The lake was thrashing and the sea gulls were crabby and the squirrels were cramming everything into their mouths. Pretty little snow flurries have been sprinkling down the past few days. Sidewalks were spotted with crispy patches of snow. The Chicago wind was everything it’s famed to be.
Yesterday, I went walking along the lakeshore in the bitter cold on my lunch break. I do this a lot. If you’ve ever been to Chicago in the winter, you know this is sort of nuts. That wind! You can hardly stand against it sometimes. When I was a girl, I always chose “Dare” during Truth or Dare. I never grew out of this mentality.
Anyhow, yesterday the cold was screaming into my eyes and nose and mouth and wrapping round my neck when I came upon a little area by Ohio Street beach. The area is landscaped to show visitors what the natural habitat is like: tall beach grasses. I stood in a pocket of sun by the grasses and closed my eyes. For as long as I could stand it, I stopped shivering and stood still and listened to the noise of the grass in the wind. It was louder than cars and busses and cityscape. Louder than waves and wind. It was the only thing around and quite possibly the best thing that’s happened to me in days. Not to say things have been bad lately. But this sound and this light was really something memorable.
__________________________________________________________________________
Where did you walk today?
Comments (6)
Oh, Lord, I don’t walk in this weather. It’s way too cold for me. It seems like it got too cold too fast this year. Snow this morning! Yuk.
It’s really weird that it was like summer on Election Day and now it’s like winter. I just hope winter isn’t going to be awful this year. Fortunately, I’m taking a Thanksgiving trip to Florida this year.
Lynn
That sounds head cleaning crisp.
I walked the trail for four miles. For no reason I can name it felt like someone was running up behind me to clock me. I kept turning around at the feeling. It was excellent to get my legs in gear though.
That wind is no joke. I only got to feel a tiny bit of it but that was enough. Holy crap!
That wind in Chicago is something else. Holy cow.
I walked between my office and our local courthouse and back three times today. It’s not far – maybe a few hundred yards. It feels like miles and miles sometimes, though.
There is indeed something stirring, something primal, yet something almost romantic in wind that throws haymakers at you. Living on a Great Lake, its power and beauty, is an interesting dance of danger and daring. It’s a magnificence that is not easy to describe nor understand.
Well, I walked downstairs, then I walked back up… not very good, I must say. Although my office is out in the country, on a farm, the state highway is unsafe to walk along – virtually no shoulders and very fast traffic.
the last place I walked to was the mailbox….the next place will be the train station. not very exciting, but my favorite walk is the one I take with the dogs to Kelvin Park. There are a whole bunch of bakeries and factories around where I live so it’ll smell like fresh bread and winter and smelly dog. It’s lovely.