Walking is a Blessing

I walked my dog yesterday for the first time since returning home. A few observations:

The squirrels in Kansas are scrawny, grey and rabbit-like. They bounce in neat little arcs across the grass. The squirrels of South Bend, on the other hand, are plump (they probably weigh three times as much as a grey squirrel), red, and dog-like. They know how to walk slowly, one paw after the other. That's not what makes them dog-like, though. It is the fact that they do so in constant search for food, and they are apt to beg for food if a person is looking generous.

I stopped and looked up when I heard some geese honking, moving closer. As they flew overhead, they were close enough to the tree-tops that I heard the powerful whuuush noise that was made as the air moved over their bodies. I have heard geese honking so many times, and have even seen them come as close as they did today, but I have never heard the whuuush. It was thrilling. On today's walk, there were 50-100 geese on or around the pond in my neighborhood. Quite a few were just sitting on the frozen surface of the lake. That seems a bit funny to me. Why do they sit there instead of on the warmer, more solid bank, or in the part of the pond that wasn't frozen? I wonder if a goose has ever fallen through the ice after sitting on it for a while. Hmmm. That would be unfortunate :(

Even when things seem dead for the winter, there is so much vitality in nature. The 35-45 degree temperatures in Kansas are a kind of cold that is more invigorating than bitter, like the cold in South Bend. It is always refreshing and inspiring for me to go on walks. It's particularly interesting during winter when I spend much more time inside, and during these past 10 days of break when I've spent quite a lot of time in the internet world. Going from site to site can really feel like inhabiting a separate space sometimes. But then when I walk outside, and especially in the park, my experience seems to explode into something much more vast and much more visceral, even when I am, in a sense, more isolated. To be sure, the internet is a vast network of thought, ideas, and relationships (as well as cats and moronic YouTube comments). Whatever this network is, while on my walk, it seemed a reality that shrank to the background behind the more ancient sky and soil.

But thank goodness for the internet; I don't know what I would do without it! So I lied in the last post about Crime and Punishment. That will come soon. In the meantime, go take a walk! and Happy Holidays!