Tuesday, March 27, 2012

March Magic

Time Marches On
My older daughter turns 50 today. How could half a century pass by so quickly? And when did 50 get to be so young? Because she is young, that one, whether she realizes it or not. She's young enough to have hopes and dreams and aspirations, yet old enough to understand that many of life's blessings occur in the small moments, not just in the big, splashy ones. Fifty is a great place to be.

The azaleas started blooming in February this year, 
but it was in March that they became magnificent.

Marching to the Beat of a Different iPod Shuffle
The cardiologist I visited at the end of February told me, among other things, to walk half an hour a day. It's taken me a few weeks to get myself mentally geared up for that, but this morning I did it. It turns out that getting started was much harder than the walking itself.

Rather than using a watch to make sure I'm putting in enough time, I've decided to walk through ten songs on my iPod. The average song is around three minutes long, I think, so depending on which ones the shuffle feature chooses, I'll do thirty minutes, more or less, and I'll vary my pace to fit the music. (I only hope I can remember to control the volume when I get to the parts of the music that always make me bust out and sing along.)

Where Mother Nature tends the Louisiana
 land by herself, it is raw, lush, wild, and full of life.

Hopping, Jumping, Leaping, Flying...or Not
With the bird feeders freshly cleaned and filled, my patio is once again a hub of activity. Levi loves to catch lizards, and I was concerned that he'd turn those instincts toward the birds. So far, I needn't have worried. The other day I left him outside by himself for a while. When I went to let him in, I found him lying peacefully on the mat right outside the backdoor, watching half a dozen sparrows peck at seeds on the ground around him. I wonder how those birds knew they could trust him; they never get that close to me.

Where my son-in-law tends it, 
the land is pristine, plush, and tame--
and still full of life.


3 comments:

  1. Congratulations to your daughter - and to you too! I love your idea of using iPod songs to time your walk. This is so much more fun than timing it or using a pedometer.

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  2. Those are some lovely azaleas!

    Hope your daughter had a good birthday!

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  3. Your daughter and I are the same age! I'll be 50 in July. Wow.

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