Things you see on a Walk

i enjoy walking around Tybee Island this time of year. The tourists are gone. The snowbirds have settled in for their winter stay. So there is less traffic for Rose, Lily and I to dodge. Those who are out driving often have visited here for years. They are less likely to be gawking and chasing us off the streets.

The yard pictured above is near The Oaks just off highway 80. It has one of the most beautiful southern live oaks on the island. It sits back off the highway so unless you are walking it would escape your notice.

The first picture is to let you know that you have to be alert to see this mermaid. I noticed her several months ago but couldn't recall where. It took lots of walks and looking to find her again. She sits in a tree off Van Horn Street a couple blocks from the police station.

If you are going to have a garage door on Tybee why not make a statement? This beauty was painted by local artist Tiffany O'Brian. It is just a couple of blocks from our house. If you want to move to the neighborhood it is for sale for $749,900. The good news is that for that price you get the house that goes with the garage door. 

Any Time

We went to Kroger today. The plan was to drop Shekinah off at work and pick up a few snacks for New Years Eve. We got our items and went to the "express" lane. It was not. There was an older woman in front of us who wanted to be chatty. I just wanted to pay for our things and get out of the store. They were very busy. In keeping with their business plan there were long lines at every lane so folks will get frustrated and go to self check lanes. I never will. That isn't what this story is about.

The talkative older lady had a sweater she was buying. It had the characteristics she wanted, ugly and on sale. She needed it for ugly sweater parties she attends around Christmas. She encouraged us to go buy one since they were only $11. We told her we were from up north and didn't find a need for sweaters in southern Georgia. She asked where we were from. We told her Illinois and she shared she was from Fargo, North Dakota and retired for warmer weather. Another lady walked up and started talking to her about the Zumba class they both attend. The conversation got interesting after that lady walked off.

She told us that there was a senior citizen class that was reasonably priced at AnyTime Fitness. She encouraged us to attend. I managed to hold my tongue and not say anything ignorant. I was thinking: "Do we look like we need to exercise?  Do you think we are fat and lazy?" We are clearly fat. I wondered how she could think that at any time we would be going to a fitness class at AnyTime Fitness. I wanted to ask if they had a bar there. I didn't find the prospect of sharing time with a room full of sweaty oldsters appealing.

So at no time will I be going to AnyTime.

Just Pictures

Things to Think About

The picture above is of the 20 children murdered at Sandy Hook school six years ago today.

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Braden, 7

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Dylan Hockley, 6

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Arielle Richman, 6

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6

They were murdered 6 years ago today. We could have done something in the years since to address the epidemic of gun violence in the United States. We have done nothing. The news today is that gun violence has reached a 40 year high. The gun debate appears to be over. When we allow 20 children to be murdered in their school one must wonder. What level of murder and mayhem will it take for us to act? Over 20 killed in a church? No! Over 50 killed at a concert in Las Vegas? No!

The Sandy Hook victims would have been 12 or 13 this year. They are forever 6 or 7. Take a moment today to remember them.

Doctors

I wrote a few days ago about going to the doctor for abdominal pain. It has gone from doctor(singular) to doctors(plural). When I saw the gastroenterologist he recommended an endoscopy and a colonoscopy to determine what exactly was happening. So I went on the 3rd of December and had the endoscopy. I was unconscious after the procedure so the doctor talked to Carol. He told her my esophagus was "ugly" and "angry". Not exactly medical terms. They did communicate that things were not normal. He took some biopsies while he was looking around down there. He told Carol I needed to take my acid reflux medicine twice a day instead of once.

I went to my regular doctor on the 6th and got quizzed about what I had done in the past month. I told her I had the endoscopy and she asked what the doctor told me. I answered the question she asked and told her he didn't tell me anything since I was unconscious. Sorry doc, old corrections training. Don't try to figure out what people want, just answer the question they ask. Even if the question is stupid and the answer is unproductive. Carol stepped in and shared what she was told. The doctor changed my acid reflux medication to twice a day. She scheduled another appointment for me in three months.

What's next? I see the gastroenterologist on the 19th. I'm sure he will enlighten me on what an angry, ugly esophagus means. I was informed on Friday that my biopsy results were benign. So that was good welcome news. I have a colonoscopy scheduled for January 2nd. Happy new year to me. People have asked why that day? It was the first appointment they had available. Why not put it off a few days? I figured it was like going on a diet. You can find an excuse every day. Hell, sometimes every meal.  Why it should wait until some other time. I would like to use some excuse, any excuse, to not have that test. I'm just at the point that something has to be done to figure out what is causing my pain. As my friend Mike and I mused a couple of weeks ago, the days of drinking, smoking and mistreating our bodies are over. The bill for our misspent youth is coming due and we aren't happy about it.

Happiness

I was driving back to Tybee this afternoon on Highway 80. I saw a car headed toward Savannah with a dog. He had his head stuck out the window looking something like this.

It made me think about my Buddy Mike and his recent blog post about Whiz Bang the Dumb Struck Wonder Pup bounding through the tall grass. Both dogs were just full of unbridled joy. I thought about how wonderful it would be if we, as adults, could accomplish that level of happiness. It seems that level of joy is lost to us sometime in our youth. Perhaps our teen years. Hormones and peer pressure? In adulthood we are concerned with car payments, mortgage, our spouses and children. Our joy is tempered by our responsibilities. Maybe the closest we get is riding a motorcycle.

Relax a little over the holiday weekend and try to find the joy that dog is experiencing.

Walking

I walk every day. Sometimes with intent to get some much needed exercise. Sometimes it is just to give our fur kids Rose and Lily an opportunity to take care of their needs outdoors. I enjoy walking. It is an opportunity to enjoy nature. Feel the wind on your face. The sun shining on your skin. Hear the bark of a squirrel. The barking of another dog. The wail of an ambulance siren. I use a couple of different ways to track my walks. When I take the dogs out for their needs my steps are measured by my Fitbit. So far Fitbit says I have worn my trackers for a total of 14,972,382 steps, or 7,556.06 miles. It also says I have climbed the equivalent of 13,138 floors of stair steps. I'm currently on my third one of their trackers. Sweat and dirt are not the trackers friend.

When I take my long walk I use an application on my phone called Map My Walk. It utilizes GPS technology to track and map where I have walked. I haven't used this application as long but I do like the mapping feature. It did have one feature that I have finally turned off. It is able to provide voice coaching. So every quarter mile it would tell me how far I have walked, my pace during the walk and the total time elapsed since I started. It finally dawned on me that the voice feedback was ruining my walks. I wasn't listening to the birds in the trees. I wasn't feeling the sun and wind on my face. I wasn't paying attention to Rose and Lily. I was doing math problems in my head. How much faster does the next mile or quarter mile have to be so that I was walking 3.5 miles an hour? I would get irritated if the dogs wanted to stop and investigate some smell or pee for about the 100th time on that walk. Why can't they both go at the same time? We walked 10 feet and you want to pee again? Come on I need to make some time here. Every second I stop just makes getting my time right that much harder. Walking wasn't enjoyable. I'm retired. What's the rush? Ok the walk takes longer. The other day we walked about 5 miles. Map My Walk says it took me over 19 minutes to walk each mile. It wasn't chirping at me every quarter mile and I really enjoyed my walk.

So, what is the lesson here. I guess for me it was gaining an understanding that technology should not be something that interferes with our enjoyment. When a device, or a program or a characteristic of an application becomes a problem we have to be willing to pull the plug. Make some changes. Technology should enhance our experiences not rule them. Now I walk in blissful silence except for the music that plays in my head. I have one Christmas song I enjoy, Burl Ives singing It's a Holly Jolly Christmas. The other day while I was walking that was stuck in an endless loop in my brain. While it was playing in there amid the sounds of Tybee I thought about how strange it was. When I hear it in my head it is not my voice singing it that I hear it is his. Mike here is where the question becomes philosophical. Are we really dead if someone remembers us? Did old Burl stop by and have a walk in my brain? I think both happened. It's okay, he's welcome any time. Maybe after Christmas he will change the words a bit for me so it is a Holly Jolly day on Tybee.