Another day, another 4.6 miles

I had a good day yesterday, walking-wise. I had a nice, rapid, 1.6 mile hike home from where I dropped off the van, and monkeybard and NordicBoy joined me for a 3-mile turn around the lake (plus .2 back to the car, I guess - so, really, I suppose it was 4.8 yesterday, but what the hey). I determined that the small, bright, portable light my husband gave me works like a charm to light up the path when you strap it to your wrist, with the added bonus that it doesn't blind oncoming walkers and joggers. The lake was gorgeous last night, absolutely dead still and glassy. The moon was almost full, so there was plenty of ambient light. It was chilly but not too cold. And our entire walk took 55 minutes, which while by no means is our best time around the lake, is still not too shabby. Yay!

In less happy news, I heard today that Andre Norton is probably terminally ill with flu, pneumonia, and the consequences of age. Her prognosis is poor, and her caretaker says she's tired of fighting. One of the greats is getting ready to leave us, I fear. :-(

And while okay, 93 is a goodly age, I've got two grandmothers older than that...so it still seems too soon to me. Thankfully, both my grandmothers continue to beat the odds and continue on quite well. Go Grandma J and Grandma H!

Spring has seriously sprung

...which is sick and wrong, because this is February, for cryin' out loud! Everywhere else in the nation, it seems, folks are having terrible weather; unreasonable cold, tons of rain, you name it. My friend Ry in SD reports that she hasn't seen the sun in weeks, and if they get any more rain, the whole dang city is going to float out to sea. (Arizona Bay, anyone? ;-) Except that was supposed to be after The Big One...) But here? I walked to get coffee this morning, and gawked at the daffodils blooming, the cherry trees blooming, the blue, blue sky, the bright glowy yellow thing up in the sky...you get the picture. Birds were chirping, a soft, warm breeze was blowing, and it looked like late April. And I was too damn warm, wearing a light jacket! I was wearing sunglasses!!!

Now on the one hand, this is great for my walking. The nice weather is a serious plus over driving rain, snow, or bitter cold. On the other hand, this is just weird. I walked to meet my husband for lunch (I'm working from home today), and I didn't even wear a jacket. And I was fine. AND I think I'm going to need to water my garden later today... This is just so wrong!!! All I can say is, we'd better have a seriously wet spring ahead, and a damp summer, or we're going to be in a world of hurt this summer, drought-wise.

And some people still say there's no evidence of climate change or global warming... :-p