May 31, 2010

Walk 151 today and it was HOT. I knew I had to take some water along, my friend Marty suggested I celebrate 151 with rum! LOL... great suggestion. A pretty amazing little walk today though.

And it all started here with this egret perched or a picture perfect moment. And then the walk continued...

I went on the long pier at George McGough park, and was surprised to see this manatee surface for a little breather. This is my first manatee in the wild spotting, and I just happened to have my camera on, and ready to shoot. Timing is everything. I didn't even know if I got the shot until I checked the camera. But it worked out perfectly.

Okay... this is a posed picture. Busted, but I wanted to see what I looked like from other people's perspective... and the journey continues.

May 30, 2010-Dad's 82nd Birthday

Today is a milestone walk. It's walk #150, and it's happening on my father's 82nd birthday. Happy Birthday Dad. After spending time with him all day in the hospital, I was drained and just wanted to go home. But I went to the beach instead. I'm glad I did. I put in a good mile and a half and had a great view.

This woman walked next to me along most of my way, not a bad view! LOL

I ran into this local family that started up a conversation with me, and when I asked them if they would take a picture of me, they sent their son over to take a picture with me. LOL... they LOVED the idea of the blog, and they complimented my Stephen King T shirt.

I stumbled up upon this couple holding their wedding out on the beach. Figuring I could sneak a picture with the wedding couple, I stumbled upon them and apologized for walking into their wedding party. They were not amused. LOL... and I thought it was going to be like Ben Stiller in The Heartbreak Kid. Nope... not really.
Their journey is beginning... mine continues.

May 29, 2010

Walk 149 happened in a most unexepected place. I'm on the roof of the parking garage in Tampa where I came to see a movie. The view was incredible up here, so why not walk around?

Don't know what I liked about this, but the view and the vantage point were fascinating to me. A lone couple walks across and the symmetry here is perfect.

A view from the top! It's all about location, location, location. And the journey continues...

May 28, 2010

Walk 148 is just a simple walk around the grounds of the rehab house where Dad is. I try to go around the big parking lot before I go into the center grounds where Mom usually has Dad outside talking. Tonight...

They were playing cards. A game of WAR to keep the mind fresh, and Dad awake. If I ever don't feel like walking, I can look to my Dad as an example of how to fight for yourself.

This ugly thing was on my mother's car antennae, and I just had to get a picture. Why, I don't know.

This is the Walsingham park route. You can see that from North to South, back up to North, the walk is 2.8 miles and takes me about an hour to walk. It's a good walk, shaded and the like, but when you go out into the sun and the humidity it can feel like a marathon.

May 27, 2010

I'm out on the road for walk 147 tonight. Headed to Walsingham Park and did the whole trail from North to South and back. Listening to the iPhone and cranking a little ZZ Top tonight. I got them walkin' blues...

Trees are beautiful, but in the sunlight... they're magical.

These twisted pine branches look like something Tim Burton would have dreamed up.

And the journey continues...

May 26, 2010

This is walk 146 today and I stopped at the local convenience store to pick up a chilled bottle of water or the walk. I love that frosty look the bottle gets when the humidy and heat chill it up. Nothing makes a bottle of water look more refreshing than that frost. And it was good.

See what I mean? The plastic is frosty and opaque and the water inside is pure and cool, and crisp. Ahhh... walk on now.

This is where I stopped tonight to get the water, and a ticket for the powerball. Tonight it's 190 million and that reminds me, time to check my tickets!

May 25, 2010

Sometimes along your journey, you have to thank the people who have your back. Kelly and Kristin are always there on these lunch walks, and keeping me motivated. Here's Kelly reminding me that I'm number ONE today on Walk 145.

Yeah buddy... you're number one!

A beautiful sunset on the right home tonight. WOW... you know it's good when it radiates even in black and white.

May 24, 2010

Using the RunKeeper app tonight to track walk 144. Put in about a mile and a half in about 35 minutes, but I got hung up at a small convenience store waiting behind a guy buying tons of lotter tickets. All I wanted was a dollar bottle of water. That put a crimp in my numbers tonight. Making a good pace, but waiting til sundown now to put in the time. It's HOT folks!

Somebody left this shopping cart at the bus stop about a few hundred yards away from the store, so I pushed it back into the parking lot. I took this shot, I call it "homeless view of the world". It would suck to be homeless and have this as your view every day. It's like a mini prison.

Just a pose by the blossoming trees. I think they're oranges...

The view of the back stretch. THis is the halfway point of my neighborhood walk and when I see this, I know it's all downhill from here. Not literally however! And the journey continues...

May 23, 2010

Hey, look at that. Today it's walk 143 and I'm out at John's Taylor Park in Largo. Never walked here before, and it's practically right in my own back yard. Today I'm facing 93 degree temps, and humidity just as high. But the shade is a welcome relief, and I walked all around the lake today, that's 1.74 miles. Good walk.

Nature in solitude. A crane waits by lakeside for dinner? A quiet breeze? Or maybe just taking a break in the shade. It's a hot one out here today.

The path is lined with beautiful southern pine and oaks.


The best start to ANY Sunday is breakfast with my son. Today we went down to Skyway Jacks and had a ball. What a gaudy, out of the way little breakfast shack. But it's been a staple since 1976 and believe me, it hasn't changed much.

May 22, 2010

WOW! Excitement on the beach today as I headed out for 142. I started my mile long walk south on Indian Rocks Beach and came up upon this crowd of peiople standing at the shore. I wondered what all the excitement was.
These men are holding a baby hammerhead shark that they were trying to save out in the water. The little guy was injured underneath, and by his fin. He kept swimming into shore...

And they kept dragging it back out to try to get it to swim. But he eventually was humanely put to death on shore. Sad for the shark.

This guy kept 2 frisbee's going for about a dozen quick tosses. He'd even go out and do a flying dive if they were out of his reach.

Inviting picture, wouldn't you say? The journey continues...

May 21, 2010

Starting off at home on this night, this is walk 141 and I'm on my way to a milestone soon. The sun is beginning to set and you can see it through the Y branch on Lindee's tree in the front yard. I can tell you that this was NOT by design, but it sure worked out pretty.

The sun always seems to set where it's most beautiul. Maybe it doesn't matter WHERE you are, just the fact that the sun is setting, that brings that photography magic out.

I have to look at this every day. Oh sure, there's an easy route to take. I'm in it for the long haul though, and what's with the apple? Is that supposed to make the picture MORE alluring than tight ab muscles?

Back home now after a mile walk, got the sweat breaking out on the forehead. It was muggy tonight. High humidity, no breeze. Just a heavy night on this journey... and it goes on.

May 20, 2010

Today, walk 140 back out in the neighborhood. I put in the full route tonight to see how I would stand up against the old route. I made it in about 45 minutes, but that included a stop to pick up headphones at CVS.

Spoonbills are hysterical looking. They just make me laugh.

This church is geometrically cool, and it's placed where the afternoon sun hits its best and most prominent architectural feature.

May 19, 2010

Today is walk 139, and I got my head up... heading out, and ready to add on some distance today as I recover more from the calf injury a few days ago.

As I was walking down the sidewalk, this yellow bow was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. It didn't look like garbage, or trash, this yellow bow was in perfect shape, and just sitting there. In the middle of my path. And then it dawned on me, that maybe God put this bow here to remind me that every walk is a gift. Sound dramatic? Then you explain why this bow was just sitting there face up in the middle of the sidewalk.

This was interesting too. I guess this tree branch had to be removed because it was interfering with the power lines. Well if you look at the picture, you can see how the line is going right through the branch. It's so perfectly in the middle of this tree, that they just cut around it, and the branch remained in place. I thought about this, and it reminded me of how we grow up around things. And that even though other things may be cut away from us, we always have the things we grew up around.

No story here, these were just pretty.