52 minutes
winchell / ravine / steps / longfellow / river trail
55 degrees
A great afternoon walk with Delia the dog. Sometimes there was sun, but mostly it was cloudy and overcast. Some wind. Bright green everywhere, even on the felled trees in the floodplain forest. Heard lots of singing birds, people talking, a sharp clanging noise. When it was sunny, I admired the soft shadows of tree limbs and Delia’s stubby legs and long body.
10 Things
- creeeaakkk — the tall trees in the floodplain forest were swaying in the wind and some branches were rubbing together to make a soft (and sinister) creaking noise
- the top step of the stone steps had a big puddle of water — watch out!
- stopping to wait for a trail runner to pass before heading back up the steps. They looked too warm and had a sweatshirt wrapped around their waist
- the soft lapping of the water against a log on the edge of the shore
- someone in a bright orange jacket following behind, talking to someone on a phone
- the sky above the forest was more open than usual, the ground more cluttered with tree trunks
- the gentle curve of a tree trunk, almost like an arched back
- a loud splash in the water, then a flash of movement — a fish jumping out of the water?
- a retaining wall in the oak savanna, across the ravine, was painted bright colors — blue, yellow, red
- someone on a scooter, someone else on a bike, both masked and on the walking trail
before the walk
Woke up stiff and sore, which I’ve been doing for the past month. Most of me is okay, only my lower glutes and hips and hamstrings hurt, especially when I leaned down to throw something away in the organics. Ouch! After a few minutes, it should get better. Is it worse this morning because of yesterday’s biking? I don’t think so.
Other things I woke up to:
- a thought: I have to wheel the recycling bin down before the truck comes!
- a rejection: “After careful consideration, we decided this submission is not the right fit for us”
- green green green grass from all the rain yesterday and early this morning
Rejections are not fun. Even though I know how difficult it is to get something published — less than 5% acceptance rate + your poem needs to fit with the others already selected — it still stings. But only for a few minutes. Now I’m thinking about grass and spring and noisy birds outside my window — the torpedoed call of a cardinal. I wish I would have counted their repeated chirps — 10 or 12 or more in a row!
A video came up on YouTube about piriformis syndrome, which I may or may not have, but probably don’t because it’s very rare — 6% chance: Piriformis Syndrome — STOP Stretching. I checked it out, and I’m willing to try the 2 exercises it suggests for contracting/strengthening my piriformis muscle instead of stretching/lengthening it. Will it work? I’m not sure, but I don’t think it will hurt to do them as I wait for my far off doctor appointment.
I’ve come a long way in my reactions to injury over the years. I’m not freaking out or in despair, even though I haven’t been able to run for 10 days. The pain isn’t making me anxious, like it did last year with my calf. I’m sure my more relaxed attitude is partly due to more experience with injury, less fear over tight glutes than knots in calves, and the lexapro. Whatever it is, I’m grateful to not be in constant panic mode.
So, is it piriformis syndrome? Who knows. What else could it be? Time to get out the scrabble tiles and make some anagrams!
P I R I F O R M I S S Y N D R O M E is tough one —
- In moss drip form (not used: I R E Y)
- Permission from Id (not used: Y R)
- Osprey mind forms (not used: R I I)
- Spry of mind, I rise (M O R)
after the walk
I’m continuing to read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry Bush. I think I might need to buy it. The part I’m currently reading is about ecological economics.
We’ve created a system such that we self-identify as consumers first before understanding ourselves as ecosystem citizens. In ecological economics, the focus is on creating an economy that provides for a just and sustaianable future in which both human life and nonhuman life can flourish.
The Service Berry Bush/ RWK
competition is not the primary force regulating evolutionary success
competition only makes sense when we consider the unit of evolution to be the individual. When the focus shifts to the level of a group. cooperation is a better modle not only for surviving but for thriving.
since competition reduces the carrying capacity for all concerned, natural selection favors those who can avoid competition. Oftentimes this avoidance is achieved by shifting one’s needs away from whatever is in short supply, as though evolution were suggestion “If there’s not enough of what you want, then want something else.”