After a week and a half of neglecting my walks, I finally restarted them. Lapses are bound to happen. As in meditation, all that matters is returning to the task at hand. It was good to be back. Pretty humid this morning, but a good strong wind helped keep it from being overwhelming.
Saw a trawler this morning that I believe had been made over into a pleasure boat. Only once did I ever really consider buying a boat. The boat that had taken my fancy was a trawler. Thankfully, I was wisely dissuaded from pursuing that folly. I can barely keep a tiny condo shipshape, let alone a boat.
This boat had a For Sale By Owner sign on it, but I’m not even tempted. I’m over that particular delusion. But, I still find their shape pleasing. I think it’s because they remind me of shrimp boats I used to watch when we’d visit family down on the Mississippi Gulf coast.
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Tagged as:
boats
Click here to listen to water’s sound
Listening to this sound (recorded on a walk last week) as I walk in the predawn colors is a big part of what keeps me going back. I know now that the days I walk seem to last longer, are more productive, and my head’s in a better place.
As a kid, on my grandfather’s old upright floor console radio, in my bedroom late at night, I’d listen to an AM radio broadcast from San Francisco. There was only AM and shortwave in those days; FM radio didn’t exist yet. I’d listen to shortwave symphony concerts from Europe sometimes. But, this was a late night AM show from San Francisco that featured a sound just like the link above, softly underscoring a man speaking casually in the most relaxed, mellow voice I’ve every heard. He didn’t say much that was memorable, it was just sort of feel-good kind of stuff, about people, nature, the city, things, ideas… But, always, underneath it, the sound of water against the seawall and of boats gently knocking against the docks.
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As the sun rises earlier and earlier heading toward summer, I walk earlier. I’m not sure how the tides and sunrise figure into this but I’ve noticed that the fish are jumping out of the water a lot more at this earlier hour. The birds know it too.
Some of the splashes aren’t fish, I know, because they have a different character wave action from the ones where I see fish jumping. I suspect they’re from manatee. There are signs everywhere warning the boaters about them. But, the water’s too murky to see them. Maybe later in the day when there’s lots of sunshine.
Back to the fish: it happens so fast…I haven’t been able to catch one of them in the air with my camera yet.
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It may be that one of the reasons I’ve not been taking snapshots on my morning walks recently is that I’ve mistakenly thought I’ve taken a snapshot of everything there is to see at my favorite walking spots.
Wrong!
There’s always something new to see, isn’t there?
As many times as I’ve walked past that topiary ship’s anchor, I’ve never seen it before. So, got myself a new goal to trick myself into taking a morning walk: spot sonething I’ve never seen before and take a picture of it.
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I was able to help motivate myself to establish my habit of morning walks, earlier this year, by tricking myself, telling myself I was just going out to take snapshots. No attempt at “photography,” not even “street photography.” Just snapshots. It worked. I haven’t been posting many of those photos recently, simply because I haven’t needed to take snapshots to get my body in motion. The habit of walking seems pretty well established. Pretty well…not 100%!
Lest I become a slacker, something I do with the greatest of ease, I’m going to make a conscious effort to make this about fun (taking snapshots), not EXERCISE (which for me equals not fun).
Above is a phone snap from this morning.
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