another section of the d&l done (15/44)

Today Pam and I did another section of the D&L. Our 15th, I think.  We are 34% done! It's going to get harder and harder to complete. Things are starting to open and Pam has already started back at work. Plus it's getting hot. I haven't walked at least 50% of this trail before. I have no idea how shady it is at spots.

When I arrived at Hugh Moore Park, Pam was already there. She did not have her walking stick or her brace. It's amazing how quickly she's healing. But we can't get too cocky and have a set back.

We drove my car downtown to begin at the Forks of the Delaware. I went to turn on 611 to get to the park and it was closed. We headed up the hill and tuned down a random street too turn around. Pam had Waze out and she thought the street would connect with 611. Maybe we could sidestep the construction.

We weren't that lucky. We ended up taking the scenic route back to Scott Park and parking there.

We walked back over the Lehigh River and headed to the park. Then we backtracked on the trail and walked under the bridge. This trail used to get pretty rustic. Not any more. It's paved and wide, and the area around the old building and lock are paved. In fact it is paved all the way to Hugh Moore Park.

The section in the park I believe used to be gravel. That is also paved. Sadly it is still very sunny. But I knew up above the trail turned to grass and stayed with the canal, and the other path went to the park thru the bike park. nImagine our surprise when we saw this sign. The grassy path is now called a spur. The shady part is the actual trail. Yee haw.

Then we took the interpretive trail back to the parking lot.

Miles/Steps:    4+

Bathrooms:     I was surprised to see that the port-o-potties were still at the Forks of the Delaware trailhead.

Wildlife:          Geese galore, and a few mallards
Weather:         88, 50% humidity, sunny.
PPE Found:      NONE! 

SLF:                 Pam killed her first one. A first level nymph, black with white spots

I probably mentioned last week that I lost a filling. Thursday I had it filled. Thursday and Friday my jaw hurt. A heart beat thump. Or pressure. Like someone was squeezing it just a little too hard. It was the whole left side, front and back ad top to bottom, and then one pain was traded for the other. I don't know which was worse. I couldn't chew on that side. I couldn't close my mouth that my teeth touched. 

Saturday it was better. Sunday I almost didn't notice it. I was thinking whatever was wrong healed itself. I was wrong. Today has been miserable. And it gets worse as the hours pass. I might have to call the dentist back.

more than pink walk

Cross that out. Make that the More Than Pink HIKE. 

I signed up to to the virtual More Than Pink Walk. It replaced the madhouse Koman walk in Philadelphia on Mother's Day which was canceled due to C19. I invited Angel and the Teen to come along. The teen wanted to go to Emmaus and walk on Main Street and go to the farmer's market.

They arrived while I was on the phone with Barb. I gave the teen her 6th Birthday present (she turned 16 Tuesday), a decade late. It was a story her dad wrote when she was 5-6. I illustrated it and put it into book form. It was trimmed wrong, but she liked it anyway. She had a debut reading of it in my living room, in front of the patriotic decorations for Lydia's wedding.

Then we were off to walk. I offered choices and the teen decided we should walk in the woods first. We went to Alpine Park. It was busy. The lot and the street was full. I'm guessing there was a lot of people in the park, but we did encounter other hikers in the woods. We chose the shorter Alpine Street Trail. 

I know. I know. My mask is wrong.

This trail started out as gravel/crushed stone, and quickly becomes dirt. The start was pretty muddy but it didn't stay that way. The teen led the way and was always yards ahead of us. To be 16 again. 

She navigated. I told her the orange and red markers faded to the sime color so be sure it always said Alpine Street on the marker and it did. But we still apparently did something wrong because we ended up backtracking and retracing our steps. Angel took a lot of photos.

I think the highlight of the trail for the teen was this giant rock that she climbed. I suggested the next time maybe go to Big Rock Park.

The point of these virtual events is to have exposure for the organization you're walking to support.  I don't think this is the kind of walk that Koman had in mind, but they said to 'make it your own". And we interacted with several people on the trail so a few saw my event tee. We would have seen more people of in town.

Miles/Steps:    2+

Bathrooms:      none
Wildlife:           none.
Weather:         88, 50% humidity seemed higher!), sunny.
PPE Found:      NONE! until I stepped out of the car near my house. I stepped right on a mask.

highmark virtual walk

The Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community is an annual event that I think usually falls the first Saturday in June. This year, like everything else on the planet, it has gone virtual. You had the whole month to finish the walk.

Last week Angel and I decided to do the walk today. We chose the Karl Stirner Arts Trail because we could get ice cream when we were finished. Allowing ice cream and the neighbors dog to come along assured that the teen would be on board.  That's Buddy above. Bonus: Buddy is a hypoallergenic breed. I can pet him.

I picked up the team and we headed off to the trail. The lot was full. That's fine, we'll park at the silk mill ... that's where the ice cream is anyway ... and walk over the pedestrian bridge.

We moved the car, parked, and looked toward the bridge. It was closed. They put macadam paths to the bridge and it was still wet, so the bridge was closed. We had to walk through the silk mill, down 13th street, thru the parking lot, to get to the trail. Oh well. It added an extra half mile to the route.

The dog reminded me of Adonis. He had to smell EVERYTHING.  And he was clueless what to do at the dog park. The teen ran around but he wasn't interested in following her. And he had no interest at all in doing the labyrinth. 

It was a nice walk and we broke no speed records. We headed up to Owowcow. The best ice cream ever. I had it the first time from a cart at a farmers market. Choosing to walk at Lake Noxamixion was always the excuse for going there. Now there's on in Easton. I'm in trouble.

Angel and I went in and the teen stayed outside with the dog. Silly me forgot "mocha" is code word for coffee. My hot sweaty brain thought it was extra chocolate, chocolate chip. Imagine my surprise when it first was in my mouth. It was quite the shock. But I ate the whole thing. My mouth still tastes like coffee.

Speaking of my mouth, at lunch I got something stuck in my tooth. As I was picking it out I lost an old silver filling. Thankfully the dentist has reopened and I have an appointment Thursday. Oddly, my tooth hurt much more before. I even ate the coffee ice cream without an issue.

Yesterday I didn't walk really. We went to Intercourse fabric shopping for a wedding present. One shop was two stories and the first floor was about a third notions. Another third was black fabric, and the final third red, teal, blue ... all the standard Amish solid colors. It reminded us that we were not in the Lehigh Valley anymore. A different store was staffed by Amish girls. 

We had Bonnie's grandson with us. For a 6-year-old he was pretty good. He was getting rammy so I had him count the bolts of fabric. One row had 116. Another 128. That meant the one section of the store had over 4000 bolts of fabric.

When we were done shopping the child wanted lunch. The problem was C19. Most places are takeout only until we go Green Friday. He wanted nuggets and French fries. We went to Wendy's. While we were waiting in the drive-thru line I looked on google for a nearby park. We'd have a picnic. One of my walking friends has dubbed 2020 as the Year of the Picnic. There were several. One had a huge play set. We didn't pick that one. It would be taped off. There was another one four miles away.  We went there.

Tulpehocken Park was a long skinny park that runs adjacent to the Tulpehocken creek. We parked at the covered bridge parking lot where there was a pavilion, a (locked) comfort station, and tables spread out on the lawn. We chose a table near the creek and under a tree for lunch.

I could not find the covered bridge. Tulpehocken Park features one of the last five covered bridges in Berks County — Wertz Bridge. I went looking for the bridge and a trail too it. We were in the covered bridge lot, so it had to be somewhere. I could faintly see the bridge. I had hope. I walked up the lawn toward the parking lot and found a very obvious macadam path along the road. If we would have come from the other direction we would have seen it and the bridge.

I thought it was a half-mile away. It was less. Bonnie was driving and she said we could go exploring and we did. The child's reward for being good in fabric stores. After crossing the bridge the was a whole network of trails, a visitor's center, and a historic area. This park is on my list of places to return to.

back on the d&l

Pam is recovering well from her surgery so today we tried a 1.6 mile section of the D&L. It was our first venture onto that compressed gravel stuff and she did fine. She could have gone further. Let's wait and see what the doctor says on Wednesday.

We parked at the River Drive Trailhead. You'll see that we had an extra walker today. That's Pam's eldest daughter. She's home from Boston visiting. They tried to trick me bringing her car. It almost worked. This pic was actually taken at the end of the walk.

We began at the Cove Road Trailhead. The sign is about a mile away from the actual parking area. We went back and took the picture but used the car to get there. Daughter was over selfies so she just sat in the car with the engineerings and A/C running. Smart girl.

This section of the trail is fairly isolated. Rt. 145 goes over it and it switches sides of Rt. 145 goin into Walnutport. The next section is about 5 miles. Then another 2 to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. Once we reach that point our walks will probably get longer and picnics taken. Even today we should have been carrying water. (Daughter did!)

The beginning, near the Rt. 145 overpass was really sunny. Thankfully we picked up a lot of shade as. we progressed on the walk. Both parking lots were filled with cars but we met few people on the trail. Once we reached the shade, it was pretty much forest on one side, some forest and the highway on the other. We were nearly back to River Drive when we heard a creek and could see the Lehigh.

Daughter is a good wildlife scout. She found the frog in the middle of the path. Pam managed to get a shot mid hop. He hustled his but back into the forest.

This morning I weed walked. In white pants. I don't think you can tell. What the hey was I thinking?

Miles/Steps:    1.6 miles

Bathrooms:      None
Wildlife:           Chipmunk, frog, garter snake
Weather:          Low 80s, humid, sunny.
PPE Found:      NONE!

walking el camino, virtually

An author I know, and am friends with on FB, is always doing something creative. Her day job is teaching English at the local community college. I think it might be ESL because of the way she speaks about her hard working immigrant students. Any who, she crochets and writes and  and is an activist for children and autism and her Latin children. 

She is religious to a point that I don't understand. But it works for her. She was raised in a mixed religion household and when I first met her she was a cradle Catholic. Then she explore Episcapalian church, and now she is embracing her father's Jewish heritage. Meanwhile her Russian saints still occupy a place of honor in her home. She will lay her life on the line to protect whatever religion her friends embrace. Or don't embrace. Which makes her kind-of cool. 

The other day she posted this new group to Facebook. There is only one word in this whole thing that applies to me. It's walk.

El Camino de Santiago is a 500 mile pilgrimage in the north of Spain. For centuries, peregrinos (pilgrims in Spanish) have walked the path of St. James from the southern Pyrenees Mountains in France to the Spanish coast in Galicia. Peregrinos of all faiths, and even no faith at all, have walked the rugged terrain of northern Spain in order to pray on their feet, to better understand themselves, to find relief from stresses of life, to experience the comraderie and kindness of strangers.

Then there's info on why she's doing it. Let's just leave it as C19 spoiled more plans.

The Camino is for everyone, and it is as much a spiritual journey as it is a physical one. So, we invite our friends in the Lehigh Valley (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, other, etc...) to walk with us in the various neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley, and while we walk we pray for the breakdown of the systemic racism in our community, for the remission of the coronavirus and a suitable treatment and/or vaccine, for the unity of people who come from different cultures and different life experiences. We need each other, and after all, if we're going to see change in our small world, we need to walk together. We feel strongly that this group should stay limited to the Lehigh Valley. If you have friends that want to join, encourage them to start a group in their own communities, where they can advocate for much needed change.

Then there are the rules. I still can't believe I said yes. I can do #1 and #7. And maybe #4. But if you see blue, these are not in my wheelhouse.

1. Commit to a specific length of walk a day. Leonardo and I are going with five miles a day, so that we actually reach the 400ish mile mark of the Camino by mid-September. But if one block, a few feet, or even 10 miles (traditional length of mileage per day on the Camino) is good for you, do it. This is your journey.
2. Choose a "saint" whose work and life you'll meditate on while walking your journey. This saint does not have to be a saint in the Catholic or Christian sense. It can be a humanitarian, whose work inspires you to serve in a greater capacity. For example, you can read Dr. King, St. Teresa of Calcutta, Cesar Chavez, Nelson Mandela. It's your choice, again, your journey. BUT NO PROSELYTIZING.
3. Be prepared to share one belief, saying, or inspirational quote from your saint every week, as a way of inspiring your fellow peregrinos.
4. On Sunday evenings, we'll measure our miles against the actual mileage of the Camino and see where we all are on the map. In the spirit of Spanish cuisine, we'll share tapas (traditional small meals shared among friends). These tapas might happen at a local park, where we can safely socially distance, or they might happen online via Zoom or Facebook Groups. ...
5. Share photos of your Covid-19 safe walks around the Valley. Try walking through neighborhoods that are not your own, reading work from a saint that comes from a different culture than your own, and letting God speak to your heart, where you are, in this tumultuous moment in our lives together. Be open to the challenge God brings into your life on this journey and know that you have a community to hold you up when you're tired and frustrated.
6. Be prepared to share your experiences as you feel comfortable. ...
7. We walk from June 20th, the summer solstice, to September 20th, almost the autumn solstice. This will bring us to, approximately, 400 miles if we're walking five or six miles a day. Whatever YOU can consistently walk, bike, hike, or move is good. Stationary bikes and treadmills are good on rainy or extra hot days, as are your stairs and pacing in your living room. Whatever. Hope you join us!

This begins tomorrow. I'll be working all day and helping Lydia with wedding crap in the evening. It should be interesting.

Now who the hell am I going to pick? I can't show up without a person tomorrow. And "Grandmas Greenwood" doesn't count. This is going to be an "enlightened" group.

tuesday on the greenway

Yesterday Pam and I walked on the Greenway from New Street to Sands Blvd. That was about two-three blocks further than I planned. She is recovering nicely from her surgery and we think we might try a gravel path next week. Toss away the paved surfaces. It might be almost time to continue our walk on the D&L.

The Greenway was not horrible busy but there were people out there walking, running and on bikes. I stopped at the Little Free Library and deposited some books. It was very empty so I did not withdraw any. It's probably a good thing. Your hands get sweaty carrying them.

Then I spent the afternoon at David's church packing food for the food ministry. 150 quarts of a chicken gnocchi cream soup, that when chilled resembles wallpaper paste. Think about what it looks like when you open a can of Campbell's Cream of _____. That's what this looked like.

Then we did about 130 quarts of a ham and bean soup before running out of containers. We still had the vegetarian entree and the pulled pork to do. I guess they did that today.

Today was the first day I took Pat out since she hurt her knee last week. We went to Giant and she walked around the whole store. I ran up and down the aisles to actually get what we needed. Of course had I known I was going to the store I would have made a much more comprehensive list.

Yesterday, my brother had told me that Costco was having a sale on memberships -- $10 off -- and if I gave his name as the referral he'd get a $10 kick back. I needed to get a membership to move my RX there. My $200+ eye drops -- there are two of them -- are $176 there. Plus I'll probably need new glasses. His at the eye doctor were $800. He got them at Costco for $26 WITH "Transitions" lenses.

So today was the day. It was raining and what's better than a warehouse store for an indoor place to walk. This place is bigger than BJs. I have a BJs membership and I get my moneys worth on gas, and Sharon using it as a drug store. Every 8-9 months I have to buy paper products. I'm still using the bottle of laundry soap from 2 years ago. It was massive.  When I walk in there I just have this feeling of unchecked consumerism. Not only are the carts overflowing with packaged and prepared foods, but lots of other useless crap. And cases and cases of single serve beverage. The environmental impact of these stores make me want to throw up.

Now multiply all these feeling 10-fold at Costco. I wanted to run out screaming.

Economics forced me to stay.  I cannot afford nearly $500 a month for eye drops. It will be bad enough at about $375. The staff member that was doing my new membership told me I should go l "look around". I had no giant cart. I told her I already did. She looked puzzled. Then the computer went down and I had to wait 10 minutes for it to reboot. So I walked around again. Up and down every aisle. (There was one aisle only with K-cups! Talk about environmental nightmares.) I was tempted to buy a four pack of soda, but soda in plastic bottles, shrink wrapped in plastic was too much for me to bear. I just couldn't. No matter how cheap it was. I returned to customer service, picked up my card, and left. I went right past the cart checker ... empty handed.

it's been an uneventful week

Between Thursday and today the weather has been beautiful. And I've been lazy. I've been lost in a relaxing world of books and crafts and care taking.

Last Wednesday Pat hurt her knee. How, she didn't know. But she could barely walk even with the walker. It was a rough couple of days. Thursday, I finally figured out the how. She got stuck on the toilet and I had to help her get off. It was the way she was twisting herself to hold on to the vanity to get up and down. A trip to the pharmacy solved that problem. A toilet riser. Sharon has the one mom used. It's much higher. Maybe 6 inches. But this one is a good height for her. Of course now I have to go upstairs to use the toilet. Why? Because I exceed the weight limit for the riser. It's probably a good thing.

 

Friday I planned to walk. It was cool in the morning so I pearled a pair of Converse for my nieces wedding. It ended up taking three hours to do the first shoe and 1.5 hours to do the second. I had the door and the window open and I still had a headache from the fumes of the glue!

She was getting married in October but has moved it to July 4.  In a way, eloping. The probability of having a big wedding in October is slim with C19, so they are just cutting all the crap and getting married on the Hoover Mason Trestle. The theme is over-the-top red, white and blue. It's gonna look like a Trump rally with 10 people.

Saturday I did paid caretaking so I didn't get a walk in. But I earned money, which is a good thing. I'm going to do the same thing this week.

Sunday I did a little walking on the north side, but not enough to talk about. I did run into Comenius speaking his mind during these difficult times.  J.A.C. is a wise man.

Yesterday I did a small walk with Pam. She is still recovering from her surgery, so we walked at Cedar Beach Park and the Rose Garden.  We did do the full loop from the pavilions and back. I checked the comfort stations. they were locked.

When we reached the Rose Garden we took the path up. It was a symphony of color.  We lifted our masks and took time to smell the roses. If she is up to it tomorrow we will do the Greenway. Maybe next week we'll try non-paved surfaces.

Today I went with Bonnie up to Schmidt's Berry Farm to pick strawberries. It was hard picking.  We only got 4 pounds of small to very small ones in about an hour. They were pretty cleaned out from the weekend.

trexler park

Pam had surgery on her back last week so we didn't walk. And I was lazy and walked very little. I was about to text her yesterday when a text came thru. "wanna walk tomorrow? I probably shouldn't drive far but can walk slow for an hour.

I chose Trexler Park. It's near her house, paved, and Lehigh Valley flat if you stick to the bottom loop. I picked her up at 10:30, and off we went. She was wearing her brace and had a sturdy walking stick for this adventure. We headed clockwise on the lower loop, past the spring house and the pond covered in algae. No doubt about it, we walked slow.

I didn't check the time. When we were done we sat on a bench in the shade and looked a vacation photos. Then it was back to the house. I'm guessing a nap was in order.

Miles/Steps:    1 mile

Bathrooms:      OPEN. There was a line so I didn't check them out.
Wildlife:           Hummingbird, chipmunk. Not one goose. I'm shocked.
Weather:          High 80s, 50% humidity, sunny.
PPE Found:      NONE!

new hope

I have been wanting to drive down toward New Hope for about two weeks. I wanted to check out the D&L in that section of the river. Look for trail heads and whatnot. Friday I received an email from Betty saying there was a informal Volksssport walk there on Sunday. I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

Of course after I confirmed that I'd be there, and ordered my stamps printed, I received a text from Debbie asking if I was available as an aid. I said "No. I have other plans." That clunk you just heard is Bonnie passing out. She says I never turn down work.

The walk began at a shopping center next to the high school. It's a long hill down to the main street, and then over the bridge into Lamberton, New Jersey.

It was here that we picked up the Delaware and Raritan Trail (D&R). Do you know what this means? There is a canal, and canal trail, on BOTH sides of the Delaware River. It blows my mind. This trail is narrower, at least in Lamberton, than the D&L. We walked to Mile Post 14 and turned around and came partway back. Then we wove our way thru town, finally returning to the trail passing MP15. 

In both Lamberton and New Hope, "Gay Pride" month was being celebrated. Nearly everyone had their rainbow flags out. (Designer geek trivia time. The first rainbow flag was square and had 8 stripes. It was designed by Gilbert Baker. The stripes all have meanings: red-life, orange-healing, yellow-sun, green-nature, blue-peace, purple-spirit. The removed stripes were pink (sexuality) and turquoise (art).  Also there was evidence of Black Lives Matters rallies and demonstrations.

We walked back to Bridge street and back over the bridge. Then the group wove thru town, and walked on part of the D&L.

For a Sunday in June, New Hope was dead. Usually people are elbow to elbow and the shops, restaurants and sidewalks are packed. But with all the C19 restrictions still in place under "yellow" I can see why. There were signs everywhere including the trails, the bridge, and downtown. The trails were busy but for the most part, everyone was trying to space out, and about half were wearing masks.

Not all of the charm of New Hope was lost. There were a few buskers out. Unless restrictions aren't lifted it will be along dry summer for them.

Yesterday I didn't walk. John came over and I did yard work. We pulled out a new invasive weed that grows over all my plants, like an umbrella. It even took over the kitsch on the fence. According tot he almighty Google, the god of information,  it's called Cleavers (Goosegrass, Stickyweed, Robin-Run-The-Hedge, Sticky-Willy) or Galium aparine and grows to be 4 feet tall. Leaves and stem are covered with tiny hairs, making the plant appear to be "sticky" and causing it to cling to everything. It clambers along the ground and also climbs over other plants using its hairs for grip. Flowers are tiny and green colored. Fruits (1/8 in / 3mm ) become burrs covered with tiny hairs, which aids distribution. I don't know where the hell it came from but it gave me a rash that itches. This is in the flowerbed that I share with Phillipe. 

About two years ago I gave up on the other flower bed on the side I share with "Nanny's" house. The more I tried to irradiate the Bishop's weed, the worse it got. I even dug out the flower beds and removed what I thought were all the trailing roots. Clearly I just chopped them into pieces and made more. There might be one hostage left. That's it. Otherwise it all gets weed wacked.

Miles/Steps:    just shy of 10K

Bathrooms:      I-5 at CVS.
Wildlife:           three multi-generational groups of turtles like the one above. These were on the bridge piers. One in the canal. Many gaggles of geese. Again, multi-generational, including a couple mixed breed ones that looked like geese but had mallard heads, and a couple almost all black. I'm now using the term guck instead of mutt.
Weather:          Low 80s, no humidity to speak of, sunny.
PPE Found:      NONE!

a volkssport kind of day

Last night I received a call from one of the LBW members asking if the Bethlehem walks were open and if bathrooms were open. I knew that Bethlehem South was open and the detour around the casino property. I was almost certain Bethlehem-North was open but I didn't sign in last week when I was walking around downtown. So we talked a bit and I told her I'd check it out. If nothing else I needed to put the casino detour in the box.

I had planned on parking at the Comfort Suites, walking over to do North Bethlehem, and then come back. But alas my sister had so much fun walking in Target she want to walk around another store. We picked Aldi. I could get a few groceries and it isn't as large as Giant.  (Tomorrow we're going to Dollar Tree! And we rarely spend money.)

Since I had to drive to the north side, I stopped at the hotel. Main Street had no cars on it. Before I put money in the meter I went looking for a street cleaning sign, and found it. Had to move the car to Market.

When I arrived at Hotel B there was signs about no public restrooms and carryout dining. The door was unlocked and I went in. The lobby -- usually bustling with activity -- was silent. I asked for the walk box and after a bit of hesitation she gave it to me. Then she told me the lobby was closed. Okay, what doesn't that mean? I'm thinking if I can't get the box why did you hand it to me? She left me stand at a table and stamp my books and give her back the box. Now what do I tell the walker that called?

We did Pat's walk at Aldi and came home. Then I headed down to the Comfort Suites to do the Bethlehem South walk. They gave me the box without hesitation, and I could stay in the lobby, no problem. I abbreviate the walk. I did not do Lehigh. I headed straight for the Greenway to try the new directions and they worked. Score one for Gayle.

When I arrived home I found cans of cat food and water in the alley. This is not helping the stray cat problem.

When I looked at my phone there were two messages from Betty. One said a group was getting together to walk in Lansdale on Saturday, and another that they were getting together in New Hope on Sunday. I think I'll do New Hope. I need to drive the length of the D&L to find trailheads for Pam and my 165 mile adventure. I can't do both days. I don't want to leave Pat alone that many hours two days in a row.

I barely finished replying to those emails and another one dropped in. It was the trail master Pat. The D&L has been sanctioned as a walk. All 165 miles. Yee Haw.

Miles/Steps:    3 includes Aldi

Bathrooms:      all closed for C19
Wildlife:           none
Weather:          86, 49% humidity sunny and also overcast. But never at the same time.
PPE Found:      1/2 glove

Money Found:  Penny in Aldi's lot

c19 observations and other miscellaneous stuff.

The other day I forgot to put my Fitbit on. It was a day that I had taken a neighborhood walk so it was only short by maybe two miles. I went on to the web site to log in the data and was shocked to see the data. It was low. Very low. And in May I didn't walk every day but I walked a lot, and far.

So I went investigating. When you log into the website, you get a line chart. If you keep it on all day— like I do—the lines are high and low, and then your actually fitness walk pops really high up and is maybe yellow or sometimes even green. But you can see that the red lines are pretty consistent. No super big gaps in activity. These are the walking around the house, in and out of stores, basically moving thru life lines.

Now look at this C19 day. There's my walk in the middle. But what happened to all the little red lines? They are gone. Why? Because self-isolation is forcing me to park my ass and read books, watch tv, do puzzles, and spend too much time on social media. Even with those big mid-day walks I am not reaching my goals. And it pisses me off.

I mentioned it to Bonnie when we were coming home from walking on Monday and she said that they noticed the same thing. Thank goodness it is not an illusion.

Do you know what else it doesn't read? My sister has five seated exercises to do daily, three sets of each. It only takes maybe 15 minutes. Guess who does them with her? Me. Guess what doesn't register on the Fitbit? You got it. But on the bright side my knee feels better than it has in months. Physical therapy does have it's advantages.

It also does not read my walks with her. We generally go slowly up or down the hill and with the broken sidewalks, litter and other hazards. One day she went around the corner and the sidewalks were worse. It's slow walking with a walker. But she does it. I am so tired of the block. We need a better solution.

Today we went to Target during old lady hour. I dropped her at the door. We didn't take the walker she was going to use a cart. We had no intention of buying anything.  I parked and returned to the entrance and the rent-a-cop at the door said "I'm sorry ma'am, but you must be older than 60 or disabled to enter the store the first hour." I wanted to hug him. Instead, I said I just dropped off my sister, and went inside. With the smooth floors and no hills, and a general lack of people, she made it all the way around the store. One big square and only stopped three times. That actually did register on my Fitbit. But I can't take her to stores everyday to walk.

I did not walk up to vote yesterday, I mailed my ballot in. Our polling place gets little action. Hopefully someone braved the pandemic and went.

I was supposed to go to Franco Farms and walk again with Bonnie and her grandson, but she cancelled at the last minute. She was looking at radar and a big storm was on our doorstep. It never arrived. I walked in the neighborhood.

Saturday I walked around downtown Bethlehem. Everyone was wearing masks including Comenius and the Penn State Lion and Moravian Greyhound.

The stray cats are multiplying in the neighborhood again. They sit and stare in my back door. Or take over the patio furniture. But more than anything they leave me gifts —birds, mice and even a squirrel. The three on the patio are regulars. The one in front of the car I thought was knocked up. But apparently she's post pregnancy. There are five kittens under that car. It is time to call the trapper again. I just need to find some money.

mean aunt gayle

I am really bad at selfies. Can you tell we were at Bogart's bridge? Me either. We all do look ready to rob a bank.

Yesterday Bonnie called and asked if I wanted to walk with her and her grandson. The world's whackiest school year is over early so now she is on summer child care duty. The benefits of being a grandmother.

I met them at the house and Bonnie drove. First, she turned the wrong way and missed the entrance to the Parkway, then the alternate road was closed. That's how we ended up at Bogart's bridge. We headed east on the path and the child ran ahead. At this point, he was ahead a little. Soon he became fascinated with throwing stones into the creek. Bonnie left him to throw a few and then told him to stop. She told him three times and he didn't stop. Of course not. He know s her limits and he'll stop when she gets there.

He was not prepared for hurricane Gayle. STOP THROWING STONES. NOW. If looks could kill I'd be a dead woman. He was mad and started running ahead.  He'd let us catch up a little and ran further until he was really far ahead. He would not stop because he was angry with me. We kept calling him, he'd stop, turn around, and run more.

He finally stopped at the bridge. If he thought Aunt Gayle was mad before ...

I actually just used my sternest voice and said, do you see how big this bridge is? That's all the further you can be ahead. Not one inch more. And look, here the path goes across the bridge and straight. How would you know which way we were going? If you would pick the wrong way, we'd be searching for you.

 He was still angry with me.

Thank goodness for the solar walk. It not only distracted him, it kept him walking with us. We read all the signboard and counted steps to the next board. If it said it was 50 million miles away it was 25 steps. 250 million was about 125. It worked great till we got to Saturn. Then, Neptune, Uranius, and Pluto were BILLONS of miles. I am not counting that high.

I did notice that the Parkway has new mile marker signs. Of course it is all relative to where you start.

Thankfully by the time we finally reached Pluto, he could see the spring and the spring house, that kept his interest till we returned to the bridge and the lot.

When we got back to the house, he gave me a hug so I guess all was forgiven.

Miles/Steps:    2

Bathrooms:      there was a usable port-o-potty in the lot. It was occupied so I couldn't check the cleanliness
Wildlife:           mallards
Weather:          forgot to look at the temp. Sunny. Breezy.
PPE Found:      No masks and gloves but there was a sanitary napkin. thank goodness it was unused.

Extra:               I have not been having too much trouble with allergies this year. I think it's the masks we need to wear. the day we did Bethlehem to Freemansburg I had a bad attack. Yesterday I was on the phone coming from the car to the house. I got in the house and that annoying cough started. I excused my self from the phone and got some water. It didn't help. Ultimately I told them I'd call them back, and then it kicked into high gear. I thought I was going to hurl out one of my lungs. I sounded like my father. I really need to remember to look at the pollen count and to take meds.