memorial day on the hmt

Yesterday Sharon sent me home with enough cheese to consitpate a small army. I had to share it. I'm trying to eat a little less cheese in my hopes to lose weight. (Down 5 whole pounds in 6 weeks. Whoopie!)

I sent a text to Lydia and asked if she wanted cheese. She did, but she was at a picnic. I told her I'd bring it today. Oh, and since you have off, maybe we could walk. She agreed.

She chose the HMT one of her favorite spots. She got married there almost a year ago. Now Lydia loves a holiday. She loves silly hats and shirts...even on walks. I was not surprised that she walked down the street carrying a red, white and blue cowboy hat. What I didn't realize is she had two. They were from a wedding event. My mask is also from the wedding. As is the dogs outfit.

Now when she picked the HMT I told her dogs aren't permitted. The dog came. We parked at the lot and walked thru the ArtsQuest campus. It was a beautiful day, but when the wind blew it was cold. And it kept blowing off my silly hat. I headed up the stairs, she and the dog went up the elevator. And she left him walk. Rule breaker. Thankfully it wasn't busy.

We walked to the other end taking lots of pictures, and went down the back staircase. Then we came out First Avenue and back to ArtsQuest. After returning to the car, we came back to my place to surprise my sister. She was soooo happy to see the dog.

Then, after lunch, she wanted to go for a walk. First time in weeks. I went.

Miles/Steps:                   2 miles 

Weather:                        high 60s, windy

PPE Found:                     6 masks. (Plus I picked up 3 in front of my house!)

yoga in the park is back

The Pratyush Sinha Foundation is holding their free outdoor yoga classes at two places this season. This is the group that does mindfulness and yoga in the Allentown Elementary Schools. Although it's free they take donations at the event to support their school programs.

They didn't have it last year for obvious reasons, and not often the year before. If my memory serves me correctly a thunderstorm always blew in late in the day and it was cancelled.

Now we all know that I am horrible at yoga, but I'll go anyway. The June 24th one is closest to the solstice, but I think I'm going to have to pass on that one. It's also closest to my surgery. I don't go for my first followup until the 28th.

lbw walking souderton

Pat was having a really good day and asked what I was doing day. I replied, more of the same. I'm going to take a walk and mostly kill time. None of my projects have come in yet. I have a logo to do for my friends at Cardinal Lane Farm, but that is it.

Then she said it's Thursday. I knew that. I was astounding that she knew Thursday was a Volkssport group walk day. Today's walk was in Souderton. It begins at a cemetery. Saturdays walk is in Malvern. Soudertown is south of Quakertown ten minutes. Malvern is south of Valley Forge and involves taking the turnpike. Turnpike = money. I had wanted to do Malvern but I am pinching pennies so I went to Souderton.

There was eleven walkers, and I brought up the rear. Thankfully someone hung in the back with me. I didn't remember it being so hilly! Everyone did a 7K. I kept my mask on a lot so that I didn't have an allergy attack. Souderton was thick with pollen. I'm kind of surprised that storms last night didn't wash it away. Maybe they missed Souderton?

Souderton is a borough, with a little downtown. It is the home of Univest Bank. Instead of suburbs of townhouses, it has suburbs of 55+ communities. There are five that the walk goes thru. Each has some sort of walking trail. Gotta keep your residents healthy. We also walked by two parks. One was huge with a pool. It straddled two sides of the street. Lucky for us the indoor bathrooms were open at the pool. I didn't go in.

It was warm, but it was a good walk. I am positive I slowed everyone down.

Oh, and I finally lost a pound. Took 42 days of hard work. Who the hell starts a diet with a plateau?

Miles/Steps:   5 miles
Weather:        81, sunny, not much humidity. Storms took care of that.

PPE Found:     1 mask

the bridges of allentown -- 15th street

 I realized today while doing the walk on the 15th street bridge that this series would be a lot more interesting if it was the bridges of NYC or Pittsburgh or Philly or hell, even Madison County. But I'm committed to the theme and its getting my fat, lazy ass out of the house. That's really the important part.

An hour before I left the house I took an allergy pill. I did not want a repeat of yesterday. And I knew that this area was much less urban and more forested. It backs up to Lehigh Parkway.

I parked under the bridge at Jordan park. On the other side of the bridge is the recycle center. I walked up the side walk of the ramp to get on to the bridge. I resisted the urge to cut across the lawn. This bridge is really two overpasses connected together. One goes over the road, the other over the creek. What sort-of surprised me was the up hill after the bridge. The things you don't really notice when you are in a car.

Another thing I noticed while looking down was a random sidewalk coming from the creek toward the parking lot, but then it stopped. At some point it must have gone somewhere, but not anymore.

I walked up the hill to Wyoming street and out Wyoming as it weaves it way around the subdivision and Regency Towers. I'm sure that the street name changes here but I don't know what it is.

As I reached the back entrance to the parkway I noticed some construction. They are building more apartments, I think. I also noticed that the pool for Regency Towers is the top level of the parking garage. What a clever use of space.

When I reached the contstruction, the sidewalk was closed. I had to walk in the street. The street is not heavily traveled but the people that use it go 60 instead of 30. It was a "hold your breath" block or three.

This is the view of the creek from the little stone bridge. If you zoom in you can see waterfowl.

Once I reached MLK Blvd. I turned right and headed back toward the car. 

Miles/Steps:   1.25 miles
Weather:        88, sunny, humidity rising

Wildlife:          5 geese, 1 mallard, blackbirds, black butterfly
PPE Found:     4 masks

earthing

A month ago I announced in this space that I signed up for "Noom". Now I would love to say that the pounds are melting away and that I'll be a skinny bitch by the Fourth of July. But that ain't happening.

It's me, not them. Mostly. Frankly I would have quit after three days if I hadn't paid for it. Who knows, something might actually stick. Eventually. Perhaps if I wasn't doing it in secret, or had buddy, it might be different. But probably not. I am my own worse enemy.  Why can't I be like Lizzo and love my fast-assed self?

Noom claims to use psychology to change behaviors and therefore you lose weight. To that end, there are course materials which you read everyday. I think I'm about halfway thru the program and I haven't learned anything that I didn't read before somewhere. I hate the interface. It's all hashtags and acronyms and cute cartoons. It's the same experience I've had with self-help books: it's going in one eye and out the other. I can't remember anything two minutes after I read it because I just don't give a damn. That's a huge problem when it is quiz time. I've failed many a quiz. 

During the course portion the are often breaks in the readings where you fill in answers to prompts on that days subject. I just type x's in them and move on. I am not doing any work. Maybe if I did I'd be more successful. I just don't care and that's very wrong. I'm supposed to share them with my group. Not happening. Ever. 

However, I have started posted in the group to the coaches prompts. She posts a very broad question twice a week, or so. Usually on Friday she does something for the weekend. This week it's about Earthing. What the hell is earthing you might ask? Basically it is grounding. Spending 20-30 minutes every day barefoot and walking in the grass or the sand or the mud or a creek ... you get the idea. Reconnecting with the earth. In addition to psych and behavior modification Noom is also into meditation and mindfulness. Earthing fits right in.

I've finally made a connection with Noom. Bare feet. I love bare feet. I love walking in the grass, mud, creek and wherever else I can. I don't think it connects me to the earth or reduces my stress or any of that other ancient, yet  new age stuff. Now when someone yells at me to put on shoes I can tell them no, I'm earthing. 

Last Sunday I saw the above in the Sunday paper. I immediately sent Angel's daughter a text. Do you want to go? She said yes. On Sunday Angel, the teen, and I are going to the wacky ice cream place in P'burg for Angel's birthday. This is the true me. See creative food and want to go. Later I realized that I won't be able to eat anything but I can't wait to go. I'll take videos of them enjoying themselves.  

I've been doing Noom about six weeks and have yet to lose a pound. The first couple of weeks I gained weight. As much as four pounds. This is the first week I have fallen under my start weight. All the psycho-babble new age psychology aside I'm eating less than 1500 calories a day and logging my food. That's a  minimum of half as much as before. I've stopped grazing. I've cut back dramatically on soda (have not eliminated) and cutback on simple carbs too. Schools out and my sister is better. I have minimal stress. I think I should be losing a little weight. Maybe if I did my attitude would change.

the bridges of allentown -- eighth street bridge

Today's Allentown bridge was the 8th Street bridge, formally known as the Albertus L. Meyers Bridge. Meyers was a conductor of the Allentown Band afor 50 years nd was a friend of John Phillip Sousa. (I  always wondered why the Band played so much Sousa. It all makes sense now.) It was built in 1913 and restored about a century later. I'm not sure when. It was closed at least three years while they did their thing.

This is a densely populated area, but I was sure I could park at the school or the church. I was wrong. The school had "no parking school days" signs up. I went around the block got in the wrong lane and ended up. heading downtown. In the process I saw Great places to park and they were in the shade. Inconvenient for residents and commuters, but perfect for me.

If you are standing on St. John Street I was on the left-hand side. There was so much littler. To the point where if you had a crew of Girl Scouts cleaning it up they'd leave a bag of litter every twenty-five feet.

This bridge was known as the suicide bridge. Eighty people have succeeded killing themselves here. That's pretty much impossible now. The walls are 9 feet tall and curve over the sidewalk. I never really understood that there was no river on it. It makes sense, the river makes it's sharp turn down around 2nd street where the waterfront redevelopment is. That really begs the question as to why they needed a big bridge in the first place. The Jordan Creek really isn't very substantial.

The plan was to cross the bridge, make a loop thru downtown and come back. I exited the Bridge and crossed Union and headed up 8th. I past a tree and must have inhaled a load of pollen. My throat closed up and I started hacking out a lung. The young man about three houses ahead of me spun around, looked and ran across the street. I'm sure he thought I had Covid.

It was a short walk and I didn't take water. I'm on this stupid diet so I had no candy in my pocket. I was pretty sure I was going to die in the filthy street. Obviously I didn't. As quickly as it came, it went and I was left tired, but breathing fine. As I decide I'm just going back I spot this:

Five panels long it made everything okay. I forgot all about how bad I felt.

I had to cross the street to get the whole thing. It took u a good portion of the block.

I think if I had money in my pocket I would have stopped and bought some water. But I had nothing. So I turned around and went back on the right side of the bridge. This side was amazingly clean. It's quite odd.

Next.  on the list is the 15th Street/Jefferson Street Bridge. Then I have the Hanover Avenue and the Tilghman Street (when it reopens) I have to check that they have sidewalks. I never really looked.

Miles/Steps:   just over 1
Weather:        88, sunny, but not humid

$ found:          one penny
PPE Found:     over 20 masks. I lost count

the bridges of allentown -- american parkway bridge

 I'm doing good walking everyday this week. I think I'm finally getting my mojo back. Yesterday I walked to CVS and then took the scenic route back via Pawnee Street. I didn't remember it was hilly.

Today was a Volkssport walk in Skippack. I looked it up and it would take an hour to get there, and I couldn't justify that for a 5K. Especially at $3.10+ an hour. So instead I did a bridge in Allentown. Allentown has three newish bridges —15th/Jefferson street, 8th Street, and the American Parkway. I've been saying for years I'm going to walk them. Today I began that quest.

I looked on google maps and it said there was parking near Fullerton Avenue. But when I arrived it was private parking. I parked on the street. Then I noticed the faded sign that said "No Parking. Street Cleaning. Thursday N-3. Shit. It was 11:15. I might make it back. But I might not. I ended up parking on Catasaqua Road, between St. Mary's and St. Georges churches.

As I was walking to the bridge, I passed a sign pointing toward the old Lehigh Structural Steel. It said "Waterfront Development". So when I started to cross the bridge I made a point of looking for it.

This bridge is long, about 3/4 of a mile from Fullerton Avenue to Bradford Street. I also didn't realize how hilly it is. You think of bridges going up and down, but not rising and falling as it twists and turns.

Also why the Native American decorations? I've noticed these since the bridge was being build. I thought they were painted, but they are actually inlaid tile.

Another thing I noticed. The rail is about 4 feet high crossing the bridge, including over the river. However, when there is a road below or a railroad, the fencing is about nine feet tall. I'm guessing when one jumps from the bring they would go splash in the the river, and splat on the railroad tracks? It's interesting

Miles/Steps:  2 miles
Weather:       81, sunny
PPE Found:    2 masks

Wildlife:        red wing blackbirds

$ found:        one penny