The Day The Rain Stopped

I am happy to report that it's only rained twice so far this summer. Once for 2 weeks, and then again for 3 weeks. Today was a happy break in the rainy forecast, and my gosh was it ever a good day.

My foot injury has finally healed, and it was so fortunate that it was in conjunction with the break in the weather. Louie and I went for a brisk walk this morning as a start to a brand new week. I also realized that I'll never be a runner. I tried so hard to be one, and actually enjoyed it, which was quite the shocking revelation. Despite everything inside my head saying, "don't you dare do it!," I tried running anyway. While I didn't injure myself, I could definitely feel the inkling of a threat from my plantar muscles, and I've learned the hard way that they're not muscles that you want holding a grudge against you. They can really mess you up. Considering that I was running to get into shape to hike Europe, it would be the height of stupidity to injure myself trying to run to get into shape, and NOT be able to hike Europe.

Did you get lost?

So Louie and I walked, and I will greatly enjoy that as well. It's easier to stop and take pictures when I walk, at least. Louie really enjoyed running, too, because he tried encouraging me to go faster.

That's Louie, way up there, mocking me with his superior speed.

All the rain has taken it's toll. The lake is exceptionally high, the trail is washed out at places, and some trees have just fallen over from the ground being so soft. I will always be able to find beauty in nature, however.

I regret not taking a real camera. The phone's quality is lacking.

 Even driving was something to smile hard about, because look. What's there NOT to smile about there? Summertime, blue skies, white clouds, rolling hills, green fields, farmland... All the things that I love so much. If you scratch and sniff, you can smell the clean country air.

I ended my day with a yoga class. What? You didn't know I did yoga? I didn't either. I figured if I can't do high impact things like running, then low impact things like yoga would be good, right? My body knows itself better than I do, apparently, and has requested that I stop trying to kill it slowly. Nobody was more shocked to learn that yoga is my thing. I think partly because of the instructor and amazing ladies in the class. I have zero coordination, very little balance, and am very much lacking in core strength. Turns out, those are all good reasons to take yoga. My muscles loved every minute of the class, and even my over-active always-running brain calmed for a few minutes to rest and relax. I was actually afraid that I'd forget All The Things if I let my brain stop running at 163 mph, but I didn't. That was very relieving.

Tomorrow brings the rains back, so I'll be in the workshop with no windows, pretending that it's not raining yet again. Maybe we'll get another break this summer and I can be out in the great outdoors enjoying the blue skies and feel the sun on my skin.