Springtime Walks Begin Again

I love to take walks. My favorite walks are those after a great dinner, when I have to walk slower than normal, otherwise I'll get a side ache from being full combined with the moderate walk pace.

That is one of my biggest dislikes about winter in Minnesota. You can't take walks outside. Ok, you CAN. It's not IMPOSSIBLE. But it's NOT FUN. To me anyway. I bundled myself up several times this winter in an effort to go outside anyway, determined to walk our usual loop around the neighborhood. Battling below zero wind chills and wearing so many layers that I feel like Randy from A Christmas Story ["I can't put my arms down!!"] is not fun to me. It's not the same as taking a walk in the spring, summer or the fall.

Now that the temperatures are consistently above freezing, even at night, and the highs even once got up to SEVENTY so far this year, evening walks have been able to start up again. One night, I asked Matt to go for an after dinner walk, and I asked if it'd be annoying if I brought my camera. He said no; told me to bring it along. So I did.

We're at the very, very beginning stage of spring right now. There are a few blades of grass starting to grow and the snow had almost all melted. A nearby pond just opened up in the last few days, as the last of the ice melted. But all the area lakes are still iced up. There aren't any new leaves on the trees... yet. So the photos from our walk made me think more of fall than spring. More of the end of a season than a beginning. But let me tell you... the walk was very much invigorated with the presence of spring. Of people out walking on the sides of the road. Of people working on their cars in their driveways. Of people cooking dinner outside on their BBQ's.

Oh yes... spring is here.