Take a Hike

After an evening of doing good deeds, laughs and stories, a taste of the hops, and finalizing the weird TV series of great music and strange characters, I slept until eleven to birds calling in the sunshine.

Washing the night down with coffee, I climbed the 13 stairs to pile boxes in the snow. Check that off my list of to-do with a treat for the white pups waiting at the fence behind me.

Then I was off on a public transportation adventure. Waiting at the bus stop I had used for so many years, packing down the powder to ice. The robins flew low back and forth across the street as the clouds became grey and the wind picked up. I’ve got to feed them when I get back.

A quiet hour of listening to the wet tires on the pavement and the bare winter trees, I got a free ride because the machine was broken and would not receive my card.

Paying my fine, I start to hoof it off down the potholed street past the street people. “How you doing?” a black man asked me. “OK.” I responded thinking I can fit in with this lot.

My next mission was to wander down Carytown and see if I could find a dealer for jewelry or silver, when suddenly awaiting traffic to thin, I remembered….” Pepper grinder”.

A small bell rang as I opened the door to the empty shop. Blinded by the change in light and the transfer of glasses the proprietor asked if I needed assistance. Adjust my lenses I replied that I had visited the establishment many times and stood before the assortment of grinders. Tall wooden grinders, short plastic grinders, dual grinders, some in boxes, some with tags presented themselves before me. I picked two identical grinders, but was instructed the store had larger pepper models. I asked, “ What is the difference in the salt or the pepper grinders?”

“It’s just what you put in it.” She responded. We both smiled knowing the answer.

The trek home was uneventful and quiet, a path I have made a million times before.

A bottle of water fed my determination to ride, since it had been such a long time. The white dogs bid me safe journey as I dragged the tired pony to a spot of dry pavement.

A short slow paced roll to the grocery and my legs told me I had not been using these muscles. I’ll sleep good tonight, listening to my body.