Radically Retired

Category: Walking for Health

  • Late Greens

    Late Greens

    My Sept 09 post featured a bridge photo framed by foreground shrubs in their autumn colours.

    The scene in that photo is the exception this year, and you’ll notice that beyond the bridge, the trees are still quite green.

    I caught today’s feature photo about 20 minutes before the one of the bridge.

    Today’s photo demonstrates how the late August and early September rains in this area, along with mild temperatures, have largely delayed the turning of the leaves.

    Usually, by this time of year, autumn is in its full show regalia of yellows, golds, reds, and oranges.

    I love the green because it gives the feeling of extended summer and possibly delayed frost.

    An unfortunate thing about the extended summer appearance is that our farmers are struggling to get the crops in and the fields that were swathed but not yet combined are losing quality by the day.

    What looked to be an upcoming bumper crop (our way of saying a huge and high grade yield), in many cases will be lucky if it meets feed grade.

    Agriculture is one of the main drivers of our economy, so if our farmers suffer, so do we all.

    We also have many friends and family members who farm. It’s their livelihood, so we truly feel for them in a year such as this.

  • Friday Freestyling … Reflection Perfection

    Friday Freestyling … Reflection Perfection

    On recent morning walks, there has been virtually zero wind. This is a rarity in these parts.

    Besides adding to the comfort and the peacefulness of my morning power walks, the reflections on the river have been outstanding.

  • Friday Freestyling … Directionally Challenged

    Friday Freestyling … Directionally Challenged

    On a recent morning walk, I decided to check out a route I hadn’t been on in almost two years.

    I was curious to see if a new walking path had been paved there.

    As you can see from my feature photo, that wasn’t the case.

    I decided to forge on ahead along the grassed and gravelled paths.

    I don’t love walking on gravel because it’s easy to hit a large stone and twist an ankle

    When I was there last, I turned left at the end of the gravel path above.

    This time, the left turn was blocked off, so I carried on ahead. The path had a few twists and turns, and before long, my sense of direction was gone completely.

    When I finally reached pavement again, I looked at a street sign when I reached a corner, and in my mind, it was all wrong.

    My entire life, I’ve been directionally challenged in big buildings, but seldom outdoors.

    I did see some familiar landmarks off in the distance, so I knew I wasn’t completely lost.

    Along my new and unplanned route, I did find our city school bus yard, which I didn’t even know existed.

    All in all, it was a nice long walk with some unplanned new scenery. I wasn’t at all panicked because I knew I’d eventually find my way home. We’re a small city and the people are friendly and helpful … once you find some people, of course.

  • Friday Freestyling … Pigsqueak?

    Friday Freestyling … Pigsqueak?

    When I’m out for my morning walks, I’m always on the lookout for something to photograph.

    These quick stops and then restarts at or above pre-stopping pace, create a form of HIIT.

    Recently, this flower in a yard I passed by, caught my attention.

    After I got home, I looked it up and was surprised at its many aliases:

    heart-leaved bergenia,heartleaf bergenia, leather bergenia, winter-blooming bergenia, elephant-ears, elephant’s ears, Korean elephant-ear, badan, pigsqueak, Siberian tea, and Mongolian tea.

    The one that made me smile and wonder why was “pigsqueak”.

  • Happiness is … Tatagwa Parkway

    Happiness is … Tatagwa Parkway

    Tatagwa Parkway is the name of the trail system developed in our small prairie city for hikers, bikers, and walkers.

    The system includes 180 acres of land adjacent to the Souris River and encompasses two large nature habitats.

    The paths that make up the trail also run alongside city streets, down a long lane towards health care facilities, and along the river boardwalk.

    The majority of the paths are peaceful and away from housing and city traffic, and even the ones that run alongside a street can offer something new to keep an eye on (such as the progress on our new hospital) and the many beautiful yards along the way.

    Slated to open fall 2026

    Because hubs and I live close to the centre of the city, I walk from our condo to all of the trail heads.

    I choose path combinations that add up to the 5 to 6 Km (3 to 3.7 miles) distance I aim for in each power walk. This allows me to have many different experiences vs walking the same route day after day.

    Tatagwa is a Cree word that means, “It is flat” … definitely apt for this area of our province.

  • Read My Sign

    Read My Sign

    According to The Beatles in 1967, it’s all you need.

  • Happiness Is … Walking

    Happiness Is … Walking

    My Monday posts will now focus on happiness. The goal is to start each week on a positive note.

    I ’ve recently been seeing lots of clever memes from a Facebook page called “Hippie World”.

    The memes are ai generated, so aren’t subject to copyright (I figured as much, but checked anyways to be sure).

    Because, when I was a teenager, I was a wannabe hippie, because I’ve been an avid walker for many years, and because many of the songs referenced are on my walking playlists, this one spoke to me:

    📸 Hippie World
  • Happiness Is … Spring at Last

    Happiness Is … Spring at Last

    Happiness landed firmly this past week, as more and more signs of spring appeared on my walking trails.

    The showy flowers on the Dwarf Russian Almond shrub in my feature photo made me smile.

    Caraganas are also finally kicking out their masses of yellow blossoms now. These blossoms always bring back happy memories of my childhood home.

    Caragana

    Everything is showing signs of life and rejuvenation after a cooler, dryer, and windier than usual May.

    Striped Squill

    The grass alongside our many trails is greening up, and the trees will soon be completely leafed out.

    Even the dandelions are a welcome sight!

  • Stereotypes

    Stereotypes

    Over the past few years, there has been a bench alongside one of our walking trails here that has often had a small painted rock sitting on it.

    I’ve always wondered who the generous artist was. Who would paint a rock and leave it for others to enjoy?

    In my mind’s eye, it was a middle aged to older woman who was a member of our local artist’s guild. She would be of petite stature with grey hair, glasses, and a friendly smile.

    The other day, as I was on that same path, there was a tall, heavily built, younger fellow walking ahead of me.

    I saw him stop at a bench, take something out of his pocket, and spend a few moments. He was far enough ahead that I didn’t know if he was tying a shoelace or what he was doing there.

    When I finally got to the bench, the young man was long gone. My feature photo shows what I found on the bench he had stopped at.

    Now, did this fellow paint and leave the rock? Is he the one who has been doing this all along? Did he maybe take the rock on a previous stroll and was now returning it for someone else to enjoy? Did he just spy the treasure and stop to take a photo of it, as I had done?

    That little painted duck provided much more than a gift of beauty along a hiking trail.

    It afforded me the opportunity to speculate and examine my sometimes stereotypical assessments.

  • Spring Has Sprung

    Spring Has Sprung

    On my most recent morning walk, signs of spring were finally evident.

    Greening grass
    and Canada Geese everywhere
    Red Winged Blackbirds are back
    (Robins too but I couldn’t catch one)
    Buds are opening

    This time of year brings the promise of summer, especially along the hiking/walking/biking trails and it always brings to mind the little verse I learned in my childhood:

    Spring has sprung

    The grass is riz

    I wonder where the birdies is

    The birdy’s on the wing

    Now isn’t that absurd

    ‘Cause everybody knows

    That the wing is on the bird