Early morning hike

Explored a little new territory today. Near where I used to live on the south side of town, but a trail to the top of Mt. Baldy that I'd never tried before. Not a big mountain, by any stretch, but it's a solid uphill hike to the top, and the views along the way are superb. After that, we crossed the road and continued on the trail for awhile before returning to the car. Only an hour and 15 minutes, but a good hike.

The trail across the road, through beautiful spring green trees dappled with sun and shade. We are so lucky to live in a place that has this much (and more!) outdoor space for walking right in town. This is a city park, and there are miles of trails.

Busy day....

Not as good a photo as I thought it was when I snapped it, but sadly it's all gone now, so I can't get a do-over.

Today's lunch, something new for me: stuffed portabella mushroom. Mexican flavors, hot sauce dripping onto the plate. And lots of fresh asparagus, which I eat every spring until they no longer appeal to me. Haven't reached that point yet, this year.

I guess that's my day's excitement, though not really. I took a very early morning walk for about 48 minutes, and another, shorter, walk after lunch.

I'm in the middle of my first Zoom meeting, which is an ongoing Buddhist retreat taught by my dearest monastic friend.  I'll enjoy the teaching, and hopefully learn something, but the best part may be seeing her, and hearing her voice. All very soothing for me. Two sessions already today, one more session this evening, then do it again tomorrow.

I'm pretty tired. Have had a week of heavy-duty walking/hiking/cycling and right now, all I want is a nap! Hope I manage to sleep well tonight so I'll be fresh for tomorrow's sessions. And maybe I won't walk so much tomorrow.

The bounty of the garden

Remember this from a couple of weeks ago? I've had a few meals from that chard since then, but with the nice weather, it's been going a bit crazy, so today I went out and harvested all of the large leaves. Six point four ounces of it!

You probably don't love chard as much as I do, but I enjoyed every bite of this. I chop the stems into maybe half inch pieces, slit the greens in half then crosscut them into manageable sizes. These things magically become much, much smaller as they cook. Like spinach.

I saute them in olive oil, add a couple of whole garlic cloves to the oil, add the stems and let them soften a bit, then add the greens and toss them until they are wilted. Salted, of course. Doesn't take long, is filled with nutrition (especially straight out of the garden!), and to my old taste buds, delicious.

Yeah, I had more for lunch, but none of it came from the garden. Since there's also lettuce out there that needs to be used (tomorrow), I'm glad that the chard plants are down to a small quantity for now. They'll be bounteous again soon enough. The gift that keeps on giving.

Heceta Head Lighthouse

This isn't a recent photo -- probably a couple of years ago. But as I scrolled through the various folders looking for inspiration, something that stood out and moved me tonight, the folder of lighthouses caught my eye. Because we can all use a beacon of light in the darkness that's taking over our world, and this is one of the most spectacular places I've ever seen. I remember my first glimpse, back in 1996 when I first drove up this coastline. Mindboggling, in person. Beautiful always.

There's a woman living in this building whose husband of 62 (I think it was) years died about 5 months ago. I've come to know her a little bit over those months, and have heard bits and pieces of their life together. They were lightkeepers at this lighthouse once upon a time, for about 17 years, as I recall. The house is now a B&B, but they had it all to themselves for a long, wonderful time. I didn't know him well, but the one occasion I had to hear him speak, he was quite interesting, as is she.

I'm still here, if anyone's wondering, and as far as I know, healthy. I didn't sleep much last night, so it hasn't been a fun day (lots of dozing, a couple of movies, random food).

I'm grateful to a few people in the building who are happy with a little email correspondence. It helps the odd and wildly swinging emotions that we all seem to be feeling with all this isolation. And we are people who are good at isolation, as a rule. Loners all. Hermits at heart. I'm happy to have this blog as an outlet, though as always it's like talking into a vacuum -- or the universe -- and there is never an answer. But it's good to get things out even if no one listens.

Hope all is well out there.