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In which I actually exercise
May. 30th, 2012 10:48 amA few weeks ago, a friend of mine called and suggested that we start a walking routine together, and I said "yes". We try to get out at least every other day. There's a pedestrian overpass to the lakefront about mid-way between my apartment and hers, so we meet there, go to the lakefront and then walk either north or south. We usually walk for about an hour, three miles or so in toto. It's been excellent for me, though on my own I'd walk faster (Alexis has a bad knee, so we go a bit slowly).
Unfortunately, we missed the last three days. Two of those days it was in the '90s (record heat), and even on the lakefront, where it's generally cooler, it was way too hot. (I really need to convince her to walk in the morning rather than the late afternoon!) Yesterday, I missed her call, and when we did connect it was too late for me.
I knew we'd miss today, because I am due for four and a half hours of Eugene O'Neill tonight, and I am definitely napping this afternoon. So this morning, having woken up early (seriously, I was wide awake at 6:00 a.m.), I fed the cat, had some fruit, and then walked over to the Wooded Island, one of my favorite local spots. I did the circle, and then went in to the Osaka Garden. There's a waterfall there, and around the pond where it begins there is a not-quite circle of stones. So I sat there and meditated for a while. Frankly, I could probably have sat there all day; it's so quiet and peaceful that you'd scarcely realize you were in the middle of the city. But I didn't.
Instead, I left the Island and went home by way of a local coffee shop, Café 57, where the owner, who calls everyone "precious", "darling", "sweetheart", etc., offered to make me the "best latte in Chicago". I declined in favor of Earl Grey tea, and, in an act which negated (calorie-wise, anyway) all the good exercise in which I had just engaged, a chocolate croissant.
And for the couch potato in me:
Awhile back, I subscribed to RAI from my cable company, figuring that watching Italian television would help my studies. I have just gotten totally hooked on a wonderful mini-series about the Titanic, called Titanic: nascita di una leggenda (the English title is Titanic: Blood and Steel, presumably because the literal translation, Titanic: Birth of a Legend, was already taken ). As the title implies, it takes place (at least so far), before her maiden voyage, and is, in large part, about the immigrant experience in Belfast, and class and religious conflicts, workers' rights, with the IRA and women's suffrage thrown in. I'm really enjoying it.
Unfortunately, we missed the last three days. Two of those days it was in the '90s (record heat), and even on the lakefront, where it's generally cooler, it was way too hot. (I really need to convince her to walk in the morning rather than the late afternoon!) Yesterday, I missed her call, and when we did connect it was too late for me.
I knew we'd miss today, because I am due for four and a half hours of Eugene O'Neill tonight, and I am definitely napping this afternoon. So this morning, having woken up early (seriously, I was wide awake at 6:00 a.m.), I fed the cat, had some fruit, and then walked over to the Wooded Island, one of my favorite local spots. I did the circle, and then went in to the Osaka Garden. There's a waterfall there, and around the pond where it begins there is a not-quite circle of stones. So I sat there and meditated for a while. Frankly, I could probably have sat there all day; it's so quiet and peaceful that you'd scarcely realize you were in the middle of the city. But I didn't.
Instead, I left the Island and went home by way of a local coffee shop, Café 57, where the owner, who calls everyone "precious", "darling", "sweetheart", etc., offered to make me the "best latte in Chicago". I declined in favor of Earl Grey tea, and, in an act which negated (calorie-wise, anyway) all the good exercise in which I had just engaged, a chocolate croissant.
And for the couch potato in me:
Awhile back, I subscribed to RAI from my cable company, figuring that watching Italian television would help my studies. I have just gotten totally hooked on a wonderful mini-series about the Titanic, called Titanic: nascita di una leggenda (the English title is Titanic: Blood and Steel, presumably because the literal translation, Titanic: Birth of a Legend, was already taken ). As the title implies, it takes place (at least so far), before her maiden voyage, and is, in large part, about the immigrant experience in Belfast, and class and religious conflicts, workers' rights, with the IRA and women's suffrage thrown in. I'm really enjoying it.
