The importance of Mud walks

When I lived in Minneapolis, I walked almost every day with my dog, usually at my favorite lake, Lake of the Isles. I'd hop in the car and drive about 5 miles to get there and walk the three mile periphery. Winter did not stop us, and while it required dog boots for Louie Louie the fox terrier due to the salt, we loved our winter walks probably more than the summer ones. When I moved to Portland, Louie was very old and had a heart issue and I was told not to walk him anymore, and sans canine, my walks never tok off at my new home. Once at the farm, I rarely walked, even though I tried, but it felt odd walking the country roads. I realized it was important for me to have a destination to walk to. So I chose the pioneer Pike Cemetery which was about a 2 mile round trip. Mud and Huck and I would go, or I'd ride Boone up there.

But I never got back into my daily walk. And of course, I had lots of manual labor to attend to. But manual labor is not the same as walking.

Once in Maine, I really wanted to set a new precedent with a daily walk and Mud and I started, but the busy main road was such a drag, and I fell of the wagon, again.

But now more settled, I have been getting up early to walk with Mud. I now have a better feeling for the front road and have acquired skills I always had but forgot, to block out negative aspects of the traffic. It is also much quieter once the summer crowd leaves. I also have two properties where I've been given permission to ride and walk on, and I have a little loop I can do that feels like I have a destination to walk to, and keeps me off the road.

I love my walks, and I love getting up early again, and going to bed super early. I also love my bed, and I do a lot of thinking there in the first waking moments. I thought I was wasting time going to bed before nine o'clock many nights, but now, I realize it is simply what my body and mind want and need right now-early to bed, early to rise.

I took this photo of Mud as we sat for a spell down by the cove, the tide was out and on this day there were no clammers, but usually there are right into winter. I am still learning the land here, the tides and all things Atlantic ocean. Yesterday was very chilly, about 25 and really strong gusts. I am still a huge admirer of the wind here from the ocean. It is much different than the wind that blew from the coastal range in Oregon.

I also love that when I wake up, I see the sun rise over the cove, and that seems so...grounding, to know that the sun is rising right there over the Atlantic, right on the edge of the country. It is much different than the sun rising in Minneapolis, or Oregon. The sun is up earlier here than any other placed I've lived-it seems fitting that I too am up earlier than I ever was in my former homes-except when I was very little and I was up at 4 am ready for a new day of adventure.

I felt tied to my land in Oregon. I realized in my last weeks of walks, the land here is waiting for me to make my move. It is letting me figure it out...kind of like how I feel about New England in general. And I am simply trying to connect in my own way. But my walks have reminded me of something I always felt even as a child-I am interconnected with everything, we all are.