We embarked on our walk at 5:30 in the morning, BEFORE coffee, to beat the heat. It was cool (13C) and beautiful. Later in the day, it was 27C so good call on our parts. Also very easy to socially distance when there is nobody else on the sidewalks!
Gorgeous walk early yesterday morning (June 20). One of Tom’s marathon walks (2 1/2 hours/16,000+ steps) starting in Glenora. Even at 8 in the morning it was hot. We managed to find some shade along the way.
And man, the poplar trees are popl’in seed all over the place.
My sisters used to say I took them on ‘killer walks’ but I have to say, Tom has really taken it to a whole new murderous level. He does these walks every day, even on a -25C winter day. I have a lot of stamina, but when you’re outside for almost three hours, if the heat doesn’t get you, your feet will. Or my feet will. I think I need new running shoes.
On a sad note, the Glenora fountain in Alexander Circle and all the other City of Edmonton fountains are not running this summer. I assume this is the result of a destroyed economy thanks to the UCP/Kenney cuts and Covid shutdowns. I know there are other more pressing priorities, but I truly believe that natural beauty (if you can include fountains as ‘natural’) help keep the blood pressure down. Every time I go by an waterless fountain, I am reminded that the city is struggling. I mean, when has it ever shut off the fountains?
Good god I’ve done it again! I am writing this post about some peak spring walks on June 29, more than a month after the fact. I have got to stop doing this! Thankfully, I can back date it to the actual date of the walk.
This post combines two walks, May 24 and May 28. One was in Glenora with Tom, the other was a walk around the neighbourhood.
Thursday, May 28 (a lunch time walk): I’m not particularly girly-girl, but I do loves me some pink! Also yellow and green and purple. With bonus poplar fuzz!
May 24: Wow, what a beautiful day! Glenora ➡️ Laurier Heights. Two hours, thirty-four minutes, and 16,954 steps with Tom. It was hot! 17C to start, 22C to end. Sadly, the Glenora fountain (in Alexander Circle) is not on, probably due to the massive City of Edmonton debt, like every other municipality in Canada.
It took me awhile to write that last post about my injury, and throughout the writing and beyond, I’ve been walking. A lot. Yesterday (Sunday) was my longest walk since Scottsdale. Two and a half hours, 16, 887 steps. I would say that six weeks after my slip on the ice, I am fully recovered. I suppose if I were to trip again, always a possibility, I could re-injure my hamstring, but so far so good.
It’s proper Spring, and yesterday was warm (23C) so Tom and I left early, around 10 am. The route I chose was down into the river valley, across the LRT bridge, and then a loop from the Kinsmen to the Walterdale Bridge, Rossdale, and then back again. Once we crossed River Road on the way back, however, we walked up the trail below Victoria Park Road.
Most of my walks have either involved walking to work (semi-weekly, for an hour or two, up Emily Murphy Hill and back home over the High Level Bridge), or various routes to ‘pick up’ Tom on his way over to my place. Since he spends most evenings with me, I often walk over to his place and then we walk back to mine. (He hardly drives anymore, preferring to walk). Lately, I’ve been walking to his place via MacKinnon Ravine and the steep hill up to Glenora. One thing I haven’t done yet is walk on an unpaved trail. The fear of tripping over a tree root is still there, but dissipating.
Walking is not what it used to be. People are still friendly but the social distancing can be awkward, and still feels super rude. However, it’s what we gotta do…
Because I haven’t written in the blog since early May, here are a bunch of photos from my walks, in somewhat chronological order.
April 27: “A sunny lunchtime walk in the river valley today, my longest walk yet (since the injury). Walked down Victoria Park Road, under the Groat Bridge, up through MacKinnon Ravine, up the steep hill to the bridge, and then back home through Glenora/Oliver. The ice has mostly melted from the river, but the shore still has bergs. Highlight – spotted my first snake in years, a little garter snake, sunning himself on a log. He slithered away before I could take a photo. I also ran into a friend, Teresa, and caught up on our remote working lives. Her sister also had a hamstring injury, requiring surgery. I am SO lucky I have almost fully recovered, without any medical intervention. About 18C.”
I’ve been off since June 27, a little more than a week. Unlike last year at this time, which was sweltering, May and June have been cool and wet, and July has started off unseasonably cold as well. I don’t want to complain, because my place gets very hot, and rain is always good, buuuut…it’s been tough to plan a lot of outdoor activities. Also, it’s the tail end of worm season, so some of my usual paths are still off limits. Nevertheless, I’ve had a few good walks, and yesterday was one of the best walks in recent memory.
Sharon, Stella and I went to Goldbar Park. I’ve only been there once (with Sharon and Maggie), because it’s on the far east side of Edmonton, but wow, it’s fantastic! It straddles Rundle Park, and it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins, but both were spectacular, and the weather was perfect. Blue sky, no rain, and about 15C, which was fine for a morning walk.
We started off by crossing the Ainsworth Dyer footbridge, which is almost exactly like my old love, the Cloverdale pedestrian bridge at Louise McKinney Park (sacrificed for the incoming Valley Line LRT). The difference is that some park vehicles can cross it, but other than that it’s the same wooden and steel expanse, open to the sky, and creaky underfoot. Stella hates bridges where she can see a bit of the water through the slats. It scares her, so she walks very slow and low.
Right off the bat, I spotted a pelican, but I only brought my phone, so no good photos. Lots of swallows too.
The park(s) are full of water features. Mini-lakes, streams, sloughs, multiple bridges, and lots of birdlife. Stella helped herself to one duck-filled pond, and was super happy just trotting around the park, wet and sparkly in the sun.
We looped around Rundle and then followed an unpaved path along the river in Goldbar, which is off-leash. I was totally paranoid about Stella wandering off into the river, which is running very high and fast, but a combination of my yelps, Sharon’s calm assertiveness, and eventually, the return of the leash, kept this curious water dog out of the drink.
Fantastic walk, in good company, under beautiful skies.
The previous day (Wednesday) Tom and I walked through Glenora/Ravine Drive in the late afternoon. It too was a great walk, under mottled grey skies and some sun. Such a beautiful neighbourhood, with amazing views of the river valley. We used to walk together more, but it’s fallen off the radar of late. I blame hockey, binge-watching series like, most recently, Deadwood, and rain/cold.
The night before, Tuesday, I really wanted to go for a walk in the afternoon, but Tom was still asleep (he’s largely nocturnal), and the early evening looked wet, so although we didn’t go together, I threw on my running shoes and headed out around 6:15 pm. Happily, there were no worms hanging from the trees along Victoria Park Road or even River Road, but the bad news was that I was chasing a big, black cloud and I lost. By the time I was mid-way through McKinnon Ravine, the rain started. I got pretty soaked. There was a big rainbow over Groat Road, but it was still raining at that point and I didn’t want to risk ruining my phone. Nearing 124th Street, the rain stopped. I’m glad I went for that walk. It felt like something the old Donna would do. Priorize a walk over just about everything.
This week, we hit peak spring, colour-wise. But it’s also been VERY hot, and it will continue to be hot for the next week (the first week of my holidays), including several days at 30C or higher. It’s like we had no spring at all. Just winter, and then summer.
Yesterday (Saturday), Tom and I went for a long walk in the Glenora area at 4:00 pm. Not our usual walking time, but we wanted to beat the mosquitoes, which we totally did. It was a stunningly beautiful walk. Not too warm, with a strong breeze and an absolutely cloudless sky. Gorgeous.
I shall let the photos speak for themselves.
4:00 – 6:00ish/22C