For some 15 months now, we have walked every morning at Sunrise. What has changed. My endurance has improved. Climbing the few hills around the dam still are taxing, but I do it just a little bit easier. Some of my muscles still hurt, mostly in my quads and ankles. Walking every day has become habit and there is more anticipation about walking.
The main thing that has changed is a mindset, almost a relational philosophy. We have a different and growing relationship with what is essentially our backyard. Over the last year we have developed a pattern that looks like this. Notice, Name and Know. It started with the landscape around us and the sun, quickly moving into the winged wildlife. Debbie grew earnest about getting the sun into her eyes and body. That started it, and Noticing the birds began with Spring migration. Mostly waterfowl because they were more stable and easy to Name. And quite often, we Know some of them. We give them names like Ms. Hyacynth or Mama Goose, the Eagles we have named Edward and Abby, their spring offspring was Ms. Kinsie.
We Notice-Name-Know our surroundings behind our house. That also includes people, wind speeds, ice flows, trees that are harvested or die, Coyote families and quite a bit more. It seems all relational. It is quite a change from the work we did before and yet it has many of the same elements of developing relationships. It’s been a blast and we are looking forward to seeing what each day brings.