A walk

ex·er·cise

/eksərˌsīz/

noun

noun: exercise; plural noun: exercises

1.      1. activity requiring physical effort, carried out especially to sustain or improve health and fitness.

"exercise improves your heart and lung power"

This weekend, my Debi and I decided we needed more exercise and went for a walk. We went to a local recreational lake, Lake Johnson. It's about 3 or 3.5 miles, not sure exactly how long it is...I was more concerned with the elevation. It's really a beautiful lake where you can rent paddle boats, canoes and kayaks with a "walking" trail around it.They call it a walking trail, more like a practice run at Everest, if you ask me, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Lake Johnson: Fembot Kill Zone in the distance

I have fought my weight pretty much my entire life, sometimes I win, sometimes I lose.  Currently, I am kind of winning. I gave up sugar on New Year's (mostly) I have a little every now and then, nothing like I used to. I've lost weight, sure,but the biggest difference is in how I feel about myself, the improvement in my attitude and generally I just feel better. I had to add exercise to my routine, in order to improve the rate of weight loss and I did, a little at a time. I walk everyday, about 3-5 miles, depending on how hot it is, I live in North Carolina and it's summer after all. I used to be able to walk for hours, but that was 15 years and a desk job ago. I don't quite have that stamina at the moment, but I'd like to get back to being able to walk for hours and not even think about it.

If you follow my adventures, you know my last one was a round of Chicken Pox. I feel human again, but I haven't been able to exercise for about 10 days and let me tell you, the body and the brain quickly forget. It was a beautiful Sunday, not too hot, not too humid,  somewhat rare in North Carolina in August and we decided to go for it!

 We had taken this walk many times, once through a thunderstorm, that was...memorable. I remembered the thunderstorm, the exposed section I call the Fembot Kill Zone, the rain and how someone really had to pee, but I forgot about the hills or mountains should I say.

When we arrived, I suggested we walk the flat part up to the Fembot Kill Zone (if you don't know what a Fembot is, check out the Bionic Woman Episodes 19/20, Kill Oscar Part 1 and 3, Part 2 was on The Six Million Dollar Man. The short story is the Fembots all get struck by lightening chasing Jamie and Steve across a dam which looks just like a part of Lake Johnson. And let me tell you, that episode was running through my brain on loop during that lightening storm experience.We walked over the Fembot Kill Zone without incident, I might add and continued to the the hilly part.

As we were walking and talking, I kept trying to remember how steep these hills were and how many? I was secretly wishing my Debi would tap out and I found out later, she was thinking the same. We reached the point of no return and the first really, really big hill. I mean it is practically a straight vertical rise to the sky. Huffing and puffing we made it to the top, how many more were there? One, two, three or more? Racking my oxygen deprived brain, I came up with...nothing.

By the time we got to the third and I hoped final ginormous hill, there were Zombies chasing us and I was about to scream. But no, there was one more, we thought, we could hear the traffic from the road where we parked, we had to be close right? Why did we continue on after the Fembot Kill Zone, why?!

Halfway up what turned out to be the final hill, I broke, I exclaimed, "If there is another hill I will lose it, I can't take this mentally, the not knowing what is around the corner, Debi. I can't do it!" Looking back on it, I may have been a little bit dramatic,but it felt right in the moment.

Then, just as the final Zombie was about to overtake us, Hallelujah! I see the parking lot and the stairs, we made it through another walk around Lake Johnson. As we were leaving, having survived our latest adventure, we looked at each other and said:

"We should totally do this more often!"


Thanks for reading and until next time....Enjoy the day!
  


  

Chicken Pox?

chick·en·pox

ˈCHikənˌpäks/

noun

noun: chicken pox

1. an infectious disease causing a mild fever and a rash of itchy inflamed blisters. It is caused by the zoster virus and mainly affects children, who are afterward usually immune.

This week's adventure is rather surprising, at least it was for me. You see for the last 10 days or so I have been, for lack of a better word, suffering the effects of having the Chicken Pox...again!

I had the Chicken Pox when I was under the age of 2, I believe I was about 18 months or so and while I don't remember the event, I do have the scars and photos to prove it. Apparently, you CAN get the Pox again, it's rare, but it happens. I do like being unique, although this time I could have done without that designation.

It all started on Thursday at 5 am, almost 2 weeks ago now, with a headache and a fever. I took some Tylenol and went back to bed, waiting to see what I'd feel like when it was time to get up to get ready for work. I woke 2 hours later, soaking wet, fever and headache gone. Huh, well, I went on to work, the headache coming and going throughout the day. Friday was more of the same, headache on and off. I came home Friday after work, my head pounding and the fever was back, with a vengeance.

I went to bed early, didn't even stay up for my new favorite t.v. show, Dark Matter....there's this Android....super cute....anyway.....

I woke up Saturday, fever, headache, more Tylenol and back to bed. I was supposed to see my Pumpkin on Saturday, I had to pull the plug on that visit. Debi sent me off to bed while she doused the house in Lysol and cancelled our plans. Sunday and Monday, more of the same. I called out of work on Monday....waaaay too sick.

Debi came home Monday night, looked at me and said, "What's wrong with your face?!" "My face?" was my dazed response.

She dragged me to the bathroom, shining a flashlight on my neck, face and chest. I looked in the mirror....I was covered in small, red blotches. I had no idea they were there, they didn't itch and I had barely moved from the couch all day, let alone gazed upon my reflection in a mirror.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that's Chicken Pox." was what she declared. "It can't be that, I've had them, when I was little, little."

Turns out, she was right and I was wrong.

I went to the Dr. the next morning. Initially, she said, looking at my intake sheet, she figured it would be shingles....nope, didn't fit what I was presenting. I had the rash on my face, neck, chest and as I sat there, they were popping up on my arms.

She asked, "do you have any on your back?"
"I don't think so." was my reply.

"Do you mind if I take a look?"
"No, go right ahead."
"Hmmm, well, your back is covered."

 Her diagnosis....Chicken Pox

My response to that statement was an incredulous, "What do we do now?!"

She gave me a prescription for an anti-viral, a ginormous blue pill I had to take 3 times a day for 7 days. That was horrible.

And a note, I was contagious until my red rash had scabbed over and I was fever free for 24 hours, I wasn't going back to work until the following Monday. I was out of work for the next 5 days, unless I had the option of working from home, although she suggested I should only do so for 4 hours.

Turns out, I could barely manage those 4 hours without taking a nap and working from home sucks! I always thought I could be one of those people who never left their house...nope, not me. I can however watch A LOT of T.V.

Netflix does this thing where, based on your viewing history, they make suggestions on what to watch. There were a couple of intriguing shows that showed up as top picks for me:

Wentworth (because I watched Orange is the New Black)
Xena: Warrior Princess (because I watched Lost Girl)
Spartacus (because I watched....not sure where that one came from)

I watched a couple of episodes of Wentworth, as I was watching I realized it was a re-imagining of an old show I watched when I was a kid: Prisoner Cell Block H. Fascinating! I'll have to go back to that one, I was in an odd frame of mind and it didn't really hold my interest, but well worth giving it a second chance later.

I missed the Xena boat when it was on originally in the '90s, we didn't have cable at the time, but I was well aware of Lucy Lawless and her....Xena-ness, I mean what gay chick isn't? I watched a few episodes, but since they're from the '90s the quality isn't all that great and why did they make her mask her tantalizing New Zealand accent? I watched a couple episodes and moved on.

Which brings me to Spartacus, my newest obsession. Who knew a bunch of practically naked men, who are slaves and training to be gladiators, spilling blood and guts and sweat everywhere would grab my interest and keep it? I've watched a season and a half so far and my fever fueled dreams have been filled with gladiators....

Who knows what adventure I'll have once I am fully recovered from the Pox, it has, to say the least, kicked my ass.

Until next time......enjoy the day!

Back to my first love: Photography

pho·tog·ra·phy

fəˈtäɡrəfē/

noun

noun: photography

1. the art or practice of taking and processing photographs.

   
   
   Last week I discussed fear, my personal fears in particular and my desire to overcome them to get to what I want. I want to be fearless, one step at a time.
   

   I love photography, I love cityscapes, landscapes and taking pictures of both. A week or so ago I took the bold step (for me anyway) of going to downtown Raleigh, by myself and walking the streets taking pictures. It was an exhilarating experience. I am typically too afraid to do something like this alone, but I did it and I got some awesome shots. 

   
   That's all I have for words this week, the rest is some of my favorite shots from that trip. Take a look, some of them are, if I say so myself, pretty good. Oh I have plenty more, maybe next week I'll share more.
   

   

   The view of the capitol from the science museum

   
   

   
   

   

   Tree lined sidewalk

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   

   One of my favorite buildings

   
   

   

   My new favorite building

   
   

   
   

   

   This filter is fabulous!