My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now and we don’t where the heck she is.– Ellen DeGeneres
10:30 am, Monday Nov. 13. 31 degrees. Cloudy, light NW breeze. Almost high tide. (Notice the 13 and 31? It’s my lucky day.)
Of course it is Monday, and of course I am late. The early morning was a comedy of errors, family texts, calls and dog antics, so I gave up and went to the pool and swam for an hour to start over. It was a good choice, because then I walked later, and ran into two friends that I don’t see enough of, and they joined me– or I joined them– I’m not sure which, and we walked and talked together.
Before I met them, I thought this would be the picture for today:
I took it walking south. It was cold enough last night for a frost, and it must be freezing up high now, because the river is running clear and not carrying all the mud from the glacial run off.
(Pearl is eyeing the waterlogged stick. She lives for sticks.)
Once we three hailed each other, I didn’t have time to look around for more interesting sights for you– and then I almost forgot to.
We talked all about Joanie’s 95th birthday party yesterday afternoon at HAL, and what an inspiration she is. Joanie came to Alaska as a public health nurse after a Peace Corps stint in Afghanistan ( back in the day– Joanie was in her twenties), and five years in India is what we think she said–
– First they sent her to Kotzebue and then Kodiak, before Haines.
–She had eight siblings, did you know that?
–Yes, and she was the youngest and a sister with several children already talked her into the Peace Corps– do it for me, she told Joanie–
–She drinks a glass of wine every day!
-White wine, I brought her a bottle for her birthday.
-And swims at the pool three times a week too.
–But she wasn’t there this morning.
-The party wore her out. She said she’s never had such a big one.
–I love that she kept downsizing her living situation, and never seemed to hang on to her homes no matter how much she loved them.
-Homes? Yes, she had a big house in the Fort and left to take care of a family member back east for a few years. She bought that smaller house on Young Road, and then went to the Senior Village apartments before she needed to.
—It’s less stressful not to worry about snow.
— They say stress is what gets you.
— She stayed in Haines because she said everyone was so friendly. She said the first day here, she was in Helen’s Shop, and that was back when Helen ran it. They hit it off.
Anyway, you get the idea. There were many more stories and much chatter about things besides Joanie. A daughter living in the city where she can walk everywhere, a family friend who moved to Maine to be near his sons before he needed to, so he wouldn’t be a burden for them later. The weather, the pool– and if it will be open over the holidays ( we hoped.)
I tore myself away to take this picture of the first ice this month. ( There was some in an October cold snap.)
Here I had thought I was too late for my walk, and that I wouldn’t have enough time today to tell you about it. Well, it turns out I was right on time. Walking and talking with friends also changed how long it seemed to take. I almost did the second half twice before I realized I had already been that way and I have appointments to keep.
It’s amazing how time flies when you walk in good company isn’t? I could have walked all day with them.
