My Day

I had a very nice, although quite tiring, day! It started by carrying a desk into my apartment. A few days ago I was driving home and passed an antique shop. They had a small desk sitting outside that looked nice and I stopped and looked at it. I've been wanting a desk to put in my bedroom where I can sit and write & not be distracted by the computer. This was exactly what I had in mind, unfortunately the price tag was more than I could pay. I was telling a friend about it and a couple of days later he surprised me by sending a check so I could buy the desk! I went over first thing this morning & fortunately it was still there. It has great little cubbyholes inside and I love the color!

After I lugged my desk in and got it settled, I headed out for a walk to the bead store. The Bead Fetish is a very cool bead store on L Street. I found some heart beads and a couple of rose quartz bears. I was fairly tired after that since I had walked 1.2 miles(!) to get there so I decided to get something to eat and rest. I saw this place called the Buckhorn Grill and while I was a little dubious, their prices didn't seem bad and it was close. It was actually the most delicious meal I've had in quite awhile. I had a chicken sandwich w/a salad and both were very good. I was very proud of myself for going in alone and eating. I hate going into restaurants alone to eat!

My meal revived me and I realized I was close to the street where they had made an ice rink so I walked over there. This is incredibly cool I think. They made an ice rink on the street! It was fun to watch the kids skating. Since I was there I took the opportunity to go into Newsbeat a magazine/newspaper store. Despite some serious temptation I managed not to buy anything! A magazine store for me is like a bar to an alcoholic. I love magazines and have stacks of them still (just ask the people who helped me move!) despite having eliminated quite a few prior to my move. It is a really neat store though and I imagine at some point I'm going to return and give into temptation!

On my way home I passed Time Tested Books and of course had to go in and look around. This is a lovely bookstore with a nice selection of books on just about anything you can think of. They have a big section of old records so if you want records (assuming you know what those are) it's a good place to go.

I figure I walked about 3 miles today and my feet sure felt it by the time I got home!

American River

Yesterday's walk was more of a stroll since it was part of a tour so I decided today that I'd just walk. I went to the American River Parkway and started walking. Fortunately or unfortunately I had my iphone with me and did take some pictures. It's really beautiful there! I got some great pictures of the river and trees and had a nice relaxing walk. I thought there would be a lot of people around but I only saw maybe 8 people altogether. It was very peaceful and quiet - it's hard to believe you are literally in the middle of a busy city.


This tree leans - a bunch of the trees there were leaning way over - I thought that was odd. . .

A view of the river.


This is the path I walked on down to the river - I was a little worried because it was narrow and meandered a bit - I didn't want to get lost!

This was another path I took down to the river. I was a little overwhelmed with choices!


Another view of the river.


After my walk I parked and sat and read for awhile. Then I noticed that I had a visitor. I don't know if this is a crow or raven but he worked very hard to get the garbage out of the can.


Apparently it didn't meet his standards. After a cursory pecking, he walked off, slightly disgruntled I thought.


This tree is almost falling into the water.


This is the walking/biking path. It's a nice place to walk and then you can take little side-trips down to the river edge!


I liked the ways the trees reflected in the water in this picture!

Silent Sunday (with an explanation)

Being the ambitious, healthy, energetic person that I am (I hear a lot of laughing), I got up Saturday morning and went out to walk. I drove over to the San Leandro Marina, put on my Ipod and started out walking. After a short distance I heard the noise of an airplane. You can watch the planes coming in to land at the Oakland Airport and I like to watch them while I walk. I looked up but didn't see any plane because there were a lot of clouds. While I was scanning the sky watching for it to emerge from a cloud, I continued walking. Unfortunately I walked myself off the paved part of the walking trail and into the dirt. This is a drop of, I don't know, maybe 4-8 inches. Stepping off it while you aren't paying attention to what you are doing is a bad idea. I twisted my ankle and caused myself excruciating pain. So for Silent Sunday what you all get to look at is my ugly swollen, bruised foot! Warning: I wouldn't click on these to make them larger - my feet aren't that great looking!

Robin, the lonely (suffering) blog mistress