Day 213 of 365 - Natural Preservation

We were fortunate to have part of the weekend away from the city, visiting family in the Kawartha region.  Two days in a row, we were able to hike in a nearby conservation area, in the ever improving spring weather.  Physical activity of any kind prolongs healthy living, so why not spend some of it out in a natural setting?  Groomed trail areas offer a variety of options for beginners through to seasoned hikers.

Regular exercise strengthens muscles, tendons, cartilage and bones.  Walking on uneven surfaces improves our balance.  It also boosts our circulation and immune function, and let's not forget the positive emotional lift of being outdoors in a beautiful area with family or friends.

On our first hike, we took a picnic lunch to a lakefront area.  Sitting on a bench facing the water we saw a group of six trumpeter swans fly right across our view, as well as ducks and geese.  One of the conservation area staff was set up nearby with camera and binoculars.  He had been guiding a beginner birder class earlier that morning.  Wearing appropriate hiking footwear, we could comfortably walk the roads and trails enjoying the bird calls and the peeping frogs.

This morning's hike took us on a different route in the glorious sunshine, on a boardwalk through a marsh.  Down in the water we could see the long shoots of lily pads coming up from the mud.  Further along, back on the forest trail, we went up to a lookout view over a greater expanse of marsh.  There we saw a pair of trumpeter swans, a couple of pairs of geese and two pairs of loons.  We enjoyed close up views of these through binoculars and heard the loons call several times.

Hiking the natural mulch forest floor trail, we were mainly surrounded by the sounds of nature.  Then, we became more aware of families out for some exercise, hiking, biking and dog walking, on a great day to be outdoors.  Our hikes were not too long as it is not a regular activity for us.  Pacing becomes important as a senior so that we can gradually build up stamina and avoid injury.

We are blessed in our country and province to have many conservation areas and protected parks and trails where the public can be more immersed in nature.  Many places have well marked, maintained and accessible trails, so that even as we are aging and a bit less agile, we can still easily navigate them and get good exercise.  Higher levels of challenge can always be added a bit at a time.

It isn't even necessary to travel far from home, as there are a variety of trails close to where I live.  It would be good for me to spend more of my exercise time outdoors, rather than always in a building.
It was such a delight to have that natural vitality boost this weekend.  It inspires me to seek it more often.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 53 of 365 - Christmas Decorating at Tortoise Pace

This past weekend the Facebook posts with photos of completed Christmas decorating began showing up.  Some people decorate every room of their common areas.  Some have up to three Christmas trees.  I admire those photos.  It's all very lovely and festive.  Those people are the hares in the race to Christmas.  I am the tortoise. I'm not judging.  People have their reasons for wanting to get it all done early.  That way they can enjoy gazing upon their holiday décor for several weeks.  Or, they may be entertaining with holiday parties or family get togethers on whatever date works for them. I love the holiday season, the lights, the decorations, the food, the general sense of magic in the air.  But this year I'm just having a little trouble getting the momentum going for decorating.  Before our first snow, which is now gone thanks to a few days of rain, I got excited and put up the balcony lights and garlands.  We have been e...
Read more

Day 86 of 365 - Year End Gratitude

Today I was out doing some of my usual weekend grocery and household shopping.  I noticed that the selection was more limited and that there were empty spaces and shelves.  Most of the holiday inventory that was added to aisles and end displays is disappearing, now at clearance prices.  Regular inventory shelves have not been fully restocked, probably due to some staff being on a vacation break. This made me realize how much we take for granted that everything we want will just 'be there' when we arrive at stores to shop.  It's part of our instant gratification culture here in North America, but it is certainly not at all typical in many other parts of the world.  We are so fortunate with all the choices we have, but we also just assume they will always be there. I felt grateful for the staff of the stores who are spending their shifts restocking the shelves for us.  I said a friendly hello to the produce manager at the grocery store, a man who goes out...
Read more

Day 13 of 365 - The Joy of Singing - Part 1

When I was growing up we had an old upright piano in our living room.  My mother had learned to play piano and organ as a young girl.  She continued to enjoy it as a past time during her years of homemaking and raising a family.  Often she would play from one of her songbooks and some of the children, usually the girls, would stand nearby singing and looking over her shoulder to read the lyrics. Those were fun times for me and I enjoyed singing melody lines and sometimes trying a harmony.  In elementary school I learned some basic sight reading of music and had some time in the school choir.  But, most of my singing happened at home or at church. I was raised as a Catholic and in my pre-teen and early teen years what were then known as folk choirs and now are better known as contemporary choirs came into vogue.  Our small town choir seemed to have limited access to that spiritual music genre and struggled by with a limited number of hymns/songs.  I...
Read more