Even Keely was hard to roust this morning, despite sleeping in until 6:30 am. Neither of us are particularly energetic individuals but usually we can at least stumble around by dawn. We still managed to make it out the door by 7:04 am but only after I went back inside the house twice for things I forgot (cane, mask) and Keely changing her mind twice about which direction we were to go.
She stood at the top of our driveway facing the police headquarters and sniffed the air for a full-on minute, as if deciding if the taste and texture of the scents were to her liking.
They were not so she spun around and went back the way she had originally started, southbound through cut through to the Mediaworks parking lot and over to 6th, then 5th, and eventually 3rd Avenue. At 3rd and Monroe, I was struck at how once again Sunday morning has become so quiet, where usually by this time church traffic would be, if not heavy, then steady. So I took this photo:
Yes, that is Monroe Street at 3rd Avenue, facing north. I was standing in the middle of the road, and since I am not an adrenaline junkie it was nerve wracking to just stand there with my dog while looking at my phone to take this shot. I was raised in the suburbs where roads are for cars, and my helicopter mother would barely let me out of the house, much less allow me to cross the street for fear of me being run down like an extra in Mad Max. (Mother…well, as some of you know, she had issues.) Standing in the middle of a busy road, even when it was verifiably empty, felt very dangerous and rebellious to me!
It was a nice long walk for us, in the end. Nearly an hour spent dragged along by Keely who had to check all her usual spots. I finally got my minimalist sandals from Xero shoes so I’m breaking them in, or rather, breaking my feet in to walking naturally again. I have so many fewer hip/back issues when I wear minimalist shoes on the regular.