Outside

This year has been very beautiful so far. I guess it’s part because not having to meet school deadlines for the first time is very liberating. I am free to go out for walks whenever I please; it's only a half hour or forty-five minutes extra out of my day. Lately I have been taking advantage of this opportunity by walking to and from the gym (two 45 minute walks), or, like today, walking to work from the station, and back home from another station (two 30 minute walks). Mind you, building a walk to/from the gym makes for two solid hours of exercise.

It’s so lovely to cut short the TTC ride home, or to work, and walk to my destination from the closest subway station. I was able to put a 30min walk from the station to work today, and despite the cold (or perhaps in part BECAUSE of the cold) the walk was lovely. I find the houses there so quaint and inviting, they all face out into the street and are all so beautiful, and they are SMALLER homes. Quite expensive, no doubt, because of the area, but they are all well loved, and they all have their own character. None of them are the same brick boxes, like the Markham houses all too often seem to be.

I have areas like that around my home as well, and both areas have their own bits of nature. On the way to work, the lawns are very beautiful, and in the summer the gardens and landscaping are picturesque. On the way home, the backyards are facing the street, but the "public" lawns are lined with trees; so these areas make for really beautiful walks. I have tried to get out on regular walks all throughout the winter, my tolerance for the weather tempered by my participation at Habitat, no matter what the clime.

I thought I would just post this little message, as I have a few spare minutes to reflect on the small joys of life right now, the small spaces that I make for myself to think. It’s a shame more people feel they are “too busy” in Toronto to take these walks. If you make the time, there are simple beautiful bits of nature all around you, even in Toronto. I personally enjoy the cold. It presents a challenge that many other people don’t like. It’s fun to get bundled up, and get a giggle out of the fashion ppl who freeze in their cute coats, while I walk around warm and happy, and completely comfortable being bundled up. I am not as comfortable in summer fashions as I am in a nice fuzzy coat. Nature seems so much more beautiful when the air is frigid.

Well, just randomly blogging, but I think I will enjoy going out walking this spring! Hope to see you out there!