Walking Window

I missed my window of opportunity to walk this morning because I slept in. It's already too hot for me to walk today. Odd how May is ending with August weather. I'm glad Bill and I went for a walk together yesterday because he called at 9:00 and I got it into gear and we went on a pleasant walk in the woods and then had brunch. Today I glanced at my clock and it was too early so I went back to sleep and then repeated that until almost 10:00. Too weird how I can sleep so late. It's a blessing in a way. I remember how sleeping until 7:00 am was sleeping late no matter when I went to bed. Now I can sleep later than I've slept since I was a teenager. This started after my surgeries for melanoma and I suppose may have something to do with the meds I take. I am very sympathetic towards people who are dealing with active cancer and insomnia or are dealing with insomnia without cancer for that matter but reading people's blogs who I've gotten to know through the MPIP, I hate it when I know that for some insomnia is a constant problem. Nothing is worse than needing sleep and not getting it. It's odd but sleep is the one thing I can almost always do these days. I will need to start going to bed earlier though so I can walk early enough to beat the heat which is coming on full force lately. For today though I'm getting my nature fix by going back through some of the photographs I took in the mountains. One of the reasons I'm not interested in walking at the indoor track at my YMCA or mall walking is that I don't merely walk for exercise although that's an important part of it. I also walk for the sights, sounds, and smells I get outdoors. I'm lucky in that I can go sit in the shade under my crepe myrtle tree and listen to the birds, smell the honeysuckle and be surrounded by flowers. Even with that option, I still like to walk away from my house to see the changes elsewhere. It's always interesting to me to see how much further along certain plants are in the neighborhood gardens as opposed to the greenway trails which cut through the woods in the little wild sliver the city has kept for walking paths. I can see the same thing for that matter in different sections of my garden, depending in large part on shade, sun exposure, and even different soils which retain or drain rainfall. I've come to realize that many sun plants actually do fine in more shade but they are slower to flower and aren't usually as big, even when started at the same time. I also like to check out the woods for wildflowers I like. That way I know what to weed and what to leave be. There are so many lovely flowers that volunteer all over the place and if left be they are a free treat. Wild rasberries is another one. I love rasberries and I have a lot of rasberry plants in my garden, not because I planted them, but because I didn't pull them up when they volunteered at my place. A few years ago I noticed wild rasberries along one of the trails near my house and I realized that they kept trying to volunteer in my garden, but I was pulling them up. Last year I picked quite a few rasberries for my cereal fresh from my garden because I finally knew enough not to pull the plants up.