It has been a difficult couple of weeks dealing with the side effects of vaccinations and an unwelcome osteoporosis diagnosis but we finally got out to enjoy some pleasant weather and a walk in the woods. We returned to Cedar Falls park to take a different trail and see if we could find a waterfall mentioned on a website. I think we heard the waterfall but could not see it from the path. The foliage was pretty dense and the terrain very steep so we didn’t dare go off-trail.
To pay close attention to the natural world is to exist in medias res. Life is an unfolding that responds to the cues of seasonal change, but for our purposes it is also suspended in an everlasting present. We can see some of the creatures we share our world with, or at least some evidence of their nearness, but we cannot know the full arc of their story. Every encounter in the outdoors is an episode with a cliffhanger ending.
~ Margaret Renkl
(The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year)
We definitely share our world with the squirrels and crows we saw and heard, and there was plenty of evidence of other creatures nearby, including deer scat deposited on the trail and countless cobwebs clinging to twigs and branches. I had to smile when I noticed once again, it’s that time of year when Tim is still in shorts and I needed my sweatshirt. Not quite time to pull out my gloves, though.
It felt so good getting out into the woods again!
It’s good “see” you doing some nature walking and photography.
No real trails here only blocks a wooded areas where the deer 🦌 hide when they’re not in the backyard eating.
It was so nice to see you stop by for a visit, Jeff! We have deer in our yard, too, and they have a little spot where they lie down in the woods behind our place. Sometimes Tim breaks the local ordinance and feeds them apples. 🦌
I can see where you might be cautious about walking on those uneven trails, Barbara. An uneven sidewalk is to blame for my having cracked two ribs a decade or so ago (and I can still recall the aggravation … and pain). Isn’t it interesting how spiders seem to make more webs at this time of year? I love Margaret Renkl’s quote!
So glad you enjoyed the quote, Debbie! The more uneven the trail the more my eyes are peeled to the ground. So far neither of us has fallen in the woods, though the possibility is never far from our thoughts. Sorry about your cracked ribs! My father and my sister both had that experience and I remember how much pain they were in. I was surprised that we didn’t see any spiders in those webs.
Good for you for getting out and about in an area you enjoy! Nice variety of pics. I’ll probably get the next COVID vaccine next week. More importantly, peace and strength as you deal with osteoporosis.
Thank you, Frank! I got the Mayo Clinic’s book about osteoporosis yesterday. It’s going to take me a while to absorb everything. Good luck with the new covid vaccine. This was the first one that gave me some awful chills for more than 24 hours as a side effect.
Forest bathing, the ultimate in meditative healing!
So true! I hope I never have to live without it due to a broken bone…
Beautiful photos. I haven’t wandered through a forest in months now. We got our Covid boosters with zero side effects, I now feel fortunate about that.
Thank you, Ally. Lucky you with no side effects! I think it might be high time for you to plan for a refreshing walk in the woods. 😉
You and I have been on a very similar 2 week path it seems, Barbara. Although I thought it had only been a week, I looked on my journal calendar and sure enough it has been 2 weeks already. I’ve dealing with the side effects of vaccinations, Covid 24-25, influenza, pneumonia and an unwelcome arterial fibrillation diagnosis confirmed by EKG exam with a new for me cardiologist yesterday. It was the first time that I was able to find a cardiologist accepting new patients and he happens to specialize in women with CHF so a snatch an appointment. As you know I was already feeling teary eyed with grieving the CHF diagnosis 17 months ago as all of it has become overwhelming with taking so much medication and not feeling better (yet!?!?). Ugh.
Reading a book on the new subject for you is a good idea, Barbara. I’ve been doing the Google search reading and watching videos on the new subject for me. I go for an echocardiogram on Tuesday. And start a new medication on Saturday to slow my heart rate and increase heart contractions. I don’t know if you were having symptoms or if you were told (like me) that you are due for osteoporosis screening? (I refused as I am already too overwhelmed with higher priority health issues that I want answers.
I really love that photo of the path with all those roots coming out of the ground and Tim plunging ahead with his cane! I remember that the uneven paths are good for him!! I’m sure that you will find that exercise will still be recommended with your new diagnosis. It is all the unknowns that fears us. And it reminds me that life is very much like that path.
Oh dear, my heart goes out to you, TD! Tim was diagnosed with AFib during the pandemic and I remember how devastating the news was. Because Eliquis was so expensive he took Warfarin for a couple of years. But after we moved down here a counselor at the senior center found a cheaper way we could get him on the Eliquis. It’s made life a lot easier but I still worry about him having a stroke or other blood clot. I hope you’re getting good care from your new cardiologist. That’s the sad thing about these heart diseases, we can treat the symptoms but cannot cure the underlying disease. It’s so much to come to terms with and you have my sympathy and best wishes for finding the best way to manage the illnesses as you move forward. *hugs*
I was sent for a routine osteoporosis screening by my new gerontologist and now I have a referral to an endocrinologist. In the book I skipped to the exercise section and learned which yoga poses are safe for me and which ones I shouldn’t do any more. Good thing walking is still the best exercise for osteoporosis! I have to talk to our landlady to ask permission to put the stackable washer and dryer side by side and elevated so I don’t have to bend and twist so much doing the laundry. So many things to consider.
Yes, Tim does very well on the uneven terrain! We’re lucky that neither one of us has ever fallen on one of our walks. When I walk I look down, watching my step, and then stop frequently to look around for some sunlit spot to photograph. I do miss walking on the sand on the beach — that always felt like good exercise!
Thank you, Barbara, for the hugs! I send hugs back to you and Tim as well.
I knew Tim had some sort of heart issues but I didn’t know a-fib is part of his heart issues. I’m only familiar with Warafin because it is on the list of incompatible with Methalozol, anti-thyroid medication for hyperthyroidism, Graves Disease. This cardiologist prescribed Digoxin (scary drug) to slow heart rate and make heart contractions, to start and will see if that improves some of my heart problems. But yeah, I certainly understand your worries with Tim and possible strokes and blood clots. And I understand your worries about osteoporosis too.
One day at a time my friend. ❤️
Keeping my fingers crossed that the Digoxin will improve your quality of life. I read it requires close monitoring, like the Warfarin. Yes, indeed, one day at a time. We can do hard things! ❤️
Thank goodness for some nature bathing for you and Tim at Cedar Falls Park to take the edge off your vaccination aftermath and the osteoporosis diagnosis. Sorry you missed the waterfall Barbara, but cooler days will be down the pike and you can try again – perhaps there is another path, not so steep? You, feeling the same as me about spiders, were not happy seeing so many webs – ugh. This time of year is the worst for walking into a sticky web as it is very unsettling. There was a huge garden spider in the yard the other day, swinging in the web in the breeze. I could not go and get the camera – I just turned away from it thinking “what if the beast made a misstep and landed on me or the camera?” I still have not cracked open “The Comfort of Crows” but I like that quote you used – maybe this Winter although I continue to make very slow progress on decluttering.
I think you’re right, when the leaves come off the trees perhaps we’ll be able to see the waterfall from the trail. I don’t think it’s very big. I don’t dare go off the trail as I worry about snakes, and of course, ticks. My solution to the problem of walking into webs is to let Tim lead the way — lol. He’s not afraid of spiders and gives me plenty of warning when there is one ahead. Sometimes he even uses his walking stick to knock down an empty web if it is blocking the path. Glad you liked the Margaret Renkl quote. I’m reading a couple of her other books, too. She’s the first southern writer I’m getting familiar with. Tim just told me I have to get a new laptop. I’ve had this one since 2015 and he says that Microsoft will stop providing free support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. My poor laptop can’t support Windows 11!
I need “a Tim” to bravely go forth and knock down spiders in my path. 🙂 Snakes is what I fear at Humbug Marsh in the wooded area. The Delta (where I took the reflection pictures) has its own issue as the long boardwalk has no railings and big Carp jump out of the water at all times of the year and it takes me aback sometimes, so if I see a heron or egret, I run out, get my shots and get off that boardwalk.
I hurried up and got the Windows 11 laptop as I had heard on my all-news radio station that Windows 12 with AI was coming out in time for back to school 2024 and/or by Christmas 2024. Now I heard the other day Windows 12 is making its debut in September 2025. I also read that Windows 11 operating system will be upgradable to Windows 12. I didn’t want a Windows 12 laptop as it all about AI. I have the Windows 10 from work, but never used it until recently due to the WP issues and it doesn’t support Windows 11 either. I was still using/enjoying my Windows 7 laptop all this time until WP messed me up. Computer guy at work ordered a Dell and I’ve always used HP and never had a single issue with any of them (I still have the original HP laptop bought in 2009 and another one from 2012 or 2013 – I had to have a back-up laptop since I worked from home). I hate adjusting to new things!
I think having a fish jump out of the water as I was walking by would be startling, to say the least! 🙂
I’ll have to ask Tim what he thinks about Windows 12. All my google search results are AI generated these days, but scrolling down I find the more traditional results. What a fascinating world we are living in. It is difficult adjusting to all these changes. Some changes seem like improvements and other changes make you wonder why they mess with something that was working so well. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!
I spent more time today getting acclimated to the Windows 11 laptop, but I still won’t be using it until the new keyboard arrives. I prefer using a wireless keyboard rather than the keyboard on the laptop which caused me frozen shoulder a few years back. I “fixed” that problem by Googling around and found a couple of physical therapists who recommended the wireless keyboard and the laptop elevated on a platform and it cleared up the problem almost immediately.
Never heard of frozen shoulder! I’m glad you found a way to cure it and avoid it. I’m glad my yoga routine has a lot of movements for my shoulders to keep them flexible.
My mom had frozen shoulder years ago Barbara, so I recognized the symptoms. Hers was from prolonged, years-old orthopedic injuries sustained in a car accident at age 11, but also from sitting a certain way all the time in a straight-backed chair and this is what I was doing all day at the kitchen table for work and then for blogging/other social media sites all evening. My mom had six weeks of physical therapy for her frozen shoulder about 20 years with hot packs and cold packs and it didn’t help and she got special hot packs for at home to continue after PT was over and it still didn’t help. I Googled and learned to put my laptop on a riser and not hunch over it to type and to get a wireless keyboard to sit more ergonomically correct and it made the world of difference. But that first year before remedying the problem, I could not have a blanket on my left shoulder when sleeping and I had to step into my fleece-lined Winter storm coat to put it on as it was painful to move the coat on my upper arm, so I ended up wearing a lightweight Winter coat and several cardigans underneath it until it got better.
I need to be more flexible as walking does not do that and a day out in the yard makes me very sore and with pulled muscles. I need to start that yoga routine … I ordered the CD the day I fell in the snow and couldn’t get up as I didn’t want my camera to get wet and you suggested the CD so I ordered it that night.
The park looks lovely even if you we’re able to see the falls.
We did enjoy ourselves in spite of the minor disappointment. 🙂