We went on a hike yesterday! A beautiful winter walk in a faerie forest world. A world familiar with its shroud of rich greens and browns.
This time, for probably a few special hours, there was a blanket of white covering the blanket of green. Every step was mesmerizing.
I kept exclaiming that I hadn’t remembered ever walking in such a thick snowfall – not snow on the ground, but snowfall. It makes sense though, for the rain falls densely sometimes, here in the Northwest. The snow, of course, followed suit resting gently on the earth.
After a mile, I realized that I’ve only tackled 2 ‘nature’ hikes since my 3 days on the Camino last June. Let me be more specific, 15 miles for 3 days totaling 45+ miles in 3 days. We stopped the camino and our travels because of my knees. They retaliated against me and through a revolution of sorts. A successful revolution that left me barely able to walk. It took a few weeks for me to get back to normal. Thank goodness there was a ‘normal’ for me to get back to.
Having never had knee trouble before and having done my fair share of gloating after previous long hikes (like our Grey’s Peak 14er in 2007) where I was the only one without knee pain/toe pain/etc – this devastated me. It doesn’t do any good to gloat or in my case feel smug.
It’s much better practice to keep your body charged like a battery. Do those wall sits, hamstring stretches, QUAD stretches, lunges, side lunges, squats, eat good great, and get rest. And be grateful.
I was very grateful as I contemplated how far I’ve come since last June and how I wished I had been hiking more because let’s face it, I’ve been coddling myself, tentative to get back out there. Well that’s done. Abandon coddle, all ye who enter. Push towards strength and empowerment and beauty.
Jeremy is normally the go-to photographer, but now that I dabble in the food photography and have been drooling over other’s work in instagram, I decided I wanted to take photos too. So we tried something new! Jeremy quickly schemed a way that allowed us to share the camera and revel in the beauty that surrounded us. He would take a picture and then I would take a picture. You had to wait your turn and you couldn’t back track – only forward going. So, if you happened to see something truly lovely and it wasn’t your turn – I had to wait or he did. It allowed for some great mental photographs and a quality way to absorb our surroundings. Enjoy my photos from our hike, if you would like to see what Jeremy captured, go here. We really meant to take a self-shot but forgot. Next time!
Have a beautiful week! xoxo