Day of the Smoking Plain

 Four, now known as Debby, has turned into the real thing. It's now a full-fledged tropical storm, and is expected to become a hurricane any moment now, maybe even before I finish writing this post. She's still expected to miss Atlanta, thankfully.

While I was out on my walk today (425 total miles now, or here to New Orleans), the blue shy filled with clouds and I could feel the humidity creep up as the outermost bands of weather from Debby reached the Atlanta metro area. We'll be spared the torrential downpours and high winds, however, and we often experience some of the pleasantest weather of the summer on the days just after a hurricane-force storm passes.

Those 425 miles have taken their toll on my "new" walking shoes. I put the word in quotations, though, because even though I still think of them as "new," I actually bought them back in February 2022. Two-and-a-half years and 425 miles since last February hardly qualifies them as "new," regardless of my perceptions. And today I noticed that my big toe was wearing through the webbed outer shell of the shoe, and something inside of the sole was starting to feel like a pebble beneath my foot with every step. I ordered new shoes from Amazon today.

On reflection, I'm enjoying my every-other-day walks. Not only is the exercise good for my health, my blood pressure, and my weight, but I've been spending more time outdoors that I have since at least 2016.  It's gotten me acclimated to the weather, even the shitty, sweaty, ultra-humid month of last July. It's gotten this old introvert, this self-described urban monk, into contact with more people (overheard snippet of conversation today: "I don't want AI to do artwork for me so I'm free to do my laundry, I want AI to do the laundry so I'm free to do artwork"). I'm more in touch with nature: I've been witness to the seasonal changes in temperature and vegetation, I've seen deer, hawks, owls, squirrels, snakes, and turtles, and heard the songbirds serenade me as I walk. 

I'm thankful the conditions arose that got me to start doing this on a regular basis.