Loping Along --- Days 13/117 & 118

Lope: Crissy Field; de Young Museum

Distance: 4 miles; 7 miles

Ciwt Can Walk Everywhere --- Day 13/116

Lope: Hood

Distance: 4.5 miles

Please, dear readers,  don't let all Ciwt's city walks confuse you.  CIWT began as a tribute to her daily long walks in the woods near her home with Zipper, her best friend and dog.  (See CIWT 1).  After those were walks in the rolling hills and arboretums of Connecticut, also long.  Probably the most glorious were the challenging hikes in the clear blue, windless skies (see Hemingway) of Idaho - up, down, around the Sawtooth Mountains.  Theoretically the most dangerous were the Marin hikes when she she moved back to California.  The trail system is extensive and beautifully maintained there, but she did many of her long hikes while the Trailside Killer was also walking along those trails. 

Time though moves on and with varying degrees of acceptance, Ciwt did as well.  To city life and her CIWT walks.  The trailheads in Marin gradually got so crowded, she often got there to find them filled.  Traffic increased along with bridge accidents, so a 90 minute hike could be three or four hours out of her day.  Yoga began calling.  And, of course, there was the matter of aging and less energy.

But, yes, she absolutely misses those nature adventures.  Deeply, at a soul level.  

City walks, though,  have many wonderful rewards of their own.  For one thing, they are right outside the door and constantly available.  For another, they can be measured and taken to destinations.  Ciwt appreciates that; no more walk, walk, walk just for the sake of walking.  But walking to get an errand done or to an appointment, all measurable by blocks at her chosen speed. Cities are stimulating. Nature can't paint an artwork, or build a building, or speak foreign languages, or do a lot of things that keeps Ciwt's mind alert, expanding.  She can go fast if she wants to; there are lots of runners on San Francisco streets.  And, realistically, San Francisco abounds with extensive and spectacular nature.  Think CrissyField, the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, just for openers.

A friend of Ciwt's lives on a reservoir, and another has a cabin in Wisconsin where she spends much of the year doing things like tagging wolves.  Ciwt herself once owned and lived in a log cabin.  She is happy for her friends living near nature and open to that possibility for herself if life brings it along.  For now she loves her city walks, CIWT and knows wherever her future lies, she will be walking to the best of her ability.

Periwinkle *#* - Sigh --- Day 13/115

Walk: Hood errands

Distance: 5 miles

So there's a color that speaks deeply to and confounds Ciwt.  One of her favorite paintings couldn't have been made without it:

Claude Monet, The Magpie, 1868-1869, oil on canvas

Nor would those last fifteen minutes before the sun disappears from San Francisco sky be as stirring:

Even its name eludes her when she tries to remember it: periwinkle.  It's not purple, but it is.  Not blue, or is it?  Same with violet, lavender, even mauve.  

It's named after a pretty plant -  that can also be invasive and poisonous, especially to dogs. In some religious settings, the lovely bloom is known as the 'flower of death.'

Vinca minor

Artists, especially the Impressionists, used periwinkle for years in the 1800's, but the color's name didn't enter the language until the 1920's.  It comes from Old English, from the word perwince or maybe from the Latin, pervinca.  But then in Russia you also have a flower named pervinka.

Periwinkle has always been a plant first, whose flowers inspired the color.  Oh, yeh, there's a snail called the periwinkle snail but its slime is not a purple color and there is no indication where it got its name. And did Ciwt mention, there are white periwinkles?

On and on the color's elusiveness goes. It can be difficult to pin down, to name.   But subtle, complex periwinkle's effect is deep and strong: it evokes a sense of freshness, comfort, serenity, calmness, peace.

Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1905

Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1907

Now for the Babies --- Day 13/114

Walk: No, toooo windy!  Good day for reading though

Distance: n/a

A mother hen protects a group of chicks under her wings and body. #

Matthew Troke / iStockphoto / Getty

A loon chick catches a ride on the back of a parent, photographed in Canada. #

Pchoui /

 iStockphoto / Getty

A young wood duck leaps to the ground from its nest in a tree in southern Minnesota. #

Stan Tekiela / Getty

Never Enough Birds for Ciwt (and CIWT) --- Day 13/113

Lope:  Hood 

Distance: 4 miles

A close view of an Atlantic puffin #

Nickjamesstock / iStockphoto / Getty

A close view of a peacock with its colorful tail feathers on display #

Raghu Ramaswamy / iStockphoto / Getty

A cassowary, photographed in Sydney, on November 26, 2014 #

Steve Christo / Corbis / Getty

Apes Can Ride --- Day 13/112

Walk: Presidio

Distance: 3 miles

Apes leaving the Golden Gate Bridge

So the rental bikers, dog walkers, runners, strollers and lopers like Ciwt were startled by their fellow Crissy Field promenaders today.  To say the least!  Bikers nearly fell over, some had to dismount from their bikes to be safe, dogs barked like mad, runners gave the horses a very wide berth.

San Franciscans are used to unusual sites on their streets, but apes on horses was (to Ciwt's knowledge) a first.  Clearly the apes can saddle and ride horses, but it looked like they can't write.  Or at least didn't bother to this afternoon so didn't carry or wear any identification.*

Free Apes Passing in front of Alcatraz along Crissy Field Beach

* According to SF Gate, the best guess is the apes were part of a publicity stunt for a new movie, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.  Or maybe they were just enjoying a timelessly beautiful site.

Soon to be Well Dressed Wanderer (Hopefully) --- Day 13/111

Walk/Lope: Patagonia, Athleta, Sports Basement

Distance: 5.3 miles

Time for some new hiking clothes and shoes. Time for going place to place to place to find and try them on.  Time to come home and crash from the effort.

Adorable Earth Day --- Days 13/109 & 110

Walk (Ciwt is mostly loping these days):  Hood, Retail

Distances: 4 miles, 1 mile

A rufous-crested coquette seeks out nectar from porterweed, photographed in Panama. #

Juan Carlos Vindas / Getty