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Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice"
to the Tuesday Slice of Life sponsored by
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We deliberately postponed our evening walk until after 8 p.m. The sky was cloudy, and I was afraid it might rain. Even though a little rain never hurt anyone, it's usually reason enough for me to postpone any planned activity. Sure enough just as we passed the elementary school, a few drops began falling. My husband said, "Walk faster. We just need to walk out from under this cloud!" He was right and after walking another block, the raindrops disappeared.
It was an unusually muggy evening. Since I grew up in Oklahoma and spent eleven years in Texas before moving to the Pacific Northwest, I am well acquainted with humidity. That doesn't mean that I like it when it makes an infrequent appearance on our coast. I informed my husband that I would not be joining him for his new, extended walk. He's recently added another leg to our three mile walk at the halfway point that involves an uphill climb to a park, a loop through the park, and then a walk back downhill before picking up the final mile and a half toward home. He persuaded my daughter and son-in-law to join him for the new expanded walk, but I've yet to take the bait. I did walk a bit further than our usual downtown turn before telling him goodbye.
I found myself winding my way through a path lined with sculptures when I encountered a former student, her mom, and her dog. We chatted for a few moments about her summer activities and upcoming move to 9th grade before I continued my walk homeward. After I passed the downtown district, I bumped into another friend and her two dogs. We chatted a bit also, and I worried that my husband might catch up with me if I kept stopping to talk.
In both conversations we chatted about the muggy evening, and I was dripping with sweat even before I approached the "hill of destiny." That's our nickname for the hill that we climb just as we leave the downtown residential district. Usually I have to stop at least once, but on this evening, my desire to get home propelled me up the hill with no pauses to catch my breath. I was worried about the darkening sky and the continuing possibility of rain.
As I summited the hill of destiny, I glanced
to my left. This had all been behind me until now.
This is usually where I take a shortcut through the
elementary school grounds to avoid another hill.
However the lure of this rainbow and more views
of the sunset enticed me to attack yet another hill.
I paused to look to my left as I passed each block.
Definitely worth pausing!
One more block revealed this lovely sky.
Almost there!
The view from the top of the park as a few big
raindrops plopped down. I didn't mind!
And this farewell shot as I headed for home.
The raindrops disappeared quickly just as
they had at the beginning of our walk.
