Thursday, September 25, 2008

Nature Walk.

Growing up my father was a huge proponent of "creek walks." The two of us and whichever friend happened to be over (usually JRC or JAH) would head out on the endless miles of horse trails that wound all through our town. A route with a creek was usually our choice and we would take off our duck boots and socks and squish our way through the afternoon. So entertained by our surroundings and ourselves. I never realized how lucky I was to have hundreds of miles of trails outside my door or a father that always pushed us to go, even when we huffed and puffed and rolled our eyes. Such great, innocent childhood memories.

A huge part of the reason I love New York is because I can walk everywhere. I mean literally, virtually everywhere. Thin sundresses in the summer, Big puffy down coats in the winter. Teacake makes that an even more prominent part of my life.
After moving this summer I realized 28th street between 6th and 7th avenues is the heart of the flower market. It legitimately makes my mornings happier and more enjoyable to take this route to the office. It is one entire block where you walk through a virtual tunnel of flowers, plants and trees. No one else cruising through looks quite as awed or happy as I do to be there (definite tourist face on me), but I sneaky wonder if their route is deliberate too.

This morning I stopped in my tracks at the awesome gourds and pumpkins on 6th, and decided after I turned the corner onto 28th to share my sights with you. Wish I had snapped these big green gourds, but I was already a half hour late getting in as it was. Shannon thought I was lost, and I looked humiliatingly like one of the tourists I roll my eyes at while I bust by their slow walking/picture taking ways. Maybe next time I'll be a little nicer :).
So maybe this is no creek walk. And its certainly not my sister's roomates walk to work in Breckenridge -- who thrilled in cutting through feet and feet of snow in sub-zero temperatures with all his ski paraphernalia --hopping down hills and over obstacles in the beautiful mountains of Colorado, a few miles to the ski office. Flabbergasted by his commute (mostly because of the frostbite likelihood) I asked my sister why he didn't work his schedule more around her car driving. She looked at me like it was an obvious answer and said "he loves it. Its his favorite part of the day." But it is my little nature walk NYC style. And I like it a lot.


Fall makes me nostalgic for a lot. My college quad, new books and notebooks, Creek walks, leaf jumping and trick-or-treating among many other things. Glad I have some fresh flowers to brighten my morning!