The Wandering Hermit: Deer & Turkeys & Toads (Walk #335)
Deer, Turkey, Toads
This was a surprisingly good and productive day. Brent & I went to Glencoe to do a final cleanup of trash & get the propane tank listed and picked up. The only thing left to do out there is the owner of the mobile home to come out and get it, but everything we were going to do is done (unless the mobile home pickup results in a mess, which we may need to hire someone to cleanup). Everything takes so long. On the way to the recycling center, there were deer and turkeys in the Johnson’s yard across the creek. Both are common, but not usually at the same time.
Brent is fun to hang out when he’s not focused on trying to get out of the task. He has relaxed since buying his house and moving. When we couldn’t get find a place to take a refrigerator, we took it to Brad’s and to my surprise Brent went in and visited with Brad, AJ, & Kenzie. They are remodeling at Brad’s and he is not talking about moving any longer. I don’t agree, but it’s not my house and not my life. It was actually a pretty good visit in spite of the smell of smoke. Brad says he quit again. I’m glad to hear it. I would love if he started taking care of himself more!!
It was a long day, and I didn’t get home until 8, so I only did a 25 minute walk. I got in a lot of movement throughout the day, so I still feel pretty good about it. The park was full of toads and there were teenagers hanging out on the playground. That made me feel good actually; I worry about young people not spending enough time just still being kids. I got in my steps, avoiding stepping on toads, and got back home. I’m so tired now, but I have a washer & dryer now and I put a load of laundry in for the first time and so I almost feel like this is where my time in Guthrie starts. I don’t have anything to pull me away to do other tasks.
[Walk #335, 1.15 miles]
A rather boring day. First, we got up and had a gloriously good breakfast. The beverages were watered down. We then drove about an hour and a half through rather flat country. Many of the towns had “troglodite houses,” houses built in the cliff using it for 3 of the 4 walls. We then arrived at a winery in Saumur. They made a sparkling white which was actually champagne but not from the Champagne area. It was wonderful! I loved it. … I guess my wine experience wasn’t over — just for red wine! We then rode about 6 hours to St Malo. The most beautiful city I have seen on our tour thus far, sail boats lined the coast and the old city was gorgeous. We had a dinner at which we ordered a white wine — I didn’t have any. I am quite addicted to Orangina. A few of us left at 9:30 for an evening walk in the old city. All the stores were closed and the city was beautiful. We bought some ice cream. I had passion fruit. It was quite wonderful. We then “strolled” back to the Hotel Mascotte (where we were staying). It was great.
My time if France was rushed; there was so much planned for us to see in two weeks that when I look back on it, I think of it as more like a two month vacation. I clearly remember the moments I believed would be those I carried with me for the rest of my life, and I remember trying to dwell in them slightly more in order to create the memories I knew would be so important. In many cases I was spot on, and those events are absolute stand out moments. But rushing in a bus through the Loire Valley, I couldn’t know how the troglodyte houses would stick with me. I think of those homes often, enchanted by the fairy tale beauty of little cottages stuck in the sides of cliffs, sprawling communities that resemble so much other villages in France, but with almost disregard for the rock structures around them, or rather in spite of them. I wanted to go in the houses, see the rocky interior walls, experience how these people lived. But we were only driving through, on to bigger and more typically touristy destinations. Saint-Malo, one of the most visited towns in France by those who do not live in France, was one of these places. One of these places we were expected to be found and so had been placed. Don’t get me wrong, I still hold Saint-Malo in my heart as the jewel of my time in France. It’s the place I would wrap myself in if I could, live in, revisit, talk about. However, twenty years on it seems like I might have missed out on experiences that would have stood out even more.
