Photo: John and Suzanne’s Mom.
The ice breaks up.
When I was paying for my groceries on Tuesday, the teenage bagger commented on what a beautiful day it was, and I said, “Yes, I can’t wait to get home and take my walk.” He replied, “Where do you walk?”
At the moment of telling him my usual route, I knew I couldn’t possibly follow routine on that unusually warm, sunny, and springlike day in February.
So after I got all the perishables into my fridge, I walked in the opposite direction from the routine and ended up on a conservation trail in the woods.
There was something about this that was a throwback to childhood, when I walked with a friend in the woods or with my cousin Patsy or, most often, alone. I used to feel spring coming. The woods held magic. There was a stream with a brownish rock in the middle that I liked to inaugurate in spring by stepping on it, but sometimes I would slip into the icy water and walk home wearing mittens on my feet.
It used to feel great to have an adventure alone, maybe a little bit risky. Like the time I wandered from the woods to look for the place where one could sometimes see a horse behind a stockade fence. On the way there, I would go through a marsh, stepping slowly from wobbly tuft to wobbly tuft. Until one day, I saw an unknown man standing not far off and I hightailed it out of there.
Exploring on Tuesday also felt a bit risky, even with a smart phone. How many bars do I need if I fall and want to summon help? What about the icy, sloshy places? I’m a bit old for walking home with mittens on my feet and drenched shoes hung over my shoulder, the laces tied together.
I also needed to pay attention to where I was in relation to the road. I was kind of lost, although the trail markers were reassuring.
Eventually, I came out onto a big field where a woman was walking her dog, and I had a pretty good idea where the road lay in relation to that field.
I went home and took a nap.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Great photo-walk! It’s surely that time of year when your itching for the ice to melt!
Yes, melt first, then go back to normal temperatures.
I love your celebration of spring memories and current walk stories.
I could have focused on the unseasonable weather and the danger it implies but who can resist a spring day in February?
Yes, spring is a wonderful thing.
Nice childhood story! We walked those woods and creeks too, but the only horse I remember anywhere around there was a pretty far walk northeast. Were you with Patsy Carr?
Yes, sometimes, but I usually walked alone.
Do you still have access to the forested old hillsides we knew in Rockland County? There were old wood roads, stone fences (mostly tumbled down) the gas pipeline, and even a few hiking trails that a club I was in during High School helped maintain. We lived in challenging country to scramble around in, and it could still be harsh weather there in February or in March, as your story confirms. How is the rest of your family? We remember BoBo and Willie, but there might be another one or two.
I will answer by email.
An adventure! Glad you didn’t have to walk home with mittens on your feet.
Wearing your mittens on your feet! I love that mind photo! It was fun taking a peek into your younger years!😊
Suzanne liked it, too. I guess she hadn’t heard that one before.