Walking Across (Fill In Your State Name Here)

I am suppose to be walking across Kansas over the next eight weeks. 423 miles. And there is still snow covering most of the state. Thank heavens I am Walking Across Kansas in New York. Oh, and in South Carolina.

Confused? So was I when the captain of my Walk Kansas team told me I was eligible to participate in the Walk Kansas program even though I now reside in New York. Walk Kansas is a program to get people up and out the door walking and exercising first thing in the spring. You form teams of six, come up with a snappy name (what's not snappy about Garden Stompers?), tally your walking time each day and hope everyone's totals get you across Kansas in eight weeks. You should also track your fruit and vegetable servings AND you can earn an extra bonus if you get up and walk around at least one to two minutes every hour. (That last part SOUNDS easy but in reality it's hard considering I've been sitting at my desk for the last three hours catching up on correspondence, paying bills, searching the web, and writing this blog without raising my batukus out of the chair.)

The day the tracking started I was attending a wedding in Charleston, SC. A walk in downtown Charleston got me thirty minutes down the Kansas road. Having a guest here in NYC for Spring Break who wanted to do the walking tour put me further into Kansas than I wanted to be at that point. With a tour of the Natural History Museum, a walk past Strawberry Fields and through Central Park, down Fifth Avenue to Rockefeller Center, further down Fifth Avenue to the New York Public Library, and finally over to Times Square I must have surely walked all the way to Salina (middle of Kansas for those of you who don't want to map it) in just that day.

It's fortunate that I enjoy walking as a form of exercise, it also makes it nice to be in a pedestrian city that makes it impossible NOT to walk. I may not walk past any wheat fields this year but there probably aren't many Kansans that will walk past the Empire State Building either.

Gotta get up and do my 2 minutes of exercise............

More Than Words

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It has become a nightly ritual. Wash my face. Brush my teeth. Tuck into bed. Play my Word.

Words With Friends grabbed my attention a couple of years ago and I quickly developed a habit. Let everyone else do their online farming, soldiering, be-jeweling, or Angry Birding. I was never a hugh fan of Scrabble growing up but I am content to electronically draw consonants and vowels (just exactly what am I suppose to do with 3 O's, 2 E's, 1 A, and a U?) to AMAZE (with a Triple Letter space that word could rack up some points!) my friends with some real ZINGERS (a nice Triple Word space entry).

When I first started playing I would sit for a few minutes (or more) playing with a random opponent inputting Word after Word, completing an entire game within an hour or so.  Finally, I convinced my mom and a couple of friends that this game was what smartphones were invented for. A daily ritual started. They know I play my Word late at night. I know they all play their Words first thing in the morning.  I concede at least two of them are heavily caffeinated and sharp thinkers that early in the day whereas I am fighting to keep my eyes open before going to sleep. That just makes an (occasional) victory over them that much sweeter.

A couple of months ago we lost connectivity for a night. Unable to play my Words I woke up to find one of my friends thought I was sick, the other suggesting my attendance at an inaugural ball had kept me up much too late. That's what makes Words with Friends so much more than just Words. It's nice to see those friend's monikers pop up and know for just a moment that I am envisioning Friend L. sitting in her living room easy chair and Friend M. at her kitchen counter while they are "seeing" me here in NY when they play their words. My mother, on the other hand, will only place a phone call to me after consecutive days of non-play. Which is to say my mother VERY seldom calls. But along those same lines I find it comforting to see her Word pop in every morning. She's letting me know she is up and has her wits about her.

At least enough to confound me with a QI on a Triple Word space.

Is It Spring Yet?

My calendar says it is Spring. The view out the window says different.

People are scurrying around under black umbrellas to ward off the freezing moisture. The skyline is hazy with low lying clouds. Puffs of steam blow out of rooftop exhausts. The city looks gritty, glum, and grey. The winter scarves, coats, gloves, and hats are yet to be stuck to the back of the closet. Had I not already attended a garden show in Philadelphia earlier this month heralding the best and brightest plants for the coming season I would swear everyone was getting ready to hunker down for a long winters nap.

Thank goodness for the "flower corners" all over NYC. You can hardly walk two blocks without encountering flower venders attached to the bodegas and deli's . Hydrangeas, tulips, fragrant hyacinths (I have yet to pass a stand without inhaling deeply into one of these potted beauties), and daffodils. On days like this it helps so much to be able to bring a little spring into the apartment.  As long as I can see evidence of the current season I retain hope it will actually arrive. Soon.