Now “Loopy” is not my moniker, nor is it a description of my personality. In the beginning when I started my walking regimen, every day I added an extra block to my distance walked and soon I set goals for myself of daily miles to be walked; now, I am striding toward a goal of yearly miles. Often, if the weather has been inclement and rain threatens, I would choose one of two small parks near my house and walk the complete city block, or loop, to get my exercise in. Memorial Park is a double block and walking one loop is 950 steps or nearly one-half mile … so, to eliminate being stranded miles from home and getting soaked in a sudden downpour, I just stick close to home and keep walking the same “loop” route. Not very exciting, but it gets the walk accomplished.

At Council Point Park, there are various paths or loops as well. The beauty of the walking path is you’re able to finish more miles in fewer time, plus the scenery is better. I’ve shaved off about twenty minutes from the entire roundtrip, since I started back in May. Unless I’m walking to do errands, it is now my daily “go-to” place … I previously reserved this destination just for weekends. It is so preferable to walking in subdivisions. Too many times I’ve been walking along in front of a house and had to stray to the middle of the street to avoid a wayward sprinkler or perhaps a car parked illegally over the sidewalk. And speaking of sidewalks, most of them in Lincoln Park are horrible – they are often old and pitted, buckled or sunken from large tree roots, or there are huge potholes in the sidewalk. Yikes! On Fort Street, people enroute to work, are either in a hurry, eating or drinking, grooming or talking on the phone – or worse yet, head bent down, no doubt reading or sending text messages. Often people just plain don’t pay attention and pull out or back out and are totally oblivious to you. So “loopy” is the way to go for walking in my opinion.

It was a very angry-looking sky which looked like a large fresh bruise when I embarked on my walk this morning. I didn’t carry an umbrella, but I sure picked up the pace as I pounded the pavement toward Council Point Park.

The first thing I noticed in the Park this morning was the Canada Geese had returned. While I, like others, were quick to ooh and aah over the fuzzy goslings, it is not so nice to keep your head down while travelling the paths to ensure you dodge the goose poop. I never understood what the hullabaloo was about in Oakland County with messy geese until I started coming to the Park on a regular basis … now I “get it”. Today, there were about a dozen geese milling around the picnic shelter area, no doubt looking for remnants from weekend picnics. They strutted and honked while they scoped out the shelter and under the picnic tables, but pickin’s evidently were slim as they collectively waddled over to the playground area. The last week or so, countless crabapples have been strewn all over the paths, but evidently those morsels did not grab their attention because the crabapples remained, both whole and crushed, all along the pathways.

I saw alot of baby bunnies bopping around this morning. The rabbits obviously have been busy doing what rabbits do best; yes, that other thing they do besides dispensing Easter treats. These brown-colored bunnies are very small and blend in perfectly with the stems and twigs of the bushes and the brown, crumpled-up leaves left over from last Fall. The bunnies’ ears are still very short, so that until you startle them and see those huge feet propel them into the air as they scurry off, all you see are furry brown blobs with cheeks moving slightly from dainty nibbles of clover or blades of grass. Their powder puff tails are still indistinguishable as well.

I completed my walk and headed home. As I neared my house, I heard the unmistakable honking of geese and so I looked up. It was undoubtedly the gaggle of geese I just left at the Park. It took forever for them to pass over me as they were not flying in formation but single file. Well that was different…. I made it home unscathed by goose plops or raindrops and as I walked up the driveway, the sun suddenly burst out of the clouds with the intensity of a rodeo bull out of the chute.