Well, I just couldn’t help myself. It was a week today since I went for a walk and I needed a “fix”. I figured the snow would provide a cushion on any lingering ice on the sidewalk, and, if I walked in the street to the park two blocks from my house, I could just plod around the entire park in the snow like a Clydesdale draft horse, nice and slow and steady. I bundled up, strapped on my pedometer and pulled on my comfy and cozy lug-sole boots and away I went. My original intent was simply to take a short walk to get the kinks out and amble over to look at the living nativity scene at the First Baptist Church which is adjacent to the park. For decades, this church has put on the two-night living nativity event. I’ve popped over to watch a few times over the years and it is very beautiful, peaceful and embodies the spirit of the season. There is a makeshift stable, straw strewn all around and Mary, Joseph and of course Baby Jesus in a manger. There are even live animals inside the crèche. I noticed the stable had been created, but there was snow everywhere, and I didn’t see any hoof prints or tracks in the snow from last night. One of the parishioners came out of the church to tell me they had cancelled last night’s living nativity due to the inclement weather and were hoping to hold it tonight as scheduled. Then she invited me in to attend Sunday services. I told her I surely wasn’t dressed for church in my sweats and she said it didn’t matter. I politely declined and wished her “Merry Christmas” and felt just a little warmer after our conversation. Hopefully the living nativity will be presented tonight as scheduled for there is always a large crowd in attendance. I’ve heard the weather reports for Jerusalem the past week and they had three days of non-stop snow which is very uncharacteristic weather for them. They usually don’t get snow until February and certainly not to the extent they’ve seen the past few days. Weather weirdness has become a worldwide phenomenon!

I left the church and set out for a good place to tromp out a trail. There is a sidewalk in a portion of this park and it appears the City plowed it sometime on Saturday, but it was covered with snow again. I incorporated the plowed-and-salted church parking lot with the park path and just kept walking around in circles. It was a little monotonous, and, not quite so heady of a trip as Council Point Park would have been, but I heard the chatter of several beautiful blue jays and looked up in a tree to see them looking down at me. I remembered I had peanuts tucked in my coat pocket from last week so I tossed a few into the snow but they quickly sank down and were not visible, to the jays anyway. I fished them out, then did a little grape-stomping dance on the snow and flattened an area to put peanuts out for them. I began walking away and moments later heard the very loud honking of geese and I looked toward the Heavens to see a large flock of Canada geese flying in V-formation. Bet they were wishing they hadn’t hung around here so long and opted to start their migration south earlier. I know I’m wishing it was still Fall – oh, wait … it is still Fall. At this rate, I don’t want to think what Old Man Winter has up his sleeve for us. I added three miles to my 2013 walking total and came home with rosy cheeks and a spring in my step.