… then bop on over to a nearby puddle to gulp down some cool rainwater, so that one may feast happily upon another hapless worm.

Well MY early morning was far more appetizing than the details recited above – for me anyway. I passed by a group of robins who were in their glory as they hung out together on a large and sopping wet lawn in Wyandotte. The worm pickings were good, due to still another rain shower last night and the dew-laden grass. Well, such was the morning agenda for Robin Redbreast and his cohorts. As to me, I enjoyed a warm bowl of oatmeal and some coffee in the wee hours of the morn and let the furnace run a couple of times to warm the house once again. I thought it was a little chilly as I hurried along after leaving home, having donned a Henley shirt with a tank top underneath . I figured that was enough clothing to wear, since a few minutes of brisk walking would have me shedding my jacket anyway, and then I would need to carry it the balance of the trip. But as I neared the Lincoln Park/Wyandotte border, the dim sun soon tucked itself behind the clouds and I actually got a little chilly. It was even a bit windy, and I watched many garden flags, as well as Old Glory, getting whipped about in the brisk breeze, then they subsequently wrapped ‘round and ‘round their holders. Brrrrr – a cold shiver caused me to pull my hands up and into my shirtsleeves and I was thinking ‘imagine feeling this nippy as we get ready to turn the calendar page to August’ – it’s just incredible.

I decided to make the River at the corner of Biddle and Emmons my destination this morning but when the tracks were in sight, I saw a train in the distance and didn’t want to wait it out since it was a work day after all, so I just did an about-face and headed home. On the return trip, mercifully, the sun started to filter through the trees which line the street and provide a huge canopy over Emmons Boulevard. It wasn’t much of a warming sun at all, but it was just enough to spotlight the iridescent snail trails on many homeowners’ sidewalks and driveways. Along the way I saw two or three of those dark-colored “pocket hoses” stretched across the sidewalk, and, at first glance, they look suspiciously like a long snake had slithered on by and shed its skin in the middle of the sidewalk. Ugh! I wondered to myself why anyone along the street felt compelled to water their property anyway, since Mother Nature has certainly done her share of providing free water most of this Summer. Suddenly, a few ominous-looking clouds passed overhead and I was still about a mile from home, so I picked up the pace considerably and started making tracks so I wouldn’t get stranded in the rain. My trip to the railroad tracks racked up another four miles toward the ultimate goal of 500, with just a mere five months left now to get ‘er done.