It was supposed to be drizzly and foggy this morning so I figured it was a stay-at-home day. When I peeked out the door I was pleasantly surprised to discover the weather folks were wrong. You win some – you lose some. Their early predictions are for a white Christmas so we’ll see where that goes.

It was already a pleasant 45 degrees when I turned off the radio and began suiting up to go for a walk. The suiting-up equation was different today, than for the past few days. Subtract the Sherpa hat, wool scarf and heavy gloves and add instead the red wool headband and terry stretch gloves to be good to go. Ahhh – that equals comfort for this balmy, and not even brisk, morn. Heck … it’s almost beach wear weather.

It was a little murky when I left the house for my Sunday stroll. There were wet patches on the pavement, but no ice – way too warm for ice. Winter officially arrives one week from today, yet it felt rather Fallish – almost like an October day. All my senses were in gear while I walked along. I saw the lifeless leaves still covering many lawns, as the snow and freezing rain made it impossible to collect and bag ‘em before the yard waste pickup deadline the tail end of November. I heard my feet crunching through crumpled-up leaves and in the distance was the scrape of rake tines on the concrete. Musty acrid air filtered through to my nostrils so someone surely was burning leaves fairly close by. Were it not for the twinkling lights and collapsed Christmas figures on homeowners’ lawns, you wouldn’t know we were immersed in the holiday season.

The snow can stay away all Winter if it would like … a snow globe effect for Christmas Day only is my wish, just so our world looks like the carols suggest it should.

Each time I travel to Council Point Park, I am convinced it is the last time – for 2014 anyway. No, I’m not morbid, or a fatalist, but it is December in Michigan after all. I’m just being a realist.

As I walked around the perimeter path I took in the drab beauty of the Park and its inhabitants, most of which seemed to be camouflaged right into the background. Like the squirrels hiding their peanuts, I shall tuck that picture away in a corner of my mind, to be pulled out in the dead of Winter. It will remind me that one day Spring and new beginnings will return, just like clockwork.

Last Winter’s slick snow and icy sidewalks put a kibosh on cruising to the Park on foot for months, so I took to the exercise bike in the basement to keep my legs strong and conditioned for when walking season began anew.

It was an unremarkable trek this morning – perfect for a Sunday stroll. I almost laughed when a gentleman zoomed past me on his mountain bike on the trail. I saw the back of the bike had a small artificial Christmas tree strapped to his bike seat. I thought I might now have to eat yesterday’s words, i.e. disparaging men’s decorating efforts, and proclaiming that it takes a woman’s touch for decorating at Christmastime.

See … that five-mile walk made me fit as a fiddle, and a philosopher as well.