A Walk in the Woods

I live on a dead end street.  A few hundred yards from my house, there is a path through the woods.  It connects to another dead end street, one with the same name as mine.  Looking at a map, you would think (as do so many delivery trucks) that the two parts of the road connect in a passable way, but as you can see, they don't.  But try telling that to a GPS.

Being a sucker for the headiness of a brand new year, I decided that it would be a good idea to take a walk.  And it was a good idea! For forty minutes, it was just me and a few birds on a walk in the woods.  I know for a fact that this is black bear territory, but I'm fairly sure that they have gone into hibernation.  The scariest thing I saw on my walk was an old blue desk chair propped up against a tree a few feet off the path.  I am happy to report that it was unoccupied.

I walked until I could see the other dead end, and then I ventured back the way I'd come.  I finished off my walk with a stroll down my road, a cold and stinging wind challenging my resolve.  The wind was at my back on the return.

I did not make a conscious decision to take a walk every day in 2015 . . . or for a few days, the length of time most resolutions last.  It just seemed like a good idea.  If I decide tomorrow that it would be a good idea to take a walk, I will repeat this one.  I refuse to even think about how wonderful it would be if I made the same decision every day.

But things like this along the way might compel me to make this a habit:

Not only am I in love with the gorgeous patterns in the ice, but look how long and thin the shadows of my legs are!  Ah, yes . . . the woods are lovely, dark and deep . . .