Day 52

Ice dolphin.   

Beautiful warmish day, 38F, although it was snowing when I woke up, or maybe it was a dream. 

The warmth brought out all the singing robins today!  So many birds! I saw chickadees, nuthatches, and several dear little downy woodpeckers, almost tripped over my own feet peering into the trees on the side of the meadow.   A large group of fat robins searched about for worms in the newly soft places on the track.  They ran along in front of me until I got too close and then took off into the trees.  Each time I came back into the meadow from the woods, they were back and repeated the performance, to my delight! 

It feels like spring, as there are patches of muddy mushy ground, where your heels sink in, but then still scary patches of ice to be avoided.  But I won't get my hopes up, because there is certain to be more snow.  It is only mid-February, after all.   I ran 3.78km today, it felt good.  Part of it is unconscious now, where thoughts just float about as my legs do their job, and my arms swing me along.  But when I get tired, I become aware that the running has become a struggle, and so I count my breathing, in 1 - 2, out 3 - 4 - 5, in 1 - 2, out 3 - 4 - 5 ....  (This year is full of fives for me!)  And the act of counting breathing seems to let me go on for a lot longer.

Today's portrait - handprints in the snow, looking like some large exotic bird's footprints.  My big hands, like my dad's, very capable, making good things.