About Last Night

Pollen

I have been making the trek to and from Washington DC since 2008 with a major league focus on issues related to health care and aging.  Some months there are more trips and other months there are no trips.  Sometimes I fly and other times I take the train with a very huge preference for the train.

Aside from one trip in April 2009 that happened to coincide with prime cherry blossom viewing, I don’t often take long walks in DC.  This was as much about ability it was about having the time.  By ability I mean that I had a very arthritic left toe up until about 11 months ago that limited my walking.  I’ve blogged about the toe and my post-op recovery in a run of posts from last fall (Wiggling My Toes, BendingMy Toes (and Assorted Random Thoughts), First Steps and New Toys, and Rolling through My Toes).

Which brings me to last night.  Now I just know you were hoping for something salacious but I got nothing for you along those lines.  I just have a story of nice long walk and reaching a personal milestone that I’ve been hankering to reach for some time now.  In a nutshell, I walked from one end of the mall in Washington, DC to the other AND back!  Along the way, I took in some sights – including the Vietnam and World War II Memorials as well as the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

Shades of Green

 The walk was inspired by a couple of friends who always run to the Lincoln Memorial when in DC.  It wasn’t the longest distance I’ve walked since having toe surgery.  Yet, it was a walk that I’ve wanted to take for quite some time now but couldn’t.   The only regret I have is that I did not stop to ride the Merry Go Round.  Next time.

Macrolicious

I've been playing with my macro lens off and on since flowers started sprouting this spring.  It's definitely a learning experience.  I was finding that it was MUCH harder to trick my mirrorless camera (the Olympus OMD EM5) than it was to trick my micro-four thirds camera (Olympus E-620) when it comes to using my zoom to take macro photos and so I figured I should learn practice more with the lens that is actually made for that purpose.  More photos at Macrolicious.

Vibrant