It's SO easy to sit at ones desk all day every day especially over the past couple years - but this week with a few days off, I've been getting out and getting some much needed exercise. It's the perfect time of year for it with the fall colors but the weather has also been INCREDIBLE - temps in the mid 60s to low 70s are definitely something to encourage long walks. Yesterday I managed to log 3 miles, today, slightly less at 2.5 miles (but that's still not too shabby esp since it's been months since I've had the energy to go further than the Gristedes two blocks away ... and yes, I know how sad that sounds!). 

Today's trek took me up Columbus Ave to the park at 110th Street. The entrance descends in to the park and you feel like a grand dame arriving at the ball. OK maybe that's just me <blush> I visit Riverside Park all the time, Central Park comes a distant second (the cyclists have kind of ruined my enjoyment of it, sad to say) and I usually completely forget about the park at 110th- so much so that I don't even know its real name ( a quick google check to discover: it's called Morningside Park. Well, now I know). 

These walks are not only for a mental health break and a bit of exercise, but also in an attempt to lose some weight - I clocked in at a hefty 210 at one point in the thick of the pandemic (all the treats were just... RIGHT THERE!) and today I'm hovering around 195. My goal is to lose the belly and get back into the 170s. For someone who is 5'8", that's still a bit on the large size (as is measured medically, anyway) but I think do-able through no in between meal snacking, small portions and healthy exercise which will continue to include walks/cardio and, at some point, when life works out that I have access to a gym again, lifting weights. Usually putting ON weight has been one of the life long challenges and am hoping that I can make these changes on a slow and steady basis. 

Anyway, in addition to the scenery, I had a lovely call with an old friend while got some air and sun - all good things! Here now, a few of my favorite shots from today's walk. Enjoy! 

Around Christmas time 2012, I saw a post by my friend Rev Annie Lawrence that she was looking for a photographer to shoot a wedding on New Year's Eve day in Central Park. It was for two women from Australia who had come to the city for a wedding but she couldn't book a photographer. Being a bit of an amateur photographer myself, I got hired and used the camera belonging to the couple, Ang and Terri.

It was a beautiful day and I got a lot of really great shots - and they were happy and you know what? So was I. :)

Here are a couple of the shots:

This was a fun one! The wedding took place at the Hotel Giraffe for a group of about 40 guests. The bride and groom were lovely and wonderful - but, the summer heat had gotten to me and I was sort of operating at about 90% (and you can kind of tell in the photos, unfortunately). I woke up feeling like a truck had run over me but there was no time for a replacement, so off I went. As we say in the theater, the show must go on.

It was also my first straight wedding - which is kind of funny, I suppose - for most officiants, the same sex wedding is the exception, but for me, the straight one was. I'm used to same pronouns, but different pronouns threw me a little. LOL It's kind of funny if you think about it!

This Sunday, June 19 is Father's Day and many of my friends are now starting to lose their parents.

But I lost my father, Jack, to cancer in 1981 when I was 17.

As we were close when I was young, his death has, so far, haunted me all my adult life ...and I suspect it always will.

However, I take great JOY in knowing that I inherited many of his best traits and thankfully not too many of his 'bad' ones.  :)

Father's Day hasn't really meant much to me since he passed.  I prefer to mark the day he died (Oct 22)  with a day of doing "Jack" things - doing things that we would have done if he were still alive - like going to a museum and/or eating chocolate ice cream. Simple pleasures, sure, but a way to sort of share the day with him one day a year.

So this weekend, if your father is still alive, be sure to reach out to him and spend the day doing what he wants to do.

But, if your father isn't alive, consider spending the day doing "Jack" things, i.e. things that your own father would like to do if it were just a normal Sunday in the middle of June. That might be going fishing, that might be fine dining, or that may just be laying in a hammock in the backyard. Trust me, doing your own version of "Jack" things will make you feel closer to your dad. It has, at least, for me.

To the left is a picture of a picture of my dad that hung in his bedroom throughout my childhood. I can't remember how old he is, but he sure is young and full of life, ready to explore the world. That's how I like to think of him.

Peace

One of the biggest ways to deal with living in the hustle and bustle of New York is to get out of it once in awhile... and this past February, I visited a friend in Delaware and even though it was only February and we'd had a mild winter, I was soooo ready for spring to arrive. And at the Longwood Gardens, I saw beauty at every turn - and I sure needed that. Click here for my gallery of images from the visit and jump for joy at nature's best!