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Taking a Walk 9:09 a.m. 2005-10-11 Yesterday was a county holiday, so I decided to go out to a nearby lake that I've been wanting to check out since I moved (I've been living in this town for over two years, and I still hadn't gone yet..). It was quite an adventure. I put the baby in his stroller, and Andrew walked with me around Almaden Lake. Despite it being really hot outside, it was a really nice walk. Baby Nick chose to walk it, instead riding in the stroller. Nicholas wanted to walk on the trail like mom and his older brother. We saw lots of ducks, a guy playing with his toy boat on the lake, and a fisherman or two. I guess they didn't care about the signs posted stating that the fish was contaminated. Lovely...I'm glad I'm not eating dinner with them tonight. The beach was closed, although, I can't imagine why someone would want to swim in a lake near signs that say the fish may be contaminated. It just doesn't sound appealing. There were lots and lots of picnic areas, as well as a bocci ball range, and horsehoe, and lots of play structures that Nicholas was not interested in all with. He just wanted to walk. The lake was quite beatiful, and the trees, and the running stream on the walks. I was very tempted to sit on a rock and let my feet wade in the water, but, still I found another sign: "No wading in the water." Damn. We passed also lot of old people walking around the lake, people on bikes, as well as young parents with babies, and serious runners and walkers. There was one walker in particular that struck me and Andrew as quite bizarre. Even the baby thought she was an odd one. She apparently was "power walking", swinging her arms to and fro with such force, she looked more like a little Chinese soldier walking past us doing the goose step. She wore a full running outfit, with a jacket and a goofy white hat that was pulled all the way down, and you could only see her nose. She must have been roasting in that ensemble, but she was serious. She walked past us with her arms swinging like a walking windmill, and later when we catched up to her she had her leg propped up on the fence stretching. "Mom, lady dance!" Nicholas exclaimed. This woman was stretching her arm up and around as if she was practicing a ballet stretch, with her leg up on the fence. Now, there is nothing wrong with that, I admire that, but, how long do you need to stretch. She must have been out there stretching for at least a half hour. Andrew kept on looking back to check on her. "She's still stretching mom. Isn't her arm going to fall off eventually?!" The trail ended, and we had to walk up and pass a bridge back on Almaden to get our car, and the woman was STILL out there stretching. We could see her arms swinging still from the bridge. The rest of the day, while we went out doing random shopping stops, we were on the look out for the little soldier. We kept on expecting to see her in her red and black work out uniform and white hat and swinging arms walking down the street at any moment. |