When a TV station repeats the same old show, we call it a re-run. When a walker repeats the same old stroll, I call it a re-walk.
If you walk everyday in a place where you’ve lived for more than a month or so, re-walks are inevitable. And if you tend to blog your walks, as I do, it’s only a matter of time before you repeat not only your own footsteps but your own words and images.
The picture at right, which I snapped on a gloriously weathered but semi-sickly stroll yesterday afternoon, is almost identical to one I blogged almost exactly one year ago. Then, I was queasy with some sort of stomach bug; now, I’m battling an energy-tapping case of laryngitis. Last year, it was sunny with afternoon temperatures in the 60s; yesterday, ditto. A year ago, there were mothers with bicycle-riding children on the bikepath that transects Keene; yesterday, college guys claimed nearby basketball courts for the season’s first game of Shirts vs. Skins.
Yesterday, I didn’t sit outside on my back porch like I did last year…but maybe I’ll correct that this afternoon. If writers are destined to repeat themselves in seasonal re-walks year after year, I might as well learn from the past, taking the time to watch afternoon shadows move in their accustomed patterns this year just like last.
Hoarded Ordinaries 
Mar 30, 2006 at 6:20 pm
Lorianne, sorry you are “under the weather,” as the cliche goes. This is how I experienced your post today: there was something kind of grounding and comforting about your re-walk. The turning of seasons, the sun’s shadows, walking even when you don’t feel well, etc.
It must be hard to teach with a bad throat. At least you don’t need an actual voice as you teach online. Feel better . . .
LikeLike
Mar 30, 2006 at 8:45 pm
Lecturing with laryngitis is hugely difficult: challenging for me, humorous for my students. But as you note, the great thing about teaching online is not having to speak, so I’ll have the weekend to rest my voice. I’m looking forward to it…!
LikeLike
Mar 30, 2006 at 9:15 pm
Looking forward to the spring season “rewalk” on Airport Road. I really like the view from that walk and the concept of the same photo taken in all four seasons. I guess I’m putting in a request!
LikeLike
Mar 31, 2006 at 5:02 am
Ah, yes, it’s been a while since I’ve walked on Airport Road! The tricky thing about spring shots is determining when it’s “spring.” NH doesn’t have a proper spring; instead, we tend to go from snow to mud-and-blackflies to summer without much in the way of pretty flowers, etc. And since this winter has been mild, we aren’t even having a proper spring thaw with snowmelt this year: instead, everything is gray & bare. It doesn’t exactly *look* springy!
LikeLike