Ambulant* walk, Lethbridge, Alberta
Go for a walk.  Looking for text, looking for signs.  We still walk, we still communicate, we still live with each other in these times, in all times.  We're in it together.

Location: Downtown and back home, Lethbridge, Alberta
Length: 5 km
Companions: Coffee break with M & L at the halfway point
Date: 30 July 2020
*Ambulant walkshop with thanks to artist B. Lounder, from the Drifting Bodies/Fluent Spaces walking conference,  Guimarães, Portugal, July 21-25, 2020.

South Coulee, Southern Alberta
It's all about the grasses at this time of year. So many shapes and shadows and shades of green. I set out along deer trails, hoping to pick some Saskatoon berries. Finding instead the sage and tumbleweeds and badger holes and rusted out farm machinery and thistles and lichens and fields of barley. Thinking about the non-dualism of map and terrain.

Elizabeth Hall Wetlands, Lethbridge
Walking-with: mosquitoes, birds, a young owl, beaver, turtles, Oldman River, friends.

Midsummer Day farmyard walk, Southern Alberta
We've never walked the farm perimeter, but we walk the yard and the coulees on most visits. It had been a flawlessly summery day, this first day of summer. Now thunder rumbled to the southwest. We saw both great horned owls fly. The whitetailed fawn was nearby with its mother. A flock of blackbirds chased a large kingfisher. A storm was approaching and mosquitoes swarmed, sending us in early for gin & tonics, hoping the storm would come close enough to watch.

Johnston Canyon, Banff, Alberta
First hike of the year. The nourishment of the trees and mountain air, and the delicious sense of normalcy to be hiking with friends were intoxicating. We climbed the trail, passing several waterfalls and few other hikers, until we arrived at the top, where we enjoyed spectacular mountain views, mysterious pools called the Ink Pots, and 20 minutes of rest before it started to rain lightly. The downward walk made different muscles ache than the way up, reminded some of  us of aging joints, and gave me a blister the size of a silver dollar on my heel - and it was all a complete delight.

Pavan Park, Lethbridge, Alberta
The Pavan loop is a regular and favourite walk, but this time around it was a scenic tour.  Is it summer coming that makes everything so extraordinarily full of light and life?

Fleetwood & London Road Neighbourhoods, Lethbridge, Alberta
After repotting my prolific aloe vera (one of the few things that came with me from New Mexico when I moved here in my little old truck), I walked though my neighbourhood distributing its offspring to various neighbours who wanted one.  It's not that I'm unaware of the enormous pain and the impossibly difficult problems in the world right now, but it feels sane and healthy to connect with my own neighbourhood and the people in it in these small ways. Not really helping the big picture, which feels completely beyond my control and renders me unable to budge from my couch some days, but helping me feel more connected and appreciative.  Which in some tiny way must generate a fraction more contentment and love available in the world.

Another coulee-river walk, Lethbridge, Alberta
Overcast and drizzly afternoon. An abundance of small wildflowers dot the gradually greening slopes. Birds. Beaver architecture. Sitting side by side on a rock by the river. Lots of uphill, less down.

Upper Coulee walk, Lethbridge, AB
Walking and talking make a good pair. This is one of those times in my life (there have been others) where almost all the social contact I have is through going for walks with people. The walks, which are always important, become even more important when otherwise I spend entire days sitting in my house alone. Pandemic walks are a big deal. I'm sure there will be dissertations written about it. A very simple activity, but it's a way to connect with nature and the world around us, a way to connect with people, and a way to have some movement and fresh air. These are some of the most important things. 

Shore Walk, Medicine Hat, Alberta
The walk that would be the malecón, if this was the Caribbean. A shore walk is nothing to take for granted though, even if it is along a prairie river. Everyone is out today, with their dogs, kids, bicycles, motorcycles, kayaks, jet skis, and skateboards. Most people are good about keeping the social distance along the river walk, maintaining as wide a berth as possible when passing. Surprising to see three or four planes fly overhead - who is coming and going from Medicine Hat airport on a pandemic Sunday afternoon? Ending where I started, downtown at one of the beating hearts of this town, the Station Coffee Co.