Walked to Much on a Hot Humid Saturday

On Saturday, June 26th, I woke up at about 7:17 AM, and it was raining.

So I decided to lay in bed until closer to 8:00 AM to see if the rain would stop, and it did.

Off to the First Farmer’s Market

I got ready and left the house at 8:01 AM to walk to the Old Town Alexandria Farmer’s Market. The humidity was at 90% after the rain, which made the heat worse. I dropped off my compost there. Then gathered a few items from the market and headed back home, which is a three and a quarter-mile round trip.

Made It Home

When I got home put the items away and then ate a mixed berry tart and most of the quart of cold water to re-hydrate. Getting some food and water in me was helpful.

Once I finished the mixed fruit tart and cold water. I headed to the Del Ray Farmer’s Market and MOM’s Organic Market to drop off recycled glass bottles and jars.

Stopped at St. Elmo’s and My Second Farmer’s Market

So I stopped by St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub and ran into a few friends. One of them I had not seen since around Xmas of 2019 or so. Their children are now at least a year and a half older and have grown a great deal.

I did a bit of quick shopping for some cherry tomatoes and greens at the Del Ray Farmer’s Market.

Now Headed to MOM’s to Drop-off Glass

Then I started the mile-plus walk to the MOM’s to drop off my glass to be recycled. Of course, I missed both to the buses headed that way, so it was better to walk than wait 30 minutes in the heat.

I went behind the MOMs Organic Market to drop off my bottles and jars.

Order Myself Some Refresh Tamales

When leaving stopped for the second time at the apartment building near the parking lot exit that had a nice young lady selling fresh tamales she made. I ordered two pork and two chicken tamales. Each tamale had some green beans, potato, and yellow pepper on them this week.

After ordering, I noticed they had both a bean and all-veggie version. So next time I go, I’m either going to get one of all four kinds of tamales or, more likely, the bean and all veggie tamales.

As I was getting ready to leave, I think the young woman’s mother came out and is one that makes the tamales. I asked if they had any lemonade. She told me she was finishing up in the house and would be bringing it out in about three minutes.

So I waited and got a cold glass with ice.

They are a Great Deal

The best part is each of the tamales is only $2.00 apiece, and so is the lemonade. The tamales, in my opinion, are worth more than that, so when my bill came to $10.00 total, I gave them $15.

Sat Outside MOM’s to Eat Them

I then walked over to the front of the MOM’s, which has three metal table and connected chairs out front to eat. I ate a pork and a chicken tamale while drinking my lemonade and relaxing.

The tamales are wrapped in thick tinfoil and a banana leaf. I was able to eat them with my hands because I did not see any silverware.

Missed the Buses Back home

Once I was done, I noticed that the second bus heading towards home went by. So it was going to be another 30 minutes before the next one.

I started walking home, taking my time, and walking on the shady side of the street.

Of course, when I looked at the schedule, it looks like on the weekend, the one bus line is only running every hour, which meant a longer time to wait for it.

Of course, another bus came by because it must have been off schedule, and I wasn’t near a stop when the bus drove past me. So I continued to walk towards home.

Stopped at St. Elmo’s Again to See People Outside

As I passed St. Elmo’s again, one friend was still there like an hour and a half later with the other person’s father with their two children.

So by not taking the bus, I was able to talk to him after about a year and a half or more.

He offered me a ride home which I declined because I was way too sweaty to get in his car.

Headed Home

After a bit of talking and cooling down in the shade, I walked the mile and a half home.

It took a while, but I got home, I put all the food away and took a nap after re-hydrating.

After my nap, I heated the two remaining tamales and had them with a bottle of kombucha.

Headed for One Final Walk for the Evening

After eating and drinking then I went for another walk since I was up to eight and a quarter miles. I figure I could get to ten miles for the day.

After I got moving, I figured I could get enough steps in to get to 25,000 steps for the day. Then it became needing another 1,000 or so steps to get to over twelve miles of walking.

Read on My Back Deck

I finally got home and, to cool off, grabbed some cold water, my book, and my rockerless rocker, and a folding table to sit on the back deck to read.

So not a bad day, even though looking later in the evening, I ended up with a blister on the ball of each of my feet.

Final Thoughts

So after walking to two farmers’ markets and running into friends, I had not seen since before the pandemic. Purchasing four homemade tamales and lemonade, along with a short nap.

I walked 26,656 steps for the day. For a total of 12.22 miles over 260 minutes, 22 floors, and burned 4,402 calories.

Not something I want to do again in the heat, but good to know I can do it if properly hydrated and fed.

It’s Been a Year

As of March 16th, 2021, I have not eaten at a restaurant or gotten take-out food, if you don’t count the half a dozen bagels, I ordered eight or ten months ago in the last year.

I have not been in a vehicle such as a metro (commuter) train, a bus, a car, etc., in a year.

It’s been over a year since I had a drink of alcohol or driven a car.

I have not been farther than a mile and or half to two miles from my house this last year.

It’s been a year since I last was in the office.

Work from Home

In previous years I only worked from home a day or two a year. So at first, it was interesting to switch over to always being home. I learned I liked it, especially when I could sleep until closer when I started my workday. Now that I have spent the last year working from home, I’m enjoying it.

I wish I had paid more attention to what I did that last week and weekend before things locked down here in the United States. It would have been nice to have written it down to see what I did those last few days.

Been a More Relaxed Year(?)

Over the last year, it’s been nice not having as much to do on nights and weekends. Sometimes it’s been a pain because most of the days seemed to have blended together. It’s been like a year’s worth of Groundhogs Day in the last 365 days.

A nice thing is being able to go on purposeful walks. Be that at lunchtime and after work instead of only walking when I commuted.

Being home more has allowed me to meet and chat with neighbors. I have found some of the neighbors have tiny houses, offices, pools, etc., in their backyard. Either from walking instead of driving or because I walked down the alleys behind the houses.

Here’s to the Future

So here is to getting back to a more normal way of doing things. While still keeping a slower pace of life to spend time with each other or other things than work.

On the good side of things, I managed to lose 25 lbs. in the last year.

Have Not Driven in a Year

A week or so ago, I realized it had been a year since the last time I drove.

The biggest reason for the lack of driving was because I no longer have a car. The other is because of the pandemic at this point.

Even after my car had trouble and decided not to get it fixed, I could at least rent one. Then the pandemic happened. Which meant I wasn’t going to rent a vehicle, get on the metro (commuter train) or bus. Or I would have to walk almost three miles to the closest rental place.

Not having a vehicle means I have walked everywhere without getting into a vehicle.  Okay, I used my bike twice in 2020. Walking everywhere has helped with my weight loss. When I walk to the grocery store, there is only so much room in my backpack for food. Which means not much room for unhealthy food.

Being able to drive would be nice to be able to at least go for a drive to get out of the house and into the country.

I would drive to somewhere like Shenandoah National Park. Then head back home without getting out of the car except maybe for gas or a quick stretch along the way.

Here’s to getting a vaccination soon and then feeling a bit better renting a car.

During the last year or so, I realized I could do most everything I need to by walking or ordering other things online.

Coldest Day So Far This Winter

The walk to the Old Town Alexandria farmers market this morning was the coldest day this winter for me so far. I know for those of you up north where it gets cold, this wasn’t too bad.

Okay, it was 32 F, but with the 20 mph winds, it was 19 F.

It’s not that bad being from Buffalo, NY. With only wearing a heavy and a lightweight hoodie for layering, the wind was going right through them at times. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t over a mile each way to the farmer’s market.

My big mittens were making my hands warm and a little sweating. The wind seemed to be chilling my upper body and my legs. It made me wish I had long underwear to wear under my pants for on my legs.

Going forward, on weekends, before heading to the farmer’s markets, I need to check the weather better. I need to see if there is any significant wind to get an idea of the windchill.

Today the warm temperature and the sun were a bit deceiving.

Here’s to dressing better for the weather when I’m outside for the next month or two.

My Plans for Three Days Off

I have the next three days off, with today being the MLK (Martin Luther King Jr.) holiday. Then Wednesday being the Inauguration, I decided to take Tuesday off too to have a five day weekend.

So I plan to use the three days like a workday and spending eight hours doing things for my projects and learning. It might be broken up more than a workday, but that’s fine.

Video Learning

Each of the days, I plan to spend an hour or two watching my Wes Bos “Beginner JavaScript” video tutorials. During that time, I  will be taking notes and attempting the code examples to get used to coding the syntax.

I plan to spend an hour or two watching and taking notes of Penn and Teller’s Masterclass “Penn & Teller Teach the Art of Magic”.

I’m not necessarily watching Penn and Teller to learn magic, but to learn about storytelling and presentation. If I learn a magic trick or two in the process, all the better.

In the evening, there will be some watching of YouTube videos.  The subjects I want to learn more about are cooking/baking, farming/gardening, tiny houses, etc.

Book Reading

I will finish reading Heydon Pickering’s “Inclusive Components – Accessible Web Interfaces, Piece by Piece”. I need to go back to his other book and Adam Silver’s book to work through the examples a bit more. Below are the other two other books I’m referring to.

Form Design Patterns – A Practical Guide to Designing and Coding simple and Inclusive Forms for the Web by Adam Silver

Inclusive Design Patterns – Coding Accessibility Into Web Design by Heydon Pickering

My next book to start reading is “Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything” by BJ Fogg.

Blog Posts

I need to start outlining a few more blog posts and maybe even start the first draft.

My more significant issue is figuring out the best way to link to all the books I read last year. I don’t want to link to Amazon. But I know money is tight for some, so the lower prices and free shipping with having Amazon Prime will help. If I would I need to figure out a code for an organization/charity, I would like the earned money would help them. So need to figure that out before posting that post.

More research is needed. Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Odds and Ends

Other things that need to get done over the three days are:

  • Sending out some bills
  • Daily walks
  • Laundry
  • Cleaning the house, especially the kitchen, to make room for new spices and other utensils
  • Etc.

I might even start some sorting or items that I no longer use to donate them or get rid of them. I know where I want to donate all the clothes and the like, to Martha’s Table in DC.

Someone from the DC Code and Coffee group mentioned they are willing to come to Northern Virginia to pick things up with their car. Since they live near Martha’s Table, it wouldn’t be hard to drop them off for me.

Lots to Do But Not Enough Time

That’s a lot to get done while also relaxing some, but at least I have a game plan. If I don’t start on things, I won’t get any of it started or any of it done. Here’s to slow and steady work at the list above.

Any suggestions to help with any of this, please leave a comment.