First good walk in a long time

I hope, someday, to go back over the last nine months and write down all the challenges my family and I faced over that time. One of the consequences of all that was that I either wasn't in a place I could walk or I didn't have the time to walk. I'd go for short strolls but I didn't have a good long (more than a mile) walk in all that time.

Well, today at lunch I finally went for a nice 30 minute walk and it felt wonderful. It was cold but not too cold. There had been a little snow last night but only a dusting. And, in a way, the slippery conditions from the snow gave me more exercise than normal as I worked to catch my sliding and needed to balance better. The path was just as I remembered it. I stopped using the main path over a year ago because it was overused and getting too muddy and the bare dirt was getting ditches dug into it by running water. So, I found a path that looks like it had been blazed by deer. It pretty much parallels the main path but is about 20 yards into the woods so it is prettier, more isolated and quieter. The dirt bikes never use this path so I don't need to side step when they come roaring by.

When I say it felt wonderful, I have to say it was more tiring than I remembered. I really am out of shape and really need to walk. So, I'm hoping, along with my more frequent entries in this blog, I will be walking more frequently now. During the nine months of not walking, I broke all the rules I specified in "My thoughts on walking" post three years ago. Here is the list of things I thought were important - without the explanations you can find in the original post:

1. Get out even if it is only for a few minutes
2. It's better to walk on uneven paths and up and down hills
3. It's better to walk on a schedule
4. It's better to walk with a dog (or another person, but a dog is better)
5. It's a good idea to take a cell phone with you
6. Take a small notebook and something to write with
7. Keep track of how long you walk
8. Take a camera with you
9. Walking a shorter distance more times is better than walking one longer distance - and then canceling

I still think those are pretty good ideas. Now, if I can just stick to them every day.

Who has seen the wind?

I was reading a review of the movie Something, Anything today at lunch. It sounds like a movie I'd like to see but beyond that, the reviewer included a poem that is used in the movie. He only included the second stanza in his review but here is the whole poem:

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

I love how simple yet profound it is. It speaks to me of faith and acceptance. It speaks of the power of God and the gentleness of Jesus. It was written in the 1800s by Christina Rossetti who lived from 1830 to 1894. I had never heard of her before but now I want to read more of her poetry. This reminds me of one of my favorite verses in the Bible:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 NIV

The movie also sounds wonderful. You should read the review yourself (link to the review) so you can decide but it sounds just like the poem and the Bible verse; simple but profound. It sounds like it has true insight into the life changing experience a person can have when they seek God. I hope it comes to a theater in our area.

And here is something I just learned - Ms Rossetti wrote another poem entitled "In the Bleak Midwinter" which has been used in a number of different settings for hymns. So, there is even more to explore! This is one of the wonderful things I get from writing this blog. Learning about one small thing and researching it for a post leads to many new things I would have never discovered.

First post of 2015

And of course, given my personality, my first post of the year is an apology. After my December 31, 2014 lament about finishing out a bad year of blogging, I said I'd do better this year. What a great way to start!

But is it better to say that I broke my New Year's Resolution and then just give up or is it better to just acknowledge my mistake and then keep on going? I think most people would do that latter. It's not the end of the world that I'm late with this post. Just like it's not the end of the world that I haven't walked yet this year, either. I am going to walk more this year and I am going to blog more this year.

New Year's Resolutions are not like watching a series on TV where each episode builds on the episodes before it. When you miss one or more episodes of the series, you feel lost and will have to wait for reruns to catch up. Or buy the DVDs or watch it on Netflix. And what makes missing a series episode especially tough is that it is hard to watch the newer episodes without ruining the older episodes when you finally get to watch them.

Walking and blogging (and a LOT of other things) are wonderful activities. In fact, when I start walking after a time off, I seem to enjoy walking even more. Blogging is like that, too. I am having a great time right now. And you know what is even better? Playing the piano after a long absence. Not that I purposely stop playing the piano (or blogging or walking) but it's nice to know that starting these activities up again is a reward in itself. When I start these activities after a long time away, I am The Prodigal Son returned. And that just points out the joys of blogging. While I am writing about one subject, I usually think about two or more other subjects for later posts. Last year, I read a terrific book about the Prodigal Son (or the Two Sons as it is sometimes called). I plan on writing about that and how it changed me forever. Stay tuned.

The last day of a bad blogging year

I have had a hard time getting posts organized to publish this year. I've talked a little about the challenges that we've had this year but that's really no excuse. Blogger makes it very easy to enter a few thoughts and publish them. There doesn't need to be a picture to illustrate it. There doesn't need to be cross-referenced documentation for everything. There doesn't even need to be a coherent narrative. All you need is five minutes (or less) to write something and then hit the Publish button.

No, the problem is that I'm trying to be perfect - or as perfect as I can be. That is a nice goal but when it interferes with getting things done, it is wrong. So, this is going to be the start of a new way of thinking about my blog. Actually, it's not new. It's a return to the way of treating this blog that I've talked about before.

This will be only my 26th post of the year. That's the smallest number since the first year of this blog, 2006, and that year's number of posts was small because I didn't start this blog until October of that year. Next year will be better. I can't wait. I plan to tell you all about!

This day in engineering history (a happier note this time)

Three years ago, I posted this message about an engineering disaster that happened on this day in 1940 when the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapsed. But I'd like to point to something positive today.

Today is also the anniversary of when the Canadian Transcontinental Railroad was completed. I saw it mentioned on the History Channel's "This Day in History Site" and here is the link to that story. Just as the first transcontinental railroad in the United States opened up our country for expansion, so did Canada's railroad. Yes, it brought problems as well as good but, for the country as a whole, it was good. Canada wouldn't be the great country it is today without this railroad.

Last year, we saw a wonderful IMAX film at the Boston Museum of Science titled Rocky Mountain Express. It's a documentary (the poster is shown at the right) that is partly about the history of the feat and also about the restored steam locomotive that was one of the last of its type to use that route. A lot of the scenes are shot from the train as it races through the beautiful Canadian Rockies. And with it being an IMAX movie, you feel like you're right there speeding along. If you get a chance to see this movie, do it. If you like trains, if you like history, if you like nature or if great engineering feats interest you, you will enjoy this movie.

Some of the final scenes are of the graves of the men who died building the railroad. It's sobering to be reminded that there is always a price to pay with human lives for any undertaking of this size.

Even more pressure

As I mentioned in my last post, it's been very busy and stressful recently. I mentioned that my mother fell and broke her hip. The operation was successful but the recovery is slow and painful. My mother is 89 and any change in her life is hard but this goes beyond measure. But it did bring one thing into focus for her - she can no longer mange the house by herself and shouldn't be living there alone.

We've been talking about this for almost 20 years (since my father died) but there was always some reason she could not move. But now it seems that there is no reason to stay. So, we decided she needs to sell the house and move from Western Pennsylvania to Cape Cod where we live. This is a bad time for this but I'm afraid if we don't do it now, something worse is going to happen to make this even harder. I had hoped that by putting the house on the market right away, we would start a long process that we might not want to begin if we waited too long. Unfortunately, the house sold in about a week! I knew the housing market was picking up but this just amazed me. Even though there are many things against it (there are only two bedrooms and a natural gas pipeline runs through the lower edge of the lot meaning nothing can be built over that spot), my mother got very close to what she thought the house was worth. But this means that not only must she continue her recovery from hip surgery, she must also prepare to pack up her belongings and move 650 miles away. And the cost of living here is much higher than the area south of Pittsburgh.

I hope to write about this effort in coming posts. Perhaps our struggle will help others faced with similar problems. Fortunately, we have until the end of September to finish the move. The people who bought the house, who are renting now, were willing to give her a longer time to move out even though it means their paying more rent. A lot of pleasant surprises are going to have to happen to make this go smoothly. We been praying about this constantly. Of course, we've been praying about my mother's recovery but we're also praying about finding an affordable place for her here, and praying about the terrible trip that is facing my mother on the day (or days) when she makes the trip here.

So far, the Lord has been kind. We have an apartment lined up within walking distance of our house that is a one-bedroom apartment that has special pricing for people on a low fixed income. And did I mention that since her hospital stay it was determined that my mother must be on oxygen 24 hours a day? While that adds another obstacle to her 12-hour (at least) journey here, we've found battery powered oxygen concentrators that, we hope, will allow her to make the trip and still have a full supply of oxygen. Stay tuned.

A tough month but that's no excuse

The last month or so (since May 17) has been hard. I was in the hospital for about four days. Our software product was to be released during this time, too. Then, my mother fell and broke her hip. I traveled back to Western Pennsylvania to help her while she was in the hospital. I also needed to line up an assisted living residence for her when she was released from the hospital and then I helped in moving her there. Also, my family had planned on going on vacation during this last month and had already made reservations that we couldn't break.

But that is no excuse for my not writing entries for this blog. The hardest part about writing in this blog is starting up again after a long pause. I have a lot of things to write about, of course, and plan to do so in the coming weeks. But it will be a slow start up. This post is just to get everything started. Like a train starting, you cannot start the whole line of cars at one time. That's why trains don't like to stop that often and why it takes them a while to get started.

I case you are interested, there was a good puzzle from the radio show Car Talk about this.

Here is a link to the puzzle: Loose Caboose puzzler

Here is a link to the answer: Loose Caboose puzzler answer

I love trains!