I live in the state of Michigan, where its residents have quite the tendency to get out and enjoy the weather when it’s nice out – and endure like stalwart Quakers when it’s shitty. We’re a tough bunch, to say the least! We’re used to having Mother Nature hurl things at us like oppressive humidity (especially oppressive when it’s summer), brutal snowstorms, ice storms that will turn a 100 mile (or more) radius into a virtual ice rink (and occasionally knock power out, too), flooding, tornadoes and other calamities. We might be virtually immune to hurricanes up here in MI, but chances are, we WILL feel the effects somehow – whether that be with unseasonably warm late autumn days, humidity, etc. You don’t question why you need to still wear shorts when it’s almost Halloween in Michigan – you just make sure you don’t put ALL of your “summer” clothes away… EVER!
Me in February, 2017 at Brighton Recreation Area. Warm enough for shorts – yet Bishop Lake was still icy! That’s Michigan weather for ya!
I went outside for a walk earlier today (about three miles/45 minutes), and only needed my winter coat for a short time! Most of the walk, I kept it tied around my waist, as you can see in the crappy selfie below…
Victorious Life Church on Clark Road in Ypsilanti, MI. Some of the winter scenery was quite pretty today!
This is just a detention pond at a condo association near where I live, but it attracts a lot of waterfowl – and can be quite pretty!
Today, the “soundtrack” of my walk was quite different than normal! Usually, I skip over the “slower” songs in favor of the more “driving” songs (the more coked up the songwriter was, the better). Today, I skipped songs that weren’t “meaningful” enough! So what did that mean for the songs I didn’t skip today? For one, quite a few Cat Stevens songs made the “cut” – also a Coldplay track (which really, really hit an emotional chord with me today), and two Police songs.
The lyrics for the Coldplay song Green Eyes are depicted in this image which I do not own…some other lyrics I found meaningful from that song today were:
I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter
Now I met you
And honey you should know
That I could never go on without you
Green eyes
I’m no stranger for songs having a tendency to “get to me” (sometimes I wish I were an android). I remember breaking down and crying on a car ride home from work when I heard Bob Dylan’s Mr. Tambourine Man a couple of years ago, and a little farther back than that, an acoustic version of Everlong by the Foo Fighters had the same effect.
Sampling of songs from today’s walk:
- Lady D’Arbanville, Cat Stevens
- Southern Man, Neil Young
- Green Eyes, Coldplay
- Patience, Guns ‘n Roses
- Miles from Nowhere, Cat Stevens
- But I Might Die Tonight, Cat Stevens
- King of Pain, The Police
- Home in the Sky, Cat Stevens
- Secret Journey, The Police
hebspeaks 