The Mud, The Blood, and the Pancakes

The Mud, the Blood, and the Pancakes

New Years Day brought with it a new resolve to participate more fully in our church activities not to mention that this particular activity was a 5 mile or so hike through some beautiful rural country side.  So in short, we could not only be more sociable but we can work to improve our health as well.  Two resolutions with one tick of the clock… couldn’t beat that.

The morning was overcast but that can be said about most mornings in the midlands these days.  Mornings that are actually “sunny” are considered so rare that they should be declared Holidays.  Most generally, overcast skies fall to ground and become Fog.  In any case, the weather didn’t look like it was going to be ambitious enough to rain nor did it look like we were in for a Holiday.

We put on our Florida version of cold weather clothing and decided to go anyway.  The first part of the outing was easy.  Eating comes easy enough!  As described in an earlier post, the night before we had stayed out and up till 3:00 am (and yes we did nap the afternoon before).  Being the sensible people that they were, our new years day breakfast didn’t start until 11:00.  (Good thinking!). 

There were plenty of pancakes and OJ and as an added bonus, Brother Larkin Rogers made a special batch of Waffle mix and we managed to wolf that down fairly well too.  They only thing we were missing was the hot chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and fresh bananas… but, we were there to exercise as well.

There were two routes to walk.  The first began at our church building and wound around the English country side until we met up at an ancient Anglican church very similar to the one depicted on the photo on this blog.  Anyway that was the longer route.  Those with children, and ultimately those with more sense, drove to the old church and walked a circuitous route that led them back to pick up their cars at the older church building.

Dianne and I thought… well, we’re dressed for it, how hard can five miles be!  We took the longer walk.  We received an old English education along the way.  First, England isn’t Florida where the highest point anywhere in the state is only a couple of hundred feet.  Second Florida is coral and sand and relatively firm when wet.  Third, people who walk outside in the rain in Florida usually get struck by lightning.  Fourth, Florida is Urban with sidewalks, bike paths, and the like… our setting was definitely rural.  Most of the pavement –where there was pavement-- in the outlying areas looks like it was hastily laid behind farm animals that had escaped from their stalls.  These were not roads to speak of they were meandering paths with mud spatter on them which incidentally people would find the need to drive on occasionally. 

We knew we were in trouble as we started up our first hill… who walks uphill?  Next we left the paved cow path and started through a break in the bramble and through an honest to gosh plowed pasture.  Here are some more facts:  Plows soften dirt; rain mixed with soft dirt becomes muck and mud; mud is very heavy and literally sticks to everything; and yes, it was still all uphill… schluck, schluck, schluck… this walk had very quickly become aerobic and extremely cardio in nature.  We are grandparents and flatlanders and not at all prepared for this.  We also quickly determined that new tennis shoes were not fitting farm ware.  Oh well…

Then we got to the church and the paths led between farmer’s fields and winding rural roads.  The pace slacked as we picked up the batch that drove to the older church with their younger children…

Through the rain, and the muck, and the mist, and the cold, and through our minor suffering and whining, we discovered something else… a beautiful and quiet country side with brambles and hedges for fences and fat and happy sheep in their winter pastures.  We found friendships and a common understanding in our conversations with the others walking in the mire.  We found, antiquities, trees and grasslands and through the shivering sweat, the drizzle, and the gray skies, we found something that we wouldn’t find on TV or within the comforts of our sedentary lives.  We found a desire to live… to see, to be, and to do.  We are still finding each other and throughout this next year we’ll walk again and again as there is a sense of rightness about it…   It was for all practical purposes a VERY good day and the start to what can become a fantastic year.  We hope you enjoy our journey too!  We hope yours challenges you and you find joy therein.