I’ve been walking in Bear River every morning at 8 am with my friend Pat. We walk for an hour and cover 4 ½ kilometers up and down VERY steep hills. In fact, it feels like it’s uphill both ways!

We’ve been doing this for 6 weeks now, most mornings, rain or shine. This is so not typical of me to
a) be up and out that early and
b) to be using my non-painting, non-computer muscles 😉
And not only do I actually enjoy it and look forward to it, but I am feeling the benefits. Pardon me if I sound like I’ve invented exercise, but it’s kind of like when you have a baby and think that no one else has ever experienced this before. You are so amazed at the baby and what a joyous life altering experience it is that you want everyone in the world to have the same opportunity.

I definitely have more energy and this has made me more productive in the painting and food harvesting departments. I feel more flexible, my knees have stopped hurting, and I can walk up these steep hills without stopping to catch my breath. It’s still an effort and I’m not racing, but damn it, I can do it now!
It’s still hard waking up and crawling out of bed on overcast, gloomy mornings, but I con myself by promising “you can go back to bed afterwards if you’re still tired”. So far, this hasn’t happened.

I begin the morning with a smoothie made from yogurt, a tablespoon of peanut butter or almonds, an apple, a peach, a banana and maybe a carrot or blueberries. I skip the tea or coffee and make that the reward when I come home along with a fresh, free-range, boiled egg.

We mostly walk around the river and zig zag through the roads that hug the hills until we get to the top of the world. We chat about our families, our studios, our gardens and before you know it, the walk is done.

Having a walking partner makes all the difference to me because without Pat I know I would find lots of reasons for staying home and walking ‘later’.
And what a beautiful walk it is as you can see from these photos.
And then we go back to our studios when it’s all over.


I was so inspired by the wild Asters growing on our walks that I painted a bouquet.
