A Walk this Morning

Hello family and friends!

I know it has been a very long time since i've posted a blog, but i'm gonna remedy that right now and hopefully get back into the blogg'n groove.

A couple weeks ago, I was outside in the morning walking my fiance' to her car for a kiss goodbye, before she left for work.  After she pulled out of the driveway I saw my neighbor, a young high school boy, leave his house to walk to school.  I said hello to him and asked him how long it takes him to walk to school.  He said, "about 45 minutes."  I was rather astonished, in the best way possible of course!

(This is our street on a cold snowy morning)

In elementary school, I used to walk to school every single day.  Minus the cold rainy days, then mom would drive me and my sister, a half mile, so we could sit at our desks in dry cloths ready to learn.  When I graduated elementary school, the days of walking to school came to an end.  Junior high school was much further away from home and there was a bus that would swoop up all the kids in the neighborhood.  My friends and I mostly took the bus, but there was a spring semester where we mostly biked to school together.  Biking to school with my friends always felt like such an adventure!

Fast forwarding through high school and having a car, and college with a campus the size of the biggest bubble gum bubble you can blow, I want to come into the now.  I'm 28 years old, I'm engaged to a beautiful and intelligent woman (PeaceLove&Bagels), a business owner (that also has a full time job) a happy homeowner and a proud father of two puppies!

This past week as I was, again, saying farewell to my fiance' Becca, before she drove off to work and saw my neighbor again, leaving his house to walk 45 minutes to school.  It was a cold blustery day, but he was walking anyway. Here in Cleveland we have what I like to call the Cleveland Hybrid.  Ya know...it's rain/slush/sleet/snow all mixed together.  Sounds great, right?  Well, it was definitely one of those days.


As I sat, warm and cozy, on my couch inside, I began to think of my young neighbor walking to school.  I live closer to my work (I manage a Ben and Jerry's scoop shop) than he does to his high school and he walks to school and I drive to work.  I've also been known to ride my bike to work as often as possible, but that's not exactly safe in cold wet and icy conditions.....I learned my lesson the hard way....errr the concrete way!

Yup, I had a pretty gnarly wipe-out on my bike a few weeks ago.  I was making an aggressive turn on moist pavement and the temperature was just above freezing.  Cue, back tire sliding out from underneath me and me bailing from my bike, stage right!  Needless to say I put my bike away (for the time being) and started to drive to work, until I saw my neighbor on that cold, wet and dark morning walking to school.

I thought to myself, I walked to my elementary school as a boy.  Why don't I walk to work as an adult? (I use that term loosely).  On that morning I made the commitment to walk to and from work.  Even in dismal weather.  

 Me with my walking stick "Olu" in hand, bundled in my warmest and most weather proof gear I own. 

"My life bag is filled with food for the day"

It has only been about a week since I've started walking to work, but it feels great.  I have a fresh attitude walking through the door and have been way more productive as a result.  I've also begun to distinguish different tracks.

 At first I thought this was a bunny, as the four paws are close together and the tracks showed a hopping pattern.  After further investigation, it is definitely a squirrel's tracks.  The tracks led to the squirrels breakfast!  

Above is a closeup pic of a squirrels paw

Aaaaanndd these are human tracks.  ;~)

Last year my father had to have surgery on his spine.  It was very scary to see my father in a bed and unable to walk.  Thank God the surgery went well and my Dad has made a wonderful recovery.  He is once again able to bend and move and swim and WALK!  In light of the experience, I wrote a song called "A Walk this Morning."  

I've completed my first EP (5 songs) with recording engineer Lino Sistu and "A Walk this Morning" was the first song we recorded.  I'd like to share it with you all today.  Be sure to keep your eyes and ears on FireSide Symphony for the release of all 5 tunes.  Follow this link for the music "A Walk this Morning" and scroll to the bottom of the page and hit play!  Enjoy!

Let me know what your favorite way to get to work is!