I have been walking. The figurative me as walked 1591 miles since leaving my home in Alameda. I have walked at least five miles a day since my eye surgery on May 13th. I am 28 miles from Lincoln, Nebraska. What I haven't been doing is writing here.
I don't write often because my time is otherwise occupied. Beside walking five miles a day, which takes about an hour and a half, I am reading. Right now, I am in the middle of four books--Nicholas Nickleby, War and Peace, It, and Lorna Doone. I read at least one chapter of each of these books per day.
Why? In 2003, we went to England and Wales. On our first night in Wales, a Saturday, we watched a program that called the Big Read. Someone had picked out the Britain's 200 best loved books. It amused me no end--the British love lists, even more than I do. And they love game shows--a lot more than I do. So they combined the best loved books and the game show, and had a contest over several months for best loved book. They made little short films summarizing the books in the top 20 of the best loved books. The folks voted for the best loved book.
The next Saturday night, we were in London, and it was the last night of the Big Read contest. Lord of the Rings won, although the commentators guessed that not that many people had read it, but many probably had seen the movie (the third movie installment had opened that week in London). Pride and Prejudice was second. Some VA Andrew's book was number 200.
We left England the next day. I made a vow to read all 200 books on the list. I have read quite a few of them over the year as my interest in the project waxes and wanes. Some have been great--the horrific but wonderful "Trainspotting" has been one of my favorite. The horrific and awful "American Psycho" has been one of my least favorite (How anyone can say that they loved this book is beyond me). I have read the wonderful A Fine Balance, introducing me to the Indian novel. I have read my first and last VA Andrew's book. Same for Nicholas Sparks. And I have tried, my I tried, to read Lord of the Rings. It is terrible on so many levels. I will get through it, though, so that I can complete this project in the next couple of years.
Beside reading these books, I read the scriptures every day. I also spend some time learning the French that has escaped me since my mission 30 years ago. So I don't write here. One project had to get left by the side, and this is it. But I still am walking, even if I am not writing.
The pictures do not depict flowers in England, nor do they depict flowers in Paris. Either of these might be appropriate for this post. Rather, they reflect flowers in Red Wing, Minnesota. About as far away from England and France as one could get and still be on the same planet.
