Tag: dogs

a dog on a leash looking into some trees with houses in behind them January 20 is Take A Walk Outdoors Day
fitness · health · mindfulness · nature · walking

January 20 is Take A Walk Outdoors Day

Christine HenneburyLeave a comment

Today is Take A Walk Outdoors Day and I plan to celebrate by, you guessed it, taking a walk outdoors!

This isn’t a new thing for me, of course, I take a walk outdoors with Khalee most days, but I am making a point to get a good walk in today.

For the record, I also took a walk outdoors on Monday, even though it was just Take A Walk Outdoors Eve. It was a very drizzly day and Khalee was not a fan. She insisted on turning around to head home after just a few minutes but I’m still counting it as a walk outdoors.

A tan and white dog standing in snow, wearing a harness and leash.
Poor Khalee Pup looks so fed up with me. I’m sorry for dragging you out into the drizzle, KP! Image description: Khalee, a light-haired, medium-sized dog is standing in the middle of some snow facing towards the right. She has turned her head towards the camera. Her fur looks damp and she does not seem delighted to be outdoors, despite the mental health benefits.

Note: Are there entirely too many ‘official’ days for ordinary things? Maybe. Do I enjoy choosing to celebrate some of them all the same? Hells, yes! If it adds fun to my life and does no harm? I am IN.

As I was writing this post I did a quick search to see how many of my posts mention walking. It turns out that I have written 668 posts for Fit is a Feminist Issue and at least 192 of them mention walking. That includes posts for Making Space and Go Team so some of them may not be about my own walks but I still find it interesting that there are that many. Also, that 192 doesn’t include some posts that are about walking but that didn’t get picked up by the search function for some reason – like the poem one linked below.

Here are a few of my favourite posts about getting out for a walk:

Seven Things Christine Noticed On Her Sunday Walk

Khalee Solves Christine’s Problem (a poem?)

Christine and Khalee Try Walking Meditation

Just For Fun With Christine and Khalee

The health benefits of being outdoors is one of those things that I “know” but I realized I had never actually looked it up before so I did and I found this article from the Canadian Psychological Association that you may want to have a look at:

“Psychology Works” Fact Sheet: Benefits of Nature Exposure
This image is a link to a 2024 “Psychology Works”Fact Sheet entitled Benefits of Nature Exposure from the Canadian Psychological Association. The credits below are copied directly from the document:
This fact sheet has been prepared for the Canadian Psychological Association by Yasmeen Ibrahim, Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Student, and Shannon Johnson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University.

Another thing that sprang to mind while I was writing this was the Latin phrase Solvitur Ambulando which means “It is solved by walking.” I don’t speak or read Latin but I came across that phrase years ago and I love how it landed with me.

I took it literally when I first heard it – that walking around can help you figure things out – but I have since found out that it is also about solving complicated abstract problems by taking practical action. It works in all directions, really.

And in confirming the Latin spelling, I came across this delightful ‘sketchplanation’ of the literal interpretation of the phrase by Jono Hey

A simple illustration depicting three stick figures walking on a path through green hills. One figure has a light bulb above them, symbolizing an idea or realization. The text 'SOLVITUR AMBULANDO' and 'it is solved by walking' is displayed at the top.
Image: Jono Hey, Sketchplanations Image description: this image shows three stick figures walking along a hilly field in shades of green. The first one on the left has a cloud made of dark scribbles above their head that indicates some confusion, they are walking towards the right and towards the back of the image. Then we see a later version of the same person walking from the back of the image towards us, and the cloud of confusion is a lighter colour. Finally, we see the same person closest to us on the right, and above their head is a light bulb symbolizing an idea and the light bulb is surrounded by green lines indicating a sort of brightness. Text at the top of the image reads, in Latin, Solvitur Ambulando and (the translation) it is solved by walking. This image is representing the idea that taking action, moving forward, literally or figuratively can help you to organize your thoughts and plans.

And seeing as I am pretending to be all sophisticated by sharing a Latin phrase, I’ll lean into that and share a quote (that is about walking and not about walking) from a poem that I love called [Traveler, your footprints] by Antonio Machado.

Traveler, there is no road;

you make your own path as you walk.

~Antonio Machado

Now, as good as it is to take a walk outdoors and to recommend walking outdoors, I know that that’s not always possible for everyone. and from what I understand, you can get some of the benefits of walking outdoors, of being in nature, and the like from looking at pictures of nature and, I assume, watching videos of people’s nature hikes.

So, in the spirit of focusing on things we can do instead of getting all caught up in the things we can’t do: If you are not able to get out outside today to take a walk (or to propel yourself by whatever means you usually do) then here are a few nature walking videos that I thought you might enjoy watching at home – whether or not you are walking/moving at the same time.

Have fun!

Image Description: The still image for this video shows a path leading forward through a wintery forest scene. the trees on both sides have snow on their branches and all of the undergrowth is laden with snow. There’s also snow on the path leading ahead. In the centre of the image is text reading “Winter Walk” and it is in a handwritten sort of font.
Image Description The still image shows a path through tall green trees on a spring or summer day. The path is clear and flat and has a wooden fence on both sides. Tt’s a sunny day and even though you can’t see the sky you can see the the light from the sun making all of the needles on the trees and the moss and plants in the undergrowth glow in the soft light. The trees are large and we’re mostly just seeing trunks and lower branches. There is a large tree to the left that has fallen so we’re seeing its roots and the tree trunk, which has moss on it, extending towards the left and backwards.
Image description: The still image of this video shows waves lapping on a yellow-brown beach on a sunny day with a bright blue sky. There are evergreens and other trees and some grass on the upper left far above the wet part of the beach. The beach extends forward for a long ways.
Image description: The still image for this video shows a fall scene in the woods with a path that extends into the distance with trees on either side. The path is strewn with orange leaves and some of the tress have orange leaves left on them. There are also a few evergreen trees here and there among the other trees.
Image description: The still image for this video shows a green field with hundreds of dandelion flowers growing in it. In the distance you can see farm houses, and structures for electrical lines, and a strip of blue/grey sky.
I had to include this video because this trail is about 15 minutes from my house and I thought you might enjoy seeing the rocky terrain and the ocean views on this hike. Image description: The still image for this video shows a collection of houses in a variety of colours in a part of St. John’s, NL called The Battery. The streets in this area are narrow and winding so the photo kind of looks like the houses are clustered haphazardly. There is a mix of old, weather-beaten structures and brightly-coloured newly painted houses. There is a rocky area in the foreground of the photo. This photo was taken on a sunny fall day so while the picture is bright.
National Dog Day? Sure!
dogs · fitness

National Dog Day? Sure!

Christine Hennebury2 Comments

I know, I know! Since the advent of social media, we’ve been swamped with National Days and I’m pretty sure that National Dog Day (or Puppy Day or Rescue Day or I Love My Dog Day) happens several times a year.

And one part of me wants to resist falling for a trend or buying into the hype but another (very determined!) part of me says ‘Why not celebrate good things more often?’

Yes, I know that it is hard to celebrate things – even the very best things- every day.

And if you celebrate things every day, aren’t you just establishing a new normal and nothing is actually being celebrated?

Yeah, probably.

But maybe having multiple points in the year to celebrate important parts of your life is a good compromise between all of those things.

*****

With all of that wondering (overthinking? probably.) out of the way, I’m going to go ahead and celebrate National Dog Day today.

Even after 6 years, I still find myself somewhat surprised to have a dog.

It’s a good kind of surprise.

It’s delightful to have Khalee in my life, to take her for walks and to give her treats and to just have her company even though part of my brain is still astounded that she lives here.

You see, I have always been allergic to animals and while we had pets some of the time when I was growing up, my allergies kind of forced me to keep my distance.

I don’t think any of us realized that I could take an allergy pill daily. I only took them when my symptoms got really bad – they were a treatment, not a prevention – and as a result, while I loved our dog, Sox, and our guinea pigs and the like I didn’t get the same kind of close to them that other people got to their pets.

So, when my friends started getting pets for their kids – or when it was suggested that I get a pet for mine – I would comment that I couldn’t imagine having an animal living in my house.

Now, before you get all upstrapless about my tone there, I wasn’t judging them and I wasn’t saying dogs were bad. I was actually bewildered by the idea.

I liked dogs and cats but I didn’t understand them. I couldn’t get close to them (because: allergies) and so all I was imagining was having another creature to take care of and my brain just flatly refused to entertain the idea.

But once my ADHD meds were sorted and my kid’s therapist had recommended that we get a ‘tactile’ pet, I had a bit more capacity AND I had an extra reason to take on the responsibility of giving a dog a home.

So, we got a dog, and I started taking allergy meds every day and I quickly began to realize all of the benefits of sharing our house with an animal. In fact, I even wrote a post for National Dog Day in 2019 about how the right dog had come along.

a photo of a light-haired dog looking towards the camera while standing on a dark-coloured floor
This is a photo of Khalee from 2019 and I love how it looks like she is hoping I understood how important that secret she just told me was. Image description: a close-up photo of Khalee, a light-coloured, medium-sized dog, standing on a dark laminate floor with an orange wall in the background. She has her mouth slightly open and her eyes look serious.

In that post, I mention that I didn’t consider ‘dog person’ as part of my identity. I’m still not sure that it would occur to me to mention how I feel about dogs when having a casual conversation but I am a friend to dogs in a way I never was before and everypup recognizes me as a soft touch for a pat or a snack.

Khalee has branched out a bit since that post – she doesn’t follow every step I take anymore, unless I am in the kitchen or carrying a plate of food, of course.

She gets up waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early and she sometimes needs to go out over and over and over and that can be annoying in the moment but she also keeps me company when I’m working on something challenging and she gives me a reason to go out for a (often very slow) walk and she’s happy to see me when I come home (even if I have just been out in the driveway) and, well, she’s just great.

And appreciating her for her mere existence – she’s good because she’s good, not because of anything specific she does – has made it a lot easier to feel that way about creatures in general, including people.

a close photo of a light-haired dog's face in a dimly-lit room
A recent, sleepy photo of Khalee. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a medium-sized, light-haired dog resting with her head on her paws, facing the camera. Her face takes up most of the image and she looks gentle, relaxed, and sleepy.

So yeah, I’m up for celebrating National Dog Day.

If you are looking for some other ways to celebrate National Dog Day, check out this list on the National Dog Day website.

a dog resting on a bed next to a pillow that says 'Feminist'
Khalee is DEFINITELY a Feminist. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a light-haired, medium-sized dog resting on my bed. She has her mouth open slightly and she is looking directly at the camera. Next to her is a rectangular pillow that says ‘Feminist’ in red cursive with a pink, yellow, and green rainbow behind it.

As a bonus, here are some photos of some of my other dog friends…I mean, my friend’s dogs…hmm, maybe I was right the first time.

A husky resting her head on the center console between the front seats of a car.
This is my friend, Gal, she likes highway driving but she is not a fan of driving slowly. that’s why we don’t let her take the wheel. Image description: a photo from the passenger seat of a car with Gal, a husky, poking her head out from the backseat and resting her chin on the center console. You can see my left arm next to her head and my friend’s shoulder and a piece of her hair on the other side of Gal’s sweet face.
a small dog with curly black, white, and brown fur sits upright on a couch
Archie! My friend Archie likes to sleep on the back of your neck if you sit on his couch when you visit. He is a fan of treats – that’s something we have in common. Image description: a small black, white, and brown dog wearing a plaid bowtie sits upright on a brown couch. He has true puppydog eyes – round and bright and very likely to convince you to hand over a potato chip.
a large grey dog with fuzzy hair sits upright on a patio
Maisie and I are good friends, especially if I am willing to share my snacks, scratch her head, or hold her chew toy at chomping height. Image description: a large grey dog with fuzzy hair sits upright on a weathered patio. She has her tongue stuck out a little ways and her hair hangs over her eyes. You can see my friend’s arm as she reaches out to pat Maisie’s back, and you can see grass, flowers, and trees in the background.
a curly-haired dog sits on the floor next to a kitchen table
Reuben is a new friend of mine and he is VERY fuzzy and he was wondering if maybe I had a treat for him. (I did!) Image description: a tall, light brown, curly-haired dog is sitting upright on a tile kitchen floor next to a table with a flowered table cloth.
a woman holding a small brown chihuahua
Spritz (a.k.a. Spritzie) is a teeny brown chihuahua who liked being up in my arms until he very much did not and then I gently laid him down on the floor. Image description: a photo of me holding a teeny brown chihuahua in the crook of my left arm while I take a selfie with my right. I am wearing a beige sweater and I have my hair pulled back from my face with a black cloth band.

And just in case you want to know more about how helpful Khalee is, here are some of my posts that feature her:

Low Key Winter Walk With Christine & Khalee
Khalee has a question for you. (Actually, several questions…)
Just For Fun with Christine and Khalee
Spring(ish) Walks for Christine and Khalee
Resistance, ADHD Time-Math and that time that Khalee and I were both so good despite everything else
Khalee Solves Christine’s Problem (a poem?)
Khalee has a question for you. (Actually, several questions…)
dogs · fitness · rest

Khalee has a question for you. (Actually, several questions…)

Christine Hennebury4 Comments
A dog standing on a sunny patio looking intently toward the camera.
Image description: Khalee, a medium-sized, short-haired dog is standing on a sunny wooden patio looking intently toward the camera.

When I took this picture on Sunday, her question for me was ‘Are you gonna share that banana?’

But, now that I see the photo again, I think her look is actually more intense and her questions are even more important than I realized at the time.

I think the banana was just the surface thought, I think, deep down, she wants to know if you are making time to rest this summer?

She’s wondering if your plans include downtime?

She’s wondering if you make the same mistake I do – subconsciously trying to get all the ‘work’ done before I relax when what I need to do is include rest as part of the overall plan – and how you might start to switch that up a little?

She’s wondering if you are trying to do things ‘right’ when good enough is, well, good enough?

She’s wondering if you are taking time to lie down in the shade and just sniff the air?

And, of course, she’s wondering if you know that any and all patio snacks should be shared with your dog?

This message has been brought to you by Khalee, Encourager of Rest, Ambassadog for Mental Health, Sharer of Snacks and is fully endorsed by me, Christine Hennebury, Proponent of Self-Kindness and Fetcher of Snacks.

Meditation…now with dogs (ok, just 1 dog, really)
dogs · fitness · meditation · mindfulness

Meditation…now with dogs (ok, just 1 dog, really)

Christine Hennebury

Over the past week, I have been choosing to do longer guided meditations in my Insight Timer app.

So, that means that instead of just opening the app and starting the timer, I’ve been searching for new meditations to try.

On Sunday, a typo led to the happy accident of discovering that there are a whole bunch of dog-related meditations mixed in there with the chakra stuff and the nature sounds.

At first I thought it was kind of silly (in a good way!) but then there was something strangely appealing about the idea of doing a dog-related meditation.

After all, dogs are pretty damn good at being in the moment, aren’t they?

And haven’t I often posted a calm picture of Khalee as a good example for myself.

You know, like this one:

A photo of a sleepy dog
Image description: a photo of sleepy Khalee on the quilt on my bed. The photo only shows her head, shoulders, and front paws. Her head is resting slightly sideways one her front paws with one paw sticking out from under it.

So, I figure it’s worth a try.

I can’t seem to link to the meditations in my app but here are a couple from YouTube:

This is a guided meditation to do while petting your dog, to help you both calm down.

‘5 Minute Guided Meditation With Your Dog’ from Marissa Walch. Still image shows the instructor sitting on the floor with her dog in front of her, the dog’s back is to the camera.

And this is a walking meditation to do while, you guessed it, walking your dog:

‘Walking Your Dog Meditation’ from Marie Wilkinson still image shows a stock cartoon image of a brown dog with white paws walking on a leash.

I’m going to give these, and the ones from my app, a try and report back.

Have you tried dog meditation?

What did you think?

PS – Speaking of things that seem silly but are actually kind of cool, maybe your dog will like this calming music as much as Khalee does? I played it for her once when she was agitated because the smoke alarm was beeping (the battery needed changing, there was no peril!) and it really helped.

The One Where Christine Ditches The Experiment
ADHD · dogs · fitness · walking

The One Where Christine Ditches The Experiment

Christine Hennebury

I have reached the end of Phase II of my experiment and I am declaring it a success.

No. I didn’t manage to do a warm up before each walk. 

And I didn’t manage to organize my days to make it easier to do a warm up. 

Instead, I have successfully discovered that I don’t want to keep trying to make this work.

Yes, success on your own terms really does have a lot going for it.

ANYWAY!

Just like my efforts from the week before, last week’s attempts at trying to warm up before I walked the dog meant that I ended up delaying my walk and stressing the dog out. 

A dog lying on the floor with her snout pointing to the camera.
This photo is not from this week but I thought it made a funny juxtaposition to me mentioning her being stressed out. Image description: a photo of Khalee, a light brown, medium-sized dog, lying on her belly by our patio doors. She is pointing her snout toward the camera and her tail is toward the door, she looks pretty chilled out.

As a bonus,  I also ended up feeling annoyed about the whole thing. 

And while it may come as a shock to hear this, annoyed is NOT the feeling I am going for when it comes to taking a walk.

When I had this idea two weeks ago,  I was trying to make sure that I got ‘more’ out of my walk. It’s my most consistent form of exercise and I wanted to increase my efforts cardio-wise so I could ensure that I was challenging myself – especially on days when I didn’t have time for other exercises.  

It definitely seemed like a good idea and when my first week didn’t work out because of general life chaos (and a few sick days), I reframed the experiment and tried to focus on picking a specific time for my walks so I could include time for my warm-up. 

But when that didn’t work out either, I gave it a bit more thought and I realized that trying to intensify things was taking the fun out of my walk.

My walk is usually a relatively relaxing part of my day. I’m not always super keen on having to go out in bad weather and sometimes it’s a challenge to jam it into my day, but once I am actually out there, I never regret it.  

I listen to a book or to a podcast or just to the sounds around me and I stroll along with Khalee, taking things in. I usually feel the tension drop out of my shoulders as I amuse myself by watching herself sniffing her way along. 

Occasionally it’s a bit dull  and it’s usually not much of a physical challenge but maybe that’s asking too much of my daily stroll. 

Maybe instead of trying to make my walk more intense I could just decide to enjoy the experience of being outside with Khalee, observing the way things change from day to day and week to week and catching up on podcasts and books. 

A small green plant grows amidst browned grass behind a fence
Last year, I discovered that a single flower grows behind this fence and I was delighted to discover this week that it is a perennial! Image description: a sunny spot behind a fence and between some trees where the ground is crowded with winter-browned grass and a single set of green shoots are growing upwards.

So, it took me two weeks to determine this but it turns out that my experiment wasn’t ‘Does a 5 minute warm-up help me have a more exercise-y walk?’ and it wasn’t ‘How can I make it easier to do a warm-up before I walk?’ it was ‘Will the effort of trying to do a 5 minute warm-up before my walk add something positive to my day?’

And the answer to that is a resounding NO.

Sure, you could look at this revised-revised experiment and say that I didn’t try hard enough or that I didn’t give it enough time or that I didn’t organize it well but all of those conclusions ignore the key finding from this single participant study:

I don’t *actually* want to work on adding a 5 minute warm-up. 

What I wanted was to have my walk serve more than one purpose – a walk AND a specific type of exercise.

BUT since trying to add intensity was decreasing enjoyment, I feel totally comfortable in ditching my warm-up plan.

So, instead, I’m going to follow my usual non-plan impulse-related approach for my walks and I will get more cardio in other ways. 

I’ll work on being more consistent with my other forms of exercise. 

And if consistency gets too hard then I’m just going to keep starting over – I’ve got lots of practice at that. 

Christine’s Experiment – reframed
ADHD · fitness · walking

Christine’s Experiment – reframed

Christine Hennebury

I was going to start this post by saying that I picked a poor week for an experiment but I don’t think that’s entirely true.

I think I got ahead of myself with my experiment and started at the wrong question. And my hectic week made that very obvious, very quickly.

A photo of two people’s hands holding lab glassware with green liquid in it.
My experiment had nothing to do with test tubes and beakers (flasks?) of green liquid but this image just struck me funny. Image description: a photo of two people’s hands holding lab glassware that has green liquid in it. They are both wearing white tyvec suits. One person’s hand is holding a beaker (flask?) aloft and they are gesturing to it with their other hand as if to say ‘See what I mean?’ And the other person’s hand is holding a test tube with the same liquid in it near the base of the beaker.

To recap, last week I planned to do a 5 minute warm-up before I took the dog for a walk, just to see if getting my heart rate up before I left would help me work a bit harder on my walk.

I thought it was a good-sized experiment, reasonable and not overly ambitious, so I thought it would be easy.

Then last week looked at my plans and laughed.

My days got incredibly jumbled making it both hard to remember that I was going to warm up first AND making it hard to find the extra five minutes before our walk. (Usually on hectic days I take a walk on the spur of the moment but the warmup plan complicated that.)

Khalee somehow immediately connected my warmup with our walk and either tightly circled around me or jumped on me for the whole time I tried to get moving.

A photo of a dog sitting on a bed
Khalee doesn’t get why I’m making a big deal of all of this. Can’t I just amble along sniffing the ground like a normal person? (Evidence suggests that Khalee thinks she’s people, so she would obviously consider herself a normal person.) image description: a slightly, side-on view of Khalee stretched out on my bed with her head raised (sort of a Sphinx kind of pose) She is looking over to the right rather than directly into the camera.

I was sick for three days and while I could manage a walk on two of those three days, I just couldn’t make myself do a warmup too.

So, yeah, it wasn’t a great week and I didn’t get the information I needed.

Except, I kind of did.

For starters, an experiment that fails is still useful because I know what doesn’t work.

But, also, it showed me that my initial question was wrong – I had started in the wrong spot.

Before I can test if a warmup helps me increase my heart rate during a walk, I need to ask myself “How can I make it easy to do a 5 minute warmup before walking Khalee?”

So, that’s the question I’m testing this week and I think the first thing I’ll try is to pick a specific walk time each day and include a 5 minute window for a warmup.

Tune in next week for another exciting update in the ongoing saga of ‘Christine and the 5 minute warmup.’

*****

By the way, while I tend to default to reframing anyway, this particular reframing was inspired in part by this great post on Instagram from Divergent Coach Kelly who was reminding those of us with ADHD that aiming for consistency might be a source of frustration so we can pick other things to aim for – like getting really good at starting over.

Christine and the small challenge
ADHD · cardio · challenge · fitness · walking

Christine and the small challenge

Christine Hennebury

I’m setting a little challenge for myself!

I always enjoy my walks with Khalee but they are usually better for my mental health than my physical health.

I have a tendency to fall into an ambling pace rather than putting much cardio effort in. And that’s fine on days when I need the mental break more that the physical exertion but on busy day when I won’t get a lot of other exercise, it would be swell if my walk did double duty.*

A photo of a dog on a sidewalk on a sunny day
A sunny day photo of my dog Khalee standing on some muddy grass next to the sidewalk. She is a light-brown, medium sized dog and she is pointed away from the camera but she is looking back over her left shoulder because I called out to her. The shadow of my upper body and my hand holding my phone can be seen on the sidewalk.

So, I’ve decided that I am going to try doing a 5 minute warm-up before heading out the door.

My thought here is that by warming up beforehand, I won’t be spending any of my walk warming up. Instead, I’ll be spending my walk already in a good heart rate zone.

And, since I am already in that mental and physical space, I’ll be more likely to stay in exercise mode instead of amble mode.

I’m writing this on Monday afternoon and my wrist spy reports that my heart rate average was a few points higher during our walk than it usually is. And, I felt really good about the extra effort.

One day, one reading, and a subjective report is hardly scientific but it is encouraging enough to tell me to keep trying.

I’m going to do a warmup before every walk for the next week and see how it affects my heart rate and my overall feelings about walking.

Updates as events warrant.

A photo of a sidewalk on a sunny day
A sunny day photo of one of the sidewalks that Khalee and I travel on during an average walk. There is a road on the left and a line of trees with a little snow underneath on the right. People’s backyard fences are just behind the trees but they aren’t visible in the photo. A blue sky with some fluffy clouds can be seen above.

*This isn’t the first time I have noticed this. I wrote about it in this post about my two-speed dog back in February 2023.

At that point, I came up with a couple of things to try but my focus was more on alleviating boredom than on trying to add more of a cardio element to my walk.

I still do those things sometimes on my walk but that requires me to a) remember b) start a new ‘task.’ And if ai have already slipped into amble mode, I may not have the spare energy to initiate a new task. ADHD strikes again!

ADHD · dogs · fitness · motivation · walking

Entirely Too Much Snow

Christine Hennebury2 Comments

As I am writing this on Monday morning, I had already spent about 20 minutes arguing with myself about whether it was safe to take Khalee for a walk today.

You see, last week, things were looking up snow-wise.

The sidewalks were clear.

I could the grass at the edges of my driveway.

My patio had only a few chunks of icy snow on it.

I was looking forward to walking in my sneakers for change.

I knew it wasn’t actually spring but I was hoping things would move in that direction, or that winter would pause for a while.

Readers, it did not.

Between Thursday night and Saturday morning we had around 75cm of snow.

It was not fun.

And I had taken Khalee for a walk on Thursday but it was too stormy on Friday to go out.

On Saturday and Sunday, the roads were only partially clear and there was heavy equipment here and there, and it felt too risky to have my poor pup and poor me try to navigate all of that.

Last night, I saw that a nearby sidewalk has been cleared so I decided that I would take Khalee out this morning no matter what.

But this morning is very windy and a bit rainy and part of my brain tried to put the brakes on.

It really did its best to keep me and Khalee inside, telling me that the wind would make it hard to walk (truth: it’s not *that* windy!) and that while that sidewalk might be clear the road to get there might be hazardous (truth: some parts of the roads are narrow and snow-filled, others are clear and it’s only three minutes from my front door) and…and…and…

However, I couldn’t keep Khalee from another day of sniffvestigations, that didn’t seem fair.

So I bundled up, got her into her hoodie (more for visibility than warmth!), and braved the walk.

Do I feel better for getting outside?

Well, I don’t feel any worse!

Do I feel better for getting Khalee outside?

Oh, definitely!

So at least there’s that.

Here are a few photos from our walk, feel free to gloat about your spring weather in the comments while I am being all self-congratulatory about getting out for a walk today.

PS – We are supposed to have a ridiculous amount of rain overnight. So by the time you read this, all of these streets will be likely filled with slushy water that’s trying to seek out a drain. Sigh.

A photo of a dog standing on pavement facing a stop sign that is almost completely buried in snow.
A photo of my dog Khalee standing on clear pavement, she is facing a snowbank on the opposite side of the road. That snowbank is high enough to obscure a stop sign – there’s only a sliver of the top of the sign visible. Isn’t it weird that there is that much snow on the sides but the road is down to the pavement? Snow makes no sense!
A photo of a dog on a snowy sidewalk with a high snowbank next to her
My dog, Khalee, in a green hoodie, standing on a snow-covered sidewalk next to a huge snowbank that has been sheared pretty smooth by a plow/snowblower. Not every snowbank is this high, this one is near a corner. Still sucks though.
A photo of a dog on a snowy sidewalk next to a 3ft high snowbank.
My dog, Khalee, in her green hoodie on her way back home. She’s standing on a snow-covered sidewalk next to a smaller snowbank that is only about 3ft high. The road, which is cleared to the pavement, can be seen on the right side of the photo.
Seven Things Christine Noticed On Her Sunday Walk
dogs · fitness · walking · winter

Seven Things Christine Noticed On Her Sunday Walk

Christine Hennebury

I left my hatphones at home yesterday because I wanted to have a quiet walk instead of my usual podcast/book listening time.

And besides it just felt like a good day for noticing stuff so I decided to lean into that.

I’m not making this into a lesson in mindfulness or anything but as I was walking, I found it fun to make a list of seven things I noticed as I went along.

And maybe it’s related, maybe it’s a coincidence, but yesterday’s walk did feel more like ‘taking a breather’ than other recent walks have felt.

1) What are my feet doing?

Even though I have been consciously working on it, I realized that I was walking more on the inside edge of my foot today.

So, having noticed, I gave a little thought to walking on the ‘four corners’ of my feet like the YouTube yoga instructors say.

My legs enjoyed the change.

2) How am I breathing?

The ‘four corners’ prompt made me think about my breathing – I’m slowly working on breathing into the sides of my ribs as well as the front and back.

I think someone I follow on Instagram refers to that as ‘breathing on four sides’ but there’s a decent chance I extrapolated that description from something else they said. My brain likes making those kind of leaps.

So, having noticed my breathing, I kept checking in with myself throughout my walk. I wasn’t doing it continuously but it felt good to return to it over and over.

3) Do we have time to stop for a pat or two?

Usually, Khalee and I take the business of walking VERY seriously.

A dog on a leash stands on a sidewalk next to some snow
Khalee is deciding what to sniff next. Image description: Khalee, a medium-sized dog with light brown fur on top and white fur on her paws, belly, ruff and snout, is standing next to some gritty looking snow on a sidewalk. Her body is pointed away from the camera but she is facing a little to the right.

That doesn’t mean we take ourselves too seriously overall but it does mean that walks are about her getting to sniff everything. Walks are not about exercise, they are not about stopping to chat, they are about Khalee’s sniff opportunities and we only stop for her to, ahem, answer calls of nature.

Yesterday though, because I was really in a noticing frame of mind, and because it was warm enough that I didn’t need to wear gloves, I got Khalee to stop so I could pat her head and scratch behind her ears.

Shockingly, she is as soft and furry and great mid-walk as she is when she is curled up next to me at home. And she was very tolerant of my compliments even though she had to pause her sniff-mission in order to receive them.

4) No gloves and borrowed clothes

I love being able to go for a walk without having to put on gloves or snowpants. I did still wear a hat though…my husband’s hat, in fact. And this is his spare jacket, too. It was a borrow-stuff-from-Steve kind of day, apparently.

A selfie of a middle-aged woman in an orange coat and blue winter hat
Guess who left her glasses on the counter? Yep, it was me! I brought my smirk though. Image description: a selfie I took on the sidewalk not too far from my house. It’s a grey day and there is snow behind me next to the sidewalk. I am wearing a blue winter hat that says ‘Fastsigns. More than fast. More than signs.’ on the folded edge, and I am wearing a dark orange jacket with a hood. I’m a middle-aged white woman with a round face, I’m smirking in the photo but it’s a friendly sort of smirk.

5) Decorations are cheery, even out of season

Lots of people still have Xmas decorations up in their trees, on their lawns, and on their railings and I’m happy about it even though they are technically out of season. I’m sure there are lots of reasons they have been left up but today I decided they were left up for me to enjoy and I felt grateful about it.

I also felt grateful for the few houses that have hearts decorating their windows and I decided that I’ll going to put some heart decorations up in my window too. Even though I live on a cul-de-sac and few people go walking past my house, maybe they will cheer someone up.

6) A lot of people in my neighbourhood have wood stoves or outdoor fire pits

My walk was regularly punctuated by the welcoming smell of wood fires.

Every time I smelled a new one, I sent the people a little wish for good company, good comfort, and good snacks around that fire.

Maybe that’s a weird thing to do but that’s exactly the kind of thing that I do all the time. Probably best to get used to it.

7) I delight in unexpected greenery

Apparently one of the houses on my route – a house I have passed almost daily since last June – has ivy on the side of it.

Okay, it may not be ivy, I’m not up on these things, but the the fact remains that there is a house on my walk that has greenery covering a side wall and I have never noticed before.

I could only snap a quick photo because of the aforementioned sniffing business (the sniffing needs to get done and I do NOT want that task to fall to me!) but look at that wall of greenery! Isn’t that marvellous?

A side wall of a house covered in greenery
You’ll probably have to zoom in to see clearly, this is a quick iPhone shot. Image description: a photo taken across the street shows a wall of a brick house that is covered in greenery (ivy maybe?) The house is only partially visible behind a snowbank and the photo was taken at an angle that minimizes the possibility for recognizing the location.

I don’t know why I haven’t noticed (or maybe I noticed and forgot?) There’s a dog near this spot that is sometimes off-leash and Khalee gets a little ansty about that. And there’s often someone out front in another house nearby and I often say hi to them. And I guess this spot is shaded by trees in the summer. Could be lots of reasons I haven’t noticed before but I was happy to notice today.

(Also, why is still so green? Is this a vine-based evergreen? Clearly, there is more to discover here!)

ANYWAY!

The long and the short of it was that Sunday’s walk was especially good and I enjoyed myself immensely.

Khalee says that the slightly warmer weather meant that she had some especially good sniffs.

We thought you’d want to know. 😉

A dog sniffing the snow-covered ground
For some reason that part of the snow required extra sniffing. Let’s not speculate as to why. Image description: a side view of Khalee’s shoulders, head, and front paws. She’s a medium-sized dog with light-brown and white fur and she is leaning her head forward so she can sniff the snow-covered ground intently.

Bad Day, Good Dog
dogs · fall · fitness · health · self care

Bad Day, Good Dog

Christine Hennebury

This isn’t what I planned to write about today but here I am.

I’m writing this on Monday evening after a day full of the kind of small challenges that wear you down.

None of these things were a crisis on their own but the cumulative effect had left me feeling down and disheartened.

You know that kind of day, right?

I kind of wanted to just sit around and drink tea and just feel my feelings but Khalee needed to get outside.

So, I decided that I would take my feelings for a walk too.

I was grumpy about it but seeing as I was going to have to feel those feelings anyway, I might as well get some fresh air and exercise at the same time.

You know how this turns out, right?

Yep.

Like the meme implies, that stupid walk was good for my stupid mental health.

It didn’t make everything better but it did help a lot.

Maybe Khalee didn’t *plan* to help me by needing a walk but she’s a very good dog so perhaps it was a very clever plot on her part.

A photo of a light-haired dog standing on some grass looking alert.
It’s really hard to get a good photo of this good pup when there are so many interesting sniffs to be sniffed. Image description: Khalee, a light-haired medium-sized dog wearing a harness and attached to a neon yellow leash, stands on some grass with autumn-yellowed plants in the background. This is a side-on view and she was moving when I took the photo so her back legs and haunches look disproportionate to the front part or her body. She looks alert and interested in something off to one side.