Walk 13: Walking on/in the Water

It's November but on a recent road trip to North Bay where we were performing Dick and Jane, Spot and Puff, Tor walked into Lake Nippissing and onto a little sandbar. It was part of a sunset beach walk the three of us took between linner (lunch/dinner) and showtime. It was cold enough that I had to put on my toque over my messy updo. I worried about my hair and about performing but I wanted the walk. We all fitted-it-in to our schedule. I don't know what motivated Tor to walk into the water in November but there was some magic in it and we let him go and watched him walk out and then walk back. His feet and ankles were numb when he came out of the water. His walk, his personal detour was a little interlude in our larger less remarkable beach walk. A few minutes later we came to the "end of the road" when we encountered a little channel and didn't have the motivation or time to figure out how to cross it. Near the mouth of the channel there was a bridge and a large flashing red light to guide or stop little boats from entering? We wondered aloud about it and then we turned around and walked back into the dark, into our performance personas in North Bay in November.

Walk 12: Should I go?

I would like to invite all University of Guelph faculty, staff, and students to participate in the 1km walk IN MOTION.

IN MOTION will take place
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Walk begins at 12:30 p.m.)
in the Alumni Stadium

IN MOTION is a health promotion strategy committed to having all citizens of Wellington Dufferin Guelph include regular physical activity into their daily lives for health benefits. IN MOTION is aiming to break the existing Guinness World Record for the greatest number of people walking/rolling/pushing one kilometer simultaneously. Please join us in our challenge! For more information on IN MOTION please go to http://www.wdginmotion.ca/.

University of Guelph wear, team uniforms etc. are highly encouraged. Show your spirit for good health! Let us know you are coming by registering at http://www.uoguelph.ca/president/inmotionwalk/.

Alastair Summerlee
President and Vice-Chancellor

Walk 11 On the Treadmill (South Carolina)

Before: I went too early and the gym door was locked. On the way there I reveled in the light and in the clean air. Not clear. The fog had just lifted. Then I walked down a road lined with magnolias, huge shining trees and up a hill where a man smiled at me and said "I bet you're lookin' for a Krispy Kreme right about now". And there it was...right at the top of the hill. But I kept walking.

During: I'm not keen about walking on the treadmill but I figured it would add some variety to the workout routine. I walked for about 10 minutes at a fastish pace. I sweated slightly and then switched to the elliptical which is slightly more interesting.



After: Back to the work of the mind. That makes me sweat too!

Walk 10: Pedometer

I found a pedometer "among my father's effects". I am in the final stages of cleaning out my parents' house. We're down to the nitty-gritty - the boxes of jars in the basement, my mom's odd collection of laundry detergent scoops, a litany of lawn chairs...and the pedometer. I remember my father used it quite a bit at one point. I think it amused him to know how far he had walked. And sometimes reassured him.

He was one those rare "men who don't drive". He did drive at some point but quit. He opted out. He bummed rides and took buses but mostly walked. Sometimes, for old times sake, he'd back my mom's car out of the driveway or drive around the block. He did that with our bikes too. He never actually rode just test drove.

He never talked much about the walking but I definitely got the sense that it was private time for him. I use walking in that way as well. And I have started to wear the pedometer to try it out. To see if it alters the walking experience. It's a bit bulky and it has a dorky belt clip. I put it in my pants pocket one day and it seemed to work. I tried putting it in my purse but it didn't budge at all.

Here are the results of one recent day's walking (according to the pedometer):
morning 2.75 km. loop to downtown and home
afternoon 2.75 km. downtown and back again
running total 5.6 km.
evening 1.5 km. leisurely stroll up to the park and back with photo stops.
so..about 7 km. in one day.
That is a high standard as I don't usually walk downtown and back twice in one day...it was a day off and the weather has been very fine...

Walk 9: Walking and Waiting at Pearson (March 24)

The new terminal is highly entertaining. I walked around in loops and circles constantly while waiting for the luggage.

Walk 8: Atlanta - Peachtree Street

Have you ever started walking somewhere and then realized that the walk is a mistake but somehow you can’t stop walking – either because you’re lost or because you know it will take a long time to turn around and just go back the way you came? I assume going back the way you came isn’t really interesting…Yet I do it all the time in my daily life. I retrace my steps often because it’s efficient or habitual or just because I don’t even think about it. I just walk. But because I was walking in Atlanta, a new place for me, I felt like I had to make that walking count somehow. But when I got into this walk it wasn’t working for me. I only had a limited amount of time to walk and I wanted it to work for me. I didn’t feel like I was getting anything out of this walk. What did I want? I think I wanted to be comfortable and I wasn’t (it was very hot and there was little shade). I think I wanted to see something interesting, a neighbourhood, some flavour, some insight, some people and that wasn’t happening to my satisfaction either. It was mostly apartment buildings and hardly anyone walking, no apparent street life whatsoever. In three hours, I never passed a school or a park or a cluster of shops except for one plaza. I went into a store just to get out of the sun for a few minutes. The store was called Talbots. It was expensive and very sterile and seemed to appeal to an older (60+) white clientele. I hightailed it out of there. There was a patio restaurant beside the store where people were “lunching” but it too looked upscale. It wasn’t what I was looking for (apparently). I headed into a sidestreet and entered a treed neighbourhood but, again, there was no street life, no one was outside. I saw that they had mailboxes along the side of the road and while I was walking, the letter carrier came along and delivered the mail but it wasn’t a letter carrier, it was a vehicle – like a rural delivery service. The only people I saw on that street were a woman and child walking a dog and a young man with a knapsack. When I finally emerged from the street at the subway station, there were people all around. It was crowded but I really didn’t understand where all those people came from…

Walk 7: Louvre Atlanta Exhibition, High Museum, Atlanta

101 Now walk around the mural to the right and look for several objects. When you find them, press play.

207 Now look around at all the other vases in the room.

106 Platter Cover, 1758, Silver, François-Thomas Germain.

208 Later, I’ll tell you how her fairytale life ended in tragedy.

210 If you want to learn more about the magnificent palace of Versailles, press the green play button, si tu plais.

Now turn around. Your tour continues past the statues and straight through the door ahead of you.

Antonio Susini “Cereberus”, Bronze.

114 To hear more about the beginning of the Louvre as a museum, please press play.

120 To learn about the role of art under the reign of Louis XIV, press play now.

This painting is the last painting on the tour. If you haven’t seen all the paintings, go do that now and come back to this one.

And, you’ve reached the end of the Louvre tour.