I thought I’d respond to this blog prompt by actually doing what it asked. I went on a walk! First time in I don’t know how long, though it must have been a very long time because the neighbors have been waiting outside for me to stop by, and well, as you can see, that didn’t have a good outcome for them.
I was only going to walk a couple of blocks just to say that I walked, but I ended up walking a couple of miles. It reminded me of what I liked about walking — the lovely morning, the clean smell, the soft air, the blue skies, the gentle breeze. But it also reminded me of why I have a hard time forcing myself to get back to daily walking — utter boredom. Nothing to see other than what I’ve already seen a thousand times. (Well, the family on the bench was a bit different configuration; they are often rearranged and dressed to memorialize the season with hearts, Easter baskets, or Santa hats.) In previous living situations, when I walked for miles each day, I was able to find isolated paths, hiking trails, and vistas within walking distance of where I lived, but now all I see are the same houses, the same parked cars, the same cracked pavements, the same brown fields.
I’d walked all over town during my first years here, and because of a definite dog problem in this area, I soon learned to stick to one guaranteed safe route. But oh, so utterly boring seeing the same thing over and over and over again. (It’s why I stopped going to the library — the thousandth time I saw those same books did me in.) When I do manage to get out to walk (hard in the summer because I use up my energy on yard work), I try to think of it as a walking meditation, paying attention to the simple act of walking, but then I become aware of my slightly unsteady knees, and that’s no fun.
But that wasn’t today. Today was a real treat. It was also nice to find out I can still walk at least that far without any trouble. Added to the benefit, I exchanged a few words with one neighbor and made a point of stopping to visit with a friend.
Tomorrow, I get back to yard word, so there won’t be time or energy or inclination for a spur of the moment walk. Today was a rare day off, taken because in a few days, I won’t have any days off. The larkspur are finished flowering (which is odd because usually at the end of May they are at the height of their beauty). Soon the seed pods will form, which means collecting the seeds and pulling up the dead larkspur — not an easy task since there are so many of them. And after that, it’s a matter of planting new flower seeds for the summer, buying new plants, or transplanting overcrowded plants to fill in empty spots.
Later in the summer, there will be more color, and perhaps a real explosion of color come fall when the chrysanthemum bloom. Actually, it’s the lack of things to see outside of my own yard that helped me overcame my reluctance for work-heavy landscaping in order to have something fun to see. Even in a time where so many flowers are finished for the season, there are new areas that are flowering.
In fact, the thing that most caught my eye during today’s excursion (besides my skeletal neighbors, that is) was my own wildflower garden leading up to my back door.
These yellow coreopsis (or coreopsises or even coreopses for you Latin afficionados) started with only a couple of seedlings, and now look! So prolific and so sunny.
Truly eye-catching.
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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One
Bertram's Blog 
June 1, 2026 at 10:03 am
I appreciate your honesty about boredom and repetition, because it makes the small moments of noticings like the coreopsis by your door, feel even more earned. Sometimes the eye only catches what it’s almost stopped expecting to see.
June 1, 2026 at 11:44 am
I guess I should be grateful — once my walking path was a mere one third of a mile, and I had to walk that same road over and over to get in decent mileage. I learned then to pay attention to every little thing. But that wasn’t in the city, so perhaps that’s the difference.
June 1, 2026 at 11:07 am
Is there anything so pleasing to the eye as a “field” of flowers in bloom! I say not! Yours are spectacular, lady.
I too get bored walking the same route every day, and refuse to drive somewhere to change the view, as many people do. That seems crazy, to me, but a lot of folks live in the city and would prefer to walk in nature as opposed to streets lined with houses, so I can understand it.
June 1, 2026 at 11:45 am
I feel exactly the same way! It is silly to drive to go to a place to walk, and I can never get myself to do it.
My coreopsis thank you for the lovely compliment.
June 1, 2026 at 12:11 pm
Glad you had a wonderful day to walk and also enjoyed your garden before the hard work sets in.
June 1, 2026 at 3:21 pm
Thank you!
June 1, 2026 at 1:23 pm
I’ve never grown coreopsis but they really are lovely, an especially cheerful greeting at your back door. 🙂
I expect my husband would agree with your assessment of walking the same route being boring. Since his last heart procedure his endurance has been minimal, so every day he walks a 15-minute route on the same streets around our home. However, he does tend to notice little things–the first springtime dandelion in someone’s yard, a bird, repairs a neighbour is making on his fence, etc.
I’m not much of a walker these days, but I anticipate joining him after my knee replacement surgery (whenever that happens; I don’t have a date yet). I won’t be able to go far at first, but just being able to walk outside will be pleasant. For now, I get my pleasure making occasional discoveries in my own yard. This morning a child’s ball was on the grass in the back yard! Apparently the neighbour’s children accidentally knocked it over the fence, so naturally we had to toss it back. That’s when I noticed tiny green buds on the echinacea that were only planted a couple weeks ago along the fence. I am SO looking forward to seeing the blossoms. It’s a variety I’ve not tried before: a mixture of fuschia, red, purple and even yellow called “Cheyenne Spirit”.
June 1, 2026 at 3:32 pm
Green buds already! So great. I forgot about your Cheyenne Spirit. It sounds lovely. I meant to put it on a plant shopping list, but I forgot. It’s on there now! I do have one orangy-red echinacea, but most of mine are purple (pink, really), mostly because they reseed themselves.
I try to look for new things on a walk, and I used to look for the tiny changes, but somehow that all got lost when I lost my enthusiasm.
Good luck on your knee surgery! It will be a big change for you. And yes, looking for small discoveries in one’s own yard makes up for a lot of things. I do enjoy taking a walk around my yard every day to see what’s new.
June 1, 2026 at 2:39 pm
I like your skeletal neighbors. And I like the neighbors who put those skeletons up. You should let them know about me. We might get along famously.
June 1, 2026 at 3:33 pm
You probably would get along famously! I’ll try to take a picture of each change — may favorite was when she had the lady skeleton lounging in a red hat and boa.
June 1, 2026 at 3:34 pm
That sounds hilarious! I actually do similar stuff in my front yard.