I Walk in Beauty

 

A rhododendron tree of unusual colour - in the old cemetery.

 

"Now I walk in beauty. Beauty is before me. Beauty is behind me. Above me and below me. Around me and within me."
- Traditional Navajo. 

 

Some of the purple rhododendrons that were first in bloom are already fading and dropping a lot of petals to the ground; after a rather windy and rainy week. Others are still in their prime, though:

 

Because of frequent downpours, I haven't been straying far from home this week. Yesterday I had the laundry room booked in the afternoon and did not go out. Today was delivery day (from the supermarket), but they came an hour earlier than usual, and after lunch I braved a half hour walk around the cemetery and managed to get back dry...  

 

I'm still using my walking stick when I go out, but in the cemetery I sometimes practice keeping it "off ground" for a while now and then, when walking on smooth paths without too much debris. In certain situations, like on uneven ground, walking downhill, or crossing streets, I still feel need of it, though. - And when crossing streets etc, I also kind of feel that it serves to tell drivers and other pedestrians not to expect me to be able to hurry! 

 

A couple of months ago, a friend whom I haven't seen in person since last summer, ended a text message with hoping that I have "a good physiotherapist"... I didn't find the mental energy just then to explain that I don't "have" a PT in the sense of meeting one at my health care center. However, that's not the same as lacking advice about useful exercises. These days, you really only have to google "knee problems" or "knee bandages" once, and if you're also using Facebook, they will immediately start feeding you not only daily commercials for knee sleeves etc (how many do they think one person needs?!), but also physiotherapist videos. Some of those just annoy me, but some have actually proved helpful. Besides the exercises as such, I find that it's very much a question of the PT's "attitude"... My favourite so far is one British guy whom I'm actually following now (while others still just keep turning up anyway). If anyone is curious, you can also find this guy on YouTube: his name is Josh Trevorrow. (I might try to share some video here another day, but just now I'm too tired for the technicalities.)