WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND!!

Today I visited Morton Arboretum, It's located in the western suburb of Chicago, Lisle. I don't live far from it so I decided to go in spite of the cold weather. There's probably 6 to 8 inches of snow on the ground in the area, I heard they rented snow shoes for hiking their trails so I decided to give them a try.

I was surprised when I pulled into their parking lot, it was near full. The reason? They were having a dog sled show. The dogs were truly amazing beautiful dogs. All of them large and very wolf like in appearance, well trained and friendly and very strong. They pulled sleds, real sleds, like you see in the Alaskan races. The dogs really loved being in the snow and worked extremely well together when hooked up as teams, it truly was an amazing display of dicipline and teamwork to watch.

Anyway, I rented a pair of snowshoes, they have an aluminum frame, are hinged at the front so the heel part falls down as you shuffle along in the snow. They have large aluminum gripping teeth on the bottom for traction and really do keep your feet from sinking deeply into the snow. After you have them on and start walking in them you really get the hang of it, it actually was a lot of fun. I hiked a little over 3 miles in the Arboretum, it was very winter postcard like everywhere, the lakes were frozen over, you could see only animal tracks across them. The pines were beautifully covered in snow, the snow crunched as you walked along the path. It was very serene, quiet, throughly relaxing and invigorating at the same time.

I can't wait to go again!!

I don't think I would have enjoyed this when I was younger, maybe I would have in different ways.

I do know I really enjoyed it today, livin the gray life.

We're Here !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The gray life, whether we are actually gray headed or not, the boomers have been around long enough to say we have pretty much seen it all, done it all, had it all done to us, tried it all, or know someone who has seen, done, tried, been tried by it all.

NOW WHAT!!!! We grew up in an extremely different time, no locked doors, no identity theft, no cell or digital anything. Remember when most people worked 40 hours a week? We had real heros, no steroids, everything seemed affordable, even health insurance.

So as I'm living the gray life, I'm very aware that it's so different from the life our parents had. I remember as people retired in my neighborhood, their lives got slower and easier, sure they too had a limited income during retirement, but I don't remember the panic we see today in the group already retired or our group, about to retire sometime in the next few years.

So here we are, living in an extremely unusual time, looking forward to a new and different time in our lives, when we can really enjoy whatever our personal pursuits may be. But............there are strings attached, like coping with the uneasy economy, sky high utility bills, almost unaffordable healthcare, global confrontations where anyone can reach out and "touch" someone at will, and on and on and on.

AHHHHH.........Livin the gray life !!

Big T.