I decided to join the hiking group this morning instead of running at the Muni. It was a good decision, the hike was challenging, and it was pleasant to wander around in a quiet mountain woods, complete with a series of waterfalls where we took breaks to dip our feet in the cold water. There were 12 people, all of whom spoke British English, excepting me. I talked to a couple of the hikers, but for the most part I stayed quiet and focused on my perceptions of the environment. I noticed that when I spoke I was pulled away from my rapport with nature, it is no surprise, speaking breaks my sense of peace and calm. I believe that is one reason I prefer being alone, but the exception to this is the unusual experience of feeling connected to a person, it does not happen often, but when it does I am shocked and happy to have found someone who I feel close to. I started walking at 8:30am, the hike began at 9:00, and I returned to the Dome at 12:30pm. We walked up the mountain to one of the falls, the trails were narrow, rocky, and it was fun to experience some difficult vertical climbs. I saw a few banana trees along the way and a black and white monarch butterfly.
After eating a take out lunch from the Lemon Tree Cafe, I napped, and was later woken by the balcony birds singing to me - I ran out of crackers yesterday and they were not shy about letting me know. I walked to the 7/11 across the street, bought some crackers and water, fed the birds, was feeling energetic, so I walked to the fitness park at 5:00pm and exercised for an hour. On the way back I noticed a new store which had just opened, Pink Pvssy, with a name like that I could not help laughing, and decided I needed to make a photograph of it, so when I got back to The Dome I got my camera, but locked myself out of my apt. due to being too hasty (trying to get back to the Pink Pvssy before the sun went down), the nice reception lady did not charge me for having to unlock my door, I was back on track and walked down the road and made the photograph.
