Posts Tagged ‘exercise’
another virtual bike ride … Ireland
Those of you who follow my blog may remember my virtual bike trips across France, along the Cornwall coast and in northern New Brunswick. I have decided to go virtual travelling again … along the southern coast of Ireland. According to my DNA, some of my ancestors were Irish so this will take me to my roots!
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My virtual trip will be incentive to exercise on my stationary bike. While I am on the bike, I click along my ‘path’ using Street View of Google Earth. With the various tools in Google Earth I can plot my journey, measure the ‘distance’ I have travelled, and take some photos along the way. I began my journey on September 4, 2017 and you can follow along if you like, by following my other website http://www.alexandra128.wordpress.com
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Hi. I would love you to have a look at my wellness blog http://www.alexandra128.wordpress.com
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Best wishes
Alexandra (a.k.a. Jane)

The beginning of my trip, near Donegall West, Cork County, Ireland
yard work – winter wood
Another beautiful fall day. Today I helped my husband cut up the last of two birch trees he had felled earlier in September. Then I piled the wood in our new wood rack. Give it a chance to dry and it will be ready for splitting and burning next winter.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2016
yard work – sundial
Although I have no trouble spending endless hours at the computer writing, writing, writing, even editing, editing, editing, more physical types of work have always been hard for me to enthuse over!
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And although I am a botanist, and interested in the environment, spending time out-of-doors has become harder with the years. I hate mosquitoes and black flies. Heat and humidity are no friend of mine. And, of course, there are the arthritic knees. I do go out, on endless drives to find bridges, schools and various plants. We spend lots of time at our cabin, watching birds. And I sit on our deck each day to listen for bird songs and enjoy the evening breeze. But notice that most of this is sitting.
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Last month I put myself on a reward system (like a child earning stickers) and have spent a little active time outside each day. Usually only about an hour. I have helped my husband cut wood, piled said wood, helped him cut down our dead apple tree, broken the dead branches of said apple tree into sticks for a future fire, picked up all the fallen tree branches in our back driveway, cut the bracken fern from my back garden in two sessions, and so on. I’m sure no one else would even notice the resulting yard improvements, but I do! And going outside each day is now a habit.
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Today I tackled a long-planned project – the rebuilding of our sundial. I built the original sundial base with chunks of stone, but frost heaves and snowbanks have done their work and the old sundial base is now a pile of rubble. I had saved the brick from the dismantling of our inside hearth this spring and had lots of material to work with. On Wednesday morning, I rolled a cement paving stone into place and used the brick to rebuild a base. Now the sundial is no longer a tumbled mess of rock.
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No work of engineering but much neater than before. And if the clocks ever stop working, my sundial will still record the passing of time!
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Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
early schooling – apple trees for climbing
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When I find an old one room school still standing, there are often apple trees in the yard. I realise these trees may not have existed a century ago, but it makes me think how important trees are to kids. I can imagine, if there was an apple tree or an orchard near the school yard, it would have been a favorite place for the students to play at recess and lunch-time.
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Apple trees were made for climbing. And for hanging swings. Perhaps for carving initials. Or shaking loose blossom petals on friends standing beneath the tree.
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Lower Queensbury School, York County, New Brunswick
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I grew up in a city in the 1960s when authorities considered concrete the best play surface for a school yard. Run and risk a skinned knee. There were monkey bars for climbing, but I find myself wishing my school yard memories included an apple tree with a big horizontal limb.
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Did you have trees to play on where you went to school?
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Copyright Jane Tims 2016
Born to Walk – a book review
‘… Marooned at my desk, I swiveled round and round, drowning in digital static …‘ (page XIII).
So many of us can relate in a personal way to Dan Rubenstein’s description of his work life in the field of journalism. When he talks about managing his stress by checking emails every few minutes, I can say, I’ve been there! Dan’s book, Born to Walk, shows us a way to change our lives in a very simple way … just walk!
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Born to Walk – The Transformative Power of a Pedestrian Act (Dan Rubinstein, 2015, ecw press, Toronto) is a book of non-fiction with a strong narrative component. It could be described as a self-help book of the environmental kind. Born to Walk describes the health benefits of walking, fitting this into the context of what it is to be human in the natural world. This book would be interesting for those who walk already and those who are thinking about taking up or accelerating a walking program. As I was reading, I often wanted to quit reading and start (you guessed it) walking.
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In a discussion of the benefits and pleasures of walking, Dan considers walking a key life strategy. He tells the tales of people who feel compelled to walk or who walk for a living. Dan’s credentials for writing this book become more obvious as we read – the writer has learned through doing. Over the course of the book, we learn about his interviews with some of the most outstanding walkers in the world – interviews conducted while on foot and on the trail! The walkers he tells us about include a postal ‘delivery agent’ in Ottawa, a police officer walking the beat in Philadelphia, a photographer in New York City, and a medical doctor walking between Native communities in eastern Canada.
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The book considers, chapter by chapter, specific topics about walking: the effects of walking on the body and mind; how society can benefit from pedestrian ways; the economic and political connections of walking; and the influences of walking on creativity, spirituality and family life.
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My interest in the book sparked when I read the sub-title – ‘The Transformative Power of a Pedestrian Act’. My struggle with arthritis and the inactivity that accompanies mobility problems, has convinced me that activity and walking should have been a focus of my life, especially in my thirties and forties when I started sitting more than walking. The book points out that isolation and sitting are the new smoking.
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In opposition to the ‘sitting disease’, Born to Walk explores the benefits walking can deliver. Dan describes the positive effects of being in nature. Sneakers, he says, are as important as medications in dealing with our many health issues. With careful consideration of the sage advice of the walkers of our time, backed up by health statistics and epidemiological studies, Dan explains how walking can improve our sense of ‘personal mastery’ and ‘self-regard’. I was intrigued by his descriptions of the experiences of those who are serious walkers – for example, the ‘green blur’ overtaking those who have been on a difficult trail for days.
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As a planner, I was most interested in Dan’s insightful ideas about planning for a ‘walkable city’. He describes new approaches to creating urban areas where cars and people can coexist in safety. Some of the ideas he explores include development of road-skinny cities, the benefits of ‘walking meetings’, and the possibility of finding tranquil urban spaces to make up for our lack of being in more natural locations.
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Reading this book was a pleasure. The narrative lines are engaging, the stories are often funny and Dan’s style is sensitive and not at all condescending. He writes with the conviction and knowledge of one who practices what he advocates. My favourite chapter of the book was definitely ‘Creativity’. As a writer, I have often noticed that the rhythms of walking inspire both the metre and cadence of poetry. Born to Walk describes ‘participatory art walks’ in Brooklyn and the ephemeral art of an ‘X’ walked into a field of daisies. ‘People get ideas when they are out walking’ (page 190).
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My only problem with the book is related to the way I personally prefer to read. I found the chapters long (eight chapters plus prologue and epilogue for a book of 251 pages with about 300 words per page). I tend to read in chunks and consider it a smooth read if I can take in a full chapter at a sitting.
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As a person with mobility problems, I applied much of what Dan said to my preferred mode of exercise (the stationary bike). While the stationary bike gives me some of the physical benefits of walking out-of-doors, I realise I am missing out on other benefits. For this reason, I am motivated to walk to the extent of my ability. One truth I read in the book is the idea of embracing and putting up with some pain as long as I am not doing damage to my joints.
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Born to Walk – The Transformative Power of a Pedestrian Act is a thought-provoking, walk-inspiring book. I am eager to read other books by Dan Rubenstein!
Dan has an interesting blog describing some of his adventures leading to the writing of Born to Walk ( http://borntowalk.org/ ).
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
I’m a Shelf Monkey!
I see myself in many roles in this life – mother, wife, reader, writer, botanist, artist, friend, sister, and so on. Recently, I have added one more role … I am a Shelf Monkey!
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My life as a Shelf Monkey began when I responded to a message from ecw press in Toronto. They seek folks who love to read and would be willing to write a review of one of their titles.
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To be a Shelf Monkey, you must be 16 years or older and live in Canada or the United States. Once ecw accepts you as a Shelf Monkey, they ask you to read and review one of their books. First, they email you a choice of books. Then you are entered into a draw (since there are other Shelf Monkeys). If you win the draw, you receive an advance reading copy of your chosen book in the mail. Your book review can be by Blog, Facebook, Amazon, and so on. They encourage posting a review within a month of receiving the book.
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For more information on becoming a Shelf Monkey, see http://www.ecwpress.com/be-shelf-monkey .
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I am currently reading my first Shelf Monkey book – Born to Walk – The Transformative Power of a Pedestrian Act by Dan Rubinstein (ecw press, 2015, Toronto). I chose the book because of my interest in mobility and the simplicity of the idea – walking can transform our lives. I should be finished the book within the next couple of weeks and I’ll be posting a review on my Blog.
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I would read faster, but the first chapter has inspired me to get out and do more walking!!!
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
fortification against the sea
On the second day of my virtual biking last week, I toured Porthleven, a large town along the Cornwall coast. Street View had done its image-taking on a clear day, but the steep cliffs along the ocean made me ponder what it might be like to stand on this exposed coast in a storm.
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I wondered why so many foundations along the cliff side of the street were abandoned. One of the foundations enclosed what might be a giant chess board!
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Then I had a first glimpse of the seawall and signs warning sightseers to beware …
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The harbour itself is a maze of thick, high walls and the piers of a now absent bridge …
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A little searching on the internet found a dramatic photo (credit: Annabel May Oakley-Watson/REX) of the clock tower in the first image above, during a coastal storm … (‘Should Coastal Britain Surrender to the Tides?’, Patrick Barkham, The Guardian, February 7, 2014). http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/07/should-coastal-britain-surrender-to-tide
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(photo credit: Annabel May Oakley-Watson/REX)
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
along the pond
On my stationary bike last week, I travelled (virtually) along the Cornwall coast from the mouth of Loe Pond to Rinsey. During the week, I biked for 90 minutes, and saw 11 km of the Cornwall countryside.
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The first day took me from the mouth of ‘The Loe’, along the pond to just west of Porthleven, in Shadywalk Wood.
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The beach is a wide crescent of endless sand …
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The path along ‘The Loe’ is narrow, tree-lined and shady. I saw lots of hikers and fellow bikers, but not a single car.
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Biking along a shady lane, with no worries about traffic, thick ferny woods to one side and the sparkle of a pond on the other … a lovely way to ponder the days of summer …
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims
back to Cornwall
Although I have done some stationary biking since I ended my virtual trip across northern New Brunswick, I want to get back to the regular schedule I followed when I biked virtually in France and Cornwall. So I have decided to hop back on the Street View road and see some more of Cornwall.
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In Phase 7 of my virtual cycling, I finished the southern coast of Cornwall at Landewednack and Lizard. I’ll begin Phase 9 at Predannack Wollas and cycle around the west coast of Cornwall. I’ll look forward to seeing Arthur’s Titagel and Doc Martin’s Port Isaac. Mostly, my knees will benefit from more regular exercise.
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I have my first four days plotted and I start tomorrow. Just for old time’s sake, here is one of my earlier paintings from southern Cornwall …
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Copyright 2014 Jane Tims