Normally I am knee deep in donations of clothes, linen, housewares, books, etc. all Sunday morning. But this morning I was in the local Protestant cemetery which is on the mountain of love, the big wooded rockpile right outside the door of my shack. It is called Parc du Mont Royal. Together with both universities, two hospitals and three cemeteries it occupies more than 600 acres of rugged woodland.
The cemetery sponsors tree tours & historical tours every year. This is the third time for me to go along. We do have some spectacular specimens in very beautiful settings. This is one of my favourite places to run and walk. The terrain is very sensuous and dramatic and peaceful. Contemplating the 3-dimensional existence of trees is a serious mediation for me, since forever.
My legs were stiff and sore when I started out this morning. Yesterday I ran hard and did 213 pushups in 3 sets, spread out during the run. Three hard sprints during a 90 minute run. It is already too chilly on the ground to get down on the grass for doing abdominals. I did 260 - 270 crunches, twists & reverse situps, back at the shack, naked as a blue jay.
Also, Friday at the street mission where I volunteer I carried many heavy boxes of food downstairs. I could really feel the combined effects of the heavy chores and the hard run today. We had 2 or 3 good blasts of rain during the tree walk but nobody complained. We are all dedicated tree lovers. I think there were 25 of us.
The mountain of love is just beginning to show the change of colours. Ridiculously Beautiful.
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