Night Walking

I just got back from a late night hour-long walk. I am guzzling water, and my legs are making those tiny muscle twitches that remind me of how a car engine makes ticking sounds when it's cooling down. The temperature was nice, but the humidity was brutal. It was so humid a visible mist hung in the air, and there was heat lightning in the distance. The grass was wet, and windows and my glasses were fogged up. It was worth it though. I hardly ever walk alone these days. It's nice to walk with my husband or my best friend, but walking alone is wonderful in its own way.

I love walking late at night like this. The world is a different place by the light of streetlamps and a sliver of a moon passing in and out of clouds. Everything is more mysterious and darkly beautiful. It's a little scary sometimes, too. An unexpected shadow or unexplained noise can easily make my mind jump to zombies or drunken rapists or vampire rabbits. My mind is a little too imaginative. I'm sure this town doesn't have any rapists, and only a few zombies. It does have a lot of drunks, though, so I avoid Main Street where all the bars are. I like to walk near the river. There aren't any roads that specifically run next to the river; it criss-crosses all over town, and you have to make sure the road you're on is one with a bridge or you may end up walking an extra three blocks to get to one. My favorite spot is the park, but I can't walk in the park at night, especially with my dog, lest I get hassled by the fine police force. A small part of the sidewalk is just close enough that I can see the reflections in the water, making everything look a little more romantic and fantastical; and hear the ducks splashing in the water.

Night walking is the perfect time to think. I don't have to exchange niceties with other walkers, I don't have to hold my dog back from trying to join a group of kids playing in their yard, I don't have to worry about what the people driving by think of my not-so-thin physique jiggling along the sidewalk. (Ok, that last one is probably all in my head. I hope.) I can just let my mind wander. Sometimes I try to think up new ideas for projects, sometimes I think about life and financial problems, and sometimes I just let my mind make up stories. The humidity tonight had me thinking about last week's heat wave. My house doesn't have central air, or even any window air conditioners, except one in the bedroom that we only run for a few hours at night to sleep comfortably. The days were mind-meltingly hot. The beauty products in my bathroom melted. I sat on the couch in next to nothing, with two fans blasting on me, and even then I was still sweating, and couldn't work up the energy to work on a single project. It's similar even in the winter. We have heat, of course, but to save on the bill, we keep the temp in between 60 and 64 at the most. The beauty products in my bathroom freeze, and I sit on the couch huddled in blankets, sometimes with a hat and gloves on, too cold to bring my hands out from under the blanket to work on a project. (I know, I know, I should get a Snuggie. lol NOT)

It's weird how something as simple as temperature can dominate your life. When you're uncomfortable, one way or the other, it's all you can think about. Even at work, which is air conditioned, my mind just kept repeating, "I'm so comfy now. I don't want to go home. Too hot. Ugh." Of the two options, though, I think I prefer the cold. I'm not a huge fan of winter, because I hate driving in the snow and I miss green growing things, but it's a lot easier to add layers to get warm. There's only so many layers you can take off to cool down. My favorite seasons are spring and fall. I love it when the temperature is crisp; you could put on a jacket to warm up a little, but you don't really need to. Fingerless gloves are more of a fashion statement than a necessity, but they don't cause you to overheat either.

As a side note, I spent today getting a lot of work done. I've been inspired by Kat Von D's recent twittering to start doing a sketch every day. Any artist should do a lot of sketching anyway, but I've noticed that since starting a business that doesn't require me to draw out my ideas before working on them, I've fallen out of the habit. It's been too long since I've done any painting, and I want to get back into that too, but I should at least be sketching to keep my talents sharp. My first sketch for today turned into a full-color drawing. I just couldn't resist. I'm going to try to keep it to quick pencil sketches after this, though. I'll never commit to a sketch a day if they all end up turning into two-hour detailed projects. Here is my Twitpic feed, where I'll be posting the daily updates.

The other project I hinted at is coming along pretty well so far. When I said my house was filling up with glitter, I meant it. I found glitter on the dog's nose that didn't want to come off. I still want to do some more work before I show you, though. In the meantime, here's another fun treasury I'm included in, all about Trilobites! Who says Trilobite is extinct?????

Listening to: Jill Tracy (great night-walking music)
Pic: Day 1's sketch