"I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks, who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering; which word is beautifully derived "from idle people who roved about the country, in the middle ages, and asked charity, under pretence of going à la sainte terre" — to the holy land, till the children exclaimed, "There goes a sainte-terrer", a saunterer — a holy-lander. They who never go to the holy land in their walks, as they pretend, are indeed mere idlers and vagabonds, but they who do go there are saunterers in the good sense, such as I mean. Some, however, would derive the word from sans terre, without land or a home, which, therefore, in the good sense, will mean, having no particular home, but equally at home everywhere. For this is the secret of successful sauntering. He who sits still in a house all the time may be the greatest vagrant of all, but the Saunterer, in the good sense, is no more vagrant than the meandering river, which is all the while sedulously seeking the shortest course to the sea. But I prefer the first, which indeed is the most probable derivation. For every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us, to go forth and reconquer this holy land from the hands of the Infidels." Henry David Thoreau, from the essay "Walking."
Actually today would be a good sauntering day, but as it was cool and rainy, I thought I would just relax in the confines of home. In fact, that's pretty much what I will be doing until we leave. My ankle was a little sore as well so I must give that some time to regain strength. I think that came about walking in the pastures yesterday. The grass, to be mowed later in the month, is getting well up over my calfs and so ... full of dew. Consequently I was soaked below the knee, which isn't all that bad. But my socks and shoes were also wet.
The good side of that walk was that one farmer had just spread manure. So, the combination of the aroma of the manure, the wet hayfield, the bright sunshine and a cloudless sky made for a beautiful start to the day. For some, that manure might turn noses, but for me, having grown up on a farm, it was a joy. Brought me back to the good ol'days!
These pictures are from the town orchard, Sholan Farms. So peaceful and quiet early in the morning. This past weekend was the Apple Blossom Festival for which we can still see the apple blossoms.
In addition to resting, I opened my pack and checked the contents, making sure all items were accounted for. A couple things I couldn't find at first. Wouldn't it be unfortunate to have packed something, need it, not be able to find it in the bag, and then to go purchase it on the Camino? Not funny! Now you carry twice the weight, however large or small the missing item may have weighed!
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