My hands went for a walk today down by Sylven Glen conservation area, where there is a lovely trail through the forest along the swollen banks of the muddy Ganaraska river. The snow is melting and there are patches of mud and ice everywhere. The path winds through a spacious grove of Cedars and there are rocks, dead leaves and sticks protruding through the snow. My fingers had to skip playfully from moss-covered rock to moss-covered rock. They just had to !
It was good exercise and it is also very tactile. It's wonderful to feel the breeze through your hands, to feel the green under your index fingers, and to get some good clean mud between your fingernails - It's great to be alive.
Finger-walking along stone walls is very satisfying too. Your fingers can take great leaps along the tops of copes and land gracefully and then fly off again further along the wall, all the time keeping up with the the rest of the body. Stone walls are easier for fingers to travel along than chain-link fences. Concrete walls and retaining walls are boring. Hedges are nice, but a bit scratchy sometimes.
Because spring is just around the corner, there is a spring in our step. My hands are thinking this is the time when you don't have to wear gloves anymore. No need to be all 'cooped up' inside those gloomy pockets today. There are all kinds of opportunities for picking up a good looking stone somewhere along the way. They wont be as cold as they were last time we passed by this part of the forest. Perhaps we can take one home and introduce it into the wall that we started last fall.
Today I have also posted this short clip of
