Saturday, January 16, 2010

The North Shore





Covington, Louisiana. Saturday, January 16, 2010.

This is an unscheduled day off, due to steady rain. But here in the Covington Walmart parking lot my internet connection is unusually strong, and it takes only moments to import photos into the blog, which isn't always the case when the signal is weaker, which is why I don't include photos more often. Sometimes it can take ten or fifteen minutes to load a single picture. So I offer you, in no particular order, a few aspects of my recent travels.

As to the map photo, I apologize for its amateurish quality, but I still haven't figured out how to import the maps directly from Google. And people seem to want maps. So here you are. Or here I am, as the case may be.

In spite of the fact that this whole project is voluntary and, after all, intended to be fun, I can't help feeling as if I should be out there walking--progressing, for God's sake, like Pilgrim, in spite of the rain. Baseball players know that a rainout will bring a double header somewhere down the line, or the loss of an off day. In this vein I think of walking extra days without rest, but the rational, less driven, side of my brain tells me this will probably not happen, nor should it. There's some connection here to my Calvinistic upbringing, no doubt. There was none of that dolce far niente nonsense in my house (or in yours, I'll bet). But that's probably good, because when there's really no other reason for doing a thing, and one can't even come up with a good one after three months, the old superego has to kick in and take charge. Otherwise, well, who knows what kind of frivolity and mischief might ensue? Mayhem. Loss of social order. The elevation of indolence over industry.

Somehow all this puts me in mind of a quote from Thomas de Quincey: "If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination."
So let's have no more nonsense. Walk!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wring my hands:"It's bad enough that we all fear for our walker's mortal flesh (dirty front loaders, crocodilians lurking in the roadside drainage ditches, snakes that have slithered down from the mountains, white hooded ghosts of Confederate sodiers, and careless Louisiana drivers) but now we see that moral decay and depravity are just outside the door of his motor home! We can only exhort you to be strong in the face of temptation-drive to a place of interest and edify us with an uplifting posting. Oh God those photos: death, Satanic depravity and crocodians. It may have already found a toehold in the motor home." Anguish

Peter Teeuwissen said...

Anguish: I'm not positive who you are, but I have a strong suspicion. Am I correct in assuming that you're from a place where, on February 2nd, there are at least ten more weeks of winter, no matter what the silly groundhog says? Anyway, try not to be such a cockeyed optimist. Remember that every silver cloud has a dark lining.

Anonymous said...

I fall to my knees and plead: "Please forgive me for arousing your "strong suspicion" for I fear you might be wrong! To answer your question, I am from my mother's womb where all was warm and safe until, with great pain,suffering and blood, I was cast into this so very cold and cruel world. Beware of groundhog holes-they have broken the legs of many a careless walker and horse. I am presently in such a place as you described. Fear the clouds! They are all omens of the worst to come! Be thankful for today"s misery because it can get much worse! Only the dead are free! Anguish.

Peter Teeuwissen said...

Your prose is quite purple. Must be the cold.

Anonymous said...

Peter,
Apparently you stopped at our office today at the K&B Plaza to see the art. One of the secretary's sent me your blog. I'm so impressed! So sorry I didn't get to meet such an adventurist. Good luck and be safe!
J. Hughes