Keladris goes forth

[sarakingdom]

Ooh, I like those sandals...

[Rookie]

There is no shame in scurrying up the hill on all fours. That's how I do it.

[Alanna]

How has the walking been the rest of Week 1? I'm missing the photos of your blue skies! It's been cloudy and grey here most days. 

[Chesire]

I'm making the jump into barefoot sandals this year, but having trouble settling on a brand or style.   What brand are those lovely sandals?

[Keladris]

I've been doing the daily, although didn't get around to posting my pics!

 

Wednesday

 

A very quick turn around the block/local park in the rain. Was a busy work day but still got 20 mins in.

 

Thursday

Suddenly the snow was back. I knew fake spring was too good to be true. But I found a building with gargoyles and this cool looking door

 

 

Friday

Did a whole 5.5km with my partner. Exploring the university site, but also found a new organic/local supermarket within walking distance. Seeing the gargoyles on Thurs meant I was looking up at the tops of the various apartment blocks around here and I also found a winged lion!

 

 

So 5/5 for week one, hooray! Having the challenge really helps me to force myself out. And I'm always glad when I do. I also think it is helping my weight loss which is a win

[Alanna]

You have a great eye - that door is really cool! It's also interesting that they have statues like the lion on modern-looking buildings. 

 

I'm glad the challenge is going well and helping your goals, too

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

You take beautiful pictures - really like the one with the rain and reflection of a tree. But the building details are stellar also.

 

Great job on week 1!

[sarakingdom]

6 hours ago, Chesire said:

I'm making the jump into barefoot sandals this year, but having trouble settling on a brand or style.   What brand are those lovely sandals?

 

They look like Xero to me.

[Keladris]

OMG I missed a bunch of posts here. I'm so flattered folks are enjoying following and like my photos! I do really enjoy finding things to snap.

 

On 4/4/2021 at 8:58 AM, Chesire said:

I'm making the jump into barefoot sandals this year, but having trouble settling on a brand or style.   What brand are those lovely sandals?

They're called Earth Runners: https://www.earthrunners.com/ I really like them, although I'm not totally convinced of everything they claim to do in terms of grounding. But I love the way they flex with my feet, and they work well in water too.

 

I totally forgot todayis Monday due to the long weekend. I did do quite a bit of walking, cos we went plant shopping. This meant hiring a car a few blocks away, and also walking up and down the street where the flower shop is. I'm not really sure it counts as 'going for a walk', but I did get some steps in, I'm estimating I walked about 2km today. I think I'll make it up with an extra walk next weekend. 

BUT here's some photos of my new plant babies anyway:

 

[Chesire]

8 hours ago, Keladris said:

although I'm not totally convinced of everything they claim to do in terms of grounding.

yeah, I questioned that too when I saw it on their site.  As long as the shoes are good, though...

 

Yay for plants!  Curiously my Christmas Cactus is blooming, even though it bloomed in November. 

[Artemis Prime]

Great pictures! Slowly trying to train my feet back to barefoot shoes after spending all winter in boots. I haven't totally written off the whole grounding concept, but I am a bit skeptical. Either way, my feet are definitely happier in my minimalist shoes.

[Keladris]

Need to get better at daily posts!

 

Tuesday

In Montreal, we say there are two seasons - winter and construction season. The city is now flooded with orange cones!

 

 

Wednesday

 

Went a little bit further to the street at the end of the park, and discovered these! It's fun what you notice when you're looking for things to snap.

 

 

Thursday (today!)

 

Went on another regular route, but varied it up with a slightly different loop around a different block. We live very close to a wealthy area and my god the houses are ridiculous. It kinda pisses me off tbh, when there is so much poverty in the world. But also, this one had a weird hip statue?

 

[Elastigirl]

Fun pictures!

[Alanna]

Love the new plants! I've been bitten by the plant bug during lockdown - it helps that I have a couple of friends with plants and they keep giving me propagations. Is that a parlor palm on the second shelf from the bottom? 

 

It's interesting that your construction signs/cones have orange and purple - I'm used to just orange and assumed that was fairly universal! I wonder if any countries use completely different colours.

 

That weird statue is getting in the way of that poor tree! The pillars are an interesting architectural choice... they are giving me southern (US) mansion vibes, which probably isn't what they were going for. 

[Keladris]

On 4/9/2021 at 9:45 AM, Alanna said:

It's interesting that your construction signs/cones have orange and purple - I'm used to just orange and assumed that was fairly universal! I wonder if any countries use completely different colours.

 

I think I've seen green in France/Spain, can't remember which! Possibly pink elsewhere too... Back in the UK our cones are a completely different shape haha.

 

Catch up!

 

Delayed posting again! Need to get back into the habit of posting each day. But I've been keeping up with the challenge (although still owe myself one weekend walk).

Friday

 

An evening walk up the mount. It was beautifully warm and lots of people were taking advantage of the weather. Baguettes, wine and cheese as is the way here! I haven't seen people enjoying themselves so much since the pandemic started. Curfew got pulled back over the weekend though, so now we have to be home before dark.

 

Monday

Went a different way than usual. Passed through the poorer neighbourhood before crossing the tracks and going into The Town of Mount Royal, which is a weird little administration/suburb within the city. The contrast was quite something! So today's pic is also of unexpected things... I found this little jumble of a spring cleanout of the street.
 

 

Tuesday
 

Practical walk today! Went to the little organic/local supermarket and then back up to collect a package from the post office. Phone was dying on me, but snapped this pic of a silver spire on the way. These are all over the province, I hadn't seen them before moving here.

 

Wednesday

Quick one around the park today. Here's the other side of the mural I posted before.

 

[Keladris]

Walks have been a bit shorter. My partner has been off work so my routine of going out immediately on waking didn't really happen. That meant walks were often squished in later in the day. But! I'm still keeping up my challenge and getting outside every weekday. 

Thursday

 

It was very rainy, wasn't sure I'd be able to find a good picture cos I could hardly look up. But then I found these little coloured stones in the little woods near us. They've been around since last summer, but seem to get moved about the woods and turn up in different places each time I go!
 

Friday

We walked to the supermarket and somebody has spelled out 'smile' in their flowerbeds and made these:




Monday

Beauitfullll day today. Was a quick turn around the block but the blossom is starting to come out. This is my mum's favourite type of blossom, so reminded me of home.




Will try to get out earlier tomorrow and hopefully walk a little further. Must admit, I'm finding my motivation waning as I'm running out of new routes to explore. Also a bit hectic with work these days but we'll see how it goes.

[Alanna]

Those colourful stones look like a Picasso mallard duck to me. Interesting how the small bit of teal on the brown is enough to give my brain that impression! 

 

If it helps with the walks, we are still enjoying your photos! Maybe you can make it a challenge to observe how things have changed and find new things to photograph on old routes? 

[Epsilonte]

Oh, lovely Magnolia! Over here they are almost gone again... 

 

On 4/20/2021 at 4:24 AM, Keladris said:

Must admit, I'm finding my motivation waning as I'm running out of new routes to explore.

Even with the search for new photooptions?   But I feel you, I was thinking the exact same thing today... 

[Keladris]

Oof! I've been bad at posting again... Here goes.

Week 3 continued...

Tuesday
Turn around the blocks, went a slightly different route and found this lovely set up:



Wednesday

Snowed all day, just couldn't bring myself to get outside.

Thursday

More snow. I know it's not a great excuse, but dressing up in winter clothes just makes it so much more effort to get out.

Friday

Went to one of the many nearby parks. Torn between two pictures...

Say hello to my squirrel friend:




And an old white dude who lost his glasses (turns out he was the first mayor of the local area):






Saturday

To make up for skipping a couple days, went for a scramble up the Mont with my partner. It really was a scramble, since we decided to go off track and ended up scaling the sound of the mountain... Eep, turns out I'm a bit afraid of climbing although also enjoyed the challenge.

The snow left as quickly as it arrived and everything is now turning green at a rapid pace:





 

[Keladris]

Week 4

 

Wow are we here already?! I still need to catch up for a couple of missed days...
 

Monday

My puzzle for the day is who did this do this log and why?




Tuesday

Have been toying with the idea of doing couch 2 5k for weeks. And today I just woke up and said "I feel like running today". So that's what I did.



Felt absolutely incredible. Way less difficult than I remember running being (I haven't done this since about 2015...) Put some epic cinematic music on and felt like I could do anything.

Made it more challenged to take pics, but here's another view of the site near the new university campus (very good spot for a run cos it feels so open and little traffic). Wasn't so long ago there were kids playing in deep snow here:

[Keladris]

On 4/20/2021 at 4:50 AM, Alanna said:

Those colourful stones look like a Picasso mallard duck to me. Interesting how the small bit of teal on the brown is enough to give my brain that impression! 

 

If it helps with the walks, we are still enjoying your photos! Maybe you can make it a challenge to observe how things have changed and find new things to photograph on old routes? 

I stared at the pic for ages and eventually saw the duck! You're so right. Glad you are enjoying the photos, it definitely helps with motivation.

 

On 4/21/2021 at 3:09 PM, Epsilonte said:

Even with the search for new photooptions?   But I feel you, I was thinking the exact same thing today... 

I think the motivation is slowly returning. I realised there's always slight variations of the same routes and definitely the photos help too.

I'm actually wondering about turning this into a PvP challenge - a group NF photo quest?!

[Keladris]

Wednesday

Very short 15 minutes but there was a nice stillness in the air. Bit rainy but also a balmy 14oC and just felt very calm. There's this lookout (from behind bars!) round the corner from our apartment. I just can't get enough of staring at the horizon!
 

Thursday

Really bad shark attack today, cramps kept me on the sofa for most of it. Was sorely tempted not to get out but glad I did in the end. Was later in the day than usual, after 5pm and there were SO MANY people exercising in the park. Lots of very fit people running the track, doing weights around the track, playing football in the middle of the track... Used to feel a bit bitter seeing fit people but now I'm cheering them on and feeling like maybe I can be one of them!

[Keladris]

Friday

 

The weather was truly terrible today, cold and rainy. But we made a quick dash to the pharmacy to send off my taxes (you can see I'm cold!):


 

 

Saturday

Did a bit of making up for missing a walk or two and went for my second couch 2 5k run. Nothing particularly caught my eye for photography, but you can't go wrong with trees and sky.

[Keladris]

Wrap up
 

This challenge has been really good for me. I'd become such a hermit and was hardly getting out. All the walking has definitely helped my weightloss, and I'm feeling fitter too. Now even ready to start running! Plus it's really good for my mental health to get outside.

 

I've learnt I'm much more likely to go out if I do it right away, but also if I wake up too late, I want to eat first which inevitably leads to checking emails etc and next thing I know it, it's 3pm. The days I missed walks was because of this.

I think I'm going to continue to aim for 5 days outside per week, although not necessarily always on weekdays. Sometimes work calls. I'm also adding running into the mix since going faster takes time. And with all my other activities, I'm actually feeling hopeful I'll finally be able to run a 5k (never managed it before).

Next challenge is going to be finding balance between everything. Got a twin challenge planned with Starpuck to make sure we're both doing strength training twice a week. Want to find my best balance between dancing, walking, running and strength. 

I'm going to say this has been a successful challenge! Awarding myself a level up to level 1

Thanks for following! I found the photography thing really interesting, it made me look at my neighbourhood differently. I'm still pondering a photo adventure party challenge if folks are interested?
 

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

8 hours ago, Keladris said:

Thanks for following! I found the photography thing really interesting, it made me look at my neighbourhood differently. I'm still pondering a photo adventure party challenge if folks are interested?

Great job this challenge! Loved seeing your pictures.

 

I’d definitely be interested in joining a group photo challenge. Looks like a fun way to add interest to my daily dog walks