Blessings of fruit season

Organic strawberries and conventional blackberries, papaya and mango ... piled in a bowl with a little organic yogurt.
For lovely artistic arrangements you might want to check out: MinnesotaDon.blogspot.com.

According to a report in September, 2007, Prevention Magazine, food scientists at the University of California, Davis, recently found that kiwifruit grown without pesticides end up with higher levels of heart-healthy polyphenols and vitamin C than conventionally grown fruits. Nutrition to ponder.

Continuing with the little project of listing "5 things" ...
5 things I don't leave home without:

1. Digital camera
2. Cell phone
3. Little pack.. driver's license, credit card, health ins. card, $10 bill
4. Keys ... house, car, and emergency whistle
5. Pen & small Weight Watchers 1-week diary (also good for jotting down a good recipe from a waiting room magazine)

Traveling lighter these days than when I was working. Sometimes I even stuff all 5 things in my shorts pockets.
"Don't leave home without it" ... what is on your list?

Keeping on walking and running ... We two did a hot humid 4K in the neighborhood this morning. (Trees need rain so terribly.) In the afternoon we walked another 1:45 at the Mall of America.
This evening, although it is dry and pleasant, we are done for the day.
Every day is the best day of the year and we celebrate the blessings.

Dog Days of Summer

Can't blame Sirius anymore, but we are in the middle of the dog days: average high 83 and average low 63. Record highs could be over 100. Feels like global warming, and the water shortage in some areas here is real.

A lonely daisy cheers an otherwise dried up lawn along one of the streets where we walk.
All is not desert yet, though. In early morning hours, we are out for our walk/run, celebrating the flowers where we find them.Yesterday we walked three hours at the Mall of America. Back-to-school week and toddler Tuesday combined. The mall was rocking.

Seven Hour Walk at Mall of America

Seven hours on our feet: 9:57am - 5:00pm.
Running Partner Daughter and I were Mall of America mall walkers today.
Endurance cross-training for the next marathon.

And what a day we picked! When we arrived the Mall of America was already alive with noise and activity. It was Toddler Tuesday.
This being Holy Week, and apparently spring break week for many schools, by noon the teens begin to arrive. And plenty of adults for anyone into people-watching.
We didn't have too much difficulty maintaining a brisk walk.
However, noise level kept conversation to a minimun toward the end of the afternoon.
I need not have worried that anyone would notice a couple of mall walkers.

We made quick trips to the car, parked nearby in the ramp, for water, Gatorade All Stars drink, pretzels, organic ginger cookies, homemake peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat bread, and the wonderful organic jelly beans from Sun Ridge Farms (ordered by our favorite order-on-the-internet person.) Ended up saving the apples and bananas for later.

We purchased lattes twice, plus a couple of other items, so we were not loitering.
Drove home in snow: this is April?

We think we may have walked (with a few steps of running every now and then) a good eighteen miles. We feel good; it is a good day.