Mileage: 2.5 miles from White Chapel, through the Ropes Course, and around Maple Avenue Lake; total for today, 4.5 miles.
I started from the Hulman Union today and directed my feet toward White Chapel.
This route edges along Speed Lake before it runs behind the chapel. Along the way, I came upon this clump of Siberian Iris, their deep, rich purple tucked away until I discovered them.
I pass so many different flowers, both wild and cultivated. Seeing the iris called up a few lines from Gray’s “Elegy written in a Country Churchyard”:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,/And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Of course, Rose-Hulman in the spring doesn’t suffer from the dry, desert air (that will have to wait for August), but it does seem ironic that so many flowers along my walks are never seen. Deep in the Ropes Course today, I was sure I was walking along paths that haven’t been crossed for a very long time.
While I have provided pictures of flora and fauna in all of my walks from the past several weeks, I have resisted including pictures of the most problematic natural feature–my feet.
I have suffered from an inflammed plantar fascia tendon in my left foot for the past two years. Repeated visits to the podiatrist resulted in a moment of truth; since the high doses of ibuprofen and orthotics were not curing my problem, the only other treatment would be an injection of cortisone. That news was part of my last visit, and I haven’t been back. So today, I resorted to YouTube videos from quacks and self-healers, searching for pain relief. Tough it out, I shout at my left foot; the walking trip is not negotiable. So before I subject myself to the painful needle, I will try to warm up the tendon before I walk, ice it when I return, and stretch it in the interval.
As I write this, I am rolling a frozen plastic bottle of water under my left foot.
