Bill and I simply can’t talk ourselves into going to the gym on these beautiful March mornings. Though I feel guilty (for some reason, it seems like more genuine exercise if I’m walking on a treadmill than if I’m walking along the side of a lake), we are enjoying the clear and cool mornings as we walk around the lake in a park near our house.

By noon it’s already inching dangerously close to 90 degrees.

Yesterday morning we were out and about just after 7:30, and it was a nice time to enjoy our urban countryside.

I know those two terms seem contradictory. Still, that’s exactly what it is. A bit of country in the middle of the city.

When my cousin visited last weekend, her husband commented that we probably didn’t have a lot of birds in this area. Au contraire mon frere. Though it was exactly what I thought before we bought our house in the desert, I was surprised to learn that there are all sorts of birds in the area, including cardinals. And not just the football team.

Arizona Cardinals football player

The other Arizona Cardinal.

I have mentioned before that our backyard hosts a variety of birds including mockingbirds, quail, and mourning doves. In fact, as I watched the quail yesterday morning before we left for our walk, I told Bill that I think quails are a sign that God has a sense of humor. They are the funniest of birds.

But back to our walk. Red Mountain Park is quite large with several covered eating areas and a couple of playgrounds. The sidewalk winds all of the way around a beautiful lake that looks as if it could be out in the country. There are ducks and geese aplenty. One lap around the park is just under a mile, so a couple of laps gives you a pretty good walk.

This park, as I have observed is true in most parks in the area that have a lake, are open for fishing. And in the morning, especially as early as we walked, there were plenty of men and boys fishing. Most are sitting in lawn chairs paying little attention to their lines. Yesterday we saw a couple of men fly fishing, which I had not seen before.

Again, in the way that I have, I begin to invent stories. I think these are men from Minnesota or Wisconsin or Iowa who are retired and loving their new lives of leisure. They probably spend a few hours a couple of times a week fishing, not really interested in whether or not they catch anything. Probably throw them back if they do. What they used to do only on weekends in the summer they can do any day of the week!

Yesterday, in addition to many birds, we also saw a little bevy of bunnies. Perhaps they were divying up duties for the upcoming Easter holiday. They didn’t appear to be even remotely concerned about the nearness of humans. I guess they just figured if we try to harm them, they just won’t leave us any Easter candy!

As we near Easter and thus the end of Lent, I am going to offer one more Lenten recipe that we enjoyed. It just didn’t seem like much of a sacrifice…..