JOURNAL: July 8, 2006

Yesterday, a perfectly cool and sunny summer day, I had an especially satisfying exercise session in the park. Carrying my new Kelty day-pack (so light I barely felt it), I climbed the steps by the pond for a full 45 minutes, feeling energetic the entire time. I was also carrying my new fast-drying towel, which I used to wipe off perspiration every so often when I paused in a shady spot. I only needed to pause briefly, however, because I felt so lively, so full of good health. At the end of the session, I rested on a bench beside the pond, close to where the cast was rehearsing for the upcoming production of “Romeo and Juliet”. While I let my heart relax and return to its normal rhythm, I listened on my iPod to a short portion of an excellent audio production of “Twelfth Night”. The water in the pond was quietly moving in the transient breezes, a few gulls were sweeping back and forth overhead, and the poetry of Shakespeare was coming through my headphones as well as from behind me, where the actors were painstakingly practicing their lines.