Sun 5/24/09
A Daily Walk With DietPower
Walking is the best exercise for weight loss. And the things you see!
Erin and Shannon's father, John, took time out from re-siding this house on King Street this morning to nail up an American flag in celebration of Memorial Day. While the girls wave to me, their dog, Seamus, peeks out the window.
ike many familes in our neighborhood, John, his wife, Sherie, and their daughters will spend part of the holiday tending their homes and gardens. New Englanders are famous for their frugality, and with the economy ailing this year, a lot of us would sooner catch up on our work than run around spending money.
You can tell these are children of Baby Boomers. Erin wears a Peace and Justice T-shirt; Shannon, a hot-pink sweatshirt that she picked up while visiting the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Elsewhere on my walk today, I met children racing bikes and scooters, waved to half-a-dozen motorcyclists, smelled broiling steaks and burgers, heard horseshoes clanging, and felt a blessed sunshine on my head and a refreshing breeze at my back.
As I walked down Middle River Road, I spied a white-haired man of about 80 shuffling out to his mailbox. I stopped and asked him, "Are you a vet, too?"
"You betcha!" he said, shaking my hand.
Ronnie (that was his name) stood at the curb for a few minutes while we compared notes on our military service. He served in the Army in Germany in the early 1950s; I was an Air Force computer technician in the late 1960s.
Like many vets these days, we both complained that our troops haven't been getting a fair shake lately. After bidding Ronnie goodbye and continuing my walk, however, I did some fresh thinking on this.
Today's troops are better paid than we were. My take-home in 1969 was $42 a month, which in today's dollars would be $230—slightly lower than the per-capita income of India. (I got free housing and meals, though. Those would raise me to the spending power of a Pole or a Hungarian.)
As a Vietnam-era vet, I got even less respect when I returned home than today's servicemen and women do: Although the government required my former employer to restore my job as a newspaper reporter, six weeks later, during a slump in ad sales, the paper laid me off expressly to save a newer reporter's job. He wasn't a vet. (I can't believe I didn't make a legal issue of this.)
Finally, although the GI Bill helped me finish college, it covered only a small fraction of my tuition. Today's educational benefits are much stronger.
I'm not complaining, mind you. Money and respect weren't the most important things I gained from the military, anyway. The Air Force taught me self-discipline, teamwork, and above all, the relentless pursuit of excellence. Those are priceless.
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About this page: Precisely at noon each day, I step out of my office for a 3.5-mile walk around my neighborhood in Danbury, Connecticut. I carry a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TX5 pocket camera with a Leica 10x optical zoom lens. My object is to make an interesting photograph of at least one thing that is different that day. I post the results here, hoping they will inspire you and your friends to walk, too. —Terry Dunkle, DietPower founder and CEO.
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All My Yesterdays
Saturday, May 23: Memorial in a Rusty Hinge
Friday, May 22: The Sexually Clever Iris
Thursday, May 21: Raising the Wrong Baby
Wednesday, May 20: An Old Friend Is Dying
Tuesday, May 19: Crow vs. Hawk
Monday, May 18: Yours Truly
Sunday, May 17: A Wild Geranium
Saturday, May 16: War Flowers
Friday, May 15: A Mysterious Barn
Thursday, May 14: Who Invented the Microscope?
Wednesday, May 13: The Kitchen Sink
Tuesday, May 12: Slow Down!
Monday, May 11: What Lilacs Are For
Sunday, May 10: Mama Butterfly
Saturday, May 9: Gone to Seed
Friday, May 8: A Pack of Boston Terriers
Thursday, May 7: Underground Passage
Wednesday, May 6: White Violet
Tuesday, May 5: Singing His Heart Out
Monday, May 4: Kenny's Secret
Sunday, May 3: Monument to an Afternoon
Saturday, May 2: Gasoline Rainbow
Friday, May 1: The Duck and the Bashful Maiden
Thursday, April 30: A Poison Ivy Sandwich
Wednesday, April 29: The Very Picture of Spring
Tuesday, April 28: A Busy Bumblebee
Monday, April 27: Electric Pink
Sunday, April 26: Saturday Night Special
Saturday, April 25: An Old Oak Falls
Friday, April 24: How an Ant Sees a Daffodil
Thursday, April 23: The Nameless Brook
Wednesday, April 22: Weeding Time
Tuesday, April 21: Wet Apple Buds
Monday, April 20: Mr. Allen and the Crew Team
Sunday, April 19: Bloodroot II
Saturday, April 18: Green Jellybeans
Friday, April 17: Bloodroot
Thursday, April 16: Skunk Cabbage III
Wednesday, April 15: Find the Critter
Tuesday, April 14: Blessing of the Animals
Monday, April 13: The Crow Who Said "Wow!"
Sunday, April 12: A Quirky Church
Saturday, April 11: Self-Portrait in a Pothole
Friday, April 10: Easter flowers
Thursday, April 9: Dumb as a Squirrel
Wednesday, April 8: April Snow
Tuesday, April 7: Egg Trees, Connecticut Style
Monday, April 6: I Carry My Lunch
Sunday, April 5: A Tree in Spring
Saturday, April 4: Pigs with Drivers Licenses
Friday, April 3: Forsythia
Thursday, April 2: Skunk Cabbage II
Wednesday, April 1: Mystery of the Hanging Shoes
Tuesday, March 31: Downy Woodpecker
Monday, March 30: 300-Year-Old House
Sunday, March 29: The Broken Fence
Saturday, March 28: "You're Such a Delight"
Friday, March 27: Skunk Cabbage
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