Today was a minor good health celebration; I was able to venture into the adjacent wilderness park without an health consequences. Which was not the case before my surgery; even walking up a couple of flights of stairs was creating immediate and substantial health issues. My advice, when health events get progressive worse and more frequent, go see a doc! (and guys, I am especially talking to you.)
For me, walking the wilderness park is a lot of mental health therapy, becoming distracted photographing the urban/natural landscape while keeping an eye out for pesky stuff like rattlesnakes. Most of the time I am on the improved dirt pathway that runs through the park, but on occasion I will veer off to investigate a potential landscape composition. Just walking slow, ears open and staying aware of my immediate surroundings.
While I was looking for one thing, I found another; a pair of freshwater crayfish, who noticed me before I had noticed them. It just seemed like they were posing for their closeup, so I obliged. Nothing really creative, just documenting that they were there, especially since we don’t see these crayfish very often in the shallow creek that runs through the park. Nevertheless, it was encouraging to see these two little guys hanging around doing their thing.
I think that walking in the park has an other immediate benefit; an opportunity to metabolically sweat-out the anesthesia drugs (I believe I recall my I.V. knock-out cocktail was Propofol, etomidate and ketamine) from my surgery to help speed up my recover. A good indication that this might be helping is the continued reduction in my blood pressure as it heads back towards Normal. Happy artist.
Cheers & make every day an Earth Day
Doug
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The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow, an artist book from Singular Images Press, Fall 2022 release, $60.00 (CA sales tax for those residing in the USA) plus shipping expenses. Message me douglas.stockdale.artist@gmail.com or singularimagespress@gmail for shipping details and PayPal invoice.
Note: The Artist Special Edition (book + extra print) is Sold Out.
Book workshop:
New Workshop dates! Southeast Center for Photography (SEC4P): Creative PhotoBook workshop, a virtual event on Zoom; February 25, 26 & March 4 & 5th 2023; from 10am – 1 pm, EST (3 hour session each day, with a week between the weekend sessions to work your book-dummy).
Southeast Center for Photography (SEC4P): Creative PhotoBook workshop (Sold Out), a virtual event on Zoom; November 5 & 6 and 12 & 13, 2022, 10am – 1pm, EST (3 hour session each day, with a week between the weekend sessions to work your book-dummy).
Singular Images 
Good to read that you are on the mend again, Douglas! And yes, walking definitely helps, especially when combined with enough liquids, to get rid of that stuff. I know from experience, I had the dubious joy twice this year after a MTB accident.
And photography supports the healing of the whole persona, too – in that sense the creyfish were ambassadors of creation – welcoming you, if I correctly interpret the gesture of the little guy ;)
Markus, Big thanks! Sorry that you had to earlier endure this ‘experience’, but best that you walked away from it and it’s in the mirror. Yeah, in retrospect I like the like the idea that the little guy was ‘welcoming’ me but I was not going to get very close to those little pinchers to confirm that. He was pretty intense, but at one point, waving his little pinchers around, he tipped over on his back, thus left himself momentarily very vulnerable. I just coaxed him back into the water away from the bike trail. LoL.