Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at 9:20 AM

7.06 miles

82 degrees, feels like 91

Today we had a different starting place. We drove to Starbucks at Catherine and Government and made our way downtown. Once we got to Bienville Square, we turned down Conception Street to follow the shade. There, getting into his van was our plumber, Tony. Glen had lost his number, so it was great to see him again. His work is excellent so we definitely wanted his number.

As we turned onto Royal Street we encountered the famous blustery wind whipping between the buildings. It felt good, but it blew my hat from off my head and I had to chase it down the sidewalk a ways.  Let me tell you a little about my hat.

When I grew up there was a Sweet Olive tree outside my bedroom.  I used to love to stand at that window and smell the sweet fragrance from the little white blossoms.  Later on, I moved to the bedroom across the hall and my own room became my father's study. I missed the tree when I moved away and when I visited my parents, I loved to smell that tree from my dad's study window.  Then in 1997 I was given my own Sweet Olive Tree.  

I had been teaching a childbirth class and the subject was on things that made you feel comforted (which is quite different from being comfortable.)  I gave the illustration of the scent of sweet olive and how I find that scent somehow takes me back to my childhood.  At the end of the class, one couple presented me with my own Sweet Olive Tree.  Little did they know that my dad had passed away a few weeks before.  That tree, now planted outside my bedroom window, is a reminder not only of the thoughtfulness of that couple, but of my dad and the tree we shared outside our window.

 One morning we went to breakfast at The  Windmill Market in Fairhope. (If you ever go there, do try the cinnamon rolls, but they are so huge you will want to share it with someone.)

 The Windmill Market is a collection of business in one place.  The restaurant part is call Sweet Olive, which of course is special to my heart.  One thing they were selling that day in the Market were baseball caps with the Sweet Olive logo. Now, I never wear baseball caps. . . except when we kayak and when we walk.  They are the perfect vehicle to keep my hair out of my face and the sun out of my eyes.  The hat I picked out was orange and the logo is red, white and yellow.  Orange and red are probably my two favorite colors, so of course, the hat became mine.  It has traveled with me for about 300 miles now and serves it purpose well, so I was more than willing to chase it down the sidewalk.

We walked down to Cooper's Park and were disappointed to see it was closed. I wanted to get a picture of me sitting next to "Mr. Cooper," as I call him, the bronze statue on the park bench. I was going to put my hat and sunglasses on him for the picture.

We took a short break and decided to walk up the steps of the Convention Center. We have been looking for stairs to walk up to strengthen our legs, and there aren't many in Mobile which have access whenever we have decided to walk, so we've made a plan of walking these with increasing numbers of repetitions at least once a week.

We walked up one side, across and down the other. Then we turned around and reversed the process. We thought we were through with the steps, but we couldn't cross Water Street, so we went up the steps again and across the crosswalk and down the stairwell on the other side of the street. From there it was down Government Street to Cream & Sugar for a cup of coffee and a bowl of cheese grits (which I highly recommend.)

Our route for this walk.

The walk back seemed significantly hotter, I suppose because there was less cloud cover. It was very nice to realize we only had to walk back to the car, not back to the house.