walking on...garbage?

Good Saturday morning and happy Easter weekend to you!  I spent my Friday off yesterday doing absolutely NOTHING - which was quite lovely given the busy week I had.  The weather yesterday was rather gloomy though - but today the sun is shining, and it's a...



(Yep, I'll take any excuse I can to fit music into my posts...) :)

Anyway, it IS a beautiful day, so I started off my day today with a LONG overdue walk.  I've never been a gym type of person, and although I enjoy the benefits of yoga and the practice in general, my joints aren't what they used to be - so it's not really an option for me at the moment.  That leaves me with my old go-to - walking.  It's not the most exciting exercise, but it's the one I can stay most consistent with, and as the main thing is just to keep moving, it works for me.  I'll be honest though - with the winter we've just endured, walking outside was simply not appealing, and yes, I also confess my treadmill sat mostly idle during the winter of the polar vortex - and so did I.  :(  But here comes the sun, and hopefully with it, early morning walks, long cycling excursions, and kayaking in cottage country.  I'm just going to DO IT - no excuses.

But back to today's walk.  So the sun is shining, the birds are tweeting, people are out and about.  There's an air of general positivity in the atmosphere, Katy Perry is telling me I'm a firework through my headphones, and my pace is brisk. I've almost completed my 3 kms (baby steps, people, it's my first walk in a while!) and I'm into the home stretch, and then I see this on the ground in front of me:

A few steps later, and this is in my path:

Turn my head to the right, and look what I see:

Wow, if those disgusting warnings aren't enough to turn you off smoking... 

And finally:

Okay, I know I said I didn't want this blog to get all preachy, or focus on the negative...but I might make a teeny tiny exception to that rule for just a moment.  But first, full disclosure - at one time or another, I've ingested (the contents of) every one of the above discarded items - in fact, that was even "my brand" of cigarette way back in the day (I never smoked heavily - was probably what was considered a "social smoker".  I haven't touched one in almost 20 years - but still, I smoked, and I'm not happy about or proud of it).  I've never been a big coffee/tea drinker, but on occasion I will drink a Tim's coffee.  Today though, I was struck with a myriad of thoughts when I saw all this fast food/cigarette litter - all within 10 paces of each other:

1. It's LITTER.  Where did the people who tossed these things think this stuff would end up?  Did they even care?
2. It's litter from containers that held things that are the cause of major health issues - diabetes (sodas); cancer, heart disease (cigarettes); high blood pressure (coffee); cancer and who knows what other assortment of diseases (processed, fried, GMO-laden fast food).  
3. I know the winter/melting snow leaves a LOT of flotsam and jetsam on the streets of the city - but I sure didn't see any discarded packages of say, chia seeds or spinach on the street - so not only is there definitely a HUGE volume of this so-called convenience food being consumed - but its packaging is also not being responsibly disposed of.  Double negative. 

And those messages were all rather instantaneously overwhelming to me.  A not so cheery epiphany, if you will.  

So...I'll step down off my soapbox now - but I hope I've given you a little "food" for thought on this sunny Saturday without being too much of a bummer.  Oh - one last thing.  Did you hear the news last week about how KFC is marketing chicken corsages to young prom goers in the U.S.?  Yes, I said CHICKEN CORSAGES.  And some people actually think this is a good thing.  Discuss amongst yourselves...

But back to the good news.  Until my litter diversion today, I was...

And I hope you get a chance to do the same this weekend.  Enjoy your time with friends and family, and get out there and MOVE! :)