The Passage closes for a long summer walk

As usual, the Passage closes for July and August, re-opening September 3.

I'll be moving more and spending less time at a keyboard, a choice I find ever more important for all dimensions of health. 

When I read Susan Orlean's "The Walking Alive" in The New Yorker, I coveted her treadmill desk, but how do you get the notoriously finicky machinery repaired? (Shown, the TrekDesk, sold on Amazon for $479.)




While not required to pound out material or take notes for long stretches like Orlean, I can easily enter a seated trance, immobile for two or three hours– not good.

So I'm off for July and August to walk among birds, small children in ice-cream facepaint, tourists stalking poutine, tottering day campers and hand-holding summer students. Friends will visit, we'll walk up Mount Royal and down to Clock Tower Beach in the Old Port. Drop in to watch our son shucking oysters at Le Bremner.

Clock Tower Beach


For all that rambling, I found a terrific pair of shoes, the Timberland Discovery Point sandal. If I were Oprah, you'd all get a pair!

They have adjustable fasteners, great if your feel are not quite the same size, or swell in heat. They breathe (I wear them with cotton footlets), and have excellent shock absorption and support but don't look overtly orthopedic. All that for around $80 (and sometimes on sale for as low as $60 on Timberland's and Sears' sites.)

 


I'm wearing them with denim, linen pants and even casual dresses, like Montréal designer MycoAnna's "Fifties Dress". (Mine's on the left, there's a patch with a palm tree on it!)




Reversing the of the fall-through-spring routine, there'll be no computer screen; sunscreen. No mouse; my son's cat. No space bar; wine bar.

I'll be thinking of you as I walk, especially those who have made significant life passages in the last while. We have lost parents, partners. Decided to marry again, taken new jobs, started businesses, moved cities, welcomed grandchildren: the wheel turns, and I bow before its richness and inevitability.

I feel as if I know you, and appreciate each comment and post. 

Have a delicious summer and enjoy every raspberry; I'll be eager to see you in the Passage in September. 

The best way to return is to follow!

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Comments

Madame Là-bas said…
Have a wonderful, healthy summer! There are so many walks to take and places to visit that I am sure you will have many tales to tell in September.
Susan said…
Duchesse, Your voice will be missed this summer. Have a wonderful July and August! See you in September!
Patricia said…
Hello Duchesse, have a wonderful summer, looking forward to reading again in September!
LPC said…
Have a wonderful summer. I will look forward to your return.
Anonymous said…
Yeah summer! Hope yours is enjoyable.

If I'm just on the computer for a few moments, I stand. If working longer, I set an alarm for 20 minutes to remind myself to get up and stretch. We all know how fast time goes by whilst surfing.

~skye
Anonymous said…
Happy Summer, Duchesse, and enjoy your rambles. I'm heading up to our mountain house, where the raspberries (a perfumed wild type they call "wineberries") and blackberries will come only at the price of many scratches--and will thus be truly appreciated!

Thanks for another year of thought-provoking posts. I will miss the wry and generous atmosphere of your online salon, and the company of my fellow salonistes, too.

C.
Kristien62 said…
How strange that a year has passed since I began following your blog. I was preparing for a trip to Ireland, my first trip abroad and looking for information on packing. That's how I stumbled into the world of blogs. Yours has been inspirational. Have a lovely summer and, if I happen to get North of the border and I see you on the street, I promise to keep your celebrity secret.
I've done the walk from our neighbourhood to the Clock Tower Beach (last year, with a friend who doesn't cycle) - it is truly a lovely walk, through Mile-End, the Plateau, Parc Lafontaine and down Amherst Street through the Village to the destination.

Those shoes/sandals look wonderful, like a high-tech version of Greek fishermen's sandals. And the colours and shape are subtle enough to travel anywhere.

No to the treadmill desk though. I can't concentrate on work and walk. I have wee barbells in my home office to add a bit of upper-body toning to those imperative stretches...

Bon été la Duchesse, le Duc, les fils et le chat!!!
Gretchen said…
A very happy early birthday to you, and enjoy your hiatus wholly and enthusiastically. I am already counting on some fascinating stories when you return in the fall.
Unknown said…
Have a wonderful offline Summer filled with walks!
Anonymous said…
We'll miss you, but it sounds a very wise decision to take a break from the keyboard. Think of us as you raise a glass and then forget about the blog and enjoy your summer!
Have a great summer, Duchesse! Bon vacances! Looking forward to your return in September.

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