The First Walk in a Month

I can't believe it's been a month since I took a stroll with my husband to the Mall. Both of us had a terrible respiratory virus that kept us in the house the entire time. We didn't even see the Capitol Christmas tree lit up this year and told our relatives to stay away. I went back to work last week, but that's just two blocks of short bursts of pedestrian travel from our house to the Library. As long as the sun is out I can stand the cold, so we headed out before lunch for a walk. It's strangely quiet before noon. There were locals running, but few tourists. I suppose most things don't even open until noon. The duck pond by the American Indian Museum was frozen over. No ducks or hawks flying at them could be seen. There were several morons waking in the reflecting pond in front of the Capitol in spite of the clearly marked signs that say not to do that. There were many ice patches on the frozen sidewalks, and I lost my balance on one of them. Thank goodness I'm always holding my husband's arm. This is the kind of weather orthopedic surgeons must love. I was thinking about a wonderful green long feather coat I had in Milwaukee that I wore all the time in the frigid Midwest. I never thought I would ever need something like that here. What a mistake. In spite of it all I am happy to finally get back to somewhat of a routine. Wonder how long it will last this time?