'Round about 2000

I've been in self-imposed solitary confinement for the past few days, working on a book translation.  I couldn't handle yet another day at the computer, and decided that I needed to do one more walk, in a year of some big time walking.  

And what a year it was.  As my daughter began to take those tentative steps that will lead her toward the rest of her life, I began to get paid for something I truly love doing.

While on the clock, I figure that I logged over 1,350km. 

My solo travels along the Nakasendo added another 320km or so.  

In addition, there were walks and hikes with friends.  In and above Kyoto.  Up and down the Kamogawa.  The streets of Tokyo.  The hills and quiet neighborhoods of Hiroshima.  Along the Sea of Japan.  Plus all those Sayonara New Mexico hikes last winter.

And 20km today, to complete a Chōsenjin Kaido walk that I started in May 2009.  

I probably walked more in that particular year, when Miki and I did the Kumano and Shikoku pilgrimages, as well as on my own walks along most of the major roads in Kansai.  

But I'm satisfied.  I expect to cover even greater distances in 2013.  But for now, I'll let James Joyce have the last line of 2012:

"He rests.  He has traveled."


On the turntable:  Sia, "Healing is Difficult"
On the nighttable:  Norman Sherry, "The Life of Graham Greene, Vol. I"