Preface: Vineyard Walks

When I walk in the Vineyard, I use the inner mulch path that winds between the vines and trees, starting in front of my house and emerging from the park at the other end. After emerging from the park, I wind my way around the traffic circle at the other end, re-entering the park to return to my house via the same mulch path. The distance from my house to the end is approximately a quarter mile; I usually do the round-trip loop twice so that I have walked a full mile each time. I try to do this once or twice every day, weather and schedule permitting.

There are a few reasons why I use the inner path instead of the road that circumscribes the park. The first is for the workout: the inner path provides a more varied terrain that exercises my ankles and core, coordination and balance as well as the muscles of my legs. A second is that I enjoy the proximity to nature: the smell of the trees and the mulch, the leaves at my feet, the greenery of the vineyard in the summer, the crunchy grass of the fields I traverse, the chirping of birds in the trees overhead in the warmer weather, pine cones strewn on the path with near perfect symmetric composition (as well as the potential to cause a sprained ankle should I put my foot down carelessly). The air inside the park feels pure and oxygen laden and I am inspired during these walks to regulate my breathing for both the bodily and the meditative effects produced.

Despite spending considerable cognitive effort in managing my movement and my breathing, these walks always seem to produce a plethora of thoughts and thought chains that start with idle speculation and occasionally end with mental puzzles, conundrums, coincidences, contradictions, insights, stories, narrations, monologues, and even essays. Inasmuch as this type of mental activity is the primary driver for most of what I have written to date, it occurred to me today that I should write down some of my thoughts, if only for my own enjoyment at some later date. Whether some other audience or usage for these ruminations presents itself in the future will depend on what is written here; I will not prejudice the beginning by undue speculation about the end.

With the scene is set and the context provided for what follows, I will put my attention to what I had intended when I returned to my house about an hour ago: writing down my thoughts during my first Vineyard walk of the year, nurtured by the sunshine and surprisingly warm weather, energized and rejuvenated by a lengthy and restful holiday vacation, and ushered in by the feeling of purpose and possibility that the new year brings.

January 5, 2026