Walking is good for the body and for the mind. We are not even close to being in the same intellectual planet of great personalities who extolled the virtue of walking and thinking. John F. Kennedy, for example, said, “Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”

And how about this quote from Friedrich Nietzsche: “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”

Mostly we’re in it for the exercise and weight management. But when you’re walking for an hour a day, lots of things pop, creep or pounce into the forefront. For those opportunities, the camera and audio recorder apps are invaluable.

What follows are thoughts compiled during walks.

Found this while looking for something else:

Facing Columbia, Pennsylvania in the last Ferry town before leaving York and entering Lancaster County, this scene is somewhat different today. While some of the buildings and the bridge still stands, much of the glory is gone. The adorable gate houses, not the Dutch houses flanking the bridge entrance, have been razed for progress, as has the more understandable center building. Not only that but the bridge, luckily extant, has lost its original lamp posts no doubt complementing its Art Deco motif. (SOURCE: Curator of Shit)

These bridge pictures, and more, can be found at Panaramio.com.

A reader sent this one. That’s one smart rabbit, huh?

Anyone remember when Columbia had a country club? These next few pictures are from the collection given to us a few months ago from the reader who grew up in Columbia. We remembered the disc and remembered that some more of the photos have to be shared.

or when the Far East was here?

In praise of sunflowers.

You can buy them books …

This thought shows our age, but … too bad! If you do not remember the “Crying Indian,” you missed a point in American history when things seemed to have mattered a little more.

The image came to mind because of all the trash and litter, especially cigarette butts, that desecrate the beautiful country roads and borough streets. Here are just two recent smartphone pictures:

Doesn’t it make you cry a little, too? Don’t you wonder where all those cigarette butts go? Into the water systems? Into the streams and, yes, even into the Susquehanna River. Cigarette butts are toxic to fish and wildlife. No wonder Iron Eyes Cody wept. It’s been so many years and it’s worse.

– Look for “musings” part two tomorrow for more on cigarette butts, vacant buildings, community development, condemned properties, doo-doo and more. –