I like people. I really do. Just not in big doses. Or over long periods of time. The length of a televised pro football game is about as long as I can hang. Which is good, as I quite like football, and make a killer guacamole that I’ll bring to your house when we watch the game. Recipes below for an Easy Guac, and a more time-consuming one.

While there are days when I wish I had my very own cone of silence to retreat into and just breathe until my metaphorical inner ear finds its balance again, most of the time I content myself with either curling up with a cup of tea and a good book on my kindle, or I go for a nice walk.

Goodness, that was a long sentence. You’d think I was Charles Dickens writing at a penny a word for a periodical.

But I digress, which happens to introverts who’ve been around too many people for too long. Thoughts scatter and it gets difficult to stay on track. We fray around the edges and need to regroup. These days, simply going to more than two stores in a row can create this state, even if one of them is a bookstore.

On a walk, I don’t listen to books or music. I enjoy hearing the birds and the way the dried leaves and scattered acorn husks crunch underfoot. The rustling and clacking trees make when the wind bends them. That soundtrack is part of my centering process. Within that song, that I regain my sense of peace. It’s also when my book characters speak to me, or new ideas filter up from the creative pond muck.

Yes, I prefer my walks to be nature-heavy. I wish I lived in Colorado year-round so I could just do a mountain trail, but there are nice areas here too. There’s a lake in Dallas that works quite well for that if you go at odd hours. Otherwise, there are lots of bikes and, you know, other people on the path too. Defeats the purpose. But it’s lovely. There are several long trails that branch off of the one around the lake, too. Only thing about those is that there are people living beneath the multiple overpasses and it makes me feel awkward and like I shouldn’t be there.

I’m lucky that I live in a neighborhood where I can just step out my door and go on a walk for an hour or so. Three miles does the trick most of the time. Sometimes I need longer to unwind, and I’ll go for five. I see all sorts of things on my walks.

The only time I don’t like to walk in the neighborhood is when the political signs go up in yards. It’d be nice if I didn’t think less of people because of their affiliations, but I do. I’d much rather admire their holiday decorations or pretty flowers, or the way their porch invites you to come up and sit for a spell.

You never know what you might see, or what could happen on an urban hike. Yesterday my walk took me next to the high school football stadium, and they were blasting old Madonna songs before a soccer game. My pace picked up. I *might* have busted out a move or two. The mail delivery person saw me and laughed, and she danced in the street too. It was fun to Vogue again.

I will say while the streets here in Dallas are pretty bad, which you wouldn’t think they would be, seeing as how the weather is sunny and warm 80% of the time, the sidewalks (if you get any) are worse. Here is an example of a bumpty sidewalk. There are lots of these as trees planted when the neighborhoods were originally built have grown into massive, towering things with big roots that don’t care about the strip of concrete. They’re going wherever they please. The shade in the summer is much appreciated, so I won’t complain about them, I’ll just keep a sharp eye out for where my feet are going.

Soon the insanely hot weather here will once again push my walks to before sunrise. That’s a different sort of walk. You get the double gift of seeing the sun rise and feeling smug about it, but you also have to deal with the people who’ve been in the bar all this time and are just now weaving home. During this brief winter interlude, I’m enjoying going out anytime I need to find my peace again. It’s a blessing.

GUACAMOLE: Easy and Less So: Both serve about 6 people. Double if you need/want to.

EASY: Get 4-5 ripe avocados and a container of TJs Pico de Gallo (I prefer mild). Mash avocados, drain Pico, dump in and mix. Seal tightly and refrigerate.

LESS SO: 4-5 ripe avocados, bunch cilantro, washed and stems removed (this is the time-consuming part), juice of one seeded lemon, 5 seeded and chopped Roma tomatoes, 1 bunch green onion, diced, 1/4 red onion, diced, dash of cumin, pinch of salt. Put lemon and salt in bottom of bowl first, then add onions and tomatoes. Mix. Dice avocado and add the cumin. Mash to desired consistency. Seal tightly and refrigerate.