WOTBA's Walking News Digest: "Walking Away," Walking for Beginners, and Amy Winehouse

Time for the roundup of global walking news. I like to report the best of the world's walking stories as a transition between walks. Last week I walked around Central Park, enjoying the flora and fauna and the park's free Wifi. I also walked 28.7 miles, according to my pedometer, but subtracting dog walks and going to the grocery store, I may have only walked 10 miles inside the park.

It's raining mightily in Manhattan today, but as the clouds clear as promised tomorrow, I intend to wander around the Lower East Side in search of entertainment, art, food and culture.

• The Municipal Alliance Committee in Brick Township, New Jersey organized a project for the residents of Brick to collectively walk 25,000 miles, the equivalent of the journey around the Earth, in three months. They just recently walked the final mile. APP.com (Asbury Park Press) April 29, 2008.

• WOTBA has taken note of the increasing use of the phrase "walking away" to describe the abandonment of homes when the value of the homes drop below the mortgage obligation. Both The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times this week explored whether or not the walk-aways constitute an urban myth. The hard evidence leads to "maybe." LA Times story here.

• The Brewton Standard in Alabama published an article titled "Walking recommended for all," that seems to be geared toward adults who grew up sitting on the couch. A beginner's guide, the article gives basic advice such as what types of shoes to wear, how to find places to walk and cheery words of encouragement like "Keep your eyes focused ahead of you and hold that smile." My favorite line comes at the end: "If walking doesn't work out for you on one day, pick it up again the next day." If you have a hard time remembering how to put one foot in front of another, let this be your guide.

• Controversy erupted last week over the new book, South Beach Diet Supercharged, and its claims of the benefits of interval walking. Some exercise specialists think that interval walking does not hold that much extra benefit over regular walking, at least as far as the South Beachers claim. For me, all walking in New York is interval walking - strolling a couple of blocks, followed by running across intersections, then race walking to get to the movie, then slowing down to look at windows, etc. But I don't know that interval walking does more than sustained walking. Read the controversy at USA Today, April 30, 2008.

• Seasonal historic walking tours of downtown Prescott, Arizona resumed last week, according to the Daily Courier, with the main point of interest being Whiskey Row, once home to 40 saloons. The 80-minute walk of less than one mile also highlights "the occasional ghost."

• WOTBA has a soft spot for bad girls, and when not walking or reading classic literature I enjoy wasting time at the tmz.com website and others like it. That's why I'm able to report that this past Friday troubled singer Amy Winehouse was found strolling a motorway after her car got stuck in traffic. Ever resourceful, Ms. Winehouse decided just to get out of the car and wander around to other vehicles in search of a cigarette. Observers noted that the talented Rehab singer bore some cuts and scratches on her arms that were probably not caused by a pet cat. WOTBA, a Texas native, understands big hair and wishes Ms. Winehouse a speedy recovery. UK News Yahoo.

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A New York Spring Calendar: Blooming Times and Seasonal Events

See the UPDATED 2018 CALENDAR HERE . Updated for 2017 . At this time of year, thoughts turn to spring. Let's spring forward to blooming times, the best locations for witnessing spring's beginnings, and springtime events in the big city. While the occasional snow could blow through the city, we're just weeks now from callery pears in bloom and opening day at the ballpark. In The Ramble, Central Park. mid-April Blooming Times • Central Park Conservancy's website lists blooming times within the park. During the month of March we begin to see crocus, daffodils, forsythia, snowdrops, witch-hazel, and hellebores. Species tulips will emerge in several places, but the Shakespeare Garden and Conservatory Garden are particularly good places to catch the beginning of Spring blooms. Central Park near E. 72nd St., saucer magnolia, typically end of March. • Citywide Blooming Calendar from New York City Department of Parks & Recreation April is u

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25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

(updated 2016) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (A map follows the list below.) While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society. The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's scu

25 Things to Do Near the American Museum of Natural History

After visiting the American Museum of Natural History, explore attractions on the Upper West Side or in Central Park. Visitors to New York often run around from one major tourist site to the next, sometimes from one side of the city to the other, and in the process, exhaust themselves thoroughly. Ambitious itineraries often include something like coffee in the Village in the morning, lunch near MoMA, a couple of hours in the museum, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoon, cocktails at the midtown hotel, a quick dinner, and then a Broadway show. It's a wonder people don't pass out at the theater. While sitting on the steps of the American Museum of History, consider exploring the Upper West Side and nearby sites of interest in Central Park. There's a better way to plan a New York trip. Consider grouping attractions together geographically. Several posts on this site address this recommended approach. The Wild West of the Tecumseh Playground Groupin

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(updated) Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary. The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplift

The High Line and Chelsea Market: A Good Pairing for a Walk

(revised 2017) The advent of spring, with its signs of growth and rebirth, is apparent both on the High Line , where volunteers are cutting away the old growth to reveal fresh blooms, and inside the Chelsea Market, where new tenants are revitalizing the space. A walk to take in both can become an exploration of bounty and surprise, a sensual walk of adventure and sustenance. A good pairing for a walk: The High Line and Chelsea Market Walking the High Line for a round trip from Gansevoort to W. 30th and then back again adds up to a healthy 2-mile walk. Regular walkers of the elevated park look for an excuse to go there. Especially delightful is showing off the park, a model of its kind, to visitors from out of town. A stroll through Chelsea Market. Time check. If you haven't stopped into Chelsea Market lately, you may want to take a detour from the High Line at the stairs on W. 16th St. and walk through the market for a quick assessment or a sampling. Among the sampli

Taking a Constitutional Walk

A long time ago individuals going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, many American commentators expressed concern that their countrymen were falling into lazy and unhealthy habits. Newspaper columnists and editorial writers urged their readers to take up the practice of the "constitutional" walk. One such essay, " Walking as an Exercise," originally printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and reprinted in New England Farmer , Volume 11, 1859, urges the people of farm areas to take up walking. City dwellers seemed to have the

Visiting New York on a Monday

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Introducing Birds of Inwood

Introducing a New Website It's been a moment since I posted last. Please forgive me. I have been in the forest down the street. After spending many of my leisure hours taking photographs of birds in my local neighborhood of Inwood, I am introducing to you a new website featuring these beautiful and often enigmatic creatures. It's called Birds of Inwood . As I write there, "Inwood is my Amherst." With time, my advancing age, and the pandemic, I have learned to find depth and beauty in places close to home. I have also found to my delight that designing a new website presents great opportunities. Birds of Inwood is pretty flashy! The birds are even larger than life on these new pages! Please visit. You'll be glad I didn't call it "Flying Off the Big Apple." Check out my forest home. - Teri

14 Useful Mobile Apps for Walking New York City

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Walking Off the Big Apple

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