Guest Post: Walking. 1500 consecutive (almost) days TODAY and counting. Let’s set the record straight…

Posted on by Live & Learn

Guest Post by Cara Denison.

What I have “Lived & Learned” with 1500 consecutive (almost) days of seeing DK at Cove Island Park. 

If you are a Live & Learn blog follower, you might remember a post from July 2, 2022: “Walking in Pursuit of Stalker”. That’s me. I am the falsely accused “stalker.” When this blog post was originally sent to me in 2022, I was a bit stunned at how much (erroneous) detail a stranger (DK) included in his blog (without consent). I think it’s time I set a few things straight. 

I started my morning excursions to The Cove about 6 months prior to him, making it ~1700 consecutive days of morning walks at the Cove — 200 days more than DK. He refuses to accept this (and coming in 2nd), describing my early days as “snapping photos from the window of my car without actually pausing or stepping foot inside The Cove.” Real Gentleman, right?!

I had seen “man with camera and backpack” various times. Always walking, trudging, grunting and muttering words like “note to self.”  How do I remember so many details? You see, it’s easy to pick out the shadows and movements of the same five insomniacs that frequent the park at that hour. 

Back to 2022. I remember that day as if it were yesterday (as is the case with most traumatic events). I saw a man (DK) standing on the breakwall on Weed Avenue. I stopped my car and asked him if he wouldn’t mind if I took his silhouette photo in front of a spectacular sunrise. He grunted something, which I took to mean “ok” – and that act defined me as a Stalker: a person who demonstrates unwanted, obsessive attention…Let me keep going. 

Now, one might think this exchange kick started a morning ritual of saying “hi,” greeting each other, or exchanging pleasantries. It did not. In fact, many more weeks and months went by with less than a handful of words exchanged between us — and be assured, it was not due to lack of effort on my part. 

Fast forward a year later, and I’m chatting with a friend about my summer plans. (I’m a 4th grade Teacher.)

“Will you still get up that early?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Why?”

“Well, the truth of the matter is, there aren’t many people out there in the mornings and I enjoy that, it feels like I have the park to myself.”

“My friend’s Dad walks at that time too.”

“Really? If that’s true, I am sure to have seen him.”

He goes on to describe his ‘friend’s dad.’ (I’ll keep all adjectives that were shared to myself, as to protect those involved).

My immediate response was..… 

“Not only do I know him, I think I have a picture of him.”

Quick search… here… I show him the picture….. How serendipitous! I am a close friend with a friend of the ‘man with backpack and camera.’ Small world!

A few days later, the aforementioned blog post appeared in my email with a note from our mutual friend. There was a warning added, “don’t expect much in terms of conversation, as DK was a man of few words.” (I didn’t know this meant zero.)

“A whole blog post devoted to you.”

Not really, it’s mostly devoted to fast food, gluttony and its ability to add water weight in 24 hours. But let me stay on topic…

“The man with camera and backpack” wrote a blog about me?

I started following his blog and his photo posts on Instagram. I kept crossing paths with DK and the 3 other insomniacs at Cove Island Park.

I kept offering up my waves and good mornings, and the grunts would eventually turn to “Morning” in return. Which led to me becoming the most photographed runner during the twilight hours in the history of Cove island Park.  I have also become the “running” (that’s a pun DK) joke of blog posts and instagram posts. (For those interested, you can find them here, and Ladies, thank you for coming to my defense in the Comments Sectoin: (1) “Walking. All Self-Doubt….Gone.” – 5/18/24. (2) Epilogue: All Doubts Gone.” – 5/19/14. (3) “Help Her. Now” – 5/23/24″.

So here we are. Just like that, today, we have arrived at his 1500 (almost) consecutive world breaking record of twilight walks at Cove Island Park. 

Showing a terrible lack of judgment, I have spent the last few weeks reaching out to his most avid followers of this blog (you know who you are) and gathering their feedback. Followers of this blog, as well as his social media pages on Instagram, Facebook, Facebook- Wally & Sully World and Pexels….. Heck, he might even still post on Myspace. Who knows? But I digress….

This is how his most avid blog followers described him:

Irascible (check)

Curious (check)

Voracious (check)

Dedicated (check)

Empathic (borderline, but I will allow it)

Scholarly (pfffff-no)

Curmudgeon (check-check)

Cranky (check)

Observant (check)

Provocative (check)

Stubborn (omg-checkkkk)

Inspirational (ugh-fine)

So.Spot.On. 

Yet, the following reply was the most accurate,

“The Man can’t be described in one word”. Full stop. 

So there you have it. I have shared some “snapshots” (still following those puns Dave?) of things I’ve lived over the past 1500 days, but I would be remiss if I didn’t share some things I have learned:

  1. DK cares intensely about the park and the people that frequent it. He knows the regulars and their dogs by name. He knows when people should arrive and how long they’ll stay. He watches. He notices. 
  1. DK thinks the Canada Geese do flyovers for him. When they happen to fly over (they always fly over), he freezes like a statue and salutes. Then will say to anyone in earshot…. “They do that for me.” (Insane, right?!?)
  1. DK actually loves all of the birds of Cove. He knows where they will be and the time of morning they will get there. It’s infuriating actually.  But he also saves horseshoe crabs when they get stuck in rocks when the tide rolls out. Maybe empathetic isn’t a borderline character trait after all.
  1. DK also saves the park from the people who inhabit it during “normal operating hours.”  If one is fast (I am) you might catch him picking up trash (reluctantly) and removing it from the water’s edge, the beautiful pathways and the hidden corners that make The Cove such a special place. 
  1. DK has names for every landmark/area: The Marina. The Cliff. The Homes. The Historic House. The “Hut.” If anyone calls one of these areas by a different name….they (Me) are wrong. He is right. 

To close, (I can hear DK muttering the word FINALLY! She’s Done!) over the past year and a half, when I circle the breakwall to head out of the park, I’d see the “man with camera and backpack” and shout…. “ Hope you have a good day… I can’t wait to see what you got.”  I still say that each morning. I STILL mean it too. 

So, I guess, even though he dramatized that original blog post and was wrong about some major details. He got one thing right. 

It was me.

And it was him. 

Miracle. All of it.

Cheers to 1500 DK.

Notes: Top Photo of DK taken by Cara Denison at Cove Island Park at 6:30 a.m on March 12, 2024. 6:50 am. It’s DK’s favorite. You can find more of Cara pictures from that morning here and here. And you can find DK’s pictures from that morning here.

89 thoughts on “Guest Post: Walking. 1500 consecutive (almost) days TODAY and counting. Let’s set the record straight…”

  1. oh wow….. there you go Dave! Atta-woman…. But also: What a guy you are! Congrats on this (useless but so incredibly beautiful) goal. And THANK YOU Cara, for observing ‚him‘ so closely for so long. The one huge surprise for me as a far, far-away friend is that you mention him to be ‚stumm‘, not greeting, a man of few (no) words – He, who is the most literate, truth-searching person I know of, He who has not only tons of books in his head but a whole bl…y library of intelligent, thought-provoking and sometimes contradictory essays, stories, feedbacks…. Made me sit up (straight) and made me ponder. Then I got it (maybe): He is not offering HIS opinion, well, I hope the copied texts correspond with his opinions, if not, what‘s the goal of having a blog – no, he is ‚just‘ putting those, let‘s call them STORIES for easy comprehension, out to us to see what ‚we, the gobblers of his wisdom‘ think….. ouch, that hurts a bit!
    But he‘s also the single person I shall still read when my eye-sight will be its worst. Because he is not only a walker, a keen observer of nature, a photographer of birds, clouds, trees and water, he‘s not only a dog owner, he has indeed a heart full of compassionate leadership and an insatiable hunger for knowledge, two attributes I can only applaud. I, at least, shall however no longer wish to share a meal with him, because I already have a HH (Hero Husband) who lives in his own world and who can look at me but not hearing what I‘ve got to say and who doesn‘t know 3 minutes later what was being said. I guess Dave is like that at home; gimme dog, gimme food, no: icecream, leave me to my own world.
    Dave, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the entertainment, the brain-trains (and -drainings), the commenting of your early days, the wally-stories, the fine photos, the putting yourself out for us – and thank you Cara, very much, for your fine character-painting of our common friend!

      1. why that? so that I get Dave‘s first hit? But please not on the head, I have got to keep my 5 brain cells working….

          3. Kiki replied first! 🙂 So it was really beyond my control, but I don’t mind at all that it happened… Equal rights and all that… the women have to take their equal share of times “taking point” in a battle (or possible battle). Fortunately there was no real battle.
            All is well!

  2. When did the years become ~750 days long. Granted I know we want to age slower , but in my life a year is 365 days and July 2,2022 to today is only 712 days.

  3. THIS… Will be a day (Congrats on 1500 Dave!)… when the comments on this blog should be quite a treat! I will be tuned in with great interest!

    To Cara: Thank You… for taking the time to write this post! I commend you for your “brutal, and balanced (from your perspective)… honesty” in sharing your opinions here! I would suggest you consider full body armor and perhaps some bodyguards for the rest of the day (just kidding! 😉).

    As for me, I am preparing myself for “Switzerland attacks”…because, in my humble opinion, Dave does not have a stellar record when it comes to mastering the art of compromise. That’s not criticism! It is simply an opinion based on my observations as a reader of this wonderful blog.

    I would love to learn (in the future) some info on the other three people who are early a.m. fans of The Cove. I hope I get to take my own walk there one day! 😊

    Dave: Once again, congratulations on reaching the 1500 milestone! Quite an achievement in my opinion! (My lips are sealed… At least for today… On the 1700 number…😉)

    To Dave, Cara and all who love this special place…HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

    (…and please keep one of my favorite quotes in mind: “Be Kind, for Most Everyone Is Fighting a Hard Battle.”)

    Peace,
    Paul (a.k.a. The Flying Lizard)

    1. Hi Paul; it‘s a special treat for me to be able to pipe back to you before Dave has even seen our outpourings…. as much as I enjoy the barbed ‚doing a Switzerland‘, aka ‚being neutral‘ in voicing my opinions, don‘t be fooled by me. I know exactly when to pipe down and throw some water on a simmering fire! And often I do not agree with the lack of compromise between the main agents of exchanges in his blog, but what good is it doing, hurling more firecrackers into the already brightly burning fire? It is then I try to be a voice of reason, trying to soften the blows – which doesn‘t mean I give Dave a thumbs up…. at all.

    2. “Dave does not have a stellar record when it comes to mastering the art of compromise”…. I wish this sentence was in bold. #truth

    3. Thank you Paul for the warning…. I didn’t sleep much last night in prep for today. I brought gear to Cove, but turns out I didn’t need it.

      1. Cara, meaning? Champagne and sandwiches? 🍾 Balloons 🎈? Ice cream? 🍦 Did you have a big do? Do tell….

    4. Thank you Paul. Appreciate you.

      “As for me, I am preparing myself for “Switzerland attacks”…because, in my humble opinion, Dave does not have a stellar record when it comes to mastering the art of compromise. That’s not criticism! It is simply an opinion based on my observations as a reader of this wonderful blog.”

      “Mastering the art of Compromise.” Are you kidding me? Free Speech? I let her spew her nonsense on my blog with unfettered access, and I don’t have a stellar record of compromise. COME ON PAUL. Note to Self – have some empathy: There he goes again. It has to hurt the crotchal area from sitting on the fence most of the time and leaning towards the Ladies.

      1. LOL. I SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO BRING THIS TOPIC UP DAVE… YOUR OPINIONS ARE NOT JUST CAST IN CONCRETE. AFTER THAT, THEY ARE ALSO GLUED DOWN WITH EPOXY, AND SUPERGLUE !!

        NO WORRIES! I APPRECIATE YOU EXACTLY THE WAY YOU ARE, AND I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF. (Ear to ear grin on my face right now!)

  5. C’était agréable à lire. J’ai aimé beaucoup plus les deux photos qui figurent au footer de votre article de blog.

  7. Thanks for reaching out Kiki 🙂

    Want you to know I tried to change the phrase “Switzerland” to something else… But Dave refused to accept my suggestion (stubborn?).

    And absolutely… Compromise occurs here. And I’m very glad that YOU Succeed with creating compromise.

    Whenever I try… Dave gives me serious grief. He always wants me to take his side (“the right side” in his opinion). I suspect this is because Dave claims that men are only 5% of his readership, and therefore he wants my support in order to defend the male point of view. Usually I have to cave to his demands, because once when I didn’t, he “banned me from the blog” (by not “speaking” to me at all for a few days). I basically had to beg to get back on board. Therefore I have to be extremely careful about what I say. I love the people here (DK included). So I want to remain a blog member in good standing… this means that occasionally I have to bite my tongue when I don’t completely agree with David… (and make sure DK does not know that I have done so!) But don’t tell him that! That’s our secret… OK? 🙂

    Regarding Switzerland: I have absolutely no intention of insulting what I believe is a wonderful country (sadly, I have never had the opportunity to visit). As you are well aware, the word “Switzerland” is a common way of expressing neutral territory… I.e. the word Switzerland tends to represent “compromise”. That is the only reason that I use that word in this blog.

    As an aside, I have to share my passion (Switzerland related) about tennis. I realize that tennis bores most people to death. It’s kind of stupid to watching a ball go back-and-forth over and over. Watching tennis is often only enjoyable if you have played the game (which I used to do passionately). While watching “the boredom” one has to understand the subtleties of the game and be able to see them while watching. These subtle things include: what surface is being played on, the direction of the spin on the ball, the athletic ability of the players, and probably most importantly, the mental side of the game… Because when you play tennis, you are all alone out there. You have no teammates to lean on. Success is all on your own shoulders. It is extremely difficult to consistently play at a high-level with almost no support from anyone but your coach.

    I ramble about tennis when Switzerland is involved because of my love for the Swiss tennis player Roger Federer, who you will easily find in Wikipedia. In my opinion he is the best male player ever to play the game. Watching him play is like watching ballet… He seems to float on the court effortlessly. He is also an outstanding human being. Generous, respectful of everyone, etc.

    So apologies for rambling about tennis, but it’s one reason I love Switzerland!

    Be Well Kiki 🙂
    I Hope Your Day Is Full of Joy!

    1. zZz…. just woke up after falling asleep over your triumphal account on RF…. you‘re right in one thing, Paul: I find tennis absolutely boring, have never played it and never will. Which is surely a good thing now as my 3-dimensional sight is shot to smitherens and I could easily and repeatedly get hit by a ball coming my way .
      I also love the going ‚Switzerland‘ for a non-one-sided comment! It‘s just that I am more than neutral… but I guess you found that out all by yourself.
      As for your ‚caving in‘ to Dave‘s side, I must hit your knuckles. You are man enough to stand your ground , aren‘t you? (no pulling a ‚Switzerland‘ here). But I can see your problem, somebody out here HAS to be on Dave‘s side. So you‘re forgiven for once.
      On a lighter note: Isn‘t it fun to totally and absolutely take over Dave‘s blog! He will have a hard time to read all the things we all will be saying here today. And all that thanks to Cara…

      1. It’s wonderful dominating the blog before Dave gets online! 🙂

        I fully accept your “crack on the knuckles” (with a ruler, I suspect). I deserve it. I AM fully capable of standing up for myself. What I don’t deserve is to be treated any differently than you, or Sawsan, or Cara if I happen to agree with the WOMEN on any particular topic… or if I choose to be neutral and not take a side. So I respectfully ask for support from the women here if Dave violates my right to free speech by putting me “in the penalty box“.

        Having said that, it is DK’s blog and he has the right to do whatever he wishes. If he chooses to discriminate, then I have the right to stop following the blog. Such is life!

        I have no doubt that Dave knows when he is “jerking my chain“. Right Dave?? 🙂

      2. “You are man enough to stand your ground , aren‘t you? (no pulling a ‚Switzerland‘ here). But I can see your problem, somebody out here HAS to be on Dave‘s side. So you‘re forgiven for once.”

        Paul, this is what you get for playing neutral (Switzerland), the Lady Posse trounces you. “You are man enough!” Still laughing!

        1. Response: I do not feel trounced upon by the ladies! I think your brain needs a little rewiring sometimes, but I suspect you are beyond help! You obviously have no problem being brutally honest with me when you disagree with my comments. I’m fine with that. FROM NOW ON I WILL IGNORE THE “BE KIND AND GENTLE WHENEVER POSSIBLE” INSTRUCTIONS THAT I LOVINGLY RECEIVED FROM MY MOTHER WHEN I WAS A CHILD.

          IF I DISAGREE WITH YOU, I WILL HOLD MY GROUND FIRMLY AND TELL YOU TO “STUFF IT!”

          IS THAT “MAN ENOUGH FOR YOU”?… because if not… Computer viruses may magically appear on random devices inside your house. I HAVE THOSE “SOFTWARE WEAPONS” LOCKED AND LOADED IF I NEED THEM!

          (Another big smile on my face as I write this. Note to self: don’t take any more crap from Dave. Instead, respond in kind!)

          PS: NO MATTER WHAT, I still appreciate you my Internet friend!!

  8.  Cheers, indeed!  

    <

    div>Congratulations. DK.  You are a treasured part of my morning, too…just a bit later when I’m sipping a cup of coffee

  9. Cara
    You, everything about you, is proof that God exists.

    David,
    Day breaks for you, and the birds do come for you.

    3. That is a bold statement Sawsan, but God shows up in ways I don’t understand. So…maybe?

  11. Dave…

    Sawsan’s brief but extremely moving comment above has pulled me out of the rabbit hole of details and technology.

    I just spent a brief 10 minutes meditating to regain perspective. It felt wonderful.

    Don’t get caught up in details of this blog today (or any day for that matter).

    ———-

    This is your day.
    Know that you are loved.
    Just cherish the day in whatever way you choose.

  12. this was a fantastic read. Cara- you captured Dave as well as he captures the birds each morning.

  14. A tribute Dave – I think I offered up the word ‘irascible’…and said a couple of nice things too (perhaps with a couple of caveats). Most importantly though 1500 is a staggeringly number of posts – a staggering number of anything really – and your readership enjoys, learns and laughs with you. Rock on, Dave, rock on

  15. cool about the 1500, and a peaceful co-existence to all. don’t spend one more second trying to outdo overtake outthink overshadow the other, just be.

  16. A little late to this soirée, it delighted nonetheless. Cara, thanks for doing such yeoman’s work to put together this wonderful, 1500 days and counting. So many words to describe our pal Dave, and yet…. I, for one, believe that any irascibility displayed is but a smokescreen to conceal the warm heart that beats just below the surface. And Mimi is right…a 1500-day run of anything is damn impressive. Three cheers for the ‘Curmudgeon of the Cove’ — long may he wander.

      1. Awww, thank you, Paul. Writing is my emotional sandbox…the activity that allows me to play, create, release and reflect. And the content on this blog delights and inspires. Such an amazing community DK has fostered. Grateful to be in the room where it happens….😉💕

    3. ‘Curmudgeon of the Cove’…. ahhhh yes. I’ll call him CC for short. Thanks Lori for the idea.

  18. I think this is my favourite corner of the internet. Thank you, Dave. And huge congratulations, to both of you! I’m so grateful to have been present for [part of] this journey.

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