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Community Corner

Altadena's Mid-Winter Heat Wave

Since it has been too warm for baking and sweaters this year, the author has found a new way to enjoy her February.

Winter and I, we have a deal.  For three months of the year, I can sock away all the brownies, French bread and butter my little heart desires. And oxtail stew, biscuits and gravy.  Hazelnut chocolate, cream soups, peanuts, almonds, lasagna, and cheese of all colors from all countries. 

Why? Because when it’s winter -- cold and rainy – a trench coat or that woolen muumuu I call a sweater can hide a multitude of calories.

Who’s to know that under all the fabric -- coats and sweaters and scarves -- there’s suddenly so much more of me to love.  As for the zipper on my jeans -- who’s to know what a painful trek it takes to reach the summit. Who’s to know the zipper may even stop trying, midway.

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Come spring, I’ll pay dearly for the follies of winter, and get back to rabbit food and serious hiking and running again. But it’s really no worse than all the other spring chores --  weeding, taxes.

This year, though,  something has gone awry. An agreement has been broken. I don’t want to be a snitch, let’s just say, I didn’t break it.  I came skipping out to meet winter, bearing carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, but winter did not come to meet me. Not even half way.

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It’s been like summer around here, not sweater-weather, not even tie-a-sweatshirt-around-your-hips weather. My zipper and I find ourselves very much exposed, stuck between a rock and a soft place.

Thank you very much, global warming. As if melting the polar icecaps wasn’t bad enough.

Which brings me to the point of this piece. If you find yourself in the same boat (heavy heart, hips, or whatever), then scoot over -- I mean, really, scoot over and give a body some room. Because I’m going to share a secret weapon that I usually save until March

Meet Cardiac Hill. The widow-maker. A half-hour walk that’s guaranteed to melt all the places where chocolate and mashed potatoes come home to roost.

You can find Cardiac at the intersection of Rubio Canyon Drive and Rubio Crest. It’s an unforgiving hill at a 30 to 45 degree angle.  And just to give you some idea how tough this little trek might be, I’ve been walking  or slowly, slowly jogging it (so slowly it feels I’m running backwards) for three years now and  only met one other person doing the same.  When I call friends on the phone to join me, they claim a sudden engagement, or just hang up.

But then, they don’t realize there’s more than vanity at stake.

At the top of Cardiac Hill, you get a big reward. I’m honestly not sure what I see on a clear day, but I think Palos Verdes Peninsula and maybe even Catalina Island. And  sunsets to die for.

The benefits of all the huffing and puffing can’t be counted in the inches you lose. Well, of course they can, else I wouldn’t go through this pain.

But best of all are the miles – miles and miles of breathtaking views just waiting for you. Altadena—top of the world.

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