Mama Says Om: A Sauntering We Will Go

This week, the theme at Mama says Om is "saunter". My dictionary describes sauntering as walking or strolling at a leisurely pace and indicates that it probably originated in a Middle English word, santren, to muse. Synonyms for the verb and noun forms include:

Verb: amble, boogie, dally, dance, dawdle, dilly-dally, doodle, drift, flit, flitter, float, flow, gallivant, meander, mosey, poke about, potter, promenade, ramble, roam, rove, sashay, schlep along, tarry, toddle, traipse, twitten, wander; Noun: adventure, amble, caravan, cruise, drive, excursion, exploration, frolic, gallop, jog, jaunt, journey, junket, odyssey, outing, pilgrimage, promenade, prowl, quest, ramble, roaming, safari, sally, sojourn, stroll, tour, travel, traveling, traverse, trek, trip, twittening, vagabondage, venture, voyage, wandering, wayfaring

Saunter is a lovely word of somewhat obscure derivation like twitten which means much the same thing, but is perhaps more of a slow and thoughtful pottering with a little less bounce in one's step. Methinks that good sauntering requires limber knees, a blithe spirit, a certain insouciance and practiced nonchalance. I admire adept practitioners of this form of locomotion but sadly, I am unable to muster up the jaunty gait or floating stride to do it properly. This is due to health issues and perhaps an "age thing" too, but I am looking forward to sauntering along in another lifetime.

Cassie (on the other hand) has mastered sauntering in this lifetime, and she has it down to an art form, particularly when she is in the woods, and there is a stream nearby with a muddy bottom. At such times, she saunters along in the water with her toes down in the lovely cool mud, and her graceful movement is akin to dancing: happy ears and wagging tail, a spring in her step and a grin which says that all is well in the world. Darling girl boogies (or saunters) right along, and it is a great pleasure to watch her - she is poetry in motion.