Thank yous during the commute this morning



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Claire Petersky

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All of these vocalized, not necessarily heard by those being thanked:

1. The big red SUV with the personalized plates that say RUBY RD used her turn signal unprompted
this morning (after me making loud reminders in mornings past) at 173rd and Northup Way.

2. The person at the four-way stop at 156th and Lake Hills Blvd who was smart enough to know it was
her turn, and then mine.

3. The construction worker who was nice enough to push the pedestrian signal upon request at Lake
Hills Blvd and 140th, since my bike didn't trip the stop light signal (time to talk to the City
about it, AGAIN).

4. The flagger on Kamber Road who let me pedal through the orange cones rather than wait for
on-coming traffic to finish getting through.

5. The BMW that saw me at Factoria Blvd when I yelled, "Bicycle!" and didn't whip around the corner
like so many do.

6. The sight of the sparkling waters of Lake Washington in the sunlight with the air so cold and
crisp and fresh caused me to sing Modah Ani about four times. (The words translate roughly
to, "Thank you for restoring my soul into my body and giving me renewed life. Your
faithfulness is great."

7. The people who stopped for me at MLK Way and 23rd, when I hit the pedestrian buttons to cross
there -- I usually ride across without a signal when the traffic is light, but this morning
it wasn't.

Is your ride full of thanks, or full of curses?

Claire Petersky ([email protected]) Home of the meditative cyclist at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
 
I rode this evening in the country with very little traffic, pedestrian or vehicular. (Well. .
.okay. . .there were lots of cattle and a skunk or two somewhere in the darkness.) My thanks go to
you, Claire, for a positive post that helped restore my belief that we can all share the road and
enjoy doing it! I appreciate your words.

--Brad

"Claire Petersky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> All of these vocalized, not necessarily heard by those being thanked:
>
> 1. The big red SUV with the personalized plates that say RUBY RD used her turn signal unprompted
> this morning (after me making loud reminders in mornings past) at 173rd and Northup Way.
>
> 2. The person at the four-way stop at 156th and Lake Hills Blvd who was smart enough to know it
> was her turn, and then mine.
>
> 3. The construction worker who was nice enough to push the pedestrian signal upon request at Lake
> Hills Blvd and 140th, since my bike didn't trip the stop light signal (time to talk to the City
> about it, AGAIN).
>
> 4. The flagger on Kamber Road who let me pedal through the orange cones rather than wait for
> on-coming traffic to finish getting through.
>
> 5. The BMW that saw me at Factoria Blvd when I yelled, "Bicycle!" and didn't whip around the
> corner like so many do.
>
> 6. The sight of the sparkling waters of Lake Washington in the sunlight with the air so cold and
> crisp and fresh caused me to sing Modah Ani about four times. (The words translate roughly to,
> "Thank you for restoring my soul into my body and giving me renewed life. Your faithfulness is
> great."
>
> 7. The people who stopped for me at MLK Way and 23rd, when I hit the pedestrian buttons to cross
> there -- I usually ride across without a signal when the traffic is light, but this morning it
> wasn't.
>
> Is your ride full of thanks, or full of curses?
>
> Claire Petersky ([email protected]) Home of the meditative cyclist at:
> http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
 
I like your site Claire. It's good to get these reminders about not forgetting where we are instead
of continuously pushing to the next whatever, stoplight maybe ;)

--
Replace the dots to reply

Perre

"Claire Petersky" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> All of these vocalized, not necessarily heard by those being thanked:
>
> 1. The big red SUV with the personalized plates that say RUBY RD used her turn signal unprompted
> this morning (after me making loud reminders in mornings past) at 173rd and Northup Way.
>
> 2. The person at the four-way stop at 156th and Lake Hills Blvd who was smart enough to know it
> was her turn, and then mine.
>
> 3. The construction worker who was nice enough to push the pedestrian signal upon request at Lake
> Hills Blvd and 140th, since my bike didn't trip the stop light signal (time to talk to the City
> about it, AGAIN).
>
> 4. The flagger on Kamber Road who let me pedal through the orange cones rather than wait for
> on-coming traffic to finish getting through.
>
> 5. The BMW that saw me at Factoria Blvd when I yelled, "Bicycle!" and didn't whip around the
> corner like so many do.
>
> 6. The sight of the sparkling waters of Lake Washington in the sunlight with the air so cold and
> crisp and fresh caused me to sing Modah Ani about four times. (The words translate roughly to,
> "Thank you for restoring my soul into my body and giving me renewed life. Your faithfulness is
> great."
>
> 7. The people who stopped for me at MLK Way and 23rd, when I hit the pedestrian buttons to cross
> there -- I usually ride across without a signal when the traffic is light, but this morning it
> wasn't.
>
> Is your ride full of thanks, or full of curses?
>
> Claire Petersky ([email protected]) Home of the meditative cyclist at:
> http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
 
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Claire Petersky) writes:

> Is your ride full of thanks, or full of curses?

Sometimes I /have/ to utter a li'l cuss, and sometimes it helps. Here's a piece of a journal entry
about that:

---------------------------
Sun Nov 24, 2002

A sunny day, temp of about 9c.

....

I started to head back on Ontario, but when I got to 37th I took a notion to go up the
Fredbrokker, so I downshifted to my largest cog and turned right up 37th. There was an oncoming
car coming down the hill, and another car bootin' it coming up behind me, and a parked car ahead
of me. I heaved-to way over to the right to give the driver behind me a chance to pass, but she
timed it perfectly to coincide her pass, with me between the parked car and the oncoming car -- if
that's where I would have been. Instead, I hauled up behind the parked car, stopped, and let her
by. And muttered "Son of a *****!" as she zoomed past. I wheelied a bit a couple of times as I
started up again, to the amusement of a couple of frisbee- tossing onlookers.
---------------------------

Here's one with some thanks in it:

Sat Jul 20, 2002

....

Near Patterson Station as I was approaching Central Park, I heard a loud "Pop"! I looked around;
another rider nearby got a flat. There's a word in Hamlet -- "chapfallen". That was the look on
this guy's face.

I helped him swap in my spare inner tube. He was so happy, he wanted to pay me. After numerous
attempted polite refusals, I finally gave in and accepted his old inner tube in exchange, although
I wanted to just huck it.

He was surprised a tube could be changed so fast, and that he didn't even have to turn his bike
upside down.

Later on, I met him again, riding around in the park. We exchanged happy waves & hellos, and I
eyeballed his tire for bulges. There weren't any I could see. I headed straight home.

---------------------------

As for the /other/ kind of curse: during one particular ride last summer, I came across a lot of
dead, hit-by-car crows lying in the streets. That felt eerie and ominous, like some sort of
curse-indicator. But I put it down to the crows going through their seasonal, feisty, aggressive,
brooding period -- trying to chase cars away from their nests, and getting too close. Nothing bad
happened to me, anyway. Wish I could say the same for the crows.

cheers, Tom

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I feel your Zen!!! May I always feel that way when I'm on my two wheels!

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Claire
Petersky) wrote:

> All of these vocalized, not necessarily heard by those being thanked:
>
> 1. The big red SUV with the personalized plates that say RUBY RD used her turn signal unprompted
> this morning (after me making loud reminders in mornings past) at 173rd and Northup Way.
>
> 2. The person at the four-way stop at 156th and Lake Hills Blvd who was smart enough to know it
> was her turn, and then mine.
>
> 3. The construction worker who was nice enough to push the pedestrian signal upon request at Lake
> Hills Blvd and 140th, since my bike didn't trip the stop light signal (time to talk to the City
> about it, AGAIN).
>
> 4. The flagger on Kamber Road who let me pedal through the orange cones rather than wait for
> on-coming traffic to finish getting through.
>
> 5. The BMW that saw me at Factoria Blvd when I yelled, "Bicycle!" and didn't whip around the
> corner like so many do.
>
> 6. The sight of the sparkling waters of Lake Washington in the sunlight with the air so cold and
> crisp and fresh caused me to sing Modah Ani about four times. (The words translate roughly to,
> "Thank you for restoring my soul into my body and giving me renewed life. Your faithfulness is
> great."
>
> 7. The people who stopped for me at MLK Way and 23rd, when I hit the pedestrian buttons to cross
> there -- I usually ride across without a signal when the traffic is light, but this morning it
> wasn't.
>
> Is your ride full of thanks, or full of curses?
>
> Claire Petersky ([email protected]) Home of the meditative cyclist at:
> http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
 
This was my report of a short bike ride the other morning...

Went out this morning - did a few miles - a little further than the other day. Cold, bright morning,
most of the lanes deserted, the odd other cyclist & pedestrian about to exchange a "good morning"
with as I cycled by - even the odd motorist about this morning and *most* were very courteous, with
a friendly wave & thank you said as they passed me with room to spare. Even the sheep & goats in
various fields, bleated a cheery good morning. All was well in the world - cold, bright morning,
hardly any wind - glorious! A happy morning for fatbirdonabike :)

Cheers, helen s

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