Saturday in the Park

Older man carrying home
a 12 pack of beer.  

After our morning of missed connections we had a pretty chill day.  I rode to the grocery store while the kids stayed home.  I am still constantly amazed at the amount of bike traffic you see in this city.  And the variety of bikers is unlike any I have ever seen.  All ages ride bikes here from the teeny tiniest kids to women and men well into their 80's.  No one ever seems like they are working very hard either.  They are just slow and steady and sit with the most amazing bike posture.  I have never been much of a biker mostly because riding in the streets of Seattle I have always felt unsafe.  Here there are bike lanes/paths that are like sidewalks - up and away from cars that run along the walking sidewalk.  When you are going in the correct direction on a bike path it is so easy to feel self righteous if someone accidentally walks into your lane.  You have every right to be in that bike path going any speed you like (just like a car on a street) and everyone else should stand clear.

As I was leaving the grocery store I saw an older woman who had to have been in her upper 80's.  She was nicely dressed with dress shoes getting on her bike.  I thought, wow, that is amazing.  I start biking home and I don't know what happened but I came to a cross street where I would need to wait for passing traffic.  There was no light because it was a side street.  My new bike has back, coaster brakes that have taken me awhile to get used to but now that is what I use 99% of the time.  I also have one hand brake.  Anyway my pedals must have been in the wrong position, I was probably day dreaming about something and not really paying attention and I went to brake and I didn't slow down.  At the last minute I switched to my hand brake but it was too late I was already heading for a fall.  I'm not even sure what happened.  It was all in slow motion and I thought I could catch myself but nope!!  My bike goes over and all of my groceries spill out of my bike basket.  I was totally fine, just a little embarrassed.  I assessed the damage to my body which was jut a small scrape and knew it meant probably a tight back later.  There was a car that stopped.  They didn't say anything (thank goodness because I wouldn't have understood them) but waited until I was back up and pedaling.  As I was slowly pedaling home that same 80+ year old woman that I saw at the store a few minutes earlier passes me.  She is very gracefully pedaling past me with the best bike posture.  Humbling!

As much as they fight they also hug.

The kids and I have to run a few errands and get Josie a few new swim things before her meet the next day.  We get her goggles and a swim buoy.  Then we head out to meet Julie and Frida at a park.  It was still gloriously sunny and we all enjoyed the time outdoors.  I know for a fact that it will not be in the 70's again until probably April!! So we soaked up all we could and got to bed early for our early alarm clock the next day for Josie's first swim meet.