More Tow Path with Toddler

Lots of my newly commissioned g-parent friends take their grandchildren to Disney; some do it more than once, or twice or thrice. For me nature trumps Mickey. A recent trip down the bike path from Georgetown into Maryland featured nature in the form of deep mud puddles, baby Canada geese, and one very small serpent. To celebrate the acquisition of the garage sale Burleigh, the entire clan biked from the boutiques of Georgetown to the sun warmed rocks of Fletcher Park where we ate Baby Bels, drank apple juice and played soccer. Then we walked along the bank of the caramel colored Potomac River to converse with fisher folk, all of whom were wearing ear buds and listening to IPODS. Not one of them responded to our archetypal inquiry, " Catchin' anything?" Sadly,the world of casual connection seems to be disappearing.

Wearing A Scarlett D

Biking up the Northbank Riverwalk ramp I heard my name. " Victoria," yelled Robert, my former neighbor and a current yoga teacher at Lotus.He was bike commuting from his work at the TU Performing Arts Center. We stopped on top of the railroad bridge to catch up. After assuring one another all was fine in our lives, we fell silent absorbing the early evening beauty of the St.Johns River below us. The Fuller Warren Bridge was bathed in sunset silver, the river itself supported three sailboats heading stern to stern toward the Atlantic Ocean, looking like thoroughbreds racing toward the Derby wire. Up the ramp came another bike commuter, my friend Tim. I introduced Tim to Robert and we three agreed bike commuting was the way to go. We decided, however, that we should have some way of telling non-commuters that we DO NOT have DUI's since the possession of a DUI seems to be the inference most folks make when they see a non-spandex clad biker. ( Victoria, honey, when do you get your license back? is a question I have been asked several times lately). Perhaps, I should create a Neon yellow teeshirt with the black lettered words DUI-NOT for those of us who have chosen NCET( non-carbon emitting transportation.)I met a Dane in D.C. recently who was very puzzled when I told him the DUI inference story. In Denmark, he told me, 40% of the folks ride bikes.Another friend of mine told me that in Amsterdam if there is a bike/ car accident, it is ALWAYS the car's fault. Ah,such a smorgasbord of bike wisdom!