Tag Archives: driving

Sep24

if you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one. – dolly parton

Posted on by
Standard

10580799_301438733373436_3920570348571919141_o

GOOD NEWS! I-96 reopened 3 weeks early, and morning commutes became easier on Monday morning after 6 months of 7 miles of total road closure.  On Sunday afternoon thousands of people came down to a stretch of the reconstructed I-96 to enjoy a Metro Detroit freeway as never before … by walking, on bike and with anything else they could ride – even a marching band showed up. Any and all were invited to join in the celebration. That’s how we roll in the motor city.

1912366_301438750040101_7809771144927249658_o

if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.
– lewis carroll

 

—

credits: dailydetroit. com

 

Jan13

‘Donuts. Is there anything they can’t do?’ – Matt Groening

Posted on by
Standard

 Image

image credit: wwll vintage gas ration ad

i love my carpool.  there are only two of us, but any more than one living thing in a car at the same time, and i consider it a pool. on most days, we drive together to and from school, in our cars with character –  mine is ‘diablo rojo,’ and m’s is ‘sharfonda.’ driving together has many benefits: not only do we save money on gas, and help preserve a smidgen of the world’s energy supply, but the company is wonderful.

we are very much alike, and talk about everything. and make up poetry and tell stories and laugh and go off on tangents and share philosophies and cry and sing. and get lost occasionally, as neither of us has an innate sense of direction. we compare our students, ‘m’ teaches english and poetry at our high school and i, on the opposite end of the spectrum, teach kindergarten in our lower school. even so, we find that many of our student and family and teaching issues are very similar, and we listen and support each other and offer advice. our drive usually takes us about 45 minutes, if all is well along the way, and we don’t end up in some place we hadn’t planned on.  

Image

but – on some days, things happen. life may be challenging, we are worrying about someone or something, there are issues on the road, there is a tornado watch, a blizzard, a rain squall, or construction events, or we feel like we are driving through a video game, and we have had it, and need some extra support.

we discovered our cure one day, when it had been a particularly challenging drive.  and m suddenly yelled out, ‘quick, turn in! it’s a tim horton’s and we need to go there now!’ i was behind the wheel, and diablo rojo did as requested. as we entered the drive-through we decided that we needed (and deserved), a few ‘tim-bits’ (delicious tiny donut holes), to help us make it the rest of the way and to instantly give us a pick me up.  we quickly scanned the menu options:

Timbits:

10 pack –  1.50    

20 pack –  2.50

40 pack –  4.75

we decided it was a 40 timbits kind of day.

 and we were soon on our way, making up timbit haiku and laughing once again. 

Image

image credit: http://www.newswire.ca

Chef Andrea Nicholson, of Top Chef Canada, with the Tim Hortons Timbits cake she created.

Nearly four feet tall, the cake contains more than 1,500 Timbits.  

for chef andrea, it was a 1,500 timbits kind of day, must have been a tough one.

— 

But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold. – Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

 

 

 

Nov24

crashing into kindness

Posted on by
Standard

Image

 with the day’s sudden onset of a 7 minute mini white-out,  a few slick portions appeared on the local roads. soon after this winter-tease display tossed out by mother nature, i happened to encounter one of these slick spots firsthand. it was on a little bridge leading back from the library towards my cottage.  

‘black ice’ is a phenomenon known to those in the northern climates – innocent looking, shiny, invisible, traction-less, and extraordinarily slippery. this was the day that black ice and i crossed paths on the bridge, and as i tried to brake, my car continued to move forward, and i slammed smack into the car stopped right in front of me. 

after the crash, we drove ahead and popped out of our cars to assess the damage.  i was happily surprised to find that we were both fine, and that our cars had somehow each suffered nothing more than a scratch on our bumpers. 

the extraordinary surprise came when i soon realized that i had smashed into one of the happiest, friendliest, people on the planet. he was smiling, and kind, and calm, said he was happy nothing bad had happened, he understood why it happened, and that it had happened to him before.  i apologized profusely and he shook his head telling me not worry about it at all. 

he gave me his card, and as we talked, i found that we both work with young children. he, working with children in the foster care system, pursuing a masters in social work to continue helping in that field, and me, with my kinders, trying to teach them about life. he told me to keep in touch, that we may be able to help the children in some way, or who knows?  it was just like crashing into santa claus in his sleigh. and with a jolly chuckle and a wave goodbye, we were both off on our way once again, and felt somehow better for having met. 

___

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances  – Aristotle

Nov23

breakfast jam

Posted on by
Standard

looking back at my week and remembering how it started out, with a literal standstill. almost to work, just a few miles away, and traffic ground to a dead halt. all lanes full, no one moving an inch. switched from cd to radio and heard power lines were down across this busy road due to overnight storm, and that the road was closed less than one mile ahead. numerous warnings to avoid this road at any cost. too late. stuck in the middle of it all. any traffic trying to go through would be diverted to do a u-turn and headed back in the opposite direction. nowhere for me to turn off as just offices and businesses on my side, until i could get to the next mile road. 

settled in for a bit of a wait, texted my teaching partners, and just watched it unfold around me. the diverted traffic began to back up going in the other direction, emergency vehicles tried to get through, to rescue people somehow getting into accidents going 3 mph. perhaps not letting each other into their lane? watched people in other cars, most on cells, out of cars trying to see what was going on ahead, listening to music, coming up with strategies, calling into work and wherever they needed to be, trying to move to the ‘best lane.’ people walked by, moving faster than the traffic. 

saw a helicopter arrive overhead, people jockeyed for position, cars continued to crawl ahead and up and over. finally got close to the next mile road where i could turn, saw a firetruck pulled all the way across the road ahead of me. 1 mile of distance had equaled 1 hour of time. made my move, made my turn, oops – that road was closed for construction. determined. followed a rogue line of cars through a neighborhood, somehow emerged on the other side of it all, back on my original busy road i needed to be on, got back on track to where i was going, looked to my left, saw a full moon. 

Image

Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn’t block traffic. – Dan Rather