WMATA G8 Bus Route Gets Ever More Crowded

Sitting on the bus the other day jammed in and watching how it kept getting more and more crowded with strap hangers, so many that the driver had to pass by people at several stops, who looked a bit on the angry side, naturally, as it was Monday morning and who wants to miss the bus and be late on a Monday morning? And it's not as if another bus comes right away.

Winter Leaves But Wisdom Stays

On my way to work the other day I looked up and saw that there were still some maple leaves on some of the trees on the street on the way to my bus stop. With the miracle of my cell phone camera I snapped this photo as I so loved the sun shining through the yellow leaves against the dark branches and blue sky. It's at these moments that I realize how much I have been influenced by a poem I learned as a child. Here it is:
Time to Stop and Stare
What is this life if full of care
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep, or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
--  William Henry Davies 1871 - 1940

I remember learning this at age 7 when we had to memorize some poem for some English literature study we did while being home schooled. Of course, that was back when my mind was blotting paper soaking up new things avidly, not like it is now when the Random Access Memory program occasionally fails due to the  Information Uptake plugin software being "overloaded."   Or at least, that's how it now feels when I have to learn some new text -- it's just too hard to do. But at the least, all the words I've taken in, have had an effect and have lead me to action.  So it's just as well I read the Bible then or I'd probably be a real mess by now.

Trams and Bikes Rule in Amsterdam

While there are cars in Amsterdam the 740,000 city residents pedal around on bikes or take trams to get around.but it seems like bikes dominate. You can't go down any street or alley or go over any canal bridge without practically tripping over a bike locked to a fence or pole. While you're avoiding these, at least a dozen bikes will whiz by you, the users pedalling madly over the cobblestones or transporting any type of good on a front or back bike rack, or on both ends. We saw more than a few parents with children perched on the handlebars and great loads of books and boxes and other material carried along on the back of the bike.  There is even a parking lot for about 9,000 bikes at the train station since commuters leave their bike at the station when they leave Amsterdam to work elsewhere. It turns out that at their destination they may have another bike that they use to go from the train station to the job. It was certainly eye opening to see so much day to day business carried on by bike. And it didn't look one bit like DC at all!

Image via Wikipedia