Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Beautiful Day


Walking the bikepath on Sunday from Old Dock Road to Old Palmer Avenue was the closest I've ever come on Cape Cod to people watching the way you can on Boston Common. Everyone was out. Everyone.
I saw old couples. I saw young couples. I saw a couple holding hands while biking.
I saw all manner of children and families.
I overheard mothers and fathers who were not practicing Effective Parenting.
I saw a dad twirling his daughter around while giving her a shoulder ride.
I saw a man countering the healthful effects of biking by biking while smoking.
I overhead couples and groups of friends discussing where they were going to eat dinner after their walk and from what I could hear, Chappy Grill was in for some business.
I was surprised by how many people on the path were from out of town. Don't they have fabulous bike paths in their own communities?
I saw all manner of biking apparatuses. Who knew there were so many? Bikes, recumbent bikes, two seater bikes, two seater bikes with a child carrier attached. Also all manner of attaching one's offspring to one's bicycle. Up front on the handle bars, behind in a chair, behind in a trailer hitch. I saw a dad go by with his daughter in one such trailer hitch and when he passed by a second time the daughter was gone. I hope he knew.
I saw a family that was pulling the family pet - in its pet carrier - in a red wagon. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't ask them the story behind that.
I wondered how the owners of all those million dollar homes felt now that us riffraff could enjoy the same view.
I saw only one item of trash the entire walk and believe me, I was looking.
I was kept company by all manner of wildlife. Some that I could see: red winged black birds, herons, and rabbits, some that I could only get a glance of: yellow warblers, and some that I could only hear: bull frogs.
Everywhere I looked people were happy. I wanted to be my usual cynical self, wondering what everyone had to be happy about, but I couldn't help myself. I was happy too.

song: Beautiful Day • artist: U2

2 comments:

Ann Imig said...

I saw a dad go by with his daughter in one such trailer hitch and when he passed by a second time the daughter was gone. I hope he knew

Very funny. I hope so too!

Joanne said...

I didn't see anything about it in the paper's the next day so I'm pretty sure all's well that bikes well.