Not Perfect, Not Permanent, Not Personal in Everyday Ramblings

The title today I borrowed from an interview in Yoga Journal with the yoga teacher Lauren Eckstrom that she learned from her meditation teacher Ruth King. I love this little mantra, as it is so helpful when I am getting spun out about teaching.

Or anything else for that matter.

I am taking today and tomorrow off work. Mrs. Sherlock offered in class last night that I could join her for a 28-mile bike ride in the Gorge this morning. Ha, ha ha, I responded.

Not a chance.

After I lounged around listening to a wonderful taped video interview with Kristin Neff the amazing researcher and teacher on self-compassion I went for a slow walk in my neck of the woods listening to history lectures on India.

I took this picture of a nascent crepe myrtle heralding Fall bending towards this much patched and historic street named after Walter Chiles Whitaker, a Union General as all the East/West streets around here are.

He was apparently wounded a number of times, developed a serious enough drinking problem that caused him to be institutionalized for a spell and died at the age I am now after a stint as a criminal attorney in the state of Kentucky. He is the person that proposed that Kentucky enter the Civil War on the Union side after a period of neutrality.

These street names are kind of the opposite of Confederate monuments and somewhat unusual as Oregon has a history of being a profoundly racist state. I like to think of the street naming over here as being a bit subversive.

On Tuesday I got on a bus to go to the grocery and as I was heading to the back of the bus while it pulled out into traffic after picking me up the driver slammed on the brakes really hard. I was holding on to poles on each side of the aisle, as I am an experienced rider and was familiar with this surly woman driver’s tendency to start and stop abruptly.

Even with that I was jerked violently forward and then back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a young woman with ear buds was passing in front of the bus, but I have no idea if she had the light or not.

It was quite shocking to be jerked so hard and I slammed the back of my upper left arm into the pole I was holding onto and even though I do not bruise easily and put arnica gel on the area I am bruised there.

Everybody on the bus gasped and asked if I was okay. Except for the driver who didn’t even acknowledge the incident. If I had not been holding on as I was I would have slammed head first into the upper back part of the bus.

I calmly sat down, returned my breathing to normal and got my phone out and typed in the bus number and the time. And when I got home I reported the incident. They tell me they will advise her manager.

Won’t be taking that bus again until I am sure she is no longer on the route. What a stupid hassle.

Yet more reason to take the day off and rest.

Unambitious and with no obligations I am saving chores for later, no place to go, nothing to do…but rest.

The cats seem to be just fine with this.

Last updated August 24, 2017