Change Is Hard

April 8, 2016
by dawnkinster 5 Comments

Two more dead

Wednesday near Charlotte NC a Swift semi ran off the road and hit a bridge. Watch this two minute news video that cites statistics about Swift, a large national carrier. These two deaths are numbers 56 and 57 for the truck company in the past two years. Other articles I’ve found say that Swift has been cited over 4000 times during the past two years for driving violations.

I don’t know how much more has to happen before the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) stops rating them as acceptable.

As many of you know I work with the Truck Safety Coalition, and we’ve been fighting to lower the maximum number of hours a driver can drive before having to take an extended rest break. It’s an uphill battle, with small victories later repealed by legislation backed by the deep pockets of the American Trucking Association which is out to maximize truck company profits. A news report yesterday said fatigue of the driver was a likely cause of this particular crash. He fell asleep behind the wheel at 4:30 in the morning.

So. Two more people are dead. This time they weren’t in a passenger car, they were in the cab of the truck that crashed.

In stories like this the news focuses on the traffic delays or the cost of repairing the infrastructure. I can tell you from personal experience the families of the two deceased don’t care about traffic delays or bridge repair today. As they move forward and figure out what caused their loss they’ll learn what so many other families have learned. That driving up to 11 hours a day is unsafe. That it doesn’t make any sense. That people die because they are pushed to work longer hours than in any other industry. It’s a complicated issue.

Five hundred truck drivers die in crashes each year. Yesterday two gave their lives just trying to make a living.

Sometimes I think that fighting the ATA on hours of service rules is useless. That we’re just playing defense, sticking our fingers in an deteriorating dike. That our time is better spent on issues we have a chance of winning. And then two more people die and I realize we have to keep fighting on all the issues.

Even hours of service.

April 7, 2016
by dawnkinster 8 Comments

Springtime in Southeast Michigan

Sigh…

April 5, 2016
by dawnkinster 31 Comments

WordPress Photo Challenge: Landscape

The landscape in Southern Michigan in early April can look like anything. You never know. Could be snow. Could be sunshine. Could be both on the same day.

Yellow willow, red twig dogwood., blue sky. Perfect.

Yellow willow, brown reeds, red twig dogwood., blue water and sky. Perfect.

But here is what I found out at my favorite park today. It was cold, but the sun was shining and that made it a great day.

What does your landscape look like? Care to share? Post a shot and link it up to the original WordPress post. We’d love to see!

You can see other interpretations there as well. Or if you’re strapped for time, here are some of my favorites, each very different, ….here, here and here.

And let’s hope there’s no more snow in our forecast. I think we’re pretty much done with winter now if Mother Nature would just cooperate.

April 5, 2016
by dawnkinster 24 Comments

Before and after

I think most people have a date in their past that bisects their own history. The date when everything shifted, the world tilted, life changed. A date that is used as a measuring unit against all events past and future.

For me it’s the year 2004, the year we lost both parents and moved into adulthood with stunning finality. Forever more when I hear a date related to anything, an event, a birthday, a bit of historical trivia I think…”that was before Mom died.” or “Dad had been gone a year by then.” 2004 feels something like a watershed, with all the life experiences prior cataloged as ‘before’ and everything that has happened since labeled ‘after.’

Yesterday my husband and I sat with a family member in waiting areas of two hospitals as her mother struggled to stay alive. We listened to her story, how her mother came to be this ill, what the prognosis was. While we waited we told family stories about relatives long gone, family members today, heard about her kids far away in another state. We laughed a bit, got teary a bit, hugged some. Worried a lot.

I wondered if the day would become her dividing point, the day she would remember as her world tilting, changing, forever different. Thankfully yesterday didn’t turn into that day. And this morning the sun is shining and there are new questions to ask, new decisions to be made.

I sat in waiting rooms yesterday and contemplated how life changes. How change is different for everyone. How I’ll never have to sit in a waiting room making life and death decisions for either of my parents. How I felt slightly guilty to be glad of that. But how I would have been grateful for time with either of them no matter how difficult saying goodbye would have been.

In the past month I’ve had three good friends lose a parent, witnessed three families defining before and after. I guess it’s natural.

But darn, change is hard.

April 3, 2016
by dawnkinster 14 Comments

Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: People or animals

While I was walking back from the cherry blossoms in DC last Sunday I passed this woman. Head down, carrying her shopping bags she was moving fast, not looking at anyone.

Resident among the tourists.

She seemed lonely and isolated even in the midst of the large and noisy tourist crowd. I wished I could talk to her, but she wasn’t sending out friendly vibes. I’m guessing she wasn’t happy with all the tourists inserting themselves into her Sunday routine.

She was an interesting person, and perfect for Cee’s challenge this week.

April 2, 2016
by dawnkinster 16 Comments

Morning in DC

Sunrise on the Hill.

Part two of the cherry blossom saga. Easter weekend was my first visit to DC during cherry blossom time. Sunday I explored, along with thousands of others, the beautiful tidal basin ringed with cherry trees showing off their blossoms. Monday was spent at meetings, but Tuesday morning I had a couple of hours before my flight. So I got up before dawn and rode the metro back to the Hill.

It was an entirely different experience.

For one, the sun came up and lit the western edge of the basin with a rosy glow that complimented the pink and white cherry blossoms. And for another, there were far fewer people out there. Most of them were joggers like me, or photographers also like me, though many of them had fancy equipment. I was carrying my trusty point and shoot, the better to get runs in between stops for photos.

Jefferson glowing way over there.

The first bit of sun tinged the top of the Jefferson Monument pink, and though it was beautiful I was still two very busy streets away. Still, I got a bit of it as I zoomed in as far as my little camera would go.

As I got closer to the tidal basin the sun was beginning to focus on the cherry trees themselves. Pretty breathtaking.

Morning light and cherry blossoms.

I could have spent hours just meandering beneath the beautiful trees…

The trees were art.

…but I had limited time. So I headed over to the Martin Luther King monument, just around the corner. I took a few shots of him framed in cherry blossoms, but I liked this version best.

Contemplation in morning light.

No blossoms, but a strong look for a strong man.

Then I checked my watch and realized I had time to visit President Lincoln if I ran. So I did. It was a great run, along the reflecting pool up to the Lincoln Monument. Could I make it up those steps at a run?

You can do it!

Why yes I could. And there was hardly anyone there, so I got a moment alone with the President. He was warmed by the morning sun, glad to see a new day. Me too.

Good morning Mr. President.

And because I was so close, I jogged over to the Vietnam wall. There were lots of veterans there. I learned later that it was Vietnam Veterans Day, and I had just missed the ceremony.

Reflection.

I didn’t jog past the wall, instead taking my time to walk it, reading a few names from each panel. So many names. So many families. Heartbreaking.

But time was slipping away. So I headed back, moving more quickly, probably my longest run. And it felt uphill at that, though I don’t suppose it was.

A long way back.

A good place to stop and catch my breath was the WWII memorial. I walked through a part of it, paid my respects and kept going.

Peacefully empty.

WW II, Washington Monument and Flag in morning light.

Heading back over the Washington Monument hill I saw lines of people already forming for the attraction. The sun was fully up. It was time to give the city back to the tourists and be on my way.

I didn’t want to leave.

I had experienced some pretty special moments during my early morning run. Not something I’ll be able to do again soon. Spending a couple days in the Nation’s Capitol turned out to be a gift.

With one last look over my shoulder I jogged toward the metro station and my flight home.

Until next time.

Bye Washington DC. I had a great time. See you soon.

I have no idea why Ronald was out so early.

April 1, 2016
by dawnkinster 13 Comments

It’s cherry festival time!

Close up and personal.

No, not in Michigan, that’s still a few months away. But down in DC? Well, it’s prime cherry blossom viewing down there! And I was lucky enough to have a meeting scheduled there, so in between commitments I went up to Capitol Hill and became a tourist.

It was glorious.

I’d never been in DC during cherry blossom time, so I didn’t know what to expect. I flew in on Easter afternoon, changed into running clothes and figured I’d jog a bit on the Mall, take a few pictures of cherry blossoms, just enjoy some alone time.

Pretty in pink.

I was so naive! When I came up out of the metro (subway) and made it over to the mall I was confronted with a few hundred gazillion tourists, all strolling along. It was like being at the start of a race, when you’re all jammed together and walking (slowly) toward the start line. Except there was never any start line…the crowd just kept meandering along.

Not going to be running here.

So, no running on the Mall that afternoon! What was I thinking? But the cherry blossoms were stunning! The trees glowed under their own power without benefit of the sun.

Crowds enjoy the blossoms.

I moved with the crowd from the Washington Monument where white cherry trees provided a heavenly canopy for people picnicking….

My favorite image from Easter afternoon.

…toward the Jefferson Monument on the tidal basin, surrounded by white and pink trees.

Jefferson Monument surrounded by beauty.

The water was filled with people in paddle boats having fun. The shore was crowded with people taking pictures of people in paddle boats, pictures of trees, pictures of blossoms, pictures of each other, pictures of Jefferson’s monument.

There were long lines to rent the boats.

It was so much fun, even though I was cold. I had dressed to be running and I was decidedly not running. But I didn’t care. It was so just much fun! Eventually I got all the way over to the Jefferson Monument….

Headed up the steps.

…and noticed how pretty the Washington Monument was, across the basin, ringed with cherry trees.

Washington watches over the crowds.

The short trek between the two had taken over an hour, and it was getting dark, so I took some side streets back to the metro. I even ran a few blocks, just to say I did.

I will put together one more blog about the sights on the Mall. Tuesday, before my flight, I got up early and headed back to see the sun rising over the cherry trees. You won’t want to miss it.

I couldn’t stop grinning the whole morning.

Found a few seconds of solitude at Jefferson’s.

March 31, 2016
by dawnkinster 12 Comments

Happy Gotcha Day

Hi sweetie!

Hi Katie-girl, mama here. I wanted to tell you and your loyal subjects the story of your “Gotcha Day,” March 31, 2007, the day we met you and brought you home.

You sleep upside down all the way home that first day.

You slept upside down all the way home that first day.

You don’t remember, but your mama and daddy were very sad when your sister Bonnie went to the rainbow bridge, and even though mama had been communicating with your first mom, we just weren’t quite ready for a new little girl when she had a litter of pups.

What’s that you have mama?

But later, when your first mom told us she had someone special that needed a home we were almost ready, so we said yes. We are so glad we did! You were a bundle of fluff, just 12 weeks old, but already very sure of what you wanted.