da | morning commute

On my commute by bike to work this morning, I:

saw a beautiful red tulip perfectly framed and lit in a yard
decided I couldn't justify buying a more portable camera just to capture such photos
smiled at the gargoyle, whose hat changed again... [1] and briefly reconsidered carrying my camera more often
saw a pair of ducks just hanging out on someone's yard, the mallard sleeping, the she-duck standing guard
...and nearly flattened a little old lady in white pigtails, who was biking the wrong way down the street, around a blind corner where I was turning right.

...And she wasn't wearing a helmet. Argh!!! I would've felt awful if I'd hit her. She saw me first, and said, "stop stop stop stop!" and I saw a bit of the whites of her eyes before I could swerve and come to an abrupt stop (about 10 feet before where I was planning to stop at the corner anyway).

She apologized, I accepted the apology with a bit of a tone of exasperation, and we went on our ways. I occupied myself on the rest of the ride to work debating whether I should have yelled at her for biking so unsafely. On the one hand, she looked like she had had the scare of her life, so she might reconsider biking on the wrong side of the street around a corner, and I'm glad I did go with my first impulse of accepting the apology. But on the other hand, it's so stupid to put yourself into harms way in that many ways, and if she'd been more oblivious or less apologetic (or, I'll admit, younger), I probably would've at least asked her to please get a helmet and don't bike on the wrong side of the road.

So, who would've yelled at her? How, and why? ...He said, curious whether he's just being too polite...

[1] As for the gargoyle, one house on my route has a wonderful garage with a roof patio and crenellations around the front and side. To complete the motif, there's a gargoyle perched on the corner. Usually wearing a hat. Every once in a while, the hat changes, often to match the seasons. I like that gargoyle. It's a shame that the house next-door is ballooning to twice its size; it changes the focus of the street considerably.