The weather predictors promised thunderstorms this afternoon and evening, but fortunately, upon checking the radar, I saw that I had a window of opportunity for a nice bike ride this evening.  The rain is pouring down as I write this, but it was warm and muggy and perfect when I headed out.  I took Jack, and went clipless, because I’ve got to get over the little niggling fear I have of being stuck to my bike.  I decided to ride down through the Quarter and over toward Bacchanal, a lovely wine spot in the Bywater, just to see what’s up with them.  They’re serving sandwiches now, all day, so I’ll have to add it back into my afternoon repertoire.  On my way there, though, I smelled coffee in the air, and noticed the PJ’s Coffee bean roasting place in this warehouse on Chartres, right after the join with N. Peters.  I’d smelled a lot of smells on my way to the Marigny.  It smelled like sewage where Constance met the Ponchartrain Expressway.  It smelled like garbage at Esplanade and N. Peters.  Oh–I almost forgot the urine smell on Decatur.  I’m used to the parts of the city that smell bad.  I lived in New York for years–I’m used to bad smells.  But I loved the good smell of this spot and stopped to smell and snap a picture.  The sky looked amazing with streaks of light coming through heavy clouds, and the train stopped on the levee looked like it was sweating, sitting there in the heavy air.  A beautiful late afternoon for a ride, totally worth all the smells.