I was out of town for a few days, in the beautiful Mississippi delta, where I didn’t bike. Or walk. Or do much of anything other than float aimlessly in a pool in the middle of nowhere. It was lovely, but I was happy to get back home and back to work. And back to my bike. Today I rode down to the Marigny to get some grading and writing done. And I’ve got to tell you, riding a bike in our current heat wave is a whole new show. I pedaled so slowly, feeling the heat bake my skin. As long as I’m riding, the heat doesn’t feel too terribly bad, but stopping gives the seat a chance to make itself known without the self-propelled breeze. Looking around today I was reminded that I live in a tropical place. The streets are overgrown with plant life, from those sneaky palm trees to night jasmine to crepe myrtles to those spiny plants with the weird fuzzies in the middle (take my word for it). On my ride home from work it was still in the nineties, but it felt so much cooler. I stopped and snapped this picture of long, long grass growing in front of the beautiful Rayne Memorial Church on St. Charles. It made me think about how fast things grown here, as much as they decay. This grass will be long all season, but I wanted to stop, rip it up, and put in some tomatoes.