I had a lovely day today, back at work, feeling so, so much better. After biking to and from work in the sunshine, the clouds were rolling in and the air was getting thick. It was spitting just a tiny bit when I hopped on the bike to meet friends for dinner, and by the time I was tucked in to the booth, the sky had opened up and poured. D. even reported hail! By the time we were done with dinner and drinks the rain had stopped and it was just perfect for a ride down to the Treme to hang with J., R., and friends. On my ride home I stopped to take this picture of a basketball backboard on a power pole. I wish the hoop was still there. When I ride this street during daylight hours, there are always a bunch of kids hanging out on porches or tossing footballs in the street. The hoop would surely fit in here. But that would mean playing in the street, which seems to have fallen off the kid-approved list. Which is too bad, because there’s space there, right outside those doors, to play in the neighborhood with the other kids in the neighborhood. But the streets belong to cars, I guess. And sometimes to bikes. Not tonight, though. As I crossed Julia, headed toward Central City, a private security guard slo-o-owly drove by. He stared at me intently through the window, as if he didn’t quite believe he was seeing me. I can’t really explain what the look felt like. I just know that I hardly ever, ever feel unsafe biking home, but for just a second tonight, I did.