I got up early this morning, ate some breakfast, and then–gasp–hopped in my car for a drive to Pearl River for a horse riding lesson. I can’t remember every being on a horse in my life, so when one of those interwebz coupons showed up offering two lessons, I was on board. To be honest, I kind of didn’t want to go, but I’ll do almost anything to avoid lettering a coupon go to waste, so there I was, grading papers at a table with pygmy goats, morning doves, and horses, waiting for the instructor to show up–he’s not a cowboy with a calendar, it seems. Oh, but it was worth the wait! It was so much fun, in that way that concentrating really hard on something that won’t let your mind wander to the places it always goes is fun and incredibly relaxing, and I was bummed to leave. And sore. I spend so much time riding my bicycle, legs moving up and down, that the side-to-side hip flexion was a stretch for me, quite literally. I figured a quick bike ride might be just the thing to keep my legs moving and circulation flowing, so I rode down to the Bywater for a snack and some grading. On my ride home I stopped to take this picture of the empty lot behind some fencing between a couple of buildings on Chartres. I’ve passed this block a zillion times, but I’ve never tried to figure out what was back there. Turns out there’s empty pipe and scrap lumber, and the start or finish of a whole bunch of things. All kinds of things in the nooks and crannies, best keep our eyes open.