Today’s ride took me back downtown, over that rat at 25th & Guilford that is now flat as a back-to-school notebook (except for the tail poking up in high relief), through the parking lot that’s been made part of the bike path, down the hill, a left on Center, right on Fallsway, and through Little Italy to Harbor East for a stop at the gym before joining V. for lunch in Fells Point–yep, it’s the waning days of summer, and I’m enjoying them. After a wander around the weirdness that is Harbor East–rich people’s playground!–I headed back home with a detour west on Bank. There are all these little alleyways in Fells Point, and I never ride through them, because where do they take you? So I took a left on Duncan to see, and then I was at a little pocket park with benches, a tiny table with four stools, and flowers and plants and a quiet view of the houses of the people who travel up this alley every day. I sat for a bit, watched some clouds roll in, and pedaled quickly home to try and miss the rain. i got caught in some big summer raindrops, the kind that hit the hot pavement and make the air smell like humid city–not my favorite. I was a sweaty mess by the time I got home, still in the mire of Baltimore’s summer.