Oh, it was a beautiful day in Baltimore. I lazed about in bed for too long before pushing through the crowds at the craft fair across the street and then grading, grading, grading at the coffee shop. When I met my grading goals the sun was out and it felt oddly warm for the last day of November. By the time I made it onto my bicycle the sun was on its way down–days are getting so ridiculously short. I headed down the hill and took the first left I could after getting south enough to not get trapped by the cemetery. I pedaled east past boarded-up houses and missing staircases and second floor balconies without floors before taking another right into Johns Hopkins Hospital. Hopkins has bought up so much of this property for redevelopment. That process has been going on for a long time, I gather, and I don’t know much about it. Biking through it today was empty lots ringed with hollowed-out rowhouses in front of gothic churches. Or this picture, from the corner of Eager and Washington, of an empty lot, a new house on the left, and progressive decay going right, all in just one city block. There’s so much I need to learn about what’s going on here, but today it was enough to remember it’s there and then continue my ride around Canton, a stop for frozen yogurt, and a pedal through Fells Point and back up the hill again. It was all just what I needed.