Classes ended yesterday which meant waking up with a touch of lightness in my step. I love, love, love teaching–it’s the best job ever–but it also tires me out. It’s just an awful lot of enthusiasm, and sometimes I need a break to get back to myself. I spent the first part of my day doing just that, hopping on the bike at 9:00am to head down the hill and over to another gym for a swim lesson. Nope–not the teacher. Continue reading
Month: December 2012
Fancy Christmas Trees at the Fancy Hotel in Harbor East
Today’s ride took me down the hill to meet A. for a trip to the gym and then to the coffee shop for snacks and conversation. It was another gray and foggy day, so the ride down the hill was chilly, wet, and kinda slippery, but I’d still much rather be on my bicycle. The streets were positively empty, not because of the weather but because the Ravens game was on, and nobody knew yet how terribly that was going to end up. I locked up to a nearly-empty bike rack–the first time that’s happened at Harbor East in awhile–and then it was a quick turn at the gym before heading back to the fancy coffee shop inside the even fancier hotel. Continue reading
Her Fantastic Cats Performing at Bearings Bicycle Project at Greenmount & 26th
I woke up early on Saturday and decided right away to do absolutely no work-related tasks that day. No emails, no grading, no reading or writing, nothing. I needed a good day off, and I took it. I lazed about for a bit and then layered up for a ride down the hill and around the harbor to meet J. and her parents at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Oh, it felt so good to be flying down the hill on empty streets, the morning fog still hanging on everything taller than a row house. It was quiet and still, and I wondered to myself, how do people who don’t ride bikes or walk around know where they are, like really know? Outside of a car you have no choice but to pay attention. But anyway. Continue reading
View From a Coffee Shop in Harbor East
It’s cold again here, so I put on my windproof jacket when I headed out the door this morning to fetch some things for the sickly S. up the street. And then I realized I forgot my gloves. Welp, that’s a lesson I get to learn again! After a most lovely morning I got back on the bike and headed out on errands and then to get some work done. I pedaled easily along, and once I made it into the sun, my li’l paws warmed up. I’m so, so, so pleased it’s still bicycling weather. It was all lovely until I realized that I was actually going to have to sit down and do some work-bah! Continue reading
Sunset Behind Bare Trees in Druid Hill Park on the Jones Falls Trail
I had one of those perfectly lovely days, the kind where you wake up where you’re supposed to be and spend your morning doing things you’re supposed to be doing, and then there’s a meeting, but then you’re on your bike riding through the park on an unseasonably warm day. That part’s wrong, but like so very many wrong things, it feels so good. It was like springtime on my bare legs as I pedaled along, I swear. Continue reading
So Many Cars Everywhere Downtown
Monday was unseasonably warm, but I had to spend most of it inside offices and classrooms. And then I didn’t, so I rushed home, changed into short pants, a tank top, and a sweatshirt, and hopped on the bike down the hill to enjoy the waning moments of light on a premature spring day. (Something’s not right here, but I will let the climate bloggers worry about that.) What did I see? I saw a burning red disk of a sun sinking into the western skyline, kids in short sleeves throwing balls around an alleyway, a just-dead squirrel I had to go around, folks waiting too long at bus stops, three buses in a row going the other way, and cars. So many cars pulling out of parking lots and turning corners and waiting in lines to get on the JFX. They were all trying to get out while I was trying to get in, but even if that hadn’t been the case I could have zipped ahed of them at all the lights. Total gridlock downtown and it wasn’t even 5 o’clock yet! There has to be another way. I did my turn at the gym and the grocery and headed back up the hill and to Hampden where folks are in their cars again, touring 34th Street’s holiday lights. Me, I will take the bike every time, especially in such nutty weather.
Holiday Decorations at Stoneyford Run & Stony Lane
I didn’t get a bike ride in on Sunday, but I did manage to go for a nice long morning walk with S. and J. We were all tired from the previous night’s dance party, so we decided to make our Sunday morning hike a walk around our neighborhood. Walking is many times slower than biking which means a whole different kind of looking around. Walking just requires and enables a different kind of attention altogether. We walked around Charles Village checking out the new mural going up on 26th and Maryland before taking a right for a trip through the Johns Hopkins campus and its Italian sculpture garden. Continue reading
New Buildings, Blight, and an Empty Lot at Washington & Eager
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. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 