signs

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Sign on Homewood Friends Meeting House on Charles Between 31st & 32nd Streets

I had a short run on my calendar this morning, just two miles. I haven’t run just two miles in six weeks, and I have to admit it was a relief to be looking at such a short run at the end of this hot week that’s going to get even hotter. I headed out by 9am, but it was already 80 degrees and 80% humidity. I zigged and zagged to stay in the shade as much as possible, and I was cruising. I’m a slow runner, so hitting my first mile less than 12 minutes in and I felt like an Olympic champion!

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Safe Pedestrianism PSA Seen From Fallsway & N. High

Safe Pedestrianism PSA Seen From Fallsway & N. HighMonday’s bike ride took me up to Locust Point, and oh, it was lovely after a morning reading for pleasure and doing some light grading. I followed the usual bikeway down the hill and up and around the harbor to Federal Hill and then down Fort Avenue. The ride back was just the same, and I spent some of each ride thinking about cars, as one must do, of course, when trying to share the road with them. There’s so much push back about bikes on the road–cyclists break the rules, they run stop signs and red lights, they refuse to use proper lighting at night to be seen, they ride too fast/too slow/too bicycle-speed to be on the road, they don’t wait their turn, etc. I get that. I see it, and it makes me unsafe too, especially when riders don’t heed my right of way as a fellow cyclist. Ok, true. Continue reading →

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US Coast and Geodetic Survey Benchmark Medallion on School 33 Art Center at Light & Birckhead

US Coast and Geodetic Survey Benchmark Medallion on School 33 Art Center at Light & BirckheadMonday was a day of appointments all over the city, which actually means a day of riding all over the city, if you are lucky enough to commute by bike. I started early, joining the morning traffic as I snaked my way south and east and south and east for an appointment at the eastern edge of Fleet Street. I skipped the usual route and got to ride through neighborhoods I normally don’t hit, including a bonus morning skip through the Old Town Mall, suddenly slated for redevelopment, thank goodness. I’m a suspicious li’l worry wart, though, so I should probably hold that thank goodness until we see what the city decides to subsidize there. Continue reading →

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“Excuses Are Tools of the Incompetent” Sign at Carver Vo-Tech High School at 2201 Presstman Street

wpid-IMG_20140329_144215.jpgI rode my bike a lot last week–it’s how I get around 90% of the time–but I didn’t write, giving my typing hands a rest. I saw some good stuff while off the blog: another round of snow, the first crocuses of this slow-in-coming spring, suburban potholes being paved over and city potholes growing wide enough to see the brick of past roads showing through, and, on Saturday, another debate tournament. It was spitting rain when I got up that morning, a little more when I got on the bike to head to Carver High for my first high school competition. Continue reading →

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Safety Signs in Storage at 26th & Charles

Safety Signs in Storage at 26th & CharlesWednesday was another commute in a long week of commutes in crazy weather. I misread the reports and decked myself out for a monsoon, plastic pants and all. Yeah, I didn’t quite need those. The commute went off without incident, to and from, until I started up Charles from the station to home. Charles has been under construction for awhile now, inching closer and closer to North Avenue. This is a main drag of Baltimore’s White Stripe, and it was in terrible condition–time for a real fix, inconvenient and dusty as it might be. Continue reading →

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Safety Cone Overlooking Northwest Baltimore From Druid Hill Park

Safety Cone Overlooking Northwest Baltimore From Druid Hill ParkN. and I were getting ready to head to Druid Hill Park for a second day of Pride festivities. She was driving, but I’d have to head home first. “Why don’t you toss Brompty in the trunk?” Great idea. I folded up the bike, grabbed my helmet, and we were off. Continue reading →

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Safety Cone on a Toppled Mailbox on St. Paul & Chase

Safety Cone Atop a Downed Mailbox on St. Paul & ChaseThursday night’s ride was brief–down the hill, a lovely dinner with a new friend, and a slow walk up the hill, because sometimes I feel like walking, especially when my legs are feeling a little heavy and I’ve got some thinking to do. The night was cool, but that kind of cool that suggests tomorrow might be a little bit warm because spring is on the way. On the walk back I snapped this picture of an overturned mailbox with a safety cone on top it. What’s being kept safe is a bit unclear, but I’m safety girl, so I suppose I appreciate the warning. I saw this alert earlier in the day from my car window, and it reminded me of New Orleans and the way folks would alert their neighbors about potholes by putting a stool, halogen lamp, wicker chair, or some other tall household item in them. By NOLA standards this safety cone business is downright official.

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No Trespassing Sign Along the BWI Loop Trail on the Aviation Blvd Stretch

No Trespassing Sign on the BWI Loop Train on the Aviation Blvd StretchI normally work from home on Wednesdays, but a student needed to meet with me, so there you go. Well, if I had to be out there, I figured I might as well toss the Brompton in the trunk of the car and take a ride around the BWI Loop Trail, a place I never ride because to get there means driving, and why bother doing that when I can just step out my door and roll down the hill? Here’s why: I drove up to the train station parking garage (I can bring Brompty on the train next time!), lifted the bike out of the trunk, unfolded it in about a minute, and then I was off for a ten mile easy pedal on smooth asphalt, no cars to contend with–only other bicyclists, and these ones were friendly. Continue reading →

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Protest Signs and Protesters at Baltimore’s Trayvon Martin Justice Rally at Pratt & Light

It was time to get back in the work saddle today, so I woke up early, did some reading, research, and writing, and then spent the afternoon on grading and class prep, most of which I did down in Fells Point after a blustery bike ride down the hill. I hate riding in the wind, even more than in rain. Those 25 MPH gusts feel downright scary when they poof you into traffic! But I wasn’t going to drive downtown, and I wanted to be there for Baltimore’s march against racism and for justice for Trayvon Martin, so I threw my hoodie in my bag for later (not because I am Trayvon Martin–my race privilege ensures I won’t be–but because I respect the rhetorical approach), and rode squint-eyed against the wind over to Patterson Park and then back down to Fells Point. Continue reading →

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Quiet Has Its Own Set of Problems at Fayette & Fulton

It was like springtime in Baltimore today. The sun was out, the sky was this ridiculous shade of blue, and I had time to ride my bicycle all the way to work. I made a couple of stops, to vote and to pick up a video from the library, exercising both the rights and privileges of citizenship, and then I pedaled down to Fayette, took a right, and just kept going. Continue reading →