Friday’s ride started early with a morning pedal over to R.’s to sit on her back porch and ostensibly talk about our project, but we got waylaid by jokes and girl talk and such, sipping coffee and staring up at this beautiful sky–all blue and green, the power lines a punctuation more than anything, because that was my mood, sitting there with my friend in her neighborhood, feeling at home here. And then I rode over to Hampden for an appointment, pedaling as fast as I could because that neighborhood is always farther away that I think, and I do not like to be late. An hour later and I was riding home to grab my car for the drive to work. Oh, I would rather be on a bicycle these days, especially as the weather just starts its turn to that part where full sun doesn’t mean full sweat and the breezes are actually cool. Bring it, fall. This bicyclist is ready to transition, and I’ve got my windproof gear all ready for a long winter. And I want to sit out on that patio and watch the leaves turn gold and red and orange and then stare up at bare branches against a chilly blue sky. Sometimes I don’t want time to pass, but right now I’m ready for it. I’m glad I get to tour the changes by bike.
Piles of Tires in the Parking Lot of the Sports Legends Musuem/Camden Yards at Howard & Camden
My coupon was about to expire, so I took my Tuesday afternoon self down to the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards and locked my bike up to the new bike racks they’ve installed by the baseball stadium as a way to encourage me to “Go Green.” I wonder if there are folks who ride a bike because it’s “green” rather than because it’s fun, cheap, easier than driving and parking, faster than the bus, or any of the reasons I ride a bike. I remember when I quit smoking–I suddenly cared deeply about the deep imbrication of tobacco production with the growth of southern plantation slavery, but that’s certainly not why I quit smoking. But hey, anything that gets you off the smokes and on the bike will make you a happier camper, in my opinion. Continue reading
Taking a Break on a Loop Around the Druid Hill Park Reservoir Bike/Ped Path
And then some days you just want to mindlessly pedal and listen to music and say your how-you-doin’s to other people doing the very same thing. Monday was that day, so after getting caught up on work emails all afternoon, I hopped on my bike and headed out in the Labor Day humidity for a ride around the Druid Hill Park reservoir. Continue reading
Photographer Waiting at a Hole in the Fence at Light & Lee
Friday’s ride took me quick-like-a-bunny-rabbit to as east on Fleet Street as I could go for a doctor’s appointment that took too long and then over to the Inner Harbor to see what the Grand Prix was doing so as to add evidence to my complaintapillaring about the thing and then around to Federal Hill for a massage–rough life, I know. Following the googleymap directions to the doc’s I rode past the building I saw on Thursday, and it looked different this time, when it was on the main drag heading south from when it was stumbled upon as I was coming out of being lost. Continue reading
Plants Taking Over a Blighted Building at E. Oliver & N. Durham
Thursday’s ride was one of those rides where you pedal around trying to get out of the post-first-day-of-school funk that always follows the heavy excitement of day one. I rode up the hill, ate a sandwich, and then rode down the hill, not sure of my destination. I decided to see if Pratt Street was closed for that boondoggle known as the Baltimore Grand Prix (thinking about the waste of resources makes me apoplectic–don’t get me started). I hate the thing, but if the road was closed to cars, maybe I could sneak in a bike race. No such luck, so I headed east, eventually ending up in Canton for some frozen yogurt and an hour of watching dogs tug around their owners. Continue reading
View From a Back Porch in Waverly
Wednesday was the first day of classes, and oh, I was excited! I love the first day of school–all the books are new, no one is behind on the readings, all the grandmothers are still alive, and we are all full of hope for an exciting semester of learning together–at least that’s how it feels to me. I get so excitable, though, that I’m pretty much exhausted at the end of just two classes. I drove my car home in the post-teaching haze, rested up for just a bit, and then I hopped on the bike for a slow pedal up and over to Waverly to see R. and her new house, a bike ride I expect to take a lot in the next year. Continue reading
Mother’s Garden in Clifton Park at 32nd & Harford Road
Monday was my last free day before the start of a new semester, so after finishing up some syllabi (syllabuses?) it was most assuredly time to take a bike ride. I headed north and east toward Lake Montebello to do some easy laps with the rest of the Mondays-off crowd. I rode through sprinklers and past geese having their afternoon snacks, followed the sign to Morgan State only to hit a dead end 45 seconds later (construction, always with the construction), and after a third lap got off the trail and onto the street to explore the neighborhood. Continue reading
Antlers For Sale at the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show at the Convention Center
The last time I hung out at the Baltimore Convention Center I was an outsider, and I left with a massive sense of appreciation for this very small subculture that at its best seems built out of love and goodness. I thought I might be a bit less of an outsider at today’s convention; my mom’s an antiques dealer, and I have a visceral memory of sitting on the floor behind the folding tables at the antiques shows out at the Idaho State Fairgrounds. After a long morning reading this and that, I thought I’d test out my theory with a ride down to the harbor to check out opening day of the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show. Continue reading
Assembling Bleachers for the Baltimore Grand Prix at the Inner Harbor
I was long overdue for a long bike ride, so that’s what I got on Tuesday. I had an appointment on Fleet Street, so in my head it was just down the hill. Then I looked at the map–Fleet Street goes all the way out there, to the edge of Canton, and I needed to get on the bike and pedal fast to make it on time. I did, down the hill and up Baltimore Street since I never go that way; just because you’re in a hurry doesn’t mean you can’t take a new route to see what you see. This way east is a longer hill than I’m used to, but it felt good to just pump up there–there’s a downhill on the other side. Continue reading
Virginia Creeper Covering Everything But Two Tree Trunks in Druid Hill Park
Today’s ride took me over to Waverly and then up to Druid Hill Park for some laps around the reservoir where I could safely listen to a song or two on repeat. Halfway around the circle and I was zipping through clouds of gnats. I ducked my head down, but there’s no way out but through with these things. Not willing to hold my breathe for the long straightaway, I veered off the path and up over toward the Jones Falls Trail for air hopefully less filled with these tiny bugs. I stopped to snap this picture on the bridge over the falls on the way to the zoo. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 