It’s Thanksgiving and I woke up thankful for many things. I am thankful for my sister, who googleyvideochatted with me first thing on this holiday morning and let me show her my cats, for whom I am also eternally thankful. I am thankful for another 80 degree day with plenty of sunshine but just enough clouds to keep me cool for a bike ride. I am thankful that a few years ago I figured out that it’s going to take about 20 minutes to get there–I can either sit in a car, frustrated at all the other cars, or I can get on a bicycle and flyyyyy through the air via my own little legs pedaling in rhythm (I’ve decided to go with the latter). Continue reading
Bayou St. John
Clouds Over Lake Pontchartrain
We’ve had nothing but blue skies for what seems like weeks, so today’s spluttering rain and clouds were a bit of a rude awakening. I guess at some point we will have days that feel like they belong at the end of October. I hopped on the Surly with hopes for good weather luck and headed down to the Treme for the second half of the football game. Nothing good on this given Sunday, so I hoped the ride afterward would be better. It was. Continue reading
Blighted House at Bienville & N. Tonti
I spent the day working from home and didn’t feel much like going anywhere, but by 5:00, I was feeling jumpy and decided to just get on the bike a ride to the grocery store. Once I was on the bike and pedaling, what usually happens happened, and I ended up taking a longer ride around town. I take the same main routes all the time, so today I decided to head out on my route to Bayou St. John but to just keep going instead of taking that right. Pedal, pedal, pedal, and I was at the end point of a different route–guess there’s more than one way to get there. Continue reading
Upward Bound Tulane University Sign at Broadway & Plum
My Wednesdays are crazy busy and this one had a couple of bumps that made it particularly long, so by the time I stumbled out of the office at 6:30 I wasn’t exactly looking forward to getting on the bike. But then I felt the air–cool–and clipped in and was off, tonight to Bayou St. John for dinner with T., T., and N. I stopped quickly, though, to take a picture of this sign at Broadway and Plum. I mean, the thing is seriously proud of itself. Continue reading
Southern Recycling Scrapyard at Toulouse and N. Dorgenois
As you’ve now heard, tropical storm Bonnie has broken apart and storm warnings have been canceled and this is all the very best news for us. I took my bike, left my raincoat at home to tempt the fates, and headed to Mid-City to meet D. and M. for lunch. It was delightful to ride with some cloud cover and a completely free afternoon. Continue reading
Wheelbarrows on Harrison in City Park
After a storm dropped buckets and buckets of rain on us (thanks for the ride to brunch, S. and J.!), I hopped on the Surly for a holiday afternoon pedaling around town. I headed for Bayou St. John and City Park to see if I could find some July 4th revelers, but alas, there were few. I think it’s true that most folks go out of town for the holiday weekend. Either that or the brutally hot temps were keeping people close to air conditioning. But I love riding in the heat, and today I was in the mood to sweat. Continue reading
Blue Skies Over Bayou St. John
I have been riding the Surly almost exclusively lately, but this afternoon I hopped on the road bike I got from S. and headed out to meet D. for lunch. Man, road bikes are entirely different creatures, aren’t they? Seriously speedy, crazy-quick handling–it was fun. But this evening found me riding over to the Jeff Davis overpass for a photo shoot with D. from the New Orleans Bike Book, and I needed to take the Surly for this one. Continue reading
Bike Parking at the Tour de Lis
I got up early this morning to bike over to City Park for the Tour de Lis. I was a bit sluggish after a lot of riding over the past few days, I’ll admit. My legs are t-i-r-e-d. But it was good to see lots of other folks with fresh-looking legs up early for some loops around the park to raise money for Lance Armstrong’s foundation. The bike parking was tremendous, as you can see in this photo. I also enjoyed the 9:00am chicken pasta washed down with a cold beer. Continue reading
Piles of Traffic Signs on Lafitte Near N. White
I hopped on the Surly a little after five o’clock with a single-minded focus: ducklings. I saw some a couple weeks ago when I went kayaking with K. and M., and I heard through the grapevine that the ducklings were getting big. And there’s nothing cuter than teen ducks. I cheerfully zipped over to Bayou St. John, fully expecting to see dozens of the furry little guys. Continue reading
Tomato Plant at the 7th Ward Neighborhood Center
Like most folks who ride bikes all the time, sometimes I’m riding for transportation–I’m just trying to get somewhere. Like last night, when I was just trying to get home and it was late and I was tired and I needed a snack. I still stopped and snapped a picture of a weird stripe of blue paint on a building, but mostly I was just riding home. Today, though, I spent in my very favorite way, just riding slowly around the city, getting myself lost and found again. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 