It is springtime in New Orleans again. Every time I think it’s time to swap out summer clothes for winter, we get another temperate day like today, perfect for a bike ride with no destination. I hopped on the Surly and headed downtown, only to run into a holiday parade. A parade! I love a parade. This was a short one, but it featured stilt walkers, the McDonough 35 band, dancers, and, of course, Santa Claus. Continue reading
Bywater
Abandoned Public Housing at Mazant & Law
I was feeling a little out of sorts today, which is almost always a sign that it’s time to take a bike ride, so that’s what I did with my late afternoon, and yep, that’s exactly what I needed. The bike ride never fails to either get me out of my head or let me settle into it, depending on what I need. I first rode over to the JJPL offices to drop off a check to W. in exchange for his presentation to my students about gender, youth, and prisons in New Orleans. After chatting a bit, I zipped downtown to the St. Claude bike lane where I could pedal in rhythm (except for all those trucks parked in the bike lane–sigh). I took a left and tooled around the upper ninth, stopping at Mazant and Florida to snap a picture of this public housing, abandoned, like much of this neighborhood, covered in graffiti, behind barbed wire fencing. Continue reading
Abandoned Taxi Cabs at Baronne & Terpsichore
Another lovely day in New Orleans, another lovely bicycle ride. After getting some work done at home, I hopped on the Surly and headed down to the Bywater for what I thought would be coffee, but turned into a second lunch (grilled cheese with pears and caramelized onions? you tease!). After a little of this and a little of that, I rode to the gym, and then to S.’s house. She wanted to know if I wanted to take her bicycle shopping this weekend. Continue reading
Satellite Dishes and Overgrowth at Piety and Chartres
I didn’t ride my bike yesterday. I didn’t do much, actually, other than walk to the grocery store for cat food, sour cream, and lettuce and then watch TV. It was the perfect lazy reset kind of day. I got up this morning and did some reading and writing and looking at work I didn’t want to look at and figuring out what to do about it. After the game I took my frustrations out on my bicycle, pedaling as fast as I could to K.’s house for a meeting. That meeting had its own frustrations, so I headed down to the Bywater afterward to meet R. at W.’s house. Continue reading
Blue Sky and Clouds Over Dauphine & Piety
I had a juice date with S. down in the Bywater this morning, so that meant I got to hop on the bike early. I don’t usually see downtown at that time of day, and I swear the light is different. I had trouble deciding on a route. I wanted the speed of St. Charles without the rocky riding I expected on Camp Street in the CBD–they’ve been resurfacing it for repaving–but I decided to risk it, and took Prytania down to Camp. Guess what? Continue reading
Giant Chainlink at Dreyfus Cortney Lowery Mooring & Rigging at Poland & Galvez
Today was my birthday. All I wanted for my birthday was a bicycle ride around town. Seriously, that is all I wanted. It is such a treat to just get on a my bike and ride. I feel like such a broken record sometimes, but it’s my birthday, so I can sing whatever song I like. I spent most of my day like I spend most days–writing, teaching, riding my bicycle. Today featured a lovely lunch and ice cream date with R., who, upon looking at my scrapes and lacerations from last night’s fall, thought we best check in with the health clinic. Continue reading
Train and Graffiti at Chartres and Lesseps
I woke up this morning hoping the rain would stay at bay for just one afternoon so I could get a real ride in. I wrote my daily words by 10am, stopped by the bike shoppe for cleats for my new bike sandals, and headed to class. The thunder started, but no rain. Until, of course, I was heading home. I managed to avoid a downpour until I headed back out to meet friends for lunch. Continue reading
Blue Sky Over the Fountain at City Park’s Big Lake
I had one of those days today, the kind where you set out on your bicycle with no real plan and find yourself stumbling across the most lovely things in fantastic weather with a spectacular blue sky overhead. Oh, it was divine! After a quick stop to make some copies at work, I rode over to City Park to register for tomorrow’s Tour de Lis and find out about getting a spot to hand out membership applications for the Metro Bicycle Coalition (regular readers: please consider joining to support safe cycling in the Crescent City!). By the time I got over there I was seriously soggy from the heat, so I ducked into the New Orleans Museum of Art for air conditioning and Continue reading
Jasmine On a Brick Wall at Governor Nicholls and Chartres
Oh, it’s muggy out there–the kind of muggy that means my glasses fog up when I step out of air conditioned buildings, or even when I’m just breathing a little hard from pedaling fast. I headed out on the Surly to check out Jazz Fest crowds and also to get away from news coverage of the river of oil gushing in the Gulf. Continue reading
A Caressing Breeze From the Bywater to the Lower Garden District
I don’t usually ride my bike with other people. When I go out for a ride it is usually so I can be alone, not because I’m thinking terribly deep thoughts, but kind of so I can empty out, not pay attention to anything but the road, the traffic, and whatever pops into my view. And sometimes I’m just trying to get somewhere, as fast as I can. Tonight, though, I rode back home with B., after a lovely evening out with a whole slew of good friends. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 