After a morning finishing one book, starting another, and sending some emails I should have sent months ago it was time to get back on the bike and pedal around in a surprisingly beautiful day. I headed down the hill to the Inner Harbor with an eye toward redeeming a coupon for a trip through the historic ships parked there. Well, that coupon expired in May, so I decided to just wander around to see what I could see. First stop: Harborplace. I’ve never been in there, because why, but today I decided to go check out the McCormick Spice store. Continue reading
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Bonfire in a Yard in Waverly
Today’s ride was a short one after a lovely, lazy holiday day with S. and her family in Damascus. I fought all my instincts to stay on my couch under layers of blankets and cats to get on the bike and ride the mile or so to Waverly and this, J.’s Christmas Bonfire. S. played her banjo, J. kept up filled with warm cider and whiskey, and the rest of us provided cheerful company. I stayed until I was too cold and tired to stay any longer, and then I rode home on silent empty streets, my face stinging with the night chill. Even the bar up the way was closed tonight. It was all quiet out there tonight as I pedaled along–my favorite moment of this surprisingly nice holiday.
Empty Lot For Sale at Prytania & Josephine
Today’s ride took me up to the office and back, with a couple stops along the way. It started with sun, but by the time I got Uptown the skies had that steely blue thing going on, and I could mostly just think about my car down on Frenchman, parked in a spot still wet from earlier in the week, and you know what that means. I wonder what it’s like to live in a place with an infrastructure you can trust not to flood in a hard rain. Those places exist, right?
Anyway, I wrote a couple of recommendation letters and threw the rest of my office stuff in to one more box before pedaling home as fast as I could to beat the rain. Annnnnd the clouds were breaking up. Phew. I slowed my roll to enjoy the ride and stopped to take a picture of this lot for sale at Prytania and Josephine. There was a beautiful old church here until January when the place burned down. It had been empty and for sale since Katrina, but I guess there’s not much of a market for a church. The fire was intense, but walls and rubble were left strewn about the place. That lot was cleared in record time, and now here it is, just the ironwork sign and a leaning tree on empty land. Sometimes the bulldozers move quick; we’ll see if the property does. I continued on my way, happy for a day without rain.
Blackout at Decatur and Iberville
Last night’s storms were crazy. The sky was bright with lightening and the rain just poured down, coming dangerously close to my door. I watched the storm, and storm coverage, and finally went to sleep. So when I was invited out and about tonight, I was frankly a little bit nervous, since the weather reports promised similar storms tonight. I finally decided to head out on the bike with an extra pair of shoes and raincoat. I mean, I can get wet, and my bike has certainly seen its share of showers. Continue reading
Burned-Out House at 4th and S. Tonti
I had an hour this morning between work and more work, so I took the opportunity to hop on the new bike and tool around Broadmoor. Broadmoor took on a lot of water when the levees broke, and the neighborhoods in the area are only slowly coming back. Some streets have maybe one house that’s been redone on the block while other blocks look like nothing ever happened. The rebuilding here is incredibly uneven, as it is in most parts of town. Continue reading