I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the New Orleans Saints are having a pretty good football season. They were undefeated, 13-0, going into tonight’s game versus the Dallas Cowboys. One of the very first things I learned as a child was to hate the Cowboys. As far my recall goes, my learning went like this: Yankees suck, never cross a picket line, hate the Dallas Cowboys. So yeah, I was rooting for the Saints.I took Rhoda out tonight, for the first time in awhile, and rode down to the Treme for veggie chili and football. Once I got to the CBD I was in tailgate central. There were huge TVs everywhere, BBQs, and drunk folks dancing and screaming about the Saints. I stopped to snap a picture, but was interrupted by a drunken fan who wanted to be in the picture. Then there was the trouble of trying to get a shot that wasn’t blurry with fans rush to the Superdome. This photo was the best I could do. Everybody’s dancing, except for #23 there, who is headed somewhere important, I’m guessing somewhere where thong underwear is involved. Whatever. People were in the good mood you’d expect of fans getting ready to root on the perfect-season Saints. But we lost. To the Cowboys. They pay their cheerleaders, you know. The Saintsations dance for charity, man. The Saints should have one. But we collectively seem to have decided that we needed to get this loss under our belts. Onward and upward, we say. What matters is the big one, not this one. But man, I wish we’d won that game. I’ll be outside the next one, though, on bike. Go Saints!

Finally, a free afternoon on a sunny day! I took the Surly out, no particular destination-my most favorite sort of ride. I decided to hit up the delightfully smooth (minus the train tracks at Press St.) St. Claude bike lane. After dodging a number of cars using the lane for its fine double parking opportunities, I finally reached the St. Bernard Parish line. I rode over to the Chalmette National Battlefield, mostly because I’ve been here before and know they’ve got a bathroom (yep, still there). The place is also absolutely beautiful. As long as you don’t look around too much. I took this picture of the main battlefield, which, according to this plaque that’s suffering severe water damage, is also the site of Fazendeville, an African American community established in 1867 by a Creole businessman who bought an old plantation that he split in to parcels and sold to recently-freed blacks right after the Civil War. The feds seized the land in 1964, via eminent domain, for this lovely spot for this memorial to this last major battle of the War of 1812. That means that Fazendeville was here for almost 100 years. That’s a really long time. The families from this neighborhood moved to the Lower Ninth Ward and restablished their community there. The sign reads, “They continued to be a social and symbolic community until Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.” I will now commence an understatement: how odd to read about people–who are still rebuilding their lives–as an historical artifact. How odd that I’ve not heard of Fazendeville until now. And how odd that we’re all pretending that’s not a whole lot of Industry over there messing up the view, and, well, maybe some other stuff too. There’s a lot to think about here. I’ll need to ride out here quite a few more times.

Oh, it was sunny today. Cool and sunny. My final grades were due today, so I hopped on the Surly, put on a song, and headed to campus. I’ve been feeling a little off lately; I think I just needed a fast pedal in the sunshine and a little bike dancing. After cleaning up after the semester, I headed down to the Quarter, mostly just so I could ride my bike around. I saw lots of stuff–a rude fellow biker who cut me off, fresh potholes on St. Charles after the rain of the past few weeks,  advertising agency down in the CBD with its totally out of place modern design, etc. There was a movie shooting at Jackson Square. The guy who plays his synthesizer for tips was moved out to make way for the cameras. He was muttering about it–with impressive calm, if you ask me–and one of people working on the film asked him if he had his union card, so he could join the shoot. Awkward laughs all around. The whole thing was complicated, so I got back on my bike, after snapping some photos, and headed to the Treme to pick up a friend to wander in the sunlight with. I spotted this plant crawling up the side of a house and got up close to examine it. Look at all those little “feet” shooting out, climbing up the siding! I’m used to ivy, but that stuff hides its feet. Alright, fine. I get it. We need all this rain to support the fantabulous flora we’ve got here. Much easier to feel on a lazy bike ride on a sunny afternoon.

I couldn’t really take it anymore. Way too many days off the bike, except for short, short task rides. So I suited up for the rain and headed down to the Treme to meet up with friends for a little mayoral debate viewing party. It was still raining lightly and I rode ever so slowly, not exactly thrilled, especially when I hit some potholes disguised by water. Those are scary. But it was still good to be on my bike. The ride back Uptown, however, was dreamy. The streets were virtually empty and pretty much dry, and I just pedaled away. Sweet. I stopped on Magazine and Second to snap a picture of this hubcap leaning against some steps. I wonder how it got here; do you think it floated over there? It seems so well cared for; is someone coming back for the thing? I briefly considered picking it up and bringing it home with me but decided to just continue my ride home instead. Send vibes for a few dry days, please. Because I like to ride my bike on dry roads.

This will be a short post, because I didn’t see much while riding my bike today because it has been raining for what seems like forever, and I’ve been in end-of-the-semester work mode, and I don’t love riding in the rain, especially since my glasses get fogged almost immediately so that I can’t see anything, and I haven’t gotten to ride my bicycle all day in over a week, and it’s driving me crazy. But I saw this–a shiny, rainy street while I vainly tried to wait out the thunderstorm. Here’s the picture. I felt pretty frustrated when I took it, but looking at it now, it’s kind of pretty. Good vibes for dry air, people.

It has been raining. A lot. I have managed, by some miracle, to just miss the big downpours this week, but it has also meant no nice long rides without fear of deadly wet gravel, and no blogs. I went to pick up my bike from N.’s house, left when the skies opened up yesterday. It wasn’t raining tonight, but it was incredibly foggy. I stopped to try and take a picture of this playground at Annunciation and Upperline. The shots with a flash show nothing but water droplets (just like my glasses–the main reason I didn’t go for a longer ride). But I kind of like this glowing shot of the swing sets (sans swings) and covered picnic area. There are basketball hoops to the left and a new baseball diamond across the way. I went on googlemaps to get the cross streets when I got back home; they’ve still got the satellite images from a couple years ago. I lived across from this park when I first moved to New Orleans. Ad that wasn’t a baseball diamond; it was a small FEMA trailer park. It’s gone now, but not from the satellite picture, quite yet. And those swing sets? Still swing-less, but you never know.

I can’t get this picture to rotate the right way. That’s because I took it with my new cellular telephone (I hope the thief who swiped my old one has had a chance to make all his/her important calls), and I now have to learn how to use it. Perhaps after finals are over the students shall become the teachers. In the meantime, tilt your head and behold what I found at the Walgreens tonight. Yep. That’s right. King Cakes are here! They’re too early, of course. Mardi Gras is months away. But. I swear it’s already starting to smell like Mardi Gras. I caught a whiff of that cheap-bead-in-cheap-beer scent. And the band at Sophie B. Wright is practicing. I’m going to hold off on picking up my first kind cake for a little while longer, because once I have that first piece, it’s over. When I rolled up to the store tonight I saw a lone front wheel, u-locked to the rack. Someone had swiped the frame and back wheel–a sad, sad state of affairs. A reminder, along with the king cake, that we’ve all got to keep our wits about us for the next few months. But oh! Mardi Gras!

Ok, I know we all talk about weather too much, but I’ve got to tell you, it was sunny and in the seventies today. I was actually sweating on my ride up to campus for final exam #1. It was such a lovely respite from the cold of the past week. My apologies to the neighbors up north–I hear you’re shivering in a blizzard. After proctoring a four hour final (!) I zipped over to the Avenue Pub for the Metro Bicycle Coalition open meeting. It was my first, and it was great to hear the many activities they’ve been up to, and I hope I can help out in whatever ways they need. By the way, if you are looking for a special holiday gift, an MBC membership makes a great stocking stuffer! On my way out I snapped a photo of this impressive cigarette vending machine. Most of the cigarette vending machines I’ve seen are those old tar-covered ones, the ones with the knobs you pull out and hope the smokes that eject were packaged sometime in the past ten years. But this one is seriously posh. I used to smoke–a lot. A pack a day, everyday, for close to 15 years. This machine would have been my dream come true. I mean, check out that symmetry, that selection, that ease of purchase. But I haven’t had a cigarette in over three years, and I honestly don’t want one, not at all. I left the bar happy that I’ve got my bikes, happy that there are lots of other people out there happy to have bikes, and unexpectedly glad that I don’t have to smoke anymore.

The last week or so of rides have been largely task rides. Even when I was riding for pleasure, I was usually looking for a places to put posters or flyers for the Bicycle Film Festival. Today was stormy, but I was excited to get to ride for pleasure to meet friends at a fancy bar on North Rampart for fancy drinks. The streets were wet and empty, and it felt so, so good to just spin the pedals on the Surly as I raced myself downtown. I slowed when I hit the streetcar tracks, though–beware the wet track! The ride back Uptown was even nicer. I don’t know, it just felt good to be riding tonight. I snapped this picture while waiting for the light to change at at Dauphine and Canal. This Walgreens is the brightest in the city, especially so tonight, with the wet asphalt reflecting like this. I love the city’s attempts to make it feel like Christmas in places where they might have trees to string lights. Here, we get giant lighted socks for our palm trees. The light changed and I raced home, strangely pleased I don’t have fenders on the Surly. Yep, it’s always good riding weather in New Orleans.

After a quick car ride today to invest in another cell phone (thanks for nothing, thief), I hopped on Rhoda and headed over to Oretha Castle Haley to help set up for the Bicycle Film Festival at Zeitgeist. My local radio station had informed me that a festival of sorts was also being held on the street. I like a good mash-up, so I was hoping both crowds would be there together.Instead, the daytime crowd was apparently very thin to begin with, so meeting them on the tail end of their event made for some empty streets. OC Haley runs through Central City, a part of town that is still recovering from the floods, and also the kind of abandonment that has met myriad central cities all over the country and world. And then there’s the part where some folks just don’t think it’s safe. But OC Haley is looking to become a new main street, and it is already home to many great programs: Ashe Cultural Arts Center, Young Leadership Council, the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, and several community gardens. There’s much afoot in this neighborhood, and that is really, really cool. Fortunately, folks did come out to see the Bicycle Film Fest in spite of the cold and the zillion other things going on this weekend. Volunteers parked and watched bikes while riders took in the screenings. The movies were fantastic and the venue couldn’t have been better. Thanks to all who came out, and seriously–OC Haley is a great bike route–smooth, fast, friendly. See you out there.