Northern Exposure - updated

I headed out to the levee this morning, but a mile from the house I hit the brakes. A little break from the group ride seemed in order, so I thought I'd get a little Northern Exposure instead. So I hung a right at Carrollton and set course for the venerable old lakefront. It's only about seven miles from my house to the lake, and only a mile in the other direction to the river. Both the traffic and the weather were already on the rise as I made my way northward to the edge of the crescent, sprinting across intersections and enjoying the light tailwind. Lakeshore Drive was quiet, as it usually is on weekday mornings, except for the road repair work that has, finally, started. There was a couple in matching jerseys riding in the opposite direction, and a few people out walking or jogging, but for the most part I had all four lanes to myself. The lake always looks its best on a clear morning. I stopped for a second at one of the drainage canal bridges to snap a photo showing the seawall, built by the WPA, that stretches over five miles. Behind it you can still see the unrepaired erosion caused by Katrina.

I got home a bit earlier than usual this morning, just in time to give The Wife a drive to Jury Duty down near the criminal court building at Tulane and Broad. That building is really quite interesting, despite its unfortunate location next to Parish Prison and surrounded mostly by businesses specializing in Bail Bonds. The cement relief work was one of local artist Angela Gregory's first public works. In fact, she was quite involved with the WPA Art Project. She lived on Pine Street, just off St. Charles, and I remember visiting her studio a few times back around 1975. There's now an Angela Gregory Gallery at Tulane (she was a Newcomb alumna). She also did the bronze work, including the bust of Aesculapius, at Tulane Medical School, among many, many other public works.

I received an email a little while ago from one of our NOBC alumnae, Jennifer Weaver, who moved away around 2001. She's now back on the bike, living in Tucson, and working for a local TV station where she just did a story on cycling: http://kuat.org/misenplace.cfm?ID=699. Nice job! It's a fact that once cycling gets in your blood you'll always come back. In fact, I got an email the other day from Sally (Bindursky) Finklea where she mentioned that she and Tom recently bought new road bikes and started riding again.