Morning Routine

There won't be a ride for me this morning.  It's been raining off and on and I have an early meeting, so options are pretty limited. It's just as well. I don't want any hint of sore legs for Sunday's ride. So I walk the dogs, make some coffee, and sit out on the front porch to survey my little corner of the world. 

To the right, one neighbor has the garden hose out, washing off the oak flowers that have covered his car as he smokes a cigarette.  A few minutes later he hops into the car and heads off to work across the river where he's a nurse.  Across the street, the guy who moved into the lower apartment steps out, backpack, running shoes in hand, and drives off.  He's a doctor, a Resident, I'd imagine. As he's leaving a car pulls up next to the house.  There are a couple of school-age kids in it, and mom idles the car as they sit there.  I've seen them before and know they are waiting for the school bus to arrive.  Over to the left another neighbor emerges.  He's wearing scrubs and has his Timbuktu bag over his shoulder.  He hoses the oak flowers off the car and leaves shortly before his partner comes out to walk one of their two dogs.  A guy on a bike, probably a student, comes down the street and turns onto South Claiborne where traffic is starting to back up at the stoplight.  I hear the commotion next door as the neighbor loads her kids into the minivan and heads off to Lusher school. The neighbor to the left, the partner of the one who left wearing his scrubs, comes out with the boy they adopted a couple of years ago and they drive off to school and work as an RTA minivan drops off an older neighbor at her house.  Just now, a few houses down, a mom and her daughter walk to their car.  The daughter is wearing her school uniform - one of the local catholic schools.  I finally glance at my watch. The rain has stopped for the moment and I'm hopeful I'll be able to ride over to Tulane since parking will be impossible.  I'm meeting some folks from Baton Rouge (and the Netherlands) for a brief visit with a few faculty and the president about coastal and water research.  Another morning on Neron Place.....