Baltimore and Books and Bikes and Bardo(g). A Weekend in Fragments.

I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

1. Baltimore Museum of Art. Saturday, 11:30a.

   A deliciously grey rainy day. The kind that melts the sky for hours. Sleeping with the windows open, recovering after 3 days of knock-down-drag-out mid-week flu. An impulsive trip up the parkway to B-more. To explore a new museum.. impressive modernist collection (a surprising Schiele, copious amounts of Matisse, a great late-Cezanne Mt. St. Victoire painting) and a good contemporary collection as well. But nothing that took my breath away - except sliding past the Louise Bourgeois tucked in the corner of the Cone Collection and staring at the rain through the plate glass windows..

   A fun dash through the rain for a burger and beer and then to Normal's. Where I picked up Writings and Drawings. Probably to send to JA.

2. Escobar: Paradise Lost. Angelika Pop-Up. Saturday, 7p.

   Benicio del Toro as Pablo? Shots of the gorgeous Colombian countryside? Sign me up. The rest was fine and exciting and suspenseful - but I'll take Pablo playing in the pool with his grandkids, or the mountains outside Medellin any day.

3. Fraser's Preserve. Sunday, 11:30a.
   

   A six mile hike to, and along, the rushing Potomac. Blissfully quiet, empty, serene. Stinging nettles. Puddles. Mud. An out-of-date guidebook. Delicious.

4. The Two Rivers Ride. Sunday, 6:00p

   My favorite bike loop: Start on Benning Road, heading east to the Anacostia River Trail. Over the muddy Anacostia, full to the brim. Through the playgrounds and cookouts and basketball courts of River Terrace, under the tall trees on the CSX access road. Over the bridge across the train tracks, through Anacostia Park. The view of Navy Yard and the ballpark from the 11th Street Bridge:

   Looking West from the 11th Street Bridge. Anacostia Riverwalk Trail.

   A photo posted by Ben (@lonesomeace) on Jun 28, 2015 at 6:00pm PDT

   Back across the Anacostia on the South Capitol bridge. Left on P to the Titanic Memorial, along the bricks of Ft. McNair. Then through the radical deconstruction of the SW Waterfront (my god!) to the Jefferson Memorial. Over the 14th Street bridge to the Mt. Vernon Trail. Left to Gravelly Point. Then doubling back to the Memorial Bridge. [NB: Ride can be expanded in either direction here, depending on weather / human conditions]. Swoop south along West Potomac Park back to the Jefferson Memorial. Then re-trace steps through SW / SE / NE (I generally prefer 11th Street), ending at Bardo..

   Trinidad at the magic hour...

   A photo posted by Ben (@lonesomeace) on Jun 28, 2015 at 6:04pm PDT

   And that. Is a weekend. I could get used to it.

Now playing: Frank Ocean, Channel Orange. Of course.