Virginia Tech – 32 dead? – 21 dead? – first it was 1 dead – still no news as I sit here in some form of paralysis that started early this morning – a dread that has been confirmed with the smallest incident (the concrete layers hit my water pipe in the front yard three hours ago) to work issues that have people acting conspiratorial and weird to large events like a gunman killing innocent…
I stayed in bed late and read the paper front to back with the heat turned up in my little cocoon zone. It was cold outside which is mind blowing since it was 89 degrees one day and then back to shiver me timbers. I took a walk with Arlene and J came with Lucky and the wind was blowing so cold on the bayou that we walked in back along the houses – we…
Saturday after a gloomy start the weather cleared and I went to FQF to see Kermit Ruffin get married to Juicey on stage. He was followed by Big Sam Nation and I caught up with Ham and Teresa as Ham was running for paramedics on account of a woman had passed out behind him. I ran with him and the paramedics back to where his friends were and the woman had disappeared – it was…
Yesterday work was crazy until late in the afternoon when a source of mine in New York said hey, why aren’t you at French Quarter Fest and I said I’M TRYING! – it was so gorgeous outside and the forecast was for rain on Saturday. So around 5 I caught a cab to Woldenberg Park and caught the tail end of Algiers Brass Band, and walked over to see Benjy Davis Project (which I like…
I’m finishing up my Richard Ford novel, Lay of the Land, and his protagonist, Frank’s Permanent Period is as right on as the dreamy period Frank first spoke of earlier in the trilogy – both pronouncements mirroring my life at each juncture. It’s strange that I, a wordsmith myself, don’t have words to articulate how I feel about my ex-husband right now, about how my affair with N was otherworldly, and how now all of…
A friend in crisis – pregnant, horomonal, in the midst of remodel – called to help me get her off the ledge. The crisis? Metal, plastic clad windows and French doors that were installed instead of wood. She said at this point I will only take your word on this – so I gathered up G and we drove uptown. When we arrived my contractors – D&S – were there and I got out of…
On my walk through the park this morning, the blue herons taking flight as we came around the bend, I crossed over to the other side and while Arlene and I were watching the ducks comingling with the swans, a guy on a riding lawnmower said “hi,” and I smiled, he turned off the engine and he said, “what a great day huh?” and I said “for sure,” and he replied “and what a great…
Marty is here with his crew making my concrete retaining wall for the front yard along with my brick walkway – he had a run in with my neighbor who came out to tell him that his driveway is private and if they trespass they will be arrested. Nice huh? Welcome to the neighborhood where 99.9% of the people are friendly except the one who lives right next door to the LaLa. Code says 7′…
There is a good op-ed piece in today’s Times Picayune by Jarvis DeBerry about the misconception of Katrina by the American public. I encountered this with my cousins from Miami, who believe, as does my renegade ex-brother-in-law, that New Orleans was hit by a natural disaster. Wrong. As DeBerry so eloquently puts it: “There are Americans across this country who are resistant to the idea that what happened here in New Orleans was something other…