We’re very fond of our zoo here at the LaLa despite the fact that Heidi the German Shedder has left a coating of dog fur from one end of the house to the other and barks at anyone who deigns to walk by, and despite Loca’s vertical jumps that have left deep grooves in the solid mahogany window sills, and Bam Bam’s grey fur that has coated the one chair on the screen porch and…
I’ve been going through photographs of my mother trying to select the best one for a porcelain cameo like the one of my grandmother on her headstone. In doing so, I’ve been looking into her eyes over and over, so much so that she is in my dreams and drifting in and out of all my thoughts these past days. I can tell you that I’m shaken by her beauty, her deep green eyes and…
I’ve told many people that you could come visit New Orleans and not see a trace of the Great Government Levee Failure of 2005 or you can see it appear through every nook and cranny – just depends on how you are looking. I took the truck in for repairs on Bienville this morning, taking the dogs with me so that I could walk them back home. I walked down Bienville, crossing Carrollton on my…
My NYT was a no show this morning, and friends called for breakfast at Cake Cafe, one of my favorite joints in the Marigny, so off we went. I had just been reading quotes in Harper’s of letters sent to Franklin Roosevelt after his radio announcements – some were banal like one who told him the pronunciation of status is with a long a not a short one, but a lot of them were insinuations…
“I love the fall. I love it because of the smells that you speak of; and also because things are dying, things that you don’t have to take care of anymore, and the grass stops growing.” – Mark Van Doren I was going to get some plants at Mizell’s yesterday and asked my neighbor if she wanted me to pick her up one and she said no way, everything is about to die. My allergies…
My last entry sent me towards Wordsworth and the contemplation of material versus nature, but after a day in the weightiness of New Orleans oppressive heat I have to step back and say sometimes nature is not so comforting as a Wordsworthian poem might represent. Tin is a sweater, beads of perspiration appear on his lip if he even looks at the front door and yesterday he was sweating like an athlete. I poured some…
Late in the afternoon on Saturday I went over to Walgreens to get Tin another sketch book as he and Margarete have filled up two already. His crayons and drawing are his new favorite thing. A second hand store has opened nearby on Carrollton Avenue and so I went in – not because I need anything, but because I wanted to do some mindless shopping after having a yellow day with Tin. A while ago,…
I had to drive to Bogalusa this morning and deal with some of the finishing touches concerning my mother’s grave and so I decided to take Tin to the Butterfly and Hummingbird Festival at Mizell’s Farms. It’s fall here in New Orleans but it was 96 degrees at 9:30 am as we made our way to the northshore, crossing Lake Ponchartrain over the Causeway. The Causeway is becoming an icon of death for me as…
I ran into my guru in the park this morning, the mayor of the neighborhood, and we were talking about my mother’s grave, and angels, and dogs, and all of the symbols and portents we put on things in our lives. He was telling me about an object his wife had wanted that she didn’t get when her parents died and she had a hard time getting over the loss. A friend said, “Let that…
Friday nights have become for the most part, nights at home and last night, T suggested that after we fed Tin we’d walk over to Swirl and so we did. But of course, we arrived much later than we though since it takes a long time when you wake up late from a nap, and when dinner is suddenly not enough and you want three servings of mashed potatoes, one half a sweet potato, one…