A friend sent a note around St. John’s Eve about all of the lore surrounding this time period; of particular interest is the Mead Moon, which is what the full moon last night is called or better known as the honey moon. The full moon that occurs this month was called the Mead Moon, because honey was fermented to make mead. That’s where the word “honeymoon” comes from, because it’s also a time for lovers.…
I’m off to three cities in three days and though the road ahead holds lots to do, there is the serenity in knowing when I return, Tatjana’s mother will have headed back to Croatia and we’ll be back to our nuclear family again. I really don’t know how extended families survive; it’s hard enough to carve out your own time with a partner and a son. I’m much more of a loner than I would…
Tatjana’s mother leaves this coming Wednesday and so we took her to the French Quarter to go for a buggy ride and have beignets at Cafe du Monde – touristy things worth doing. We got in a white buggy with a white horse that said Just Married on the back and drove around for thirty minutes as I sweated profusely holding Tin wiggling on my lap. Tin was have none of this ride. And I…
A colleague was visiting New Orleans as her daughter is thinking about Tulane. She said to me, I can’t believe you could find such good food and good music in the same city. Welcome to our world. But a lot of the good food has been right here at the LaLa these days. The other day we had some shrimp and pesto linguini with fresh pesto made by my neighbor from the basil in her…
The Backstreet Cultural Museum is a wonderful sanctuary for Mardi Gras Indian lore and costumes. Not only that but they also raise money for back to school and other events to give back to the community. Their second line list is the definitive when and where for New Orleans. They’re up for a vote – please vote for them.
Some friends stopped by the other night and we were discussing The Wire and Treme. Some of the issues I have had with The Wire were confirmed – the stilted dialogue, the acting that suddenly feels slightly less fluid than it should, the gratuitous lesbian scenes, the over macho/homophobic black and white character depictions. And yet it is very compelling for a TV drama. Treme on the other hand gets slammed by its insider New…
I have few regrets but my biggest one is not having my mom meet Tin. She would have been utterly wrapped around his little finger in a heartbeat. I hear her voice telling him – my choochey baby – that is what she would call him. So having Tatjana’s mother come to visit from Zagreb took on paramount importance because she is his only grandmother living. It was interesting to watch her fall in love…
I took Tin to swim lessons with our neighbor today at Elmwood Fitness Center. I had hoped that a friend was going to give him lessons because he’s a black man and those are the two operative descriptions – black and male – because I thought it would be good for Tin to see someone other than a white woman telling him what to do. But he hasn’t been around all summer and my neighbor…
I was watching that CNN clip about lesbian mothers and the daughter of one who wrote Bitch is the New Black. I remember about twenty years ago hearing a woman on the radio in San Francisco who was advocating that women should release their inner bitch. I also was contemplating an observation made about how when you are someone who speaks out in a group, there are people who acknowledge and appreciate your voice and…
So far have two friends who have been to Bay St. Louis and around Alabama’s Gulf Shores and said the coastline is looking clean. Just heard from someone who got back from Destin yesterday morning, and said the shore was clear (except he heard that tarballs washed ashore last night after he left). A friend continues to blog about the shoreline in Florida. I continue to have hope that the ocean is mightier than human…