I remember when I was living in San Rafael, California, in Marin County, and someone at the gym was going to New Orleans on a girl’s trip and she showed me the B&B someone had recommended. I said, “Well it’s in Treme, and right by Louis Armstrong Park, and fair warning, that area can be a little dicey.” The woman relayed what I said back to the person who had recommended it to her and…
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the what if’s in life and we’ve been talking a lot about living for today, and it occurred to me that things are happening that have never happened before in our lives. For instance, I wrote about my mother dying, my friend wrote about his daughter dying, friends are writing about treating cancer, and all of this is happening in this cyberworld and we’re talking about it and…
The news flash that the Polish president had died in a plane crash came across the television as we were sitting in the Brasserie Marigny after the Vipers cooling our heels; the news prompted me to write my friend and colleague there and tell him that we here in New Orleans were thinking of him, at the time I thought it was only the president who died – his response: pretty tragic for the country,…
We rallied this morning to get to the French Quarter Fest and catch the Jazz Vipers and were lucky enough to be treated to a few swing dancers who showed us as well. Parking was a cinch, the weather was gorgeous, and little Tin got to thoroughly enjoy himself by the stage. We’re getting to the fest, but in increments and maybe that is the best way.
I saw a bumper sticker in California on a beater car that said, “The Meaning of Life is to Live It.” And I must say I buy into that philosophy hands down. Today, I had a stack of paperwork on my desk, I had phone calls to make up the wazoo, I had all sorts of reasons to just stay inside, bury my nose, and not look up. And then I received a note about…
When we have these beautiful days I always say that if people thought the weather was like this all the time they’d all move here and New Orleans would suddenly suck because it would be filled with people who came here and didn’t adapt to what the city is but instead tried to make it what they wanted it to be. That is what happened in San Francisco – 1% of the people are from…
I went to get my tooth fixed and one of the women at the dentist’s office asked me if I had my Easter pictures taken with my son and I said no, we don’t celebrate Easter at my house, not that there is anything wrong with it. She asked me how we celebrate Passover and I said well someone said recently that it is four hours of talking about how miserable it was back then…
After the duck controversy (which is a woman put out a dozen Peking ducks into the bayou and built a ramp and feeds them thereby upsetting the balance of nature), the woman went on to put up a sign that said LOVE DUCKS on her front porch and solicited neighbors to do the same. My neighbor, who is much smarter and funnier, told me if I chose to put the peacocks I wanted on the…
I called Jean Lafitte National Park to see if the irises are blooming. Last time I was there, only one was blooming as opposed to the huge Monet landscape that used to proliferate in spring. Sadly I learned the saltwater that has been encroaching on Louisiana wetlands has all but cancelled out the beautiful show nature used to provide – it is also the reason why the hurricanes are penetrating inland in a more ferocious…
I went to school and continued my education so that I could be a Professor of English Literature and a fiction writer who depicted the victories and pitfalls of a woman’s self-actualization. This morning walking through the refreshed park and smelling the smell of cut grass reminded me of the opening of one of my novellas, The Good Fortune Harvest. When I realized into my master’s degree that I really disliked teaching and that if…