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My mother’s castle

Mom and I went to Mandina’s today after a few weeks of not getting together for our Saturday ritual. She hadn’t been there in ages and she was thrilled to be going after our efforts to go to Parkway were thwarted by them being closed. When we walked in two very elderly ladies were seated in the bench by the door, one of them asked mom if she wanted to sit down. Later mom said…

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There’s a kind of hush

Woke up to a calm that was echoed in everything – the quietness in the house with the absence of Wolfie, the tranquilness of the park this morning as Loca and I walked through a sort of stillness, thickness, almost lulling white noise and overexposed light. The calm before the storm, even though the storm was Tuesday, when we all stormed into the streets with costumes and fire in our bellies ready to roar. It’s…

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The (s)low after the high

The build up to Mardi Gras always seems to come on like a freight train. While the rest of the world is planning their year in January, we are starting our Mardi Gras revelry, fresh off the holidays. Depending on the moon, it can come on like a freight train – last year it was February 5, when we were barely out of New Year’s diapers. What’s simply amazing about Mardi Gras is the visual…

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Fat Tuesday – Hail to Great Weather

Yesterday, around 8:30 in the morning, as folks in other parts of the world got their coffee and went to their desks, I already had on my false eyelashes and friends were stopping by for a Bloody Mary – why? because that’s how we roll here in the Big Sleazy and it was Fat Tuesday after all. Here are neighbors on their way out the door: Then we called a cab and other friends rode…

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When you go to New Orleans…

While you stroll in New Orleans You ought to go see the Mardi Gras If you go to New Orleans You ought to go see the Mardi Gras When you see the Mardi Gras Somebody’ll tell you what’s Carnival for Get your ticket in your hand If you wanna go through New Orleans Get your ticket in your hand If you wanna go through New Orleans You know when you get to New Orleans Somebody’ll…

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