For 4th of July, the bayou back home in New Orleans was resplendent with the Krewe of Kollosos boat parade. Our friend who is staying at our house and taking care of our four legged family members sends a photo of what we missed:
Every year on the eve of St. John’s Day, a voodoo priestess and her followers gather on the Magnolia Bridge over Bayou St. John to offer blessings for the crops. It used to be Marie Laveaux, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, now it’s Sallie Ann Glassman, the Voodoo Priestess of New Orleans. Michael Domenici, WWOZ host of the New Orleans show took some cool photographs this year.
At the beginning of this year I had a creative spurt so strong I was scaring myself. I looked around and saw so many endeavors, businesses, ideas, I was on fire – most of these ideas centered on other people’s businesses. And then I hit a lull when my hair fell out but this is only a reorganization (truly). One thing for sure is in looking around I am beginning to see creative spirits on…
Tidings of Love ‘Twas the night before Christmas in Faubourg-St. John And not a creature was stirring, at home or beyond. The stockings that hung by the chimneys were frayed With thousands laid-off and the rest underpaid, And tucked into spots where they wouldn’t be taken Were cookies for Santa in case of a break-in. The kids dreamt of sugar plums dancing with stars, But the dreams of the grown-ups were really bizarre: The mayor…
This is what the sky looked like before the calendar flipped to 2012: This is what the beach looked like in Hollywood Florida where we were supposed to be headed today: This is what New Year’s Eve looked like:
Tin and I went as Re-Bridge volunteers to help with the wetland restoration planting on Bayou St. John. Then a little grubby we headed over to the Pitot House for the Holiday Craft Fair. We had a tray to return that we had used for the flowers we threw at the Pitot Performance a few weeks ago: It was a lovely day, a nice humid breeze blowing the citrus trees in the garden, and lots…
Last night, I ran through a series of richly detailed dreams about the bayou, the portage, the history of this area that I call home, and I found myself moving in and out of historic homes and meeting people from all times. It was quite an incredible night that perhaps was brought on by conversations of late about conservation, about a tour I took with the Preservation Resource Center as part of the Kid’s Event…
Tomorrow night at 7PM the Fair Grinds Coffeehouse will debut Bayou St. John: Portrait of a Neighborhood and I will bring my computer to show an continuous loop on Bridge Stories, part of the ReBridge project. If you are in New Orleans and in the area, come on down and see what all the fuss is about. Meanwhile, the stories will be moved to the blog on ReBridge after the opening.
Yesterday, friends were over and we took a walk about around the lovely bayou. I spoke about our plans for the future, living at the LaLa and then retiring to the Quarter with trips abroad. I confessed to having been a ball of nerves last year because of my anxiety and fear of the future and now I had come to the conclusion that I must be open to any future that arrives. Later on…
I figured the other day it was time to step up and be the adult I’ve become instead of still trying to hang onto notions of me as a bohemian short story writer living in a one room French Quarter apartment – a romantic notion that I secretly harbor even to this day. So I looked around the other night and being as present as I could be here is what I observed: Tatjana was…