Well, this brings me to my last post on our trip to New Orleans...sigh. Have you enjoyed seeing glimpses of it as much as I've enjoyed telling you about it? I hope so.
Here are the various posts on our trip:
1) Wonderful Food and Restaurants
2) The French Quarter and Street Bands
3) The Garden District
4) Shopping, Books, and Miscellaneous
5) People and Animals
I want to share with you a few photos of people and animals. I realized that while it is easier and I am more drawn to take photos of buildings and landscapes and beautiful trees that, as a writer, it would be good for me to spend more time looking at people. How they are dressed. How they hold themselves. How they interact with others. What does their body language say? This new travel camera Mark gave me has a "discreet" setting (no flash and no "click"). I found that in crowds no one is really paying attention to me; I can get some good photos.
In one case, where musicians were involved, I felt hesitant to draw close for the photo I wanted (and couldn't get at night using the zoom feature...I had to be close). But then I realized that musicians who play on sidewalks in tourist centers probably aren't worried about having their photo taken.
The photo at the top of this post was taken while we were sitting at Cafe Du Monde. A group of uniform-clad schoolkids was milling about and this young lady on the left and her posture were interesting to me. I wondered what sort of books she liked to read. Would she like Lucky Press's latest YA novel, My Beginning? (By Melissa Kline) She sat on the bench a while, then got up and these young men came in and sat down and I loved their posture.
Here is my guy at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse.
I loved the view from our table into the kitchen at Emeril's. Here is a waiter, waiting.
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Blog: Appalachian Morning (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Blog: Appalachian Morning (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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This post continues our visit to New Orleans. Here are the posts related to our trip:
1) Wonderful Food and Restaurants
2) The French Quarter and Street Bands
3) The Garden District
4) Shopping, Books, and Miscellaneous
5) People and Animals
While in New Orleans, Mark and I visited three bookstores. If you've followed my earlier posts, I'm sure you are getting the sense that I really loved New Orleans. It surprised me in so many ways; and of course for me a perfect vacation always includes books. When I visit a new-to-me place, I must find the perfect books to enrich the traveling experience.
Crescent City Books (where I practically tripped and fell into the glass-windowed door): We didn't buy anything in this shop, but it's a nice store located in the French Quarter, not far from the Marriott where we were staying (see sign at left).
Beckman's Bookshop: Located at 228 Decatur Street, don't be put off by the unassuming storefront (see photo above). With not only a wonderful collection of new and used books, the proprietors entered into a discussion with us on Trotsky (when they learned Mark had written The Prophet of Sorrow.) In this wonderful shop, I purchased Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City by Jed Horne. Here's Beckman's Facebook page so you can like them too.
Garden District Bookshop is a well-organized shop located in The Rink in the Garden District on Prytania Street. I purchased New Orleans: A City Named Desire, by Todd and April Fell (I wanted a book with text and cool photos, like the "Eyewitness Books" series, and this filled the bill. Also in my shopping bag: Jumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen and The House on First Street: My New Orleans Story by Julia Reed.
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Blog: Appalachian Morning (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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This post continues our visit to New Orleans. Here are the posts related to our trip:
1) Wonderful Food and Restaurants
2) The French Quarter and Street Bands
3) The Garden District
4) Shopping, Books, and Miscellaneous
5) People and Animals
On our third day in New Orleans, we took a taxi from our hotel to the Garden District and embarked on a walking tour.
The area was originally developed between 1832 to 1900. It may be one of the best preserved collection of historic southern mansions in the United States. The 19th century origins of the Garden District illustrate wealthy newcomers building opulent structures based upon the prosperity of New Orleans in that era. (National Trust, 2006) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_District,_New_Orleans
The homes and yards were beautiful, and as a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let them speak for themselves.
After our walking tour of the Garden District, we stopped in at the local bookstore located in "The Rink" and purchased some books, which I'll list in a future post.
Throughout the neighborhood are beautiful large oak trees and a wide variety of other plants and flowers. Many of the homes have ornate fences and metalwork on the balconies as well as beautiful columns and architectural details. I also loved looking at the paint colors; some houses had subtle variations of colors and others were very bold in their use of color. And everywhere, beautiful trees!
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Blog: La Bloga (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Call it a coincidence that Letting Go is the theme at the Wild Lotus Yoga Studio in New Orleans. When I’m in town, I benefit from blissful moments at Wild Lotus, although yesterday’s class left me slightly crippled (what I get for taking a vacation from exercise as well). During the crazy carnival season, ‘letting go’ is an important reminder. Simple errands, such as making groceries (as they say in New Orleans), can be impossible if you lose a good parking spot or are in a hurry to see the next parade.
I began the carnival season with the intention of forgoing the idea of experiencing carnival in Panama. My sister used last year’s dates for carnival when she booked our airline tickets, an easy mistake if you don’t celebrate Mardi Gras or Easter regularly. I told her that I would be spending Mardi Gras in New Orleans with friends and family. She assured me that Carnival in Panama was different than Carnival in New Orleans or Brazil or the rest of the world celebrating the Catholic festival. The calendar mix-up ensured we had a more authentic experience and enjoyable trip to the Panama. She didn’t realize that Mardi Gras and Easter are dependant on the ever wavering cycles of the moon. The festivities last for weeks on end, before Fat Tuesday and the ensuing fast for lent. However, New Orleans will certainly break the lent fasting shortly after Mardi Gras for the St. Patrick’s Day parade next weekend. Mardi Gras falls on Tuesday, March 8. Mardi Gras can occur as early as February 3 and as late as March 9. This year leaves very little wiggle room for the lent respite of the St. Patick’s Day and St. Joseph Day celebrations.
As someone who has experienced Mardi Gras for seven years, since before Hurricane Katrina, I know that the city’s people population seems to double in size. Dining at a favorite restaurant like Jacques-imo’s can be a challenge, sometimes impossible the weekend before Mardi Gras day. This year HBO has decided to make things on my block a little more interesting. The Episode Manager left a flyer on my doorstep, “Filming Night Parade, Muses, in Your Area.” The all-female krewe has been a favorite parade for over a decade. Add HBO to the mix and I must be homebound and parade bound for the evening. Although the letter assured us the cable show’s “footprint” would be small, I let go of the idea of accomplishing anything other than parading that evening with the cast and crew of Treme, my neighbors, and all the tourists from the North Shore crowding for a chance to catch some girly throws and plastic beads made in China. I had high hopes of going to yoga today, but I let go of that idea as well.
Next week, Mardi Gras gives way to lent and the St. Patrick's Day parades. I will be driving back to California. On Sunday, March 13, I join the Hitched: Writing in Political Oppression Poetry Series at Beyond Baroque, along with Sholeh Wolpe, Alicia Partnoy, Ramon Garcia, and Bilal Shaw, hosted by Xochitl-Julissa Bermeo at 4pm, 681 Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
Blog: First Book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Today is the first annual First Book Friendiversary! We are very excited.
A Friendiversary, of course, is the anniversary of a friendship. Think of one of your oldest and dearest friends. When did you first meet? How did you meet? That story is the story of your Friendiversary.
To celebrate Friendiversary, First Book teamed up with Mo Willems, the author of some truly terrific books for kids and a good friend of ours. Mo wanted to do something special for some of the kids in New Orleans (where he grew up) and Springfield, Mass. (near where he lives now). So today, thousands of 2nd-graders in those two cities are getting their very own copy of one of Mo’s ‘Elephant & Piggie‘ books. They will also be having Friendiversary parties in their classrooms.
We are big fans of both Mo’s award-winning work and his generosity, and we were proud to be able to help him get these books to the kids in those schools. To mark the occasion, we even had a Friendiversary celebration of our own. You can see some photos below. The ‘Pig’ team won the dance competition, but the ‘Elephant’ team has vowed to practice hard and take the prize next year.
We’ll share some stories from the kids as soon as we hear them. In the meantime, we’d love to hear your own Friendiversary stories. We know you have some good ones. Share them with us in the comments section below, or on our Facebook page.
Blog: Keith Mansfield (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Earlier this week, I found myself wandering the rainwashed streets of New Orleans with U2′s “All I Want is You” playing on the soundtrack in my head. Cut to sitting at the French Quarter’s hippest bar, sipping cocktails mixed by a beautiful actress bartender. Chatting beside me was a local gallerist* and, along from him, a couple of artists he represented. In front of me was the notebook open at the final chapter of Johnny Mackintosh: Battle for Earth and a copy of Mark Kermode’s autobiography, It’s Only a Movie.
The gallerist wanted to talk science fiction, notably Iain (M.) Banks and Dr Who. We had similar views on both and I could recount the time where I accidentally got the Scottish novelist a little drunk in a bar before a book reading, buying him whisky and telling him he’d inspired my own novels. It took a little while for the bartender to fess up to being an actress (it turned out a show of hers was even on HBO when I returned to the hotel), but once the fact was divulged she was reciting Shakespearean sonnets and having me recreate a scene from Austin Powers with her. After which I could even tell her how I once worked with Mike Myers!
I know I’m incredibly lucky, but it often feels as though I’m living inside a wonderfully entertaining movie in which I’m director, screenwriter, cinematographer, location manager, head of casting and leading actor. And that’s exactly the conceit of Dr Kermode’s autobiography. It’s already the third book I’ve read this year so I figured it’s time to get busy reviewing or get busy dying. Choose life.
Ever since I noticed there were film critics, Kermode has been my favourite. He’s risen through the ranks to be the nation’s favourite too, with regular slots on The Culture Show and a weekly movie roundup with “clearly the best broadcaster in the country (and having the awards to prove it)” Simon Mayo that’s so entertaining it’s been extended to two whole hours on a Friday afternoon. Possibly the highlight of my time as publisher at the bfi (British Film Institute) was receiving a very lovely email from Dr K. It goes without saying he wrote the bfi Modern Classic on The Exorcist, but this is also the man who made On the Edge of Blade Runner.
Blog: wheelerwrite (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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He’d been alone a lot. Not lonesome in the sad sense of the word... he was used to it.
There was that woman, once. She stayed for a while but, eventually, she drifted away.
There were the two dogs, of course, so he wasn’t really alone. Just no people around regularly.
He wasn’t sure if he owned the dogs or they owned him. He didn’t think about it like that, anyway.
Ownership, laws, rules. Like the soldiers and media types in the boat who came by.
They were so sure that it was necessary, mandatory, even, that he leave. They tried to convince him to join the rest of the evacuation.
They could shout and roar and threaten but they’d never catch him.
They wore gloves and masks and worried when they got a bit of water on them.
And here he was, paddling, belly down, his inner tube and plastic container, to the grocery store.
The water stank and there were turds floating by, but he’d seen the kids of Bangkok swimming in the filthy canals when he was there on R&R from Nam.
They survived. In fact, the Thais were some of the strongest. Some of the toughest.
He paddled with his right hand to turn left. Up to the park where the tops of the swings were still visible and across the submerged boulevard to the mall.
All but the hardiest and most determined had given up shopping here. It wasn’t really shopping, you didn’t pay for anything, most of the valuable stuff was gone, looted. What were they going to do with the electronic appliances and games, anyway? There was no power.
He drifted in the door of the grocery store.
There were a few pet owners still making regular trips to the store but he doubted that many, if any, had tried the dog food. He found that it didn’t taste so bad.
The cans were safe and the dried stuff, though it was hard to get down from the top shelf without wetting it, was tolerable. Full of vitamins and raw protein. Not processed to taste good for humans like everything else. The dry stuff made up for the lack of vegetables in his diet.
He arranged the bags of dry dog food on top of the cans in the container. He pushed it up the aisle in front of his inner tube.
The Saint Bernard breeder was struggling with a large bag, trying to squash it into the bow of her canoe.
He stopped to help the woman.
They exchanged nods without words. There had been nothing to talk about after the first few days.
The latest gossip and rumours had become meaningless. Especially when they realized that they were stuck with the bodies. Some neighbours didn’t get along with each other, but to see them like that. Talk became trivial, unnecessary.
He nodded goodbye to the Saint Bernard breeder, paddled up the aisle, out the door.
The sun was hot as he headed for home. The dogs’d be waiting.
It was kind of ironic, he mused, as he paddled along. There was Eric Clapton explaining his long fascination with Robert Johnson. That had been the DVD on in the living room when the water started rising.
The hurricane caused more damage than usual. The generator he’d hooked up conscientiously after the last hurricane, was doing fine, until the flood.
An earnest guy from England, an ex junkie, probably one of the best white blues players ever, sitting in a deserted building in Dallas, fifty or sixty years after Robert Johnson recorded there.
Max wagged his tail in time with the drumbeats. Brutus perked up his ears, howled along with the song when the guy accompanying Clapton launched into the electric slide solos.
Then the generator quit because of the rising water. Darkness enclosed them until he found some candles and lit them.
The dogs knew right away. They appeared more anxious every time he looked at them.
From the moonlight reconnoitre, the water first approaching his knees, then rising to his hips, things started looking very
Blog: A Nice Place In The Sun (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy"-
Dr. Martin Luther King
In my title, Our City of New Orleans, I'm referring to all of us in America. New Orleans is the soul of our country, and thanks to the help of our great citizens all over America and the rest of the world, she will rise again.
I live eighty miles north of New Orleans in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and due to the fact that we were out of utilities for weeks after Hurricane Katrina we didn't realize the extent of the damage until our power was resorted.
After which, thousands of New Orleans citizens began to pour into Baton Rouge, particularly after the city was hit again by Hurricane Rita, only a week later.
One of the greatest and oldest city in America resembled a war zone...It's impossible to explain unless you saw it with your own eyes.
I would also like to extend this post, and my heart, to the Mississippi Gulf coast, whose citizens were also affected by the devastating effects of these natural disasters, in addition to the man-made horror the entire gulf coast is dealing with today-
However, if there is a region and a country that will pull through this, it is the deep south, and the United States of America~
Blog: First Book (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Mary Pope Osborne, author of the popular children’s book series, Magic Tree House, and Random House Children’s Books teamed up with First Book to provide 4,000 books to children in need in 27 Recovery School District schools in New Orleans this month. On April 19th and 20th, Osborne visited with and read to children from six of the schools that received books. She also spoke about her enthusiasm for working with First Book and her inspiration for writing on WWLTV Eyewitness Morning News.
Ms. Osborne said, “Working with First Book in New Orleans was an inspiring adventure. Together we visited a number of schools and put new books into the hands of young readers. Our shared belief is that reading provides the path toward greater possibilities for the future — and every child deserves the opportunity to set out on the journey.”
Ms. Osborne donated new copies of Magic Tree House #42: A Good Night for Ghosts, in which Magic Tree House characters Jack and Annie travel back in time to meet a young boy named Louis Armstrong and encourage him to share his gift of music with the world.
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Mary Pope Osborne, author of the wildly popular Magic Tree House series, and Random House Children’s Books are teaming up with First Book to provide 4,000 books to children in 27 Recovery District schools in New Orleans. On Monday and Tuesday of next week, Ms. Osborne will personally visit with and read to children from six of the schools that are receiving books.
In anticipation of the New Orleans Jazz Festival that begins later that week, Ms. Osborne and Random House will be donating new copies of Magic Tree House #42: A Good Night for Ghosts, in which Magic Tree House characters Jack and Annie travel back in time to meet a young unknown boy named Louis Armstrong and encourage him to share his gift of music with the world.
Mary Pope Osborne said, “When my husband Will and I visited New Orleans shortly after Katrina, we were tremendously moved and inspired by the spirit of the city and its people. New Orleans has always been one of our favorite cities in the world, and on that trip we promised all the kids we met that Jack and Annie would soon visit New Orleans in the Magic Tree House and have an adventure with a young Louis Armstrong. We are now very happy to share that adventure—and the magic of reading—with them.”
Check back next week to hear from Mary Pope Osborne herself!
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After a doing a little shopping in New Orleans and visiting some of the uber-scary places we saw the night before,
NOTE TO SELF: Sometimes a good deed by a stranger gives a person faith in humanity.
Do you have piles of books cluttering your house? Books you've read, but won't read again any time soon? Then consider Colleen's call for help over at Chasing Ray.New Orleans Initiative Celebrates Cuban Culture
By Lydia Gil
NEW ORLEANS – The Crescent City is paying tribute to Cuban culture with the months-long “¡Sí Cuba!” initiative, a collaborative effort among New Orleans museums, universities, galleries and art organizations that will run from early January until late March.
The series of activities is being organized by Tulane University’s Newcomb Art Gallery, that institution’s Stone Center of Latin American Studies and the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Although “¡Sí Cuba!” will not officially get underway until next month, NOMA kicked off its participation in the venture on Dec. 18 with an exhibition of works by Cuban-born, New Orleans-based painter Luis Cruz Azaceta.
Miranda Lash, NOMA’s curator of modern and contemporary art, told Efe that the museum decided to inaugurate the exhibition, titled “Luis Cruz Azaceta: Swimming to Havana,” during the holiday season to add more luster to “¡Sí Cuba!”
The exhibition is made up of 10 recent works by the artist in which he shows the 90 miles of ocean separating Cuba and the United States to be an excruciatingly difficult barrier to overcome and one that thwarts the longings of Cubans on both sides, who are either eager to forge a better life in America or to return to their homeland.
With his paintings, which are both abstract and figurative, Cruz Azaceta hopes to inspire people to imagine their own journey, while also calling to mind the historical links between the cities of New Orleans and Havana.
Cruz Azaceta, a resident of New Orleans since 1992 who has not been back to Cuba since leaving as a teenager in 1960, uses his own experiences as inspiration for his work, which has also been displayed at world-famous venues such as New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Smithsonian in Washington.
A second exhibition, a joint presentation of NOMA and the Newcomb Art Gallery titled “Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba,” will focus on recent artistic production on the communist-ruled island.
To be on display until March 14 and overseen by Havana’s Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, the traveling exhibition features more than 50 paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, video and installation art by 27 contemporary Cuban artists, including Rene Peña, Luis Enrique Camejo, Ricardo Elias and Douglas Perez.
The exhibition will be inaugurated simultaneously on Jan. 16 at both NOMA and the Newcomb Art Gallery.
In connection with the exhibit, noted art historian Gerardo Mosquera will give a talk on Cuban art on Jan. 28.
The following day, Mosquera will join a panel of critics, art historians and artists for a discussion on that same subject, part of the Collecting Cuban Art symposium being hosted by Newcomb, NOMA, Tulane’s Cuban & Caribbean Studies Institute and the Tulane Center for Scholars.
Other participants in the panel discussion will include Ricardo Viera, Holly Block, Sandy Levinson, Daniel Cameron and prominent Cuban artist Antonio Eligio Fernandez, better known by his nickname “Tonel.”
Other New Orleans galleries and museums have also joined on to “Si Cuba” and will either host exhibitions of Cuban artists or h
Blog: Laurasmagicday
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Old Ursuline Convent
we hit the road for Cut and Shoot, TX to meet up with my brother and his family at my sis-in-law's family picnic celebrating the 60th anniversary of her Aunt and Uncle.
Awesome Elvis Impersonator
We had a great time. All her relatives were so sweet to us, so welcoming, and there were at least a hundred people there. Fun to catch up with all that's been going on with Mike and his family. It was Memorial Day weekend, and, in honor of our fallen soldiers, those assembled stood and sang, "Dixie." I only knew some of the words. Such an amazing moment. A Southern moment. Mx had to leave though, the emotion of the day brought tears to her eyes. Her cousin Cody and his good friend David had called a day or two before to let her know that they were being deployed to Afghanistan that weekend.
After the wedding we crashed in our beds in San Antonio, we stayed at The Omni San Antonio, but were barely there twelve hours because we were headed off to Carlsbad, New Mexico the next day. On our pillows were little oval wooden boxes with tiny dolls inside and a note that read:
"Legend has it that the Yanaguana Indians, a peace-loving tribe of native San Antonians, extended their hospitality to Spanish settlers by presenting them with these handcrafted worry dolls. According to tradition, by transferring one worry to each doll before bedtime, and placing them under your pillows your worries would disappear by dawn's light."
We were selling our our house at the time, so I transferred my worries about the sale and Cody's safety to my little dolls knowing full well that the Spaniards of long ago had similar concerns about shelter and survival. Timeless worries, I guess.
Blog: Laurasmagicday
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We knew that New Orleans needed its own day and we were so happy that we took the time to enjoy this amazing city. Could spend so much time here, but, since Mx had a job to get to, we did what we could with the time we had.
First up? The Cemetery Tour. Highly recommend The Haunted History Tour of New Orleans. We took two of their tours and both had fantastic tour guides who were so entertaining and knowledgeable.
Our tour guide started off by saying that the streets of New Orleans are named after Saints and Bastards. One thing I loved learning about was that voodoo was the religion that developed among the slaves. They found that their gods and goddesses were similar to the Catholic saints, and were able to keep their religion alive by associating their gods and goddesses with the saints of the Catholic church. St. Expedite is an example of such a saint. I saw his statue in the Catholic Church just outside of the French Quarter. St. Expedite is no longer recognized by the Catholic church, and his history tends to be a little murky, which is why I like him so much.
A few photos from our day in New Orleans:
After some bignets at Cafe Du Monde [AWESOME!] we took in the sites,
had a little dinner,
then we went on The Vampire Tour,
Mx and our guide. Lemme just say. Creepy. Creepy. Creepy. To many stories to share, but we did discover that Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop is the best bar in the city. Hands. Down.
Of course, when I travel, I love to get books. I usually lean to books with stories about women, but I had to get "New Orleans Ghosts, Voodoo, and Vampires Journey into Darkness" by Kalila Katherina Smith.
We. Love. New Orleans.
Blog: Laurasmagicday
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This leg of the road trip was short for one huge reason: We wanted to tour some plantations. And while we expected them to be grand, like the Monmouth [must take the house tour and the complimentary Southern Breakfast was fabulous], we didn't quite expect The Longwood Plantation. Even with all the movies I'd watched about The Civil War and all the school lessons I'd had [well, suffered through, wasn't a fan of history as a kid], the Longwood Plantation gave a rare insight into what happened to one family caught in the midst of war. Never finished, the Longwood stands as a reminder of people who had thought all their dreams were about to come true, and didn't. Our wonderful tour guide described the feeling I got while touring The Longwood like this, "You know when you wake up too early from a dream?" And, because my husband and I own a construction project management company, Elliott Management, I found this haunting example of east-meets-west architecture infinitely intriguing. The furniture was purchased, the exterior finished and the interior work had begun when the war broke out. Everything has been preserved as it was then, as much as possible. Even leaving buckets where the workers had dropped them the day they fled. The Pilgrimage Garden Club, who maintains the property and runs the wonderful tours, has one provision for their care of the property, that no one ever try to complete the construction.
When our tour guide discovered that Margaux was at school in New York City, the tour guide said, "I got a joke for you: A bunch of Yankee ladies were sitting around a fancy table eating chicken with their forks and knives and raised their eyebrows when the Southern women ate with their hands. Why do you Southern ladies eat with your hands? They asked, horrified. The Southern women said, 'Because you Yankees stole all our silver.'"
We didn't quite laugh. The southern ladies on tour with us just shook their heads. Being told that joke in the midst of the shell of The Longwood and, well, being Yankees, it was a little, um, awkward. But the guide was lovely and did a wonderful job of bringing the era to life for us.
Josephine, the cat
Stopped one more time for a look at the Mighty Mississipi:
For some bizarre reason we got all turned around in Natchez and even with GPS, we had a hard time getting on the road to New Orleans. Once there, hotel troubles ensued. All I wanted to do was stay in a room with a balcony in The French Quarter. I was told that's what I had reserved at The Saint Louis Hotel. But, even after confirming and calling and reconfirming that we had our balcony room, they didn't have one for us. And instead had a room, well, more like a cave with a view of a massive tarp covering their courtyard. Yuck. And, the weather, although it turned out to be FANTASTIC, was supposed to be very rainy that weekend. After inquiring about another room, which was worse, we went to stay at The Omni Royal Orleans, where I was told over the phone that they had a balcony room available. When we got there it wasn't. This was a little bit of a low point for me. While we did a have a beautiful view of a magnolia tree,
I was tired and disappointed. Mx went down to complain and the Concierge was from Brooklyn. He totally understood our saga. Gave us some drink tickets and gave us a room rate reduction. So, I let the whole balcony room thing go. But, next time, I will get my balcony room...if you want French Quarter charm with a balcony room in New Orleans I'd suggest these places: The Hotel Provincial, or The Chateau Hotel. Both of these hotels give you charm and a little bit of quiet to enjoy your stay in The Crescent City.
After I got over the balcony drama, we went for a walk down Bourbon St., which didn't disappoint.
Turns out we were there during The New Orleans Wine and Food Experience and want to go back next year for it too. Must go. Great wines and fabulous food.
Later on in the evening we went to Sing-Sing, where we enjoyed awesome blues music and people seemed to read our minds all night, but that's another story...
Had a little etouffee and plopped into bed, at our usual 2AM.
Blog: A Nice Place In The Sun
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My father e-mailed me these great photographs of New Orleans in 1908 --100 years ago, that I thought you may enjoy viewing.
We still have street cars, horse drawn carriages, and of course Mardi Gras, which you can learn more about here, however, aside from the obvious the city hasn't changed much, which I suppose is part of its charm- although horses aren't used to pull Mardi Gras floats anymore.
If you are a traveler and haven't passed through New Orleans we would love to have you, even after Hurricane Katrina's tirade the Big Easy is still a great place to visit.
Have a great Sunday!
Blog: Cynthia's Attic Blog
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My heart was broken over the weekend. Oh, I know I SAID I was going to Savannah for the Children's Book Festival but I was REALLY going for cafe au lait and beignets at Hueys. So, after a semi-successful day at the festival, we rush to the riverwalk and spot the welcoming "Huey's" sign among all the other restaurants, bars, candy shops, gift shops. We decide to explore later. Coffee, like we haven't had since leaving Louisiana, beckoned.
Deciding to eat dinner before dessert (like our mothers taught us), my husband ordered a shimp Po' Boy and red beans and rice, and I ordered catfish, red beans and rice and sweet potato bread (yummy!) "Sorry. We're out of sweet potato bread," the waiter announced. Okay. I'm disappointed, but I'll live, although I still remembered how good that bread was from our trip last year. But, beignets and cafe au lait await, so just get over it, Mary!
Dinner was good. Not great, but good. Now...for dessert and coffee! "Would you care for dessert?" our waiter asked.
"Yup," my husband answered. No, he's not from Texas, and I don't know why he decided to channel a cowboy at that moment, but he went on, "we'd like an order of beignets and two cups of cafe au lait."
"The beignets I can do," the waiter said ominously, "but our coffee machine is broken, so we have no..."
I'm sure he went on to say they had 'no cafe au lait,' but my life flashed before my eyes and I got very lightheaded. The last thing I heard, before my husband helped me out of the restaurant was, "then forget the beignets!"
It's Monday, and I've recovered...almost.
Blog: NOTE TO MYSELF
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Tourist, Thomas McCauley, was nervous in as far as crime is concerned when visiting New Orleans for a medical convention. He somehow lost his wallet stuffed with $8,000 he'd won at a local casino and presumed his pocked had been picked.
However, good samaritan, waiter Al Castro, found the wallet stuck in a booth that had been used by McCauley. Now he could have kept it and no one would have been the wiser but instead he returned it much to McCauley shock.
McCauley had stashed the cash, won Thursday at Harrah's New Orleans Casino, in a spare wallet, with no ID that he carries, in case his pocket is picked. His friends back home had warned him about that possibility. After dinner and a show, he realized the wallet was gone.
McCauley said Castro, who'd waited on him and his friend, turned over the wallet as they rushed back into the restaurant.
When asked why return a wallet with no ID, Castro said McCauley was a "gentlemen" and I put myself in his shoes.
"Plus," he said, "my wife's been telling me she believes in karma. Good things happen to people to who do good things."
Amen brother!
McCauley said Castro refused his offer of a reward. But Harrah's general manager said, "we're going to take care of him."
There are good people in this world who do good deeds because they want to, period. For his generous act, we salute waiter, AL CASTRO!
Blog: Children's Illustration
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KATRINARITA GRAS, February 2006, by William Joyce (via Reading Rockets, a terrific source for interviews, and http://www.williamjoyce.com/)
If you are exposed to it as a kid you will never be quite like other people. How could you be?
You’ve watched an entire adult population, your parents, your aunts and uncles, your teachers or your school principles; all your authority figures, suddenly transform into Poseidon, or Mae West or a cross-dressing Santa Claus. Everyday life becomes an overnight Technicolor fever dream. Schools close. The daily schedule is thrown out for a new schedule of parties and parades that become an unending delirium where it’s not inconceivable but in fact highly likely that you might look out the den window at any given moment and see several dozen men and women dressed as Yogi Bear drift nonchalantly by in a papier-mâché galleon.
Blog: Crossover
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This bookdrive is a perfect opportunity for me, for example. I have a home for my picture books and MGs (the ones my children don't squirrel away), but did not have a place for the YAs I've read and reviewed. Now I do!
Very well said honey. Very well indeed. I believe you too.
Have a terrific Sunday. Big hug and lotsa lovies. :)
Sandee~
Thank you Sweetheart~ You are simply the best, and thank God for the great state of California.
Ya'll have been wonderful to us...and I'm dying to visit Comedy Plus! I will be by at the end of the week.
Thank you for always being here..
You have a great Sunday too~
Huge hug and lots of lovies back to you~
Annie
P.S I'm sorry for the word verification. I'm trying to turn the stupid thing off, but I see it isn't leaving... :( :)
Wow, what a true post. I didn't realize that Baton Rouge was with out power.
Yes, the people of New Orleans are persistent and resilient folks. It has been a hard time for New Orleans, but they bound together through their music, food and their love of their town.
Ah, Sam Cooke, one of my favorites...had him on Sunday Serenade just a week or so ago...lovely to see you back!
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Find your best pizza.
Hey Pam, Yes, I don't think a lot of people realized we were out of power...However, we were in much better shape than New Orleans. In fact, thousands of New Orleans citizens were walking or busing into Baton Rouge: They resembled refugees evacuating a war zone.
Katrina, damaged most of South Louisiana, in addition to west Mississippi. Hurricanes are so huge it's terrifying, and the city of New Orleans is shaped like a huge bowl, so if you haven't ever been there, you can imagine how quickly a bowl will fill up with rain water.
Anyway, enough of my lesson in meteorology.(A lesson, you didn't ask for in the first place.)
But, you're exactly right, the people of New Orleans are a resilient bunch~
Thanks again for commenting...I appreciate you~ :))
Annie
Grace, Oh, I'm going to have to look up your Sunday Serenade. Do you post it every Sunday?
Well, I guess I need to look it up in your archives. I cannot wait to catch up. I think we share much of the same musical tastes.
Thanks for welcoming me back-It's great to be back!
L~
Annie
I can tell how much you love your home. There is deep pride in your words. Again, Welcome back :)
Dawn, I love that photograph! Is that you or Justine? Ya'll look so much alike I cannot tell.
I am dying to visit the Gulf coast, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific...etc- whichever one I can get to first.
I am writing you an e-mail. You should get it today~
Thank you for welcoming me back. Although, I have yet to wipe my computer; (I cannot find the instillation software) so it's running as slow as my accent.
I just cannot wait, so I have been posting anyway. I think the viruses are contained so at least they cannot infect anyone else.
Anyway, it's great to be back, and it's fantastic to hear from you as well. :)))))
luvs ya,
Annie