I was only in New Orleans for about 24 hours. Stayed in Metairie, LA and partied in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Canal and Bourbon St then toward the river. Neighbor and friend Henry and I ate our way back to Shreveport. Drinking can be a problem in the Vieux Carre of New Orleans, or eating. One kind of chooses one or t'other pretty quickly upon arriving, In some cases drinking chooses you and then you end up getting lost in New Orleans driving around with too many demons and arms of the oak trees just wanna reach out and grab you. That's what can happen on too much coffee too. I should know. That's what happened to me last weekend.
But no. I did not crash or even have red and blue lights flashed at me. Henry and I got off pretty easily. One hundred dollars is apparently about the right amount to offer up to the gods of Bacchus there -- during Lent, ha!
Bourbon St was crowded. It was a visage from another world, the skinny girl dancing in the door way and the balconies over the street where more people teased the crowd with beads, a tradition even though Mardi Gras is well over.
I found out that it was the 100th anniversary of Tennessee Williams, the playwright as well as being a final in March madness basketball that was in New Orleans that weekend. It was in fact so much fun on such a shoe string budget that I will devote a few more blogs to the topic of my somewhat annual trip to the Greater New Orleans area, the Big Easy.
For now I am listening to Pressure Drop by the Clash from Super Black Market Clash and wishing I was still in the French Quarter, perhaps working on a novel or something. Alas, I still work at the non profit in Shreveport, some 350 miles from the the Cafe du Monde. You may ask if New Orleans is still around after Katrina and such and once again the answer is an outstanding affirmative. I even ate 1/2 dozen (raw) oysters on the half shell.
Robert was there in Baton Rouge with Henry the friendly dog of some breed unknown. We had lunch Sunday at the Chimes East in Baton Rouge with all them on the patio including Henry the dog and Henry the dude. Henry the dog stuck to his water dish and relaxed under the table. Henry the dud chowed down on some blackened snapper and a large young man at the table next to us confessed at some point that he too was a friendly dog. The fog, the fog. It was a headachey Sunday after struggling through the oak trees to get to the bed in the wee hours of the morning. I was suprised to wake up in one piece that Sunday,. I found that I had not turned into a vampire by checking my relection in the bathroom mirror of the cafe outside our hote. We stopped briefly at Prejeans in Lafayette LA and picked up the company cell phone which I had accidenatlly left on the table on Sturday afternoon, and we mosied by to the port on the red river in time for Heart of Space on the public radio station, which I slept through without waking up at all.
It was good to see you RB. Too bad for the blog that I took no video or picture this time. Lots of real memories I will share with you all later. I plan to take three days off from work next week so maybe I will write again then.
