I haven’t been feeling the urge to write lately. I write more when I am down, and as things have been rather peachy over here, there’s not much inspiration for writing.
I’ve been appreciating my weekdays with Sun a whole lot more lately. I think it’s that she’s getting to an [...]
It’s never good when my posts are named for Police songs that are 15 years old.
And therein lies the whole of man’s plight. Human time does not run in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for [...]
We’ve dropped my mother-in-law at the airport after a three-week visit. What a crazy three weeks it’s been. And now I am home and Sun is napping and my small house feels large, cold and empty. And that mirrors my heart. Mia is from New Orleans and her love of [...]
Sun cried in the middle of the night. We called her to our bed and all three of us went back to sleep. A few hours later, I awoke with Sun in my arms. There was peace. And I thought, “what was that bothering me yesterday?” Then I remembered. And [...]
Disappointment comes in many shades of gray. Yesterday’s disappointments were simple: black.
It began to sink in that although my body DID allow me to get pregnant, it still failed in some way in not maintaining the pregnancy. That choice I felt so strongly about the night before was gone again. [...]
Looking back, the signs were there. But when you aren’t looking, how can you see them?
So today when my period turned angry and stopped me in my tracks, I assumed it was what I’m told about ALL my new ailments: It’s yet another sign of aging.
Then the flow got really [...]
With this recession going on, and what we me gardening and all, oh, and having a terrible two on our hands, we decided to STOP eating out. We’ve cut eating out down by about 90%. Seriously. I’ve been cooking a lot more, and so has my husband. We’ve been so [...]
I drop Sun off at daycare once a week. Last week, there was an, er, incident. I thought I’d blog about it and then decided to let it pass. And it stayed with me and came up again today in conversation. Considering it is STILL bugging me, I thought I’d throw [...]
As I was driving to work yesterday, I was tuned to WTIX and heard an old Chicago song (I can’t now for the life of me recall which song it was). Then I switched to NPR and heard Garrison Keallor read this poem by Michael Blumenthal. And in the [...]
Summer’s over. How do I know? I am returning to my “normal” work schedule. Since returning from maternity leave 2+ years ago, I’ve worked in the office Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week. For the summer, we started Sun in official daycare twice a week–Tuesdays and Thursdays, the days [...]
Four years ago. That’s what’s been abuzz in New Orleans on the news, radio, twitter.
NPR did a story Thursday that will be published this Sunday in the New York Times Magazine. I tuned in midway through the story, the story about Dr. Pou and the deaths at Baptist Hospital, [...]
Eleven hours, two smelly planes, two airports, one crazy van ride and many delays, we have arrived at our hotel in Elmira, NY. I still need to look at a map to see where the hell I am–close to Canada? My geography is so lacking. Okay, I looked at a [...]
Here’s the post about my loot. Pix soon on flickr, I promise. That requires cooperation from my sister, my husband and my computer. Maybe not so soon, but I’ll let you know when they are up.
This year, I had two favorite booths, and they both can be said to have [...]
Comic Con is in full swing in San Diego and we are in the middle of it! This year seems more crowded, with my favorite Exhibitor not here I left my laptop at home and am on CS’s, so pics are forthcoming.
Tonight, though, was decadent. We [...]
We are going on vacation in a few days. CS is a comics lover, and I love CS. So each year, we head back to the city that married us and go to the Comic Convention in San Diego. This year, my sister will join us to help with Sun.
I [...]
I graciously have been invited to be a contributing blogger to a new New Orleans all-women blog, NOLAFemmes. My first post was published today. Please go check out the new site and add it to your reader. Putting me aside, they have a great array of writers on [...]
Greta of Kiss My Gumbo extended an invitation to me and three other bloggers (and Chris Shultz extended the same invitation to several other NOLA bloggers) from folks at Ford who are part of the 100 Cities Tour promoting the 2010 Taurus.
It was really great to [...]
I was the youngest of five children. Which means that I had NO control over the radio dial having never had the right to sit shotgun in the front seat. Hell, I was happy for the days I got the back seat and not the way-back backward-facing seat of the [...]
CS’s mother and step-father recently came for a visit, and over this visit, my mother-in-law made a comment that struck me. Let me back up.
CS’s father was a bad dude. He died before I came into the picture. He left his family when CS was a young boy. My MIL [...]
We had company over recently. As I was heading out the back of the house with one of our guests, the guest turned to go through Sun’s room to get to the back door. Sun was napping, and so I whispered to my guest not to go that way but [...]
You plan, you clean, you order ahead.
You invite company
You anticipate will enjoy each other.
The time arrives
Along with certain expectations.
But those hopes
Quickly go up in smoke.
The guests you were hoping to impress
Defy not just etiquette but decency too.
Apologies are whispered,
Eyes and [...]
I spent the day with my nieces (my brother’s girls), my sister and my daughter. Not the eight girls we were prepared for, but close enough.
We ate out for breakfast, then bought some cheap craft items to do during Sun’s nap. Then we went bowling — my nieces’ choice. I [...]
When I was a child, there was no camp. Well, maybe there was but no kid I knew went to one. Why? Because it was rare that our mom’s worked.
What did we kids do in the summer? We played outside a lot. Kickball in the streets, rode bikes, swam, jumped [...]
UPDATE: Curly made it through the 5+ hour surgery just fine. She did need a blood transfusion, but the docs did all they had hoped to do in the surgery. So much so, there may not need to be any other surgeries!! She’s doing fine, and should be going home [...]
Sun’s first day at daycare was yesterday. During the summer, it’s called Camp. I did my best to hide my nerves from her. I knew she’d be fine, that in fact she’d like it. But I couldn’t help but feel this was the first true test of a parent’s job: [...]
Friday night was another wedding for us, as was Saturday. These two both had a bittersweet element to them. Each had a family member that died too soon.
Friday’s wedding left me somber and sad. The death of the bride’s brother some ten years ago still stings us all from time [...]
It’s wedding season here in New Orleans. We’ve been invited to not less than six weddings in six weeks.  Some are the traditional New Orleans’ wedding: Cathedral ceremony and country club reception. And some are less traditional: all-in-one wedding/reception at a room in a local restaurant. And several in between: [...]
I am a “tight” knitter: my stitches are tight. I have to remind myself to ease up on the tension of the yarn; relax my fingers and my mind. I knit a cap for CS years ago, and it was a big hit. It was a straight knit 4, purl [...]
With a sprained ankle
and a bruised ego
I turn to my garden
to lick my wounds
and salve my soul.
Relationships change,
friends disappoint,
clay feet are discovered.
So in I go
back to myself,
like a groundhog
seeing his shadow.
Back to my yard,
my own sanctuary,
to tend to my own garden.
[...]In my career
There are stops and goes
As so decided by learned judges.
And so it goes
in my unopposed practice
I get few stops and lots of goes.
But the stops
Leave their marks on me
Not unlike the purpling of my sprained ankle.
The stops leave me feeling as though
I am the worst attorney in the [...]
A few questions arose about the logistics of my worm bin. I am nothing if not a sharer. So here’s what I’ve learned so far.
Your standard leaf compost pile is good. But for ubanites that don’t have enough “brown” items, primarily dead leaves, then your pile will be too “green” [...]
Some have called me crazy. Some have given me puzzled looks and asked, “real worms?” and others just blink and stare.
Hi, I’m Nola and I’ve got worms. And I like it that way.
After researching, twittering, talking to experts, sleeping on it, debating, hemming, and hawing, I made a decision and [...]
Captain Sarcastic and I own a small business. He runs it. It opens at 10am everyday. Every morning CS goes to the business, he leaves around 8:30am. Occasionally, something would come up between 8:30 and 10 and I’d call him. There’d be no answer at the business and he’d not [...]
So, we all know I started a vegetable garden this Spring. It has been a great new hobby for me. I have been diligent on slug patrol, watering, tending, witnessing new growth. I have also rekindled some of my aspiring do-good endeavors, namely, becoming more green.
Let’s take the slugs. I [...]
Certain songs will always remind me of certain events. “Shout” will always remind me of dancing with Ronald (or was it his twin, Donald?) at my brother’s wedding. “Come On, Eileen” will always take me to a summer in my youth sleeping on one of the two sofas in my [...]
My vegetable garden is coming along. I have several tomato buds; my cilantro and parsley are quadrupling in size; my shaky basil is regaining strength. All is well. Almost.
Enter the slug.
Yes, I my garden has slugs. So I filled a couple of caps full of beer and placed them around [...]
There is this.
This that is larger than any sole practitioner’s office.
The tales, the legacies, the advices
recalled with a chuckle and a shudder:
“Old Man Sawyer used to say to me,
‘If you are gonna drink at lunch,
make it gin martinis.
Let people know you are drunk
and not an idiot.’”
[...]The tomato plants have flowers.
The satsuma tree, new blooms.
The St. Joseph’s Altars have been dismantled.
And Sun now has the feet of a child and no longer a baby.
Spring has sprung in New Orleans.
And we are all another year older.
[...]I have been having an idea of a project. And lately, that idea has been nibbling away. So my question is, do you want to share your secret?
I have several posts that I haven’t published (some I haven’t even written) because, in a word, I am too chicken to post [...]
The back porch is a room unto itself. Tucked away from the street, the television, the office line.
It is here where we swing Sun, paint Mardi Gras ladders, enjoy a setting sun. It is here where our parties end up in the evenings and where crawfish boils and birthday parties [...]
We plant our garden
And dig out weeds.
We make mud pies
And jump in puddles.
We drive the pylons
That become our homes.
And live our lives.
And bury our dead.
[...]Last night, I barely slept a wink. A family member was due to have a serious surgery today and I was worried sick about it. This morning, that surgery was postponed. This wasn’t the worst of the news this day held for me.
As I got off the elevator in my [...]
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. ~Cicero
We recently had our backyard cleared of bushes and tree stumps that have been needing to go. Overall, the yard still needs help. The previous owner had an in-ground pool and just threw dirt in it when [...]
Today is Mardi Gras. The end of carnival season. Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, starts Lent. The seasons here in New Orleans go quickly from one to the next.
I confess that I love carnival but tend to be underwhelmed with Mardi Gras day. The mega parades are over the weekend. And the [...]
In Florida, I lived near a hospital. I heard sirens all the time. Friends would call and worry about the crime until I explained they were mostly ambulances. In Baton Rouge, I lived in a rough area. I’d been broken into and regularly heard gun fire. Sirens were not good [...]
First off, a PSA. Zatarain’s (whose NOLA seasonings are totally awesome) is sponsoring a petition to declare Mardi Gras a national holiday. I know, right–how is this not yet a national holiday? Zatarain’s knows that no one knows Mardi Gras quite like New Orleans! That’s why they want to [...]
Still sick am I. Slowly getting cleared up. And that’s good because this weekend is CS’s birthday and next weekend is all-on parades!
I am filled with such anticipation about Le Krewe d’Etat. What will the men dance as this year? In recent years, it was Vince Marinello (still my [...]
