Oh how Time disappears...

In a short two weeks, Rosie and I will be moving from the corner of Erato. We may need a new blog. More to come.

Tomatoes!!!!

The garden strikes again. After two days of rain, today the garden looks gorgeous! We have three jalapeno peppers, heaps of green beans and our first cherry tomato!

I'm so proud! Everything is getting huge! The tomato plants are almost as tall as the fence. When we got them they were no more than 6inches tall. I will take some more pictures of the garden so you can see the before and after pictures... coming soon!

Children of the Corn

Greg is a child of the Corn... being from the Midwest that is, and I am quickly becoming a child of the corn in that I am growing sweet corn in the back yard. To be exact we have corn, green beans, and cucumbers all grown from seed, a multitude of herbs and the lettuce seeds went in the ground yesterday. We also have two huge tomato plants. Incredibly these plants started as very small shrubs but continue to reach for the sky at such a pace that every weekend when we have time to soak in our hard work we are shocked at the size of these two plants (one Creole and the other Cherry). And the amazing number of little green tomatoes, soon to be red I hope!

Our garden has become the apple of our eyes... although we have no apple trees... yet. We eat most of our meals on the patio, morning, day and night, and watch over it with great joy and pride. This weekend our garden was a giving garden, yielding the perfect backdrop for Greg's birthday party and 20 green beans (our first homegrown nourishment outside the multiple herbs we use to flavor our epicurean lives and delicacies). I found 13 on Saturday (pictured below) and 7 more today.

Outside of gardening we, like most of the South, are eating our fair share of seafood before the earl (oil) ruins the season, possibly for years to come. We are in the middle of crawfish season and the thought of cutting it short or losing it for years is horrible. Watching the oil explosion (which can hardly be described as a spill at this point) fill up the gulf is as depressing as watching the water fill up New Orleans. At this point its still hard to grasp... so we are left grasping crawfish... thankful for the luxuries still allowed.The best things about New Orleans in the springtime... festival season, crawfish season and my favorite... Abita strawberry beer!
Outside of generally enjoying the outdoors before the heat of the summer hits, Greg continues to excel as a musician, playing at the world famous Jazz Fest a couple of weeks ago. He finished his first semester with flying colors. I have settled into not having a thesis hanging over my head and have begun looking for new projects to occupy my time...Thats all we'll say for now.

Go to the Mattresses...

Two reasons we have not updated recently...
Go to the mattresses... to prepare for battle.

Everyday Greg has a different battle... hence Graduate School. But I am preparing for the end of my little battles.. I am preparing for the final war. The War on Thesis Defense. I'm now in the final weeks of thesis editing, formatting and reviewing. The end is finally nigh. And frankly I do not know how I will spend all my free time when my thesis is no longer hovering over my head at all times... I have one idea in mind...

Go to the mattresses... literally!

The best purchase Greg and I have ever made.. individually or together. Our new beloved... silkeborg!! I intend to spend a good amount of time catching up on lost sleep in the most wonderful bed in the world!!!

It made its way from Indianapolis as a poor reject with last years fabric coverings... the only ones we had ever seen and loved all along. I guess next years model will be new and improved, but for us... our silkeborg is the dreamiest mattress we never thought we would ever have/afford. Even now... we lay on our silkeborg in wonder and disbelief. We owe many many a thanks to the coolest family in Illinois! Aw heck.. the world!

I'm just happy our post-Mardi Gras mattress parade made it all in one peice. We've run out of friends with trucks. So after getting kicked out of a famous resturant (long story and beside the point) we used a Honda and a Hyundai to move our new mattresses from Uptown to Downtown... threw the old ones to the curb (which didn't stay there long... bums), watched Greg throw up a 4month old beer that he confused with his current beer (I found the old one under the old bed and moved it so it wouldn't get knocked over... never thinking someone would pick it up and drink it!!! all of it!!!), and laid down for the first time on our mattress thinking we would never forget the night we got our silkeborg.

Black & Gold Win the Super Bowl

It happened, folks. Believe dat!

It was pandemonium in the streets of New Orleans last night. Spontaneous second lines, enormous crowds of joyous people, exuberance on every face. Rosie & I wandered from a party on Coliseum Square down to Canal Street, with a mind to get Rosie on to Bourbon Street for the first time ever. Crossing Coliseum Park, we encountered the first of the second lines we would see last night. The percussionists of Casa Samba marched past the International School as I stood on the sidewalk, blowing my trumpet to their rhythms. Soon enough, I joined their parade for a few blocks, improvising over a few choruses of everyone's favorite, "When the Saints Go Marching In".

Making our way downtown, we couldn't help but make a pit stop at Circle Bar, for refreshments. We ran into Indira & Jason, Caroline, Brian, and probably at least a few other people, all celebrating our Saints! Also hanging out underneath the overpass as I trumpeted a few more strains of "Saints" to passing traffic were Antoinette and her sister, Jasmine, and a few young ones running with them. That's what Circle Bar is good for...you're guaranteed to run into half of the everyone you know!

Push onward to Poydras Street, where passing cars (they weren't really passing all that fast since traffic wasn't moving) noticed the horn player on the side of the street and began tipping me! The best thing I remember from that intersection were two young kids in the back seat of a station wagon who danced up a storm as I pealed out another chorus of "Saints". By the way, "Saints" does not have the distinction of being the only song I played last night...I did play "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" to the assembled population of Bridge House. Seemed fitting!

Seizing upon the idea of reimbursing ourselves for the evening's expenses, I pulled my trumpet back out and opened my case on several corners around and along Canal Street. In the middle of all the celebration, a gang of New Orleans police officers drove along the neutral ground in one of these:

As the officers unloaded themselves and their assorted gear from their disgustingly militaristic vehicle, I continued playing "Saints" to the obvious delight of everyone around me. I didn't even have my case out at this point since there was little chance of it surviving on the ground, so many people had gathered. After playing a few more choruses, one of the officers came up to me and informed me that I was causing a scene and that I had to stop playing or move along. He said the assembled officers were "getting ready to stage an operation at this location" and that my trumpet playing was causing too much attention to be drawn to them. I inquired what type of operation they were planning, and questioned his assertion that I, little old me, was the one causing the scene. It wasn't the fact that the Saints just won the Super Bowl that had everyone gathered on Canal Street last night. It was me, one guy playing "When the Saints Go Marching In" with tired lips. The officer was having none of it, insisting that the police operation took precedence over anything anyone else had to say and that I could move or that he would move me. Knowing that your average police officer has no tolerance for a citizen who actually asserts his rights, and fearing the collective wrath of this particular goon and his friends, I shuffled meekly across the street, where I played as loudly as I could right back to the police. Rosie, God Bless Her, did not believe this to be the just outcome of the situation, and marched directly up to the police captain in charge of the "operation" and questioned him as to the propriety of the orders given me moments earlier. The captain told her whoever wanted to play any instrument was more than welcome. So that's when I marched myself right back over to the forces of evil and blew my trumpet proudly.

The night did not end there, friends, for your hero and heroine had empty bellies. Imagine our luck, too, for we stood a mere block away from Brothers Fried Chicken, the best, cheapest,

greasiest fried chicken I know. I, for one, was fighting a full bladder and a headache from belting out so many choruses of "Saints". That place was so crowded we had to stand in line to even get into the store. The guys working didn't slow up one bit, though. We were in and out of there in 10 minutes, spending only $9 of the $30 I made playing to walk out of their with the most delicious 8 pieces of dark meat you could dream of. Popeye's eat your heart out!

As a nice postscript to this monstrous blog post, I want to tell you how peaceful it was this morning along St. Charles and in the Lower Garden District. Rosie and I walked back to

Coliseum Square to retrieve the car we left last night in our excitement to get downtown. We bought a special Super Bowl edition Times-Picayune at the corner of St. Charles and Melpomene Street. Funny, the vendor suggested we buy as many copies as possible because he promised they would be going for $20 each on e-Bay. We'll see about that.

Anyway, though, it's done. Our New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl, beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17. The night before, we elected Mitch Landrieu mayor with an astonishing 66% of the vote. Landrieu won We have a new mayor-elect with the mandate of every single neighborhood in the city (save one). Since I didn't vote this time around, the only way I know to close this blog is to say, "Who Dat?!"

...We Dat!

Who Dat....

Looks like Santa Claus came to town and he was wearing Black and Gold cuz baby... we going to the Superbowl!!!! Looks like I wasn't joking when I said it felt like Mardi Gras... looks like Mardi Gras as well... without the massive crowds. Greg and I started the afternoon walking down to the gas station to buy some beers. We were supposed to head over to a friends house, but we never made it because we ran into craziness on the circle.

Greg ran back after a few minutes so he could grab his trumpet. The trombone player didn't really play but rather "honked cuz he believes." But Greg got a lot of good practice in... especially When the Saints Go Marching In. He must have played that song a hundred times.
After a couple of hours hanging out in the circle, I was starving. I wandered across the street to our favorite bar, Circle Bar, and to my surprise they had food. Beans and rice, hot sausage and crawfish cream pasta. Needless to say... we never made it to our friends party. We had food, friends and beer... a TV in the bar and a big screen outside in the circle (I have no idea how they got a signal).

I have never heard an entire city scream at one time. What an experience! It was unreal!! Greg played during every break and with every touch down and the entire bar sang along with him.

All I Want For Christmas is the Saints in the Superbowl!

We are all caught up in Saints fever down here. Having come out of the doldrums of winter... at least for the time being, it 66 degrees outside, slightly overcast and Sunday breezy beautiful! Living a mere ten blocks from the Superdome, people began traipsing by in there black and gold as early as 10am. The feeling is very much like Mardi Gras weekend, but to be savored by the locals alone. This is for New Orleanians. Those who grew up here (easily identified by High School association) and those who choose to live here and deal with the difficulties and sadness that is incorporated in everyday life as this city traverses the ever difficult task of rebuilding. But today is different. Everyone is out on their front porch cleaning and preparing for the game, block parties are ensuing, streets are filled with the smoke of burgers and sausages grilling, music is blaring in every direction and everyone who passes by greets each person with nervous excitement... Who Dat... who dat.. who dat!

It has been very difficult for this city to move forward since Katrina and to some extent this may come from the type of people who live in New Orleans, but who help create what we love about this place. New Orleans is full of musicians, artist, performers, and above all dreamers. For these masters of culture life since Katrina has been an uphill battle. Today is for dreamers because today people are full of dreams. Buying into the dream of what it might mean to see our team in the Super bowl. In preparation of this possibility (and possibly due to the gorgeous weather) our block seems to be full of cleaning. Cleaning out the house, the car, the garden... the soul. Neighbors on both sides of our house are out cleaning, including ourselves. Maybe its that we would normally procrastinate until the evening and then convince ourselves that its too dark or maybe its for the new beginning the Saints might be bringing New Orleans. In our house this morning the Christmas decorations came down, the tree went to the curb, the kitchen was cleaned from top to bottom and loads of laundry have been washed, dried and wait to be folded. We can't put it off for tonight... because tonight is GAME NIGHT!

As we all wait for kickoff to slowly get closer and closer. As Saints fans grow from a trickle to a river of black and gold on the sidewalks out front... a possibility hangs heavy in the New Orleans air. The possibility that 2010 will be the year of New Orleans! A new mayor will be elected this year, the MR.GO will close (one cause for the devastation of the lower 9th), the port will expand, levees will grow and maybe... just maybe... the Saints will go to the Super bowl.

Oh...just in case the title seems a bit late in the season...just know that the song is timeless!