You can't help but tell stories about the "good old days" when you have friends in town. This weekend was no different. The Napleon House holds too many memories for me to count. During my graduate school days at the Tulane School of Social Work in the late 70s, some of my classmates and I would catch the streetcar from uptown down to ther French Quarter. We'd have a soft drink and a quarter of a muffelata at the Napoleon House and then go over to the Cafe du Monde for a café au lait and beignets. Our hot night out on the town cost under $5. It was perfect on a graduate school budget! I'm not sure what that hot night would cost today-I know the streetcar would be $1.25 each way, but I'm not sure of the exact price of the rest. I'm guessing you could make it happen today for under $12...hmmm, maybe it's time to do a little experiential research!
Categories
- Art (326)
- Barn of Our Heart (352)
- Books (64)
- Fabulous Family (112)
- Fabulous Friends (263)
- Fabulous Friends and Family (2266)
- Food and Drink (934)
- France Life (2503)
- French Funnies (178)
- Just One... (1791)
- Mélange-ing Magic (2481)
- New Orleans NOW (1117)
- New Orleans THEN (378)
- Overalls and More (345)
- Paris (230)
- Photography (3188)
- SOAPBOX (261)
- Storm Stories (72)
- Travel (239)
Books on the Beam
- Carlos Ruiz Zafon: The Shadow of the Wind (*****)
- Sheron Long: Dog Trots Globe (*****)
- Jeffrey Penn May: Where the River Splits (*****)
- Joseph Joffo: A Bag of Marbles (*****)
- Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D.: The Fall of Freddie the Leaf-A Story of Life for All Ages (*****)
- Richard Bach: Illusions-The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (*****)
- Thad Carhart: The Piano Shop on the Left Bank-Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier (*****)
- Rick Jarow: Creating the Work You Love (*****)
Vernissage-2009
- Welcome to La Galerie Dans la Cave
« December 2012 | Main | February 2013 »
January 2013
January 22, 2013
Cornering a Favorite-The Napleon House
You can't help but tell stories about the "good old days" when you have friends in town. This weekend was no different. The Napleon House holds too many memories for me to count. During my graduate school days at the Tulane School of Social Work in the late 70s, some of my classmates and I would catch the streetcar from uptown down to ther French Quarter. We'd have a soft drink and a quarter of a muffelata at the Napoleon House and then go over to the Cafe du Monde for a café au lait and beignets. Our hot night out on the town cost under $5. It was perfect on a graduate school budget! I'm not sure what that hot night would cost today-I know the streetcar would be $1.25 each way, but I'm not sure of the exact price of the rest. I'm guessing you could make it happen today for under $12...hmmm, maybe it's time to do a little experiential research!
January 21, 2013
In the Shadow of Her Wings
I first saw her in a black and white photo at a photographer's stall in the French Market. I asked the photographer where the shot had been taken and she said the Metairie Cemetery. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered a smaller version of her on the edge of the grounds in front of the church of St. Anne on Esplanade. She took my breath away once more and spoke to me through the sunshine, shadows and dappled light.
January 20, 2013
Moon-Walking Magic
One of the things I've always enjoyed about living in New Orleans is getting out and enjoying my city. They say everyone should be a tourist in their own town from time to time. Mine makes it easy.
Being back, I find I'm loving it more. I don't have to have friends in town to wander the Quarter, enjoy City Park or the Lakefront...and now that I'm working at Tulane, Uptown is blending itself in nicely too.
But yesterday, I did have the added pleasure of having a friend with me who I had worked in Holland with a couple of years ago. What a treat! From Columbus Street, we walked to and from the Quarter mostly on Esplanade. By the time we got to the Moonwalk, it was busy...blues, boats and birds kept us company during our stroll. The Mighty Mississippi stirred its magic once more.
January 19, 2013
Go Forth and Celebrate!
We celebrate. We celebrate well. And even though there are lots of regularly scheduled holidays and events here to celebrate and participate in, celebration is woven into the current and flow of life in New Orleans.
We lead lives of celebration! Happy Saturday!
January 18, 2013
The Little Free Library-Gone Global
Yesterday I wrote about The Little Free Library I'd discovered on the corner of Desoto and Lopez Streets. I was right on target about the "reasons" for doing one, but way off on the details. Turns out, this program was originally founded in Wisconsin by Todd Bol, who erected the first Little Free Library on a street near a public park to honor his school teacher/book loving mother who had passed. Since that time, he and Rick Brooks began the now international organization.
The Mission of The Little Free Library is three-fold:
- To promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges world-wide.
- To build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity, and wisdom across generations.
- To build more than 2510 libraries around the worldl-more than Andrew Carnegie.
With now 3000 world-wide, the program has grown and more than met that last piece of their mission statement. But, I don't see anyone stopping here. You can purchase your own Little Free Library to establish in your neighborhood, or you can consider building your own. In New Orleans, some of The Little Free Libraries were built out of Katrina debris. Whichever route you choose, you can register your site, get a number and your sign for a small fee.
I'm thinking two Little Free Libraries for me...one on Columbus Street and one at the Chatette. There's a little Hurricane Issac debris across the street where the tree fell on my neighbors here, and in France, I've got quite a bit of old wood from the barn and old tree trunks who have tumbled from the causse...I could be busy.
If you want to learn more and get the specifics, go to: www.littlefreelibrary.org
January 17, 2013
Sharing Treasured Words
I've passed this house on DeSoto Street a thousand times on my bike, eyes drawn to this tiny little structure. When I finally stopped the other morning, I discovered it was for books not birds. What a great idea! I'd given credit to the owners of the home, but found out later from my friend Victoria that there are others around New Orleans that are part of a city-wide project. I'll have to check into it further, but I'm ready to participate.
In these times of vanishing books, children tied to computers, kindles and the like; this little house gave me hope. Unlike Carlos Ruiz Zafon's "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" in The Shadow of the Wind, this is a living, breathing, active center in the neighborhood that has the potential for change, cohesion, inclusion, a mirror to who we are...and maybe just plain fun. I will be back with more as it's discovered. Till then, happy reading!
January 16, 2013
A Call of the Morning
Early one Sunday morning on my bike in City Park, I passed the old Casino building that has turned into The Morning Call. I had heard they were going to be there and open 24 Hours too. I didn't have any money on me, but promised myself that I would come back early one morning to savor the experience of grabbing a café au lait and a few beignets in a favorite spot of mine transformed.
Hmmm...I'm up awfully early some mornings. Maybe there's a beignet serving shift or two in my future. It's close to home, the time could be right, it would be fun, and what a great way to push the New Orleans experiences even further?
January 15, 2013
Where Else Could You Be?-New Orleans
Highlighting Hot Sauce
Pavement that sweats
Feather Boas Worn by Trees
And, then there's the rest...
January 14, 2013
To Market To Market-New Orleans Style
We began at Rose Nicaud on Frenchmen Street with a couple of coffees and a shared cinnamon roll, before Ron and I made our way into the Quarter. It had begun to drizzle on this unseasonably warm and humid morning, but that didn't stop us. Getting wet in New Orleans just comes with the territory, so we already knew we wouldn't melt.
Decatur Street awnings and balconies sheltered our walk over to the newly renovated French Market. By the time we made our way through, the drizzles had stopped.
I was stuck by so much light, so much color, so much texture, so much stuff...but very few fruits and vegetables to be had. I'd been hoping to ride my bike down to do some of my marketing fresh/French-Style. It looks like I'm going to have to come up with another alternative...neighborhood farmer's markets here I come!
January 13, 2013
Looking Back-Good Things Jar Beginnings
I first began keeping a "Good Things Jar" during 2013. Dal, Sam and I had left Cadrieu and were back stateside by the hardest with many challenges to face. Today, I'm going to be opening up my "Good Thngs Jar" for 2016. I find it is a time for gratefulness. It's a time for remembering the small things that were important to me that I might have forgotten. But most of all, it is a time for hope, centering, and taking moments to look back, look forward, and keep on moving. Happy New Year to All-I hope you'll enjoy this post from the archives, January 13, 2013.
1/13/2013-At the end of 2012, a friend on FB posted this idea: get a jar and put little notes in it of all the good things that happen throughout the year. Then, at the end of the year you empty out your jar, read your snippets, and reflect on all the wonderful things that happened during the last year.
Considering how difficult 2012 was for me, I was wishing that I had one of those jars to focus me a little more on the positive. But, would I have carried that jar all the way back to the states from Cadrieu? Oh, I guess I would have just put the snippets of paper in a bag and found another jar!
I'm set here on Columbus Street for 2013. My jar is my center-piece for the kitchen table. It even inspired some of my window treatments on lace. My jar ribbon ties my prism and crystal to the lace of the kitchen windows...sounds like positive energy to me. Happy Sunday!
Speaking of "good things"-I've teased that this is a place that is being built and re-settled by friends and family: the crystals and prisms I brought from France, the lace was a gift from my friend Joan that also came back from France with me, the ribbon was on the beautiful plein aire paintings I received from my sister-in-law Joan, and the green curtain valance in the kitchen goes with a set that was made by my Mom.