The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

It's summer now. For sure. It's hot as hell, literally...here in Florida. Just to get out of our heads for a while, I dragged the husband and three-year-old to my favorite city in in the south...New Orleans. Gotta love that place. No matter how often I go - it's a surprise to me. It was my husband's first time there, I was superbly excited to show him the city I love.



We stayed in a hotel near the French Quarter - the Pelham. It was gorgeous. We walked all over the Quarter...had chickory coffee at Cafe Du Monde...we ate beignets until we couldn't even stand to smell them...we had dinners of crawfish and red beans and creole rice and gumbo...we drank mint juleps on the porch at Oak Alley plantation...we rode a carriage with a mule pulling us...we saw the "house of the rising sun".. we admired the balconies and Garden District houses...we spent two days in the cemeteries ...surprisingly my husband liked them the best...weird but I agreed with him. They're odd. We spent a day in St. Patrick II and I gave Jesse my camera. He took digital pictures for about two hours. I was stunned at how beautiful things are at my son's level. He's three. He took three or four pictures of an odd round drain in the street. Some flowers ...a huge metal crypt marked "burgious" in weird letters....the back of me - mostly legs and converse sneakers...his own sneakers...the back of his dad, also legs and doc martens...the sidewalk with its zig zag cracks...



We live in the country at home. We have a farm, so I thought the city would be fun to visit. It was a riot - my husband and son - staring up at the buildings with horror on their faces. They're country boys I guess. We wandered the streets. I was trying to explain what I love about New Orleans to my husband. Well...sort of what I love about cities. I love the way everything is stone. Like where the buildings meet the sidewalk...I love the change-over from brick to concrete. I like to lean agains the wall and feel the building. I like the coquina and tabby buildings and how they just don't fit with the asphalt and brick. I like the water that runs off the road down the drains when it rains. I know that sounds really weird, but I love the like...workings of the city...the smells and the heat and the stuff it's made of. AND the people.



The people part was totally easy. My husband was all prepped for the dangerous city....he was shocked at how friendly New Orleans is. Black people, white people, creole people, tourists, locals, French, Spanish, whatever. We took the street car to the south side of town and got stuck on the way back...we had to wait like thirty minutes and we talked to EVERYONE. My son loves to yap and my husband too...people were nice and easy to talk to...not like here at home. We're a mean bunch in Florida lately.



We went down to the lower eighth and nineth wards...since we have been through hurricanes here too...we wanted to see how the rebuilding was going. Scary part is...it wasn't really going. We talked to a ton of people down there ...stores are still closed, houses still blue-tarped...it was a little scary. Even Winn Dixie wasn't open. That's not nice. People living down there had to head into the city on buses or cabs or whatever just to get groceries. That really bothered me.



We didn't want to leave when our vacation was over. Even the boys...and I thought they would be griping because they love the country so much. It was sad to leave because New Orleans feels homey. I guess I'll put some of Jesse's pictures in the portfolio. Thrilling I know...but you enjoy them DAMNIT!



So summer is here with the thunderstorms and cicadas and whip-poor-wills. I love the summer. We're starting scalloping season next week. Got a new boat...whoooooohoooooo love the boat! It's a Century and fast fast fast. And good for diving and fishing. Sweet! I'll let ya know how the summer goes. I plan to enjoy it. ;)