A typical New Orleans holiday weekend

Sometimes I look back at the end of my day and marvel about the adventures I experienced in only one day.

Today was Sunday, and I took the unusual step of sleeping in until about 10:00 o'clock. I cooked myself a nice breakfast, and then drove across the bridge into the Lower Ninth Ward to go to the supermarket in Chalmette.

After a sandwich at home for lunch, I went to my local bar, Vaughan's Lounge, and had a glass of wine in the company of my friend, the bartender, and a couple of other regulars. I had decided to go to a poetry reading Uptown, and needed a little liquid courage to relax in a new social scene.

Well - the poetry reading was interesting. Really, it was kind of the Land of Misfit Toys.  When I got there, people were milling about. There were a handful of older men with straggly grey ponytails. There was a large Earth Mother in a paisley muumuu who seemed to be in charge of the line-up. There was a slender young woman with a dried-out bleached blonde hairdo, wearing a long black sheath with a rhinestone collar, slinging a leopard-print bag over her shoulder. There was a bewigged lady all in white festooned with dozens of bracelets and necklaces.

I had a wine spritzer, and politely listened to about five authors read. A long-haired young man shyly intoned into the microphone. An older man spoke forcefully, but held the mic so close to his lips that it distorted all his words. A woman in a lace playsuit read a kind of good poem. The bewigged lady came up to the mic and said, "I don't have a poem to read today," so she proceeded to sing "Rose's Turn" from the Broadway musical Gypsy. 

The blonde woman got up, and instead of reading some psycho-sexual rant (which is what I anticipated) read a poem in rhyme (!) that was a reminiscence about her teenage years in the Girl Scouts.

That was when I decided to take off and head back to the Bywater. At least the degenerates and weirdos there are more interesting. And more attractive!!

Patriotic Pool party!

Once at Vaughan's Lounge, I was invited to a pre-4th of July pool party at the home of Dusty and Matt. I found a place to park right outside, and hung out in there with some neighborhood friends, some good sangria, and some tasty gazpacho. The crowd was great - families, kids, everyone.

After I went home, I walked the dog around the block and got to see my old neighbor Who Dat, hanging out on his porch and listening to his music.

Tomorrow there's a big holiday party potluck at Vaughan's Lounge; I'm bringing something, hope to have a nice time.