Fresh Mint at a Bar on Rampart & Dumaine

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Today is one of those days that just runs away from you, best laid plans be damned. The bicycle rides have been similarly fruitless, first in the middle of a downpour after what otherwise was a positively lovely lunch with new friends I met too late and then this bike ride to the fancy bar on North Rampart to meet M., but it turns out we got our Mondays mixed up. I’m thinking we both have moving on the brain–she’s still in Georgia and I’m still in New Orleans and those facts can leave us a bit addled. Sigh. But that means I get to sit here and have a couple of drinks by myself while watching the place fill up. First it was the hipster couple–he knows a lot about what makes water carbonated. Then it was the woman with the book, waiting for her mess of friends–that table reminds me there’s a whole world of thirty something straight women I don’t know anything about, but I hope the sunglasses-on-the-head lady has a good blind date later, in spite of her headache. Then there were the tourists from New York by way of South Florida who are relating to our just-here-for-the-summer bartender until they started sharing pictures of their cats with me. I can totally play that game. And then the two guys on a date and the other hipsters and now the bar is full. Hi, everybody! Time to ride my bike home cheerfully in the after-rain, toss a salad and heat up a pizza, and watch some TV. Not a bad ending after all.

A Mousetrap Behind a Sink in a French Quarter Bar

I spent the day at home, reading, watching a documentary film or two, making soup, talking to cats, and just generally being on vacation. Once the clock hit 5:00, though, it was time to get on the bike and head down to the French Quarter to meet D. and friends for food and drinks. I suited up in lights and florescent vest and my helmet out on the corner. I saw a little wriggly movement out of the corner of my eye, and there it was! A little mouse! He hopped up on the curb and looked around all nervously before scampering across the oak tree roots and into the night. Now, if this mouse had been inside my house, I’d be talking about it in an entirely different way, but out there I can keep a safe distance. Continue reading

Parking Lot at Loyola & Perdido

Yep, still sick, but today my throat hurt more and I was coughing up grosser stuff and my body was less fatigued, so thankfully I think this means I’m on the mend. (Colds like this remind me how glad I am I quit smoking four years ago–this would go on for the next six weeks if I was still puffing away.) I worked from home and got some rest, but did head out on the bike this evening to meet T., a loyal reader of the blog, visiting from San Francisco. Continue reading