Noteworthy in Nola

We took a quick trip out along the Gulf and this shrimper just stopped not far from where we were sitting to rinse out his nets & get everything stowed away.

The latest bunch of eBay photos have a few really interesting shots, though most are of your typical floats and such- a couple in from Seattle for Mardi Gras.

There are two that caught my attention, though- the first is just how different Bourbon Street was… hats, coats, kerchiefs… totally civilized. Shockingly so, really:

The other was this one:

I’d love to know where this was, who they were, what the celebration was. And mostly I’d like to know how a couple of tourists who, as far as I can tell, did not stray off Bourbon and Canal got to something like this.

And then I’d like to go, too.

Another eBay slide, which I love. Taken in 1976, it’s something that still happens today; kids (particularly poor black kids) attach metallic caps to the bottoms of their shoes and tap dance on the cobblestones.

Here the local kids seem to be teaching the tourists to dance along with them in front of St. Louis Cathedral.

Yesterday we went back to Jean Lafitte Park, this time with the wonderful Jane, who’d never been. We are in the middle of a really rainy patch, and I’ve never quite seen the park like it was yesterday.

The water was everywhere- right up to the path, while usually, until you get to the main waterway, you only catch glimpses of the water here and there. And growing in it- everywhere- were flowers. Things were in bloom a few weeks ago, but nothing like this- it was fantastic.

Stretching back as far as the eye could see were fields of wild mallow, a form of hibiscus. Its pale pink against the dark greens was gorgeous, so now I know- even if it’s continuing to be overcast and nasty, a trip out to Jean Lafitte Park isn’t ever really out of the question.

Taken at Satchmo Fest 2009

Tell me this cloud doesn’t look like another angel floating over the Italian Benevolent Society Tomb in St. Louis No 1?