Ginger envy

Gina Lollobrigida

There was something in the air this morning that made me think of Gina Lollobrigida.  I like to keep a tidy sidewalk, so I was picking up a chicken bone, a gum drop, and a penny (heads-up), while the 91 bus passed by.  The paperboy had just delivered my Advocate. 

As I was picking up the penny, Gina Lollogrigida's name popped into my head.  Then I said it again.  Then I said it again.  Try it.  Gina Lollobrigida.  

When I turned around, I realized what made me think of it.  Frau Schmitt called me over to chat with our neighbor in the blue house, and I forgot all about Gina Lollobrigida.  There is ginger in the air.

The ginger is in bloom on Esplanade Avenue

Our neighbor, who is the nicest fellow you'll ever meet, has a neighbor who lives on his other side, in the lavender house with green trim.  She is very nice, too.  We often chat when she's sweeping her sidewalk.  Her neighbors in the iris house that used to be a doctor's office are the groundskeepers for the rest of the block.  We all gathered around and admired each other's ginger.  

All the neighbors agreed that the ginger growing in front of the blue house had the most leaves and the most flowers.  The flowers have been unfolding all week.  Now that the temperature reached a humid 88 degrees, summer seems to have arrived.  It smells like ginger on Esplanade Avenue.

Our neighbors ginger

Aside from the ginger that grows around the oak at the bus stop, the ground in front of the iris house is pretty threadbare.  Mostly a little hardscrabble crabgrass, packed mud, and acorn tops.  The groundskeepers asked our neighbor in the blue house how he got his green thumb.  

"I fill my home with good memories," he said.  "Everything grows better when you take care of it with love.   Sure, the ginger in front of my house is lush, but it won't be the best on the block for long.  There are plenty of good memories being made in that orange bed and breakfast with blue shutters next door to me.  You should see their gardens in back," he said.

The gardens behind La Belle Esplanade

The groundskeepers admitted they had ginger envy.  "You think you have it now?" our neighbor told them.  "Just wait another two or three years.  That New Orleans B&B is getting filled with so many good memories that the ginger in front is going to bloom like a flambeaux on Mardi Gras Day. "

Ginger on Esplanade Avenue

I tried to change the subject to Gina Lollobrigida, but the neighbors wanted to talk about something else.

Photo courtesy of the New Orleans Advocate

The Dalai Lama is in town.

A votre sante,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.