Calling New Orleans Home.

It's amazing what a zoom lens can capture

Regular readers of this blog often think I walk around with a camera around my neck all the time.  Untrue.  Other people think I have a cell phone that takes pictures.  That's untrue, too.  The photos I post here are just a fraction of a fraction of a percentage of what I see everyday wandering around this kaleidoscopic city we call home: New Orleans, Louisiana.  When something interesting presents itself, I'm always thinking I should have my camera, but I never do.  Most of my life is undocumented in either pixels or film, like most people throughout history, I suppose.  I'm a dinosaur.  Let your imagination and intuition be your guide.

Spend enough time in New Orleans and you'll be blinkered before you know it.

No wonder these posts ramble from topic to topic without much continuity.  That's the way it is when you walk around New Orleans.  You never know you'll find when you turn a corner.  A person needs to be on his or her toes to react and respond to the magic in the streets.

The band plays on

A German guest and a Canadian guest from Montréal went to the Rock 'n' Bowl for Zydeco Night (every Thursday), and the German half of this pair told me that, for her, it was like being in a movie.  New Orleans is like that.  Life is but a dream in many ways, but in New Orleans dreams become real.  Dance like nobody is watching.  You have to be dead from the neck up if you don't enjoy Zydeco Night at the Rock 'n' Bowl.  You've gotta be dead all over if you don't enjoy New Orleans.  Something's wrong with you if you don't have a good time in The City that Care Forgot.  

A parade went by our house the other day.  It was the Friday before Mardi Gras.  If you don't live here, you don't know what that means.  If you are here during Mardi Gras season, or if you live in New Orleans, it means everything.  We live in a magical city. 

New Orleans isn't magical only during Mardi Gras.  It's magical all the time.  It is nothing like where you are from.  Let me be frank, I have no vested interest if you visit New Orleans or not.  If you don't come, someone else will.  Let me tell you this, though: if you visit New Orleans, you won't be the same again.  It's like riding a motor scooter, or a little Fiat 500, or a Mini Cooper, or a great big yellow 1979 Cadillac with fins in the back.  It will change your life.  It's like parachuting, or parasailing; it's paranormal without being occult.  Who does the kind of voodoo New Orleans does?  Nobody. Nowhere.  No how.  Don't ask.

It's a parade in front of our house

I don't know what happens in front of the house you live in but I can make uninformed suppositions.  I've lived in plenty of houses where nothing much happened in front, or in the back for that matter.  It's nice when life is predictable and uneventful.  It's less exciting and interesting, but at least you know what to expect.  Now, I'm gonna tell you a secret: it's better when magic happens in front of your house.

It's better when magic happens on every street in your town or city.  I'm not talking about garbage cans being emptied on time or the recycling bins, either.  I don't mean that the mail shows up at the same time every day or that the FedEx guy drops by when you're Amazon package is scheduled to arrive.  I'm talking about real magic.  I'm talking about music.  I'm talking about an unpredictable improvised rhythm of a day.  What do I mean, exactly?

Come to New Orleans.  Then, I won't need to explain it.  Seeing is believing.  Living is living the good life, at least for as long as your vacation lasts.  Remember:  Nobody ever said their stay in New Orleans was too long.  Everybody says the opposite, and that they wish they didn't have to leave.

Speaking for Frau Schmitt and myself, we're here for the duration.  We call New Orleans home for a reason.

À votre santé,

La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.