The Totally Bearable Lightness of New Orleans.

Just as it is almost impossible to have a bad meal in New Orleans, it is likewise almost impossible to have a bad day.  No matter what incidents occur in any given 24 hours, an argument with your boss at work, a messy break-up, ten scratch-off lottery tickets that all went bust, a worm in your papaya, there is no such thing as a totally bad day in New Orleans.  Something good happens every day that will turn your frown upside-down and make you smile.

Smiling is the natural facial expression of a person who lives in New Orleans.  An easy laugh, a comradely chuckle, a snicker to some stray notion that crosses your mind, chortling at a pelican as it swallows a fish in Bayou St. John, the antics of ducks or turtles or ibises in City Park at the end of Esplanade Avenue----all the city is a parade of frivolity and conviviality.  There are no strangers in New Orleans.  There are only friends you haven't yet met.

The sun always shines in New Orleans, even when it's raining.  Let a smile be your umbrella.

No one who lives in New Orleans is a perpetual sourpuss.  It is impossible.  When you laugh, the whole city laughs with you.  When you cry, you cry alone.  No one is lonely in New Orleans.  Ours is The City That Care Forgot.  Wile away a few hours, strolling the streets, sitting in a barroom, dining on a dozen oysters, visiting a shrine or church, catching up with the neighbors.  Love makes the world go 'round.  It makes New Orleans go 'round, too.  What goes up must come down but New Orleans defies gravity.  Every day in New Orleans is always on an upward trajectory. Life is different here.

Life is better in New Orleans.  Everyone here lives in a New Orleans state of mind where the improbably is possible and the good things are possible come true.  It can happen to you.

How do I know?  I live here.  Not only that, but, I'm an innkeeper.  I see it happen everyday.  As a New Orleans goodwill ambassador, my job is to introduce people the The New Orleans State of Mind.  No one ever says their visit is too long.   It is always too short.  There is no such thing as too much New Orleans.  You'll see when you get here.  You'll leave hungry, wanting more New Orleans in your life.

--- If you are looking for someplace to stay when you visit New Orleans, I happen to be an innkeeper.  I run the #1-ranked place to stay in New Orleans (it's been #1 since April 2014 according to TripAdvisor).  You could do a lot worse.  Believe me.  You can choose a lot worse.  If you are looking to experience authentic New Orleans off the usual tourist radar, you know where to find us: in the bright orange house with blue shutters on Esplanade Avenue: La Belle Esplanade.

You have two friends on Esplanade Avenue.  When you're ready to experience the real New Orleans, we live in a very interesting neighborhood on a beautiful street.  We're here for you.

Lake Pontchartrain monsters

Lake Pontchartrain is the body of water directly north of the City of New Orleans.  New Orleans is on the South Shore.  Directly south, by the compass is the Mississippi River.  New Orleans is on the East Bank of the Mississippi.  It gets complicated, the way most things are in New Orleans.  We live in a different world.

Lake Ponchartrain isn't a true lake.  It isn't self contained and it isn't fresh water.  Lake Pontchartrain is brackish because it opens to Lake Borgne, which is even less of a true lake, which is connected to the Gulf of Mexico.  Atlantic Ocean water enters the Gulf and it enters Lake Pontchartrain through the Rigolets.  I'd draw you a map but that would make about as much sense as this description or the picture above.  Just take my word for it.

Lake Pontchartrain averages about 12 feet deep.  It's shallow.  Blue crabs come from there.  They are the tastiest blue crabs you'll ever taste.  They turn red when they're boiled.

Manatees live in Lake Pontrchartain.  So do various varieties of fish that prefer brackish waters, a combination of salty and sweet.  Dolphins sometimes venture into Lake Pontchartrain.  A narwhal was once found in Lake Pontchartrain in the 19th century.  One of its ribs is on display in our lobby.

What about cryptids?  Is there a Poncho, the way there is a Nessie or a Champ?  Nope.  No sea serpents, aquatic dinosaurs, giant squid, or other unexplained creatures have been sighted in Lake Pontchartrain, unless you count the time Tammie the Housekeeper's Aunt Millie was found by a US Coast Guard patrol in the middle of the lake stark naked and singing "Sugar, Sugar," at the top of her lungs. 

Tammy the Housekeeper

You never know what you'll find in New Orleans but you can be sure that there aren't any unexplained creatures in Lake Pontchartrain.  New Orleans has enough mythology about it that the city doesn't need to add sea serpents to the list.  You can find vampires in the French Quarter, mermen in the Industrial Canal, fairy washer women off Florida Avenue, and all sorts of other things within city limits.  We don't have any need to make up things that lurk offshore.

New Orleans is full enough of surprises as is.  

LIFE IS GOOD IN NEW ORLEANS.

--- If you are looking for someplace to stay when you visit New Orleans, I happen to be an innkeeper.  I run the #1-ranked place to stay in New Orleans (it's been #1 since April 2014 according to TripAdvisor).  You could do a lot worse.  Believe me.  You can choose a lot worse.  If you are looking to experience authentic New Orleans off the usual tourist radar, you know where to find us: in the bright orange house with blue shutters on Esplanade Avenue: La Belle Esplanade.

New Orleans Sugar

There's a new brass band song making the rounds around New Orleans at parades and weddings and at impromptu street corner jam sessions.  It's based on an old tune, a classic tune.  You can hear it from the bars on Frenchmen Street, and also from where the brass bands practice, in the music halls and neighborhood bars on Claiborne Avenue or A.P. Tureaud Avenue, or any number of back-a-town backstreet joints.

If you are of a certain age, when you hear the trumpets and the trombones and the tubas and the cornets and the drums play this song, you'll recognize the tune.  It's a classic.

If you are too young to know the original song, you'll still be tapping your toes and shimmying to the beat and the melody anyway.  This was a number one song in its day for many good reasons.  It is a pure pop confection of danceability and lighthearted bliss.  In New Orleans, we dance like nobody is watching.  We love happiness as much as the next person, but, perhaps, in New Orleans we treasure our happiness more.

Here is the song's original version:

The words for this newest, latest version of the song are similar to the original but different in important ways.  The lyrics have been pressed through the New Orleans filter.  They've become customized to ring more sweet and more true.  Welcome to The New Orleans State of Mind:

Sugar.
Ah, honey, honey.
New Orleans is my candy city
And it's got me wanting more...

Honey.
Ah, sugar, sugar.
New Orleans is a chocolate city
And it's got me wanting more....

I just can't believe the loveliness of loving New Orleans.
I just can't believe it's true.

When I spent a week in New Orleans, I knew how sweet a kiss can be.
I now know how sweet a kiss can be....

Like summer sunshine,
Pour New Orleans sweetness over me.
Pour that magic all over me.

Oh, New Orleans, pour a little sugar on it, honey.
Pour a little sugar on it, NOLA.
You make my life so sweet.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

LIFE IS GOOD IN NEW ORLEANS.

--- If you are looking for someplace to stay when you visit New Orleans, I happen to be an innkeeper.  I run the #1-ranked place to stay in New Orleans (it's been #1 since April 2014 according to TripAdvisor).  You could do a lot worse.  Believe me.  You can choose a lot worse.  If you are looking to experience authentic New Orleans off the usual tourist radar, you know where to find us: in the bright orange house with blue shutters on Esplanade Avenue: La Belle Esplanade.

We're back!

After a few years hiatus, I thought it would be a good time to reinvigorate this blog.  Why?  Well, for starters, I've always liked working in this format.  It was the first blogging software I learned and I used it for years and years before going more modern.  I like the simplicity of Blogger.  It may look a little retro but you know what?  I don't care.  I'm old fashioned and if there is such a thing as an old-fashioned blogger, then that's me.

I used to blog a lot.  When I lived in Boston, that blog would get 1000-3000 hits a day.  Those were the days.  I don't live in Boston anymore, as longtime readers will know.  I live in New Orleans.  I like it here very much but none of my New Orleans blogs got the traffic my New England blogs did.

Why should you care?  You shouldn't really.  Here we are now.  Let's have a good time.

The New Orleans State of Mind

I'll be writing a lot about The New Orleans State of Mind.  Living here is like living in a different world.  It's America, but it's New Orleans.  Life moves at a different pace here and values are different, too.  As a native New Englander, a cranky Yankee, if you will, I have become acclimated to New Orleans' ways.  I've gone native.

There are still things that drive me up the wall or make me shake my head, but I've lived here long enough, nine years, that I know it's not New Orleans that's crazy; it's me.

I'll also be writing about my neighborhood.  I live on Esplanade Avenue, which I always say is the second most beautiful street in the city.  I spend most of my time in our neighborhood, which is Tremé, or Esplanade Ridge, or Mid-City depending on who you ask.  When I tell people where I live, they reply "Your neighborhood is Esplanade Avenue."  This is true.  The street is an entity distinct unto itself.  It takes some getting accustomed to.

I'll be delving into New Orleans history.  As an armchair historian, I spend a lot of time reading book or looking through old documents at the library.  I'm just finishing up some research on prostitution in the city from its founding to today.  I am not particularly interested in prostitutes but I know some people are fascinated by this particular demimonde.  I noticed something peculiar on a street one day and that got me to doing some research for an essay I'm working on.  Stay tuned.

I'll be publishing rough drafts of essays and stories here, too.  This is the part I like the best.  I'll probably be composing them on the blog.  I don't write any of these entries beforehand.  I improvise as I go along.  I'm not cutting and pasting any of this, for instance.  What you are reading is what I am typing fresh from the top of my mind.  

A few parting words....

So this is the first installment of a new chapter.  I hope you'll follow along for the ride.  There is no pressure on me to do this, so I am more likely to keep up with it.  It is all sui generis and that's the way I like things.   We'll see what comes out of it.  I'm looking forward to it.

In the meantime, if you are looking for someplace to stay when you visit New Orleans, I happen to be an innkeeper.  I run the #1-ranked place to stay in New Orleans (it's been #1 since April 2014 according to TripAdvisor).  You could do a lot worse.  Believe me.  You can choose a lot worse.  If you are looking to experience authentic New Orleans off the usual tourist radar, you know where to find us: in the bright orange house with blue shutters on Esplanade Avenue: La Belle Esplanade.