Thursday, May 05, 2011

crazy people lined up down the block for pieces of fried dough at cafe du monde

cafe du monde.

i mean really! they're little donuts! all hours of the day there was a block-long line.
we went at midnight and walked right up.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

new orleans

we left the house at 230AM thursday night (or friday morning depending how you count), drove an hour and a half to the greenville, SC amtrak station, and at 5AM boarded the crescent bound for new orleans. i woke up 4 hours later pulling out of the atlanta station.

sleeping

we had a roomette which was nice because you can lower the seats and put on a bedroll they provide and completely lie down, also can close the door and curtain. there's a toilet in there, which is too close for comfort for me.

dining car carnation

in the dining car they sat you with strangers if you didn't have a party of 4. they ran out of things like nobody's business. the service took forever. the coffee was piping hot. the salad had dark green lettuce not just iceberg. the meals were extremely overpriced, but free for those who were traveling in the roomettes.

broken trees lost roofs

the train slowed way down through tuscaloosa alabama. there were neighborhoods completely leveled by the tornadoes 2 days before. so many snapped trees and then 100 year old trees on their sides - their red roots unnaturally perpendicular. factories a heap of twisted steel and cinder blocks. people in neon yellow shirts handing out water. old men in their backyards surrounded by shredded belongings watching the train go by. (slide show of the destruction)

black jack

there is no open container law in new orleans and no last call. (or seemingly). there's a casino. where you can't take pictures of the blackjack table. you can take bloody marys and walk down by the mississippi river while an old lady plays the pipes on top of the natchez paddle boat, it's so windy the pipe steam cloud is blowing right back in her face.

alo + josh clark

tipitinas uptown is a legendary venue and i loved seeing two of my alltime favorite bands share the stage there and also some old friends on the dancefloor. the show was supposed to start at 1, but instead doors opened at 2 and it was sunrise when we stumbled out. my time's coming but it's not tonight.

jama jama fricasse plantains

the food at the fairgrounds of jazz fest is worth the price of admission alone. ingested included: giant strawberry lemonade with chunks of real strawberries, chicken fricassee, fried plantains, and 'jama jama' (spinach) from the african food court. to die for. a bowl of shrimp and grits. perfection.

mardi gras indians

old timers playing the blues and some mardi gras indians. sunday morning. can you beat it? no.

mr b's bistro best meal ever

as a last hurrah, later that night mr. b's had the best dining experience of my life. perfect service and timing and not too stuffy and awesome AWESOME food.

blue nile floor

the floor of the blue nile has the arabic patterned tile. waiting for the show to start a man asked us "did they find his body?" which is how i found out they killed bin laden. the hippie next to me said super sarcastic "a trillion in war debt and how many thousands killed? mission accomplished! yay america! are the troops on their way home?" i tend to agree. watching teenagers rejoice in front of the white house on tv later i didn't feel like celebrating and i didn't feel any safer.

sidewalks could use some more improving

the train left new orleans at 7am. we got to the station in a cab whose driver had lived in the city for 4 days and had to plug the train station into the gps. he moved to new orleans from charlotte where his wife and kids still live because he couldn't find work in charlotte.

mooning the train

we got back to greenville at 1130 monday night, back home at 1. we got mooned in mississippi.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

wait your turno

i love this time of year!

it's warm. and green. and gold. and growing.

we are taking a train from south carolina to louisiana for jazzfest this weekend.

ALO and Tea Leaf Green are playing a show at Tipitina's that starts at 1AM on my birthday.

i can barely wait my turno!

Monday, April 25, 2011

bunnicide

i hope everybunny had a most wonderful easter.

Friday, April 22, 2011

blood drops


yesterday i thought nacho was dying.

he has been throwing up the past few days. nothing new. he has a sensitive stomach and combined with being a counter-surfer, he throws up often.

then i saw a big drop of dark blood on top of the stairs. and there were big drops of blood going down all the stairs.

i was convinced nacho ate a roofing nail and was throwing up blood.

then eli solved the mystery. he went over to a 'seed' on the floor and sniffed it and looked at us. he was telling us not to worry, it was just an engorged tick the size of a grape.

then we saw another giant tick carcass next to the blood drops on the stairs.

then the dogs got frontline flea and tick medicine.

cure for tantrums?


check out kid D's brilliant new idea to stop her daughter's fits:

i love technology

Thursday, April 21, 2011

perhaps perhaps perhaps

what a strange word, i don't think i have ever used it in real life

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

hourglass arrow



kind of risque for a golf course, no?

Monday, April 18, 2011

free shirts, tiddys

woo hoo! another fun post in the 'free shirts for bloggers' series has arrived.



the sweet and hilarious tiddy ferguson featured a skippy haha vintage t-shirt on her blog this weekend.

she also listed some amazing facebook status updates from her friends and gave a blow-by-blow account of laser hair removal. this is what the internet is all about!

AND she has a dog named nacho! her nacho also likes to sleep with his head on pillows.



check out her super fun blog - thanks, tiddy!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

gazebo roof nacho snout

creeping green

blue ridge parkway spring