Some Things About New Orleans I Want to Remember

• Reading (the zombie-superhero book Jeff gave to me) in the park, warm gray tabby cat purring in my lap, claws kneading into my leg, white egrets all around
• Ringing the doorbell when arriving at our hotel and the stately gentleman who opened the courtyard door, let us in
• Honor-bar wine before dinner in our French Quarter courtyard, aglow with tea lights, fountain trickling amidst a jungle of the greenest plants
• A big brass band leading a young blonde bride, older groom--smiling ear-to-ear, the bride with a bright white umbrella--and their wedding guests through the darkened and uneven streets of the French Quarter
• Fried oyster Po-Boys at Coops and Mahoney's
• Walking and stopping for coffee at the most un-touristy place ever on our way to visit Keith
• The short sparkly dress I passed up on Magazine Street
• A restoration in a Garden District graveyard
• Birthday dinner and jazz at Antoines Cafe
• Beignets and cafe au lair at Cafe du Monde...oh, the mounds of powdered sugar!
• Walking along the river in the sunlight
• Getting monster dolls for our kids (to whom we said, "Look what jumped into our bag to come home and meet you! All the way from New Orleans! Monsters!") and laughing when we figured out after the fact they were actually voodoo dolls (we should have known...)
• Drinking Bourbon at the Bourbon House in the French Quarter, the movie "The Time Machine" playing on TV (no sound), the best singer we heard all trip onstage, everyone dressed to the nines
• Music always and everywhere...