NOLA

I got sent to New Orleans on a business trip. It rained/stormed in the afternoon, and then cleared up. It was beautiful: I only really saw the warehouse district and the french quarter. So, to answer all the questions, no real apparent damage from the hurricanes in those areas. I mean, there were some building with windows still boarded up, and strips of closed shops, but nothing more that is typical in any big city.






I'm not used to big southern cities: big cities are usually places where I walk with purpose, don't make eye contact, put up walls. But, this is the south. It doesn't matter where you are or what time it is: you smile, you make eye contact, and you say 'hello.' Ah, the south.





Being in the south was nice: the heat, the light, all the things that are summer. New England summer is like a weak-ass version of summer. In some ways, it is lovely - I hate the heat, really, and it is nice not to drip sweat all day every day. But you miss the heat. The light, the way the late day sun slants. And northerners have a fear of showing skin, born of the constant coolness, i think? There was an abundance of skin. It looked like it was summer. People looked summery.

Exactly.

Local strawberries, picked up at a Walker's on the way home. Still warm, 'cause they were picked that day. Ah, spring. You sure do taste good.

Cows!

Cow butts! I love the Strolling of the Heifers parade. What's not to love? We quadruple out population. There are cows on Main Street. Free dairy products (cheese, ice cream).


Oh, and a petting zoo. The picture is blurry, but you get the idea: teeny spotted baby pigs. It is a miracle I didn't bring one home with me.

Poppy

We went to Kentucky for Memorial Day, which was lovely. So many things were flowering that was just starting to bud in Vermont. It was like a preview of the spring that hadn't gotten to us northerners. I was also a little sad, because I thought that we would miss the explosion of spring in our garden. Luckily, we got back to find the very very beginning.

I do love poppies: they are such fascinating and fragile flowers. The color is fantastic. They are architecturally interesting. If only they lasted longer. I wouldn't mind having poppies all summer long. Our are doing better this year, though. After the first year when I ripped a number of them out of the ground thinking they were weeds...

Oh, Flying Squirrel

Last year, near the fall, I was sitting on our couch. Behind the couch is a window, which looks into the woods and our 'back yard', which really is just an area we put a fence around so the dogs could have a place to run around and do their doggy business. Behind my head, I hear a noise, so I tilt my head back and OH MY GOD THERE IS A BAT ON THE SCREEN CHRISSSSSS!

Our landlady and Chris decided I was crazy. It was certainly not a bat. That was not 'bat' behavior. So I said "What about a flying squirrel?" I mean, it was fuzzy, and had wing-like flaps. If it is not a bat, then it Has to be a flying squirrel. This suggestion was apparently funnier than the idea of it being a bat. SO I dropped it. Well! Guess who came to visit:



That's him alright. Sittin' atop our shower. God, was he cute. And he was in fact a Northern Flying Squirrel. I wanted to keep him forever and ever, even though he was a total party animal, and when we locked him in the bathroom over night - with the window open, hoping he would find his way out, he trashed the place.

Of course, he did not leave. In fact he camped out in a toiletry bag that I had not yet unpacked from our trip to Boston the weekend before. I didn't realize it until the next morning, when the cat is Very interested in the toiletry bag. The next thing I know there is squealing and thrashing and there is a squirrel up on top of the shower curtain again.

Later that day we came home to find the poor guy curled up and deceased: the cat's morning terrorizing had done him in. Over 24 hours we had become so attached to our little buddy that we buried him. Poor guy.

Food Bag

Dear Food Bag
I love you. Even though you are empty (which is the only reason I am not chewing on you), and they put you in the back room. I will lie next to you until they take you away. Then I will be sad.
Signed
Sebastian "Steve" Dog

unproductive weekend

At least he's cute. However, please note the copious amounts of animal fur on the floor. Actually, why do I even need to mention it? Look at it! Ew. Okay. I was successfully being lazy all weekend, eating yummy food, playing on internets, reading bits of things. But now I need to vacuum. Of course, the dog is not going to be happy, but really, does he he want to be lying in his own filth? The answer is yes - but I do not want to be walking in his filth. It could be worse. He hasn't started shedding out for summer yet.