Deja and Sam go to NOLA

-



A few pics of Sam and I in New Orleans. They were taken by a drunk man by the river. He and his girlfriend were swigging something from dark bottles in brown paper sacks.


Soon after he took them, a man with a microphone tried to take our hands and sing along to a song he was piping out of a speaker. He just wanted some cash, but he acted so sincere about his song, spreading his arms and tossing his head, his deep voice ringing and terrifying.


I hestitate to say anything about New Orleans, because I wasn't there before Katrina and I can't compare. And it's a big drinking town, which means it's not for me. I was on Bourbon street for about ten seconds before I was desperate to leave. It smelled like pee and alcohol and vomit.


But I did see a lovely sight: We were popping in and out of galleries, looking at art, when I spotted a perfect stereotype, folks I thought were only in movies. It was a short, old, pudgy man in a seersucker suit, carrying a white brimmed hat. He clearly had money; his wealth oozed from him. He had a round belly, a bald spotty head, a Southern accent, and an incredibly gorgeous blonde on his arm. His gal was tall and leggy, wearing a tasteful pink dress with a plunging neckline. She had beads and straight blond hair and she was hanging on his arm like he had packaged up Paris and given it to her in a box. Maybe he had.


I couldn't help it: my jaw dropped and I started to follow them like a zombie. I wanted to tug on her thin tan arm or his baggy old arm and ask if they were kidding, if they knew they were walking cliches. Or maybe I wanted to be deft enough to pickpocket him. Lift his seersucker and count his cash. Just count it. Just see what ticked loud enough for that woman to be mincing along next to him in her tiny heels.


Comments

Kira said…
I went to New Orleans "before", sounds like it is pretty much the same. We lasted on Bourbon street for about a block. The only thing I HIGHLY recommend is the cemetary tour, VERY interesting, and of course a buneulo (sp?).
May 7, 2008 at 8:20 AM
Dane, Delyse, and Hazel Lynn said…
It was delightful to talk to you today. I sure have missed you! And reading your lovely post was delicious to my deja-starved soul! Such fun! Except for the pee and alcohol smelling part...(:
May 7, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spider Fight Continues

-
I'm sorry to be so unposty lately. I hope to be back to my usual self before too long. In the meantime, I have a couple of requests. This thing with my job has taken an interesting turn, one that is calling for my being a bit more careful. I hope you can help. Request 1: If you have a link to my blog on your blog (or anywhere), will you make sure that it doesn't list my last name? I'm particularly worried about my married name, as this is what I go by at work. If you could just keep me as Deja, that would be excellent. Request 2: I hate to do it, because it makes me kind of sad when other people do it, but I need to go private for awhile. Please, PLEASE, leave me a comment if you'd like to still read. Sometimes when people go private I'm too sheepish to ask to be added. Please don't be sheepish. Leave your email address here or shoot me an email as soon as you can. I want to get this privatized in the next few days. Thanks for your help. Maybe when I'm priv...
Read more

As She Tried Out All of Her Sounds

-
Image
Conference napping, starting young. Every six months, Mormons listen to what we call General Conference , which means, theoretically, all 14 million of us gather and listen to talks by church leadership. There's a physical meeting in Salt Lake, and the rest of us watch it in our chapels and, increasingly, over the Internet on our various devices. It's four 2-hour sessions (with a bonus session for men), and it fills up the weekend. Six months ago, I was literally two days away from having a baby, and let's face it, I slept through most of it, despite my efforts to stay awake. I'd sit down for a moment, pull it up on my iPad, and immediately zonk out. I got some really solid sleep in during those conference sessions, and I don't begrudge my former self a bit of it. Today, with my baby on the outside, I didn't nap, though she got a pretty solid one in (see above). During the first part, I deep-cleaned my bathroom (party!) while she played with her baby do...
Read more

Color Me Clueless

-
Someone should explain what it means to match, because I thought it was about matching similar colors or like black/red, blue/white--obvious pairs--but lately I see girls wearing purple shoes with yellow blouses and green patterned headbands and it's so pretty but I never feel brave or smart enough to do it myself. Color stresses me out, in part because I love it so much, and I want to "get it."  Once, in a most wonderful store called Accessorize in London, I was trying to find something to match an outfit I had bought that was all about brown.  And I was looking at a brown necklace, thinking I would get it, when I asked the sales lady and she said, in her perfect London accent, "No, no.  That's far too obvious."  Oh.  She helped me pick out something with green--green with reddish-brown flecks, and it was much better. And I won't even talk about how I used to wear a purple shirt, plus a purple collared shirt, plus a purple sweater, PLUS a purple ...
Read more