How I Spent My Summer Vacation v1.3

Day Four: A Perfect Day in New Orleans
     Before we moved on along the coast we decided to spend another day enjoying New Orleans. Last time I had visited the city all the streetcar lines were running except the St. Charles line. It was still down from damage due to Hurricane Katrina. The St. Charles line is my favorite street car ride. I go from Canal Street out through the warehouse district and the Garden District to S. Carrollton Ave. and back.
     It was still early morning, just after rush hour, but the day was already building to be hot and humid. We decided to take the St. Charles streetcar out to the Camellia Grill for a late breakfast. The car was mostly empty and didn’t stop very much. Most of the windows were down and as we rushed along the breeze flowing across my face felt wonderful.
     At the end of St. Charles we got off and walked across the street to our breakfast destination. I had heard that the Camellia Grill was a great place for breakfast. Regretfully, I wasn’t that impressed. Yes, it does have old south charm, with the waiters running around in their white jackets but in the end it is just a diner. I thought the food was on the level of a Waffle House. Perhaps I just over-anticipated.
     We walked back through the Garden District to the Audubon Zoo. It was getting hot so we hopped the streetcar back to Canal Street and started to walk the French Quarter. As is common along the Gulf, the early afternoon humidity turned to light sun-showers. We were walking along Dauphine Street when large drops of moisture began to pelt the hot sidewalk. At that moment I spotted a used book store. Now I am a sucker for any used bookstore, but in New Orleans, on a rainy afternoon, what more could you ask for. And it was just the type of place you would expect, crammed to the rafters with piles of old books, barely enough room to walk the aisles. I was in heaven.

264 Dauphine Street, New Orleans

     The storm didn’t last long and in an hour we were on our way. I left Dauphine Street Books with an early work by Robert Ruark I had been unable to find, “Grenadine's Spawn”, and Ruth walked out with a New Orleans Dave Robicheaux mystery thriller by James Lee Burke. As we were only a couple of blocks away from the Acme Oyster House we stopped by for early afternoon oysters and a martini or two. After an afternoon swim at the Hotel Pierre and a creole dinner at the Gumbo Shop, one of my favorite places for seafood and orka gumbo, followed by a bit of music on Bourbon Street we were in bed still at an early hour. Yes, a very nice day indeed.

A Sand County Almanac

The New Year started off cold and snowy with temperatures in the single digits. Two days later all the snow had melted and we were enjoying sunny days in the 60’s. Now only a week later we are back to a snowy afternoon.

No matter the weather this time of year after January 1st. my thoughts begin to turn to spring. One of my favorite books to read and re-read is Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac. Leopold follows the year, starting in January, in a journal type fashion as he works in his spare time to convert an old worn-out Wisconsin farm to a weekend retreat for his family. A place where he can enjoy the seasons of nature and indulge in his curiosity in ecology and biology.

Recently I inherited part of my family’s original homestead. It also is a worn out old farm. So it is with anticipation and delight that I recently dug out my battered copy of A Sand County Almanac. I’ll reread it once again, this year I hope to add to the fun as I keep a journal of my own journey back to the Ozarks and the restoration of a place that was the scene of some of my best childhood memories.

War and Peace

This is the first week of January and it is frigid cold outside. The temperature tonight is in the single digits. What snow that is left is crunchy and iced. Geese were circling overhead earlier this evening looking for open, unfrozen water in which to land on the nearby lakes.

This is the time of year to put on extra blankets at night. Burn the fireplace. Let the dog and the cats sleep with you. Stay indoors out of the biting cold wind. A time to go to bed early and read.

Several years ago a German exchange student spent a year with us. During the cold January winter she spent many evenings snuggled up in her duvet reading Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. That spring when she returned to Germany she left her copy inscribed to me daring me to read the whole book.

Recently an author on NPR was talking how everyone should have a time in their life that the take the time to read War and Peace. This cold winter I am going to do it. I started reading the week between Christmas and New Years.

On The Way Back

On the way back from the Ozarks last weekend I decided to take an indirect route back to Kansas City through Columbia and visit a few old friends still at Mizzou. I also stopped off in Jefferson City at the Capitol Building to get a good view of the Muddy Missouri in flood stage.When I arrived in Columbia at mid-afternoon I had forgotten it was graduation weekend and the campus was packed with new graduates, spouses and parents. I made my way over to the MU Bookstore at Brady Commons because I knew they would be having some end-of-the-year discounts. I can’t walk into a bookstore without buying an armful of books, and when there is a sale on I have to lock my credit card in the car. I was so proud of myself, I only bought three books. One on German settlements in Missouri and two travel books.

While I was in the travel section a student walked in and was looking for the Lonely Planet travel guide that covers Mexico and Central America. The clerk said they did not have it but could order it for him. However, he was leaving the country the next day.

As I have traveled in Central America, I struck up a conversation. He and a friend were planning to tour for the three month summer hiatus. They were flying to Mexico and after exploring some of the Yucatan they were going on to Cuba for a month. After that they had no definite plans except visiting friends in Guatemala. He wanted to go on to Belize and was thinking about Ambergris Caye. Was I ever envious; I wish I had the time, the money and the chutzpah to do that.

It was a hot, sunny afternoon and I had not eaten all day. I met my friends at Booches bar/pool hall for a cheeseburger and ice cold Michelob Light draught beer. When in Columbia make it a goal to have a cheeseburger from Booches, considered by many to be on the world’s best. A perfect ending to a perfect lazy day, only the two hour drive back to Kansas City remained.

Serendipity

Serendipity is a wonderful word. Not only the nonsensical, melodious way it flows off the tongue but also the meaning of the word.

ser~en.dip.i~ty: noun. Etymology: from its possession by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.

When I attended college, this time of year always seemed so great! A renewal, a break in things that were getting old. A chance to start something new. A world pregnant with possibilities.

Maybe that is why now, as I teach full time, the very season I loved drags so much on my soul. I don’t like saying goodbye to great students, people I may never see again. I don’t like having one measly week off and then starting all over again.

Okay, so you get the idea. I have been feeling sorry for myself. When I do that I have a tendency to stay-up too late, not do the important things I need to do, drink and play too much and give myself more reasons to get pissed off at myself.

The last thing I wanted to do last week was post such shitty feelings on a blog so I didn’t. But today as I forced myself to get a few required things done I begin to feel better. So just to take a quick break I opened a beer, fired up the internet and begin to read a few of my favorite blogs.

If you haven’t had a chance to read memyi.us May 6th then please do so. She knocked the feelings of melancholy and self-centered pity right up against the side of my head, just what I needed. Thank you.

I never got the chance to post the pictures of the great bookstore I wandered into in Baltimore, but strangely enough I did find one picture of a plaque outside the store. I’ve always been a sucker for good signage.Now that I feel better I’ll get back to work.