A Mornin' in New Orleans

Sunday, 5:00am
New Orleans

Good morning, I’ve been up since 3am. I just couldn’t sleep; my mind is full of ideas. I suppose that is why the school sends people to conferences. The problem is they usually meet in great places, like New Orleans. Then they cram your day full of meetings and symposia which doesn’t leave enough room for fun.

Early yesterday morning when I left Kansas City it was “spitting” snow. As I was getting on the bus to the terminal there was a family getting off. They had waited all day yesterday for a flight to Houston and their carrier had just cancelled the flights for Saturday. All the planes were grounded in Newark due to the snowstorms.

I had forgotten that this would be Spring Break week for many. My flight was late leaving Kansas City. As we got close to Dallas the attendant began to give out gates for connecting flights. He began with Cancun, then destinations such as Honolulu and Miami. One woman on the plane was lamenting that they she was going to miss her connection to Ft. Lauderdale and she was scheduled to leave on a cruise at 4 pm. Good luck!

Okay, it is suppose to be sunny and in the 70’s here today, so I’m not going to complain. It’s almost daylight. I think I’ll take the Riverfront streetcar (It seems to be the only one now running.) to the French Quarter and the Café Du Monde for café aulaite and beignets. And I’ll still have time to make my first meeting.

It Has Been Just One of Those Days...

When the alarm clock went off early this morning I did not feel well. I tried several times to get up and get going. Each time I ended back in bed exhausted. Finally I gave in and called in sick to work. When I don’t feel well the best thing for me to do is sleep. And I did, I slept for hours, almost all day.

Finally late this afternoon I awoke and tried to eat some of nature’s greatest healing food, Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup. Well, actually I was out of soup but the chicken favored ramen noodles did almost as well. Followed by a few sips of very cold iced tea and I’m almost good as new. Now my goal is to walk the dog, I’m going to try to make one whole block. This time of year it is usually dark by the time I get home from the city and we walk in the blackness. She won’t know what to do, walking in the sunshine. Maybe I should fit her with a pair of doggy sunglasses.

Later in the evening…

I can’t be sick any longer. Most of my friends are leaving for Austin and SXSW this weekend. I have to stay behind because the next weekend I leave for a professional meeting in New Orleans that will take most of the week.

It is with trepidation that I look forward to seeing the Crescent City once again. It has always been one of my favorite places to visit. I revel in the spirit, love the food, and find the diversity of human existence inspiring. But I have not been back since before Katrina.

A few friends that have returned to visit or to help say it’s not the same. The French Quarter is okay, many restaurants have reopened, but lots of the people have not returned. Most street performers have not returned; you hear very little live music. Most of the noise is recorded bands. I’ll give a full report when I return next week.

Out of Hibernation

The amount of daylight is increasing every day. As the temperature slowly climbed above freezing the snow melted. Can spring be far behind? Hmmm, maybe? Here in Missouri we can still expect anything from a late winter blizzard to a riot of daffodils blooming tomorrow.

It is March and I should come out of hibernation. I haven't done a lot of anything since the winter weather arrived in early December. The problem with being inactive all winter is how much you get behind. I have so much to catch up on. I have to finish my income taxes, so I can fill out my FAFSA which was due March 1st. The VW license is overdue. The university wants my Faculty Accomplishment System (FAS) post haste.

What I would prefer to do is to take a long bicycle ride on the Little Blue Trace in a warm morning’s dazzling sunlight. I did go to the YMCA yesterday for a late afternoon swim. I've paid dues all winter and that was the first time I'd set foot in the door.

Speaking of a foot. Dulcinea broke a small bone in her left foot. We were just about to leave for Mizzou to see Cassiopeia’s acting debut in a production of “The Vagina Monologues” when she slipped off the last step and torqued off the head of the fifth metatarsal. Instead of seeing a play at Mizzou we spent the evening in St. Mary’s emergency room.

According to last Tuesday’s NPR Morning Edition, it is the bicentennial of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s birthday. You know the guy who wrote Paul Revere’s Ride and Hiawatha. Because Longfellow had such a wonderful ability to put nature in the context of the human soul the director in charge of the 200th celebration wants weathermen to use “The Longfellow Poetry Forecast”, quotations of some of Longfellow’s poetry while giving weather forecasts. She said, “Maybe he wasn’t writing a forecast, but he used this wonderful imagery as a segue in to his state of thought. It often matched the state of the weather.”

I thought this was a good one for Kansas City on most any winter occasion.

“The day is cold and dark and dreary
It rains and the wind is never weary.”

Or the Longfellow weather quote I prefer:

“Oh perfect day
Whereon shall no man work, but play
Whereon it is enough for me
Not to be doing, but to be.”

Happy soon to be spring!