How to make groceries in a pirogue

Do you think there is some conspiracy to distract people from what’s really important in the media by focussing on trivial controversies like this Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays debate?

Anyway, I was just going to give everyone a quick update. After I worked at my new job for 2 weeks, the HR guy called on a Friday evening to say he was worried the state wouldn’t accept my degree as a provider for Medicaid. By Thursday this week I got the news that the state did accept it so I get to keep my job.

In the meantime I made the back-up plan that if the job fell through I would go back to New Orleans where I know I can work, and Chris and I were going to do the long distance thing. Now I have mixed emotions. Iwas almost disappointed when I found out I definately was going to be able to keep my job. I would miss Chris terribly if we were only seeing each other twice a month or so, but I miss New Orleans dearly too.

There is something about New Orleans that gets into your blood, into your psyche. Chris Rose, a local columnist there, expressed this by saying young couples who live there find themselves at first saying, “Well, it’s no place you’d want to raise kids.” After a few years, they find themselves feeling there is no better place on earth to raise children with all the fantastic culture. The fun-loving, eccentric, ethnic, musical, cajun and creole flavored spirit of the area is so pervasive and unique, I have a hard time even considering other cities in which to live.

Sometimes, I just can’t help wanting to go home.

Two things right off the bat: Thanksgiving was great, and I start a new job tomorrow. It’s the child case management job through the mental health agency here in town.

As far as Thanksgiving goes, we had a blast seeing some of our old friends. And hope is slowly returning to New Orleans. Though we did take some much more incredible, awe inspiring pictures of destruction in parts of town I wasn’t allowed in last time I went down, I wanted to focus on the positive.

To begin with, the zoo reopenned while we were down. Everyone we passed was saying “So good to see you!” “So glad you’re here”. Not that we had ever seen any of these people before, but the spirit of our town was alive and well in the die-hard locals. And in these guys:

Here is a point of interest, also located at the zoo. Monkey Hill was built in 1933 by the Works Progress Administration so the children of New Orleans, a flat city as you all probably know by now, would be able to see a hill. It is the highest point in New Orleans at 27.5 feet above see level.

And here is Chris and I with our friend’s daughter Fiona who we were watching for the day:

Later that night we all went to the French Quater and were generally outrageous, blowing off some much needed steam. This picture was taken at Jeanne Lafitte’s, the oldest standing bar in North America. It used to be a blacksmith shop, which was actually a cover for the infamous pirate, Jeanne Lafitte’s, lucrative illegal trade business.

Here we are later that night, us girls, atop a fountain, a stone’s throw from the Mississippi River.

Some of the happiest news we received while in town we that our favorite restaurant, Lola’s had openned. Located in a part of town that had flooded, right by City Park, I was sure it had flooded. The elevation was high enough, though, that they only got a few inches of water, and none of it came into the restaurant. Here we are after our amazing dinner.

Maybe after some time goes by, I’ll be able to tell everyone to come down and visit me in New Orleans again. Who knows? I do know that Chris and I will try to visit often.