The Coven
Early rise to start Fat Tuesday – we had a plan – and we followed through and the first stop was the R Bar where the scene was quite wonderful – riffs on Broke Back Mountain, pregnant uniformed schoolgirls, flamingos, the best was the blue street sign Flood and St. Claude, and lots of others. Then to the Friendly Bar where the spectacular unfolded from St. Ann coming through – there is nothing to describe sitting in the midst of sparkly priests, woman on stilts dancing, vampire parents with bat children, a skeleton reading the Times Picayune, and so on and so on.
If anyone wonders why any of us are still here in New Orleans, they missed Mardi Gras, they haven’t had fried chicken at Dizzy’s, and there is no Chez Nous gumbo recipe to be handed out to anyone. Yes, we are here because it is wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.
And after, there is dinner at L’s with the coven in its glory – L cooking for the gals – delicious earthy lentil soup, perfectly toasted brusccheta, and red wine. Everything was on the table – not one subject untouched and somehow there was a second wind. My favorite take away was how Steve Earle was paraphrased for the breakup – I don’t have a fearless heart and I can’t get you through the scary parts.
It’s all good – we’re happy, we had a great Mardi Gras – and we will survive the years it will take to rebuild our city and we have survived the personal mess that we all got ourselves into – and you know what? The Bean is doing all right, I’m doing great, and there is no need to worry about us because we are going to do just fine.
By the way, Denzel Washington running on the bayou is quite a wonderful thing to behold.