2.09.2008

 

Warming a tired mind

Today was one of those really lovely sunny days that makes me love springtime in Louisiana. The weather is warm and clear, the sort of weather that seduces graduate students to move here when they visit in March from someplace colder and less sunny, even though it tends to turn ugly in the summer when the aforementioned students realize that it gets sweltering. Nobody I know... I'm just speculating.

We started off the day by performing our civic duty and voting in the primary, which I think makes the fourth time Kent has voted with us since he was born. Jack, Kent, and I then went to NOLA for a meetup with the Attachment Parenting group I've just joined, and it included coffee at PJ's and then a short walk to the Maple Street Children's Book Shop for story hour. I've taken Kent to story hour at Barnes & Noble before and want to take him to the library, whenever I figure out when theirs is, and he usually seems to have fun. He doesn't really look at the books very often, but being around the other kids is good, and I think it's a fun and beneficial outing to get him used to. Only one other mom from the group came, with her 6-month-old daughter, though one of the other moms just gave birth on Friday to her second boy, so she's excused. We had a nice time and were actually able to give someone else advice (!) on road tripping with a baby, including our Very Brilliant realization at the end of our Christmas trip that turning on the radio to a staticky station helped Kent fall asleep when he needed to.

After I recommended Pantley to the other mom and we chatted for a bit, we said goodbye to her and her daughter, and then my little clan walked a block to Fresco Cafe, where I've eaten with both Jeannette and Lauren on separate occasions. It's an excellent pizza/Mediterranean place, and we had a delicious and peaceful lunch on their covered patio overlooking the passersby. Maple Street is one of the quieter streets in town, but the bookstore, coffee shops, and great restaurants make it one of my favorites. Plus, you can't beat eating outside on a sunny spring day in New Orleans. I told Jack that I think food tastes better outside.

To complete our culinary tour of the roughly seven-block radius, we stopped for chocolate-hazelnut gelato at an authentic place (owned by real Italians!) that I just heard about from one of the AP moms. Boy, do I love gelato. I could have eaten the whole bowl by myself, but Jack and I had decided to save calories and pennies by splitting one, so I reluctantly turned the bowl over to him every once in a while.

On our way out of town, we drove by Jeannette's old apartment building, which is still uninhabited two and a half years after Katrina. Crazy.

The New Orleans we experienced today was the one I love, the one that Jeannette introduced me to, one I probably never would have known without her influence. I was thinking on our way out of town that we could have gone to Jackson Square and the French Quarter, or tried to do some of the touristy or more adventurous things, but I prefer the quiet, sunny, eating-gelato-on-a-lazy-afternoon New Orleans. It's relaxing and totally refreshing.

I'm thrilled to have found this AP group, because I'm getting to know other parents who value a lot of the same things I do, AND because it brings me to NOLA more often. It would be easier if it weren't an hour and a half's drive from home, but it's worth it for days like today.

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Comments:

Mmmm, that sounds so good! We'll definitely have to try those places next time we're in NO. Thanks for the head's up!
 
OH STOP IT!! I'm just going to cry. Maple Street and everything?!?!?!?!?! WARM SPRING DAYS!!! Gah!!!! I keep thinking, I'm just going down there this spring to visit E, but two plane tickets (one for my over 2 boy) and preggo belly. :-P Seriously, though, posts like this make me think, heck, I'll WALK there.
 
Okay, it really is just mean to be teasing us northerners with this "eat outside, warm and springy" talk!
I am with Jeannette, ready to cry!
 
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