Great Summer Pics and Pie

I've been extremely nostalgic for West Virginia summers since I was there in June. I know what all you Northerners are doing: planning barbecues where you can actually sit outside, swimming in yourr barge-free rivers, catching lightning bugs, running in city parks with real unpaved trails. You're so smug in your ability to wear synthetic fabrics. Whatev. So you caught some crawdaddy's. Down here, we suck their heads!

I forgot to post the pics from the Running of the Bulls. This was fun. Elbow's mom came with us as we drove to the CBD at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday. Actually the real Mrs. F was a trooper. She walked the whole route, although she avoided the crazy gals with bats. And in case you were wondering, that s*#t hurt. When people run from these crazy roller derby girls, they aren't doing it for their health.

I want to hire this guy for parties.

She may look cute but she means business.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went on the Sippin' in Seersucker Streetcar tour during which I rode the streetcar exactly ONE time. The streetcar line was all ripped up so they were routing people to buses. I refused a seat on a bus (I inherently distrust jumping on a bus when unplanned. Something to do with the hundreds of movies I've seen about people trapped on them - Nightmare on Elm Street 2 or 3 or whatever, Speed, The Crazies...) So some of us walked all the way to Avenue Pub, where we had fantastic and entertaining conversation, about 15 percent of which I can recall. The spots we hit included Superior Seafood, The Columns, The Mayfair, Fat Harry's and The Sovereign Pub (I have zero percent recollection of what we did at this bar). Some of us wore hats.

See how much fun you have when you wear stripes?

J. carried a fake microphone. They are using it for karaoke at The Mayfair.

Don't tell Elbow I put his picture in here.

I can't remember what this was about.

I keep thinking about what the lucky bastards on Nantucket are doing this week. So I made a blueberry pie:

This totally reminds me of that "boom-badda" scene in Stand By Me, the movie.

Bon Voyage trashcan!

Our friend JK is moving to NYC so tonight we are going on a Bon Voyage Streetcar bar crawl called "Sippin' in Seersucker." According to Nell Nolan of the Times-Picayune there is already an event with the same name during which really important people pay $75 or whatever to go hang out in Canal Place. That's almost the price of a movie there.

Yesterday thunderstorms caused the streets to turn into canals and scared the crap out of me and everyone else who is new or semi-new to this town and didn't realize you could leave your house in light rain and end up 15 minutes later up to your side mirror in water, sure you've ruined your car and hoping to God a live oak doesn't topple over on you. It took me longer to type that sentence than it did for the water to carry away this trash can:

Here it comes.

Cruisin'.

There it goes.

I snapped these pictures from my perch in Coliseum Square where I nearly tore my bumper off trying to reach once I remembered I was not driving a SUV. Nobody cares where you park when you're trying to get to higher ground in New Orleans. That's why this guy just pulled his little Fiat onto the walking path:

Is that Jennifer Lopez?!

How convenient.

The one bright spot of being marooned in the Garden District was watching this guy in pink shorts decide if he should really leave his girlfriend's car there. He walked away and then came back and stared at it hard. And then he walked away again all like "screw it. It's just a Fiat."

I of course took some pictures:

Take 1

So Pink Shorts walks away. He stops. He turns around and walks back to the car. He stares at it and then he walks away again:

Take 2

I learned a very important lesson. From now on I will always have in my car these items:

1. rain boots

2. slicker

3. whiskey

4. crossword puzzle

5. inner tube