Sometimes She's Nice To Me

I'm just quoting Maria so don't get in a huffy puffy judgementally mood, y'all. But you know how I just hit the hammer on the circus 50 bell, well, Maria surprised me with the notion and the motion of just her and me going to New Orleans for a weekend- We left Thursday at midnight and came back Sunday at midnight, leaving Dext and Oliver to the kind care of Eileen and Woody (thank you both so much). It was the first time we had ever left the boys for a night, let alone an entire weekend. Dexter did a solo with my parents the long night Oliver was born. I was concerned that Maria and I would spend our time talking only about how much we missed the boys. Fortunately, New Orleans provides many worthy distractions and while we always had them in our thoughts, it was kind of nice to not have to worry about the bass player; just me and the drummer. This is a short entry about the trip I just took with she who lays down the steady beat in our lives.

Leaving work after a very kind birthday party that Cailin arranged- that was an odd guest list!, I went downtown to get a Lonely Planet tour book (always enjoy getting a new tour book for any trip-ritual), forgot an important piece of business at work, had to go back, then rushed home to spend some time with the boys, and to pack. Leaving was tough but the cab ride was about now, and we were off to our red eye flight (SFO to Chicago- snow but not snowed in, then to New Orleans, landing about 10am).

Renting a car is pretty much the same as the cost of taxi rides in and back while careful parking can always be found in the streets of the city giving us the freedom to go wherever we want. A return to Dooky Chase, a restaurant that has an old graceful southern setting but as comfortable as my Aunt Janey's kitchen. With the lovely photos of President Obama with Leah Chase, are now paintings signed by Disney animators dedicating their film, the Princess and the Frog identifying Leah Chase as the inspiration for their main character.

New Orleans to me is San Francisco's funkier cousin, a place where proximity is skewed; people get closer to you which initially can be offsetting but for the most part, we welcome it. And sometimes this is a natural occurrence because the streets are so in need of repair, people tend to stumble.

Dinner at Napoleon House, a great place to sit and talk, drink or have a nice meal. Old, rustic, burnt sienna- Napoleon never made it there but we have. And will again.

Bayona, a restaurant whose chef, Susan Spicer has a character in the show, Treme offers a nice weekend lunch deal- 3 small courses for $25 and you could pick 3 entrees or 3 desserts; up to you. Pretty dining room, uncrowded when we arrived, packed full when we left. Delicious! Happy to see that Verti Marte, the 24 hour corner grocery store and deli that burnt down last year is close to reopening, the type of place where the various greasy Po'boys are huge and the people working there call you "honey".

The carousel bar in the Hotel Monteleone turns a very slow 360 degrees but sitting at the bar, I felt queasy, and not enjoying the nausea we moved to an appreciated non moving booth. From there, I could enjoy the view.

Visiting 3 clubs side by side on Frenchmen Street; Three Muses, D.B.A., and the Blue Nile where Kermit Ruffins signed a CD for a friend who was bit by a poisonous snake in Brazil ("Watch Out for Snakes"), John Boutte, and Glen David Andrews in a crowded tight settings. At least the Blue Nile has some room to breathe. DBA has a huge beer selection and is now smoke free (a lot of smokers in New Orleans-you will see many people on bicycles but half of them are smoking). Someone waited for me to go to the bar before approaching Maria for a date. Alas, no. Each venue had at least one drunken lout. Oh well. Perfection eludes. D.B.A. was too crowded so we passed on the Soul Rebels Brass Band and headed to Mimi's in the Marigny (tapas and beers), and along the way discovered the Orange Couch Cafe, whose owner, Johnny, is from San Francisco. Nice coffee.

What I remember is that this was a very sweet gift from someone who is often nice to me. When you have lovely children, you can forget how much fun you have with your partner. We have the best of times with our guys - thank you Maria, for a lovely trip. Now boys, I hope it is obvious but just in case you ever feel inclined to ponder, did your parents love each other? Yes! The answer is simply, yes.















also thank yous to Tina and GC for hanging out with the guys on Sunday!