See you later New Orleans

Time to hang up the Mardi Gras beads and get back to making art.

What a fun trip. Great food, great environment and an incredibly friendly place to visit.

I don't know if it is because the community came together in crisis and got their priorities straight or if it has always been full of southern hospitality. The whole four days we were there I only ran into one cranky local. Everyone else went out of their way to be friendly and seemed to have a good pace of life. They eat such great food and hear such wonderful music I guess it would be hard to stay in a bad mood.

I saw cigars being made and pressed into wooden molds in New Orleans cigar shops. Later in Louisiana I saw antique the same molds for sale. Never would have known what they were otherwise.
We saw the French Quarter and how it survived the traumatic hurricane, an incrideble embarrassment for this country. We drove around several of the poorer neighborhoods and saw how they still need a lot of help just to get back to the poverty level they were on before. My husband suggested we send ex President Bush down there with a work crew. Good idea. How did that all happen? How did it get out of control? Why could they not get food and water dropped into the communities?

It was also great to just get away and get warm again. Now I want to get back to work!