Around the Town

I worked essentially a full day yesterday – I had a late start, around lunchtime, but worked straight through the day, packing it in at 8pm.  The timing was right to wander a few blocks down the street and check out White Linen Night, which was in full swing by that point.  Many cities have these – several downtown streets will be blocked off, food trucks and drink stands abound, and art galleries fling their doors wide as people dressed more-or-less on theme stumble around dribbling wine from a plastic picnic cup all over a four thousand dollar painting by some obscure artist.

I have never been.  I only shell out fifteen bucks an hour for a babysitter if it’s something super special, and I have always presumed that White Linen Night was too much of a gamble to throw precious babysitter-money at it.  After Saturday night’s excursion, my opinion has been reinforced.  My meandering down to the 300 block of Julia Street was really a last minute decision, and while I happened to be wearing a white shirt (and long blue/white striped skirt, which dragged through the filth of a NOLA street – you can imagine), I also was carrying my work bag, wearing inappropriate shoes, and was pretty tired after a long workday.  Truly, it would have been more fun if I’d (a) gone with friends instead of alone, (b) not been carrying my giant bag with an empty coffee mug, Jack’s epi pen, and a pair of heels in it, digging into my shoulder and making the squeeze through the crowds much more fraught as I clutched it and worried about pickpocketing and purse snatching, and (c) had any cash at all to purchase something to eat or drink.  So I will say I didn’t really give White Linen Night a fair shake.  It was just super crowded – suuuuuuuuper crowded – and I did brave one art gallery but it was so full of people that I could barely see any art, and besides the art was all photographs of nude, disabled black men – some missing limbs, some with scars, at least one dwarf.  I’m sure it was very arty and cerebral but I would have preferred some pastoral scene or some vases.  Something less of an assault on my already-assaulted senses.

The gallery was a wash, the food and drink a no-go, so I headed to a dance area and watched a pretty fun dance-off between a girl dressed as a bride and holding a drink in each hand, and a break dancing young guy in glasses who kept trying to escape after his great moves, but kept getting pulled back in by the bride.  I people-watched a while, got propositioned by a pretty darn old dude who called me sweetie and who I could not shake off (after a polite brush-off I just bolted and he was too big and drunk to follow my crowd-weaving maneuvers, ugh, aren’t I old enough that this shouldn’t happen anymore?), and sweated gallons.  After a good half hour, I walked back to my car and drove home, where I ate a portobello mushroom stuffed with mozzarella and pepperonis, drank a glass of wine, and binged on Nurse Jackie.  All in all, a decent last child-free night.

This morning I woke at 5:30 because I like torture (no seriously, Body – the kids have been gone for ages, what is your deal??)  So I got up and made coffee, eggs and toast.  I read the news on the internet and watched a bunch of videos of Olympics-gone-by when people did heart-warming endurance things like stumble to the finish line of a sprint with a torn hamstring, etc.  Then I decided to go on a long walk.  My blisters remain, somewhat exacerbated by my Body Pump class yesterday.  I tried to moleskin it again, but my left foot was like – NOPE.  So I removed the sneaker and walked five miles in flip flops.  The tops of my feet now have blisters.  Luckily we’re moving tomorrow so I won’t need to wear close toed shoes to protect my feet from dropped boxes or anything . . .

I wandered down to the street we are about to move to, and walked down it for a mile.  It is truly a fetching street – cobblestone in places, tumbling Confederate jasmine, a collection of houses in all different styles, from all different years.  A riot of color and texture.   I stumbled along, listening to the More Perfect podcast (such a great podcast for legal nerds – this one was all about Batson challenges, and the Batson case – they interviewed James Batson himself, as well as the prosecutor who made the racially-motivated jury strikes that led to the Batson Supreme Court case!  Sorry, non-legal nerds – back to our regular programming).  I made it to the river’s edge and walked along the extremely overgrown path near the river – it’s safe, no worries.  To the left was the mighty Mississip, giant blue-water vessels and smaller tugs and other watercraft chugging along (and you can just about see them through the river-growth that has grown to epic proportions in this rainy, hot summer).  To the right was close-cut lawn and a parking lot, as well as dozens of others out strolling just like me – some with dogs, some with kids, many on bikes, many more lying in the grass with their bike laying next to them, bike shoes off and toes kissed by the sun, bike helmet tucked over their face as they take a short nap after a long ride.  There are baseball and soccer fields as well, although they were unoccupied on this hot summer morning – come fall, they’ll be full every weekend morning, as will the parking lot.

I wandered out along the levee for a bit, but that path quickly devolves into warehouses and chain link fencing – you need a bicycle to get out to the pretty part fast enough for it to be worth the trip.  I veered away from the river then, walking through the zoo parking lot to Audubon Park.  The walking track around the park has been closed for a week or more, while contractors re-paint the lines along the pavement, to delineate bike lane vs. walking lane.  It was open today, and me and my flip-flops headed that direction, now listening to Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.  (With Keegan Michael Key this week – so funny!)  I walked all the way around, although the flip flops were starting to rub in uncomfortable places – I just wasn’t ready to go home yet.  I saw an older gentleman on a bike, pulling a trailer with a boombox in it playing No Doubt.  Perched on his shoulder, nibbling at his hair, was a parrot, bobbing to the beat of the music.

I made it home at a little before 11, and had lunch.  Now I plan to do some more packing up, and then head to the outdoor pool at our gym to relax a bit before the boys get home.  I worked literally 13 days in a row, so I’m taking today off of working.  Trying to get as fulfilled as I can before the boys and their chaos return, and we get into our new house and start up the school routine again.  It’s been a good week.  Bring on those boys!