I get wet, I get dry

I've been neglecting my blogs recently - I've thought of posts, not got round to posting them or quite simply just felt blah.... I'm sure its just my adjustment to my summer....

Anyway....

I've just been to my local (and favourite) coffee shop, Rue De La Course on Magazine St and devoured the Sunday Times Picayune and the Sunday NY Times. Lots of fodder for my grey matter (and future posts..). However I do miss the Observer and Scotland on Sunday - reading them online just isn't the same and the chances of me smearing my forehead with newsprint ink is far less likely. I love having a Sunday to commune with newspapers. I firmly believe that was what God truly intended "His" day for!!

I was walking home along Magazine when it began to drizzle. I thought about how rare it seems in N'awlins to find drizzle, that widely loved and hated Scottish phenomenon. N'awlins Fog there is plenty of - particularly in the Autumn and "Winter". But drizzle, no. And I thought that, other than my newspapers getting a little soggy, how nice it was to walk in warm drizzle.

It made me think of Stefan, one of my parents' friends from Belgium. We went on holiday as a family to Brussels to see Stefan when I was about ten. I remember we went for a walk in the woods and it began to rain. My Mum quickly got out our waterproofs and kitted us out. But Stefan just stood there in his shorts and T-shirt in the rain getting wet. My sister, brother and I used to the bone-chilling aspect of Scottish rain, were shocked. "You'll get wet!!" we cried. "I'll get dry again!" Stefan replied.

So I was walking in the spirit of Stefan when N'awlins decided to defy me and show how rare indeed the event of N'awlins drizzle is, and really rain. Luckily I was spared the usual downpour - when the heavens open and God dumps his bath water on your head! But my newspapers are decidedly soggy!!

Stormy Weather

At 2.44 am I was woken with a jolt - a jolt of lightning. There was a terrific bang and my heart leaped trying to escape my petrified chest. Then there was another and a disgruntled animal growled loudly in the distance. The growling and the flashing got more intense until our ears were whipped by a clap of rage. Sleep was impossible with such a battle going on in the dark of night. Nature asserted her superior place and I curled up and closed my eyes waiting for the battle to end.

I have seen and heard some astounding storms in the US. Once in Aspen, Colorado, I was shaken along with the building I was in, when a bolt hit just outside the door. In Cleveland there was a freakish storm that literally rolled in. There was this huge black/green cloud that rolled over the horizon like a wave and engulfed the city in a firestorm of flashes, clashes and splashes. When Dazza and I were moving to Miami we drove from Atlanta to Savannah and went through a series of storms that seemed never ending. We got the fright of our lives when a bolt hit the median just as we were passing with the windscreen wipers on full pelt and rain thrashing out any vision of the road ahead. We saw electric storms with no rain driving through 115 degree heat in the Utah desert.

But last night was the loudest, most ferocious I have ever experienced. The clouds must have been low and the Gods very angry. I generally love listening to storms - probably because we'd hardly ever have any in Scotland - but last night I have to admit they had me a little spooked.

All Hail Easter

Today it is cold!! We went to a friend's for a cook-out. We did cook "out" but definitely ate "in"! About two days ago it started to get cold at night and we brought out our duvet again. Today we were bemoaning Entergy and shivering in our shotgun.

And yes, today we actually had HAIL!! This cold snap is affecting a big part of the country - Dazza's Dad was reporting 19 degrees in Indianapolis today. I realise in a very short time I'm going to be dreaming of a day like today. When I post my witterings and groans on the heat I really must remember to link to this post!!

However this isn't really what I envisioned for Easter in N'awlins. There are Easter parades tomorrow - I'm hoping to brave some of the shiver effect and see some of them. But I have a feeling I'll be jealous of the Easter Bunny all wrapped up in his furry suit!

The One Who Keeps Getting Away

OK, this may seem like a trivial post with all the wonderful things to report, all there is to be concerned about, in this astounding city. But right now I am at war.

I have an unwelcome visitor that won't leave - or let me commit squishing murder. There is a N'awlins mosquito in this room and she keeps biting me (someone told me - I can't remember who but recently - that the biting mosquitoes are female - I was unaware there was any other kind until I was informed of this....). I've glimpsed her a couple of times and yelled a lot and cursed a lot (sorry Mum) flailed at her a lot and this is a war that I am currently losing.

You might think this is a trifle but I am extremely tasty to mosquitoes which would be a mild annoyance if I didn't react to every bite by breaking out in a large red itchy welt.

My female foe is slowly welting me to death - well at least my wits end...

And its not even April yet!! sigh.....