Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Places...


Of all the places you've been and the sights you've seen, what is your absolute favorite? We could turn our blogs into summer travelogues, with everyone posting pictures of their favorite places. Or maybe not.

I've enjoyed every place I've ever been -- mostly. I wasn't crazy about some small town in Tennessee where my mother dragged me once to see the gravesite of some distant relative who died over a hundred years ago. I don't really like small towns. Perhaps I've read too many horror novels.

Of all the places I've been, New Orleans is hands down my favorite. I want to go back -- and back, and back again. There's something in the atmosphere there that draws you in and gets into your blood. The tantalizing sights and sounds entice. The exotic tastes and smells are alluring, infectious, and seductive. It's almost as though when in New Orleans, you're in the thrall of a Voodoo spell. Mais, oui! Of course. I know it won't be the same post-Katrina, but the magic will still permeate the air.

A few of my snapshots from The Big Easy.

The Mississippi River

















I don't remember what street this is, but it exemplifies French Quarter ambience and charm


















Looking across toward St. Louis Cathedral

















Jackson Square (or maybe it's more Pirate Alley off the square; I can't tell)
















Bourbon Street in the morning
















I think this is Bourbon Street

















The Words Gone Wild on today's Twisted Linguistics docket:


Opera Winfrey - "Talk Show, the Musical."

boarders on fraud - Tenants who cheat on their Welfare applications.

envellop - Mailer made of fine quality vellum.

stop your gripping - Take your hands off me!

recipie - Yes, I received the pie.

reduntant - Third notice on a past-due bill.

loosing interest - Opening up the gates and letting enthusiasm run wild.


It's a pink kind of day.


I need a summer change. I'm just not sure what. I'm thinking perhaps a haircut. It looks shorter anyway when I curl it and don't use the straightening iron on it. Summer feels better without a head full of thick, heavy hair but ... I don't know. I just need to change ... something.

25 comments:

Scary Monster said...

Posting pics of special places, hmmmm. Me likes the idea. Will get on it right away.

For me it always be the reverse with me hair. Having none, Me always likes it in summer, but wish me had a bit more fuzz on me crown in the winter. Me would even dye it pink.

ThatGreenyFlower said...

The hair looks beautiful.

I love just about wherever I've gone, like you. I'll have to dig up photos of several places, I think. Let me think about this...

Russell CJ Duffy said...

mouth watering views. i would love to visit new orleans just to hear the jazz and maybe listen to doctor john!!

Trée said...

Pink is good, very good. :-)

I grew up in Baton Rouge and while in grad school, moved to New Orleans, where I spent three years. NOLA is a special place, a place unto itself, a part of Louisiana, but not really. Accents are different there. The food is different. Attitudes are different. And there is a spell, a mood, an ambiance to the city that cannot be defined or explained but must be lived and experienced. The small shops, the Quarter, the out of the way restaurants patronized but not publicized by locals, the air and its feel, touch, the smells and sounds, like a gumbo, when mixed together, create a seductive intoxication unlike any other city I know, besides, perhaps, Paris.

When Katrina hit, and I watched so many fellow Americans say the city should not be rebuilt, I knew they did not know what I knew and what so many who have lived there know. Our great country has few truly unique cities, cities that stand on the world stage. New Orleans is one, a dirty jewel of a city that is layered in history and rumor and corruption and festival and ceremony; a port city that knows coffee and chicory, beignets and jambalaya, jazz and vampires. A place worth saving.

How are those polished pink nails this morning? :-)

Anonymous said...

Nice pictures. We visited The Big Easy a few years back. I had my video camera, but not my digi. One day it rained so hard I watched a flood roar down the street. I was standing in the hotel front door. It didn't last long, but man was there a lot of water.

Serena said...

Oh, I hate to think of your poor head freezing in the winter, Scary. Can't you get Vixen to knit you a cap?:)

Thank you, Greeny. Now I'm thinking it might look better pink, thanks to Scary. Pictures coming from you and Scary -- yay!

Hi, CJ. If you haven't been, you must, if only for the jazz.:)

Trée likes pink. This is good. Very good. Exactly -- there's a mood to NOLA that can't be personified in any one word. True, it's a dirty, sullied jewel, but I, too, think it should be rebuilt. Of course, the angels (fallen or otherwise) were watching over the Quarter when Katrina struck, and thank God for that.

The nails are glowing a soft pink. Simpatico?:-)

Thanks, Steve. You've been there, so you know what a magically surreal place it is. Even the rain felt different; I didn't mind it a bit.:)

Laurie said...

All I can say is you can read your favorite place post and just add a big ditto for me. My favorite place in my (our!) favorite place is the pic at the top. I could stand and and look at that building all day. Okay, it might be my second favorite place after Jackson Square.

Serena said...

Hey, Laurie. I know, that's one of those places you could just stare at until you've hypnotized yourself. Don't you just want to move in and never leave? Speaking of which, how's that plan for a bunch of us to get a place in the Quarter coming along?:)

rkfinnell said...

If you want to cut it, then cut it. Hair grows backGo somewhere good though. Try a razor cut. Your hair looks fine like mine. Razor cuts sound scary, but they work really great for fine hair and get some layering!

Anonymous said...

I've never been to New Orleans, your pictures show it to be a beautiful city.

A change??? I can't wait to see what you come up with.
I'm sure you'll look great whatever you choose.
tc

Serena said...

I just might, Roxan. I'm still thinking about it. My hair is actually quite thick. Hairdressers have been known to curse when they break combs in it.

It is beautiful, TC. If you ever get the chance, you should definitely go, even now, after the storm.

I need a change for sure. Time will tell what I'll come up with. I wonder how I'd look with blue or maroon hair? Or the Goth look? LOL.

Camille Alexa said...

Haircut! Yes! I've been thinking the same thing (about me). I just halved the length about a month ago (it was almost down to my rear). I'm thinking even shorter now.

puerileuwaite said...

I've never been to New Orleans. Does it have much of a night life? Is there somewhere one can go to have a drink? AAA refuses to return my calls on this topic (Okay, ANY topic).

Serena said...

I'd almost like to grow my hair down to my rear again, LBB, but I don't think I can get away with it any more. LOL. Change works wonders on one's morale, though, doesn't it?

No, Puggy, they roll up the sidewalks at 7:00 P.M. and there's no drinking allowed. All those people carrying drinks and dancing in the streets at 4:00 A.M. are simply a figment of your imagination.:-)

Lee said...

G'day, Serena...like you say, every place I've visited I've found something to like, if not love, about it. I really can't think of anywhere I don't like...some are better than others...and some I don't go to...so that kinda narrows it down! ;)

Serena said...

Hey, Lee. Yep, that would tend to narrow it down.:-)

G-Man said...

Serena, you look so classy today with your hooped earrings and your matching necklace. Tres Belle Ma Chere!!!
As far as The Big Easy goes? I've been there many times, and it too is my favorite city in the US!!!
The French Quarter is probably one of the safest tourist destinations inside any big city in the country..
The smells of it are indeed unique...
The Mississippi River
Raw sewage
Sweat
Puke
Piss
Gumbo
Shrimp
Beignets
Chickory Coffee
Crawdads
Beer
Stale Beer
But in the Morning about 6:00 AM all the streets are washed and swept, and the shop owners hose down their sidewalks, and the fun begins again!
Thanks Serena Joy for helping me remember that great city.....
Laissez Les Bontemps Roullez!!!

Hale McKay said...

I was in the Big Easy many, many years ago for the Mardi Gras. Being in my early twenties, myself and the five friends with me didn't do too much sight seeing - we were partying in the evenings and early morns and sleeping through the days. Buzzed and hungover - not exactly a memory inducing time.

No pictures and thankfully no tattoos and nothing to show for it except foggy memories and lot of decimated brain cells.

tfg said...

I've yet to make it to New Orleans. It sounds like I need to add it to the list.

Serena said...

Why, thank you so much G-man.:-)

Yep, all of those smells make up the city, and the garbage is at least ankle deep by morning. Those trash collectors are good at their job, though, and they somehow get it all gone by breakfast time. All in all, it's a 24-hour party. Nothing like it anywhere else.

Mike, you spent Mardi Gras in NO and didn't get a tattoo?! LOL. Being a bunch of young guys, and buzzed, I'll bet you spent some time in the Bourbon St. strip clubs.:-)

T, you definitely need to put it on your list. You'd love it!:)

Corn Dog said...

I've always had a premonition of death (mine) and disaster in New Orleans so I never went even though it was an easy vacation destination from my hometown of Nashville TN. I love Hawaii. I have gone there multiple times.

Serena said...

Oh, my goodness, CD, I don't blame you for not wanting to go. I wouldn't go somewhere I had premonitions about, either.

leelee said...

I've never been to NOLA, but I would like to visit there...I would say everyone I have ever met that has been there is in love with the city.

I've had to good fortune to travel a bit years ago when I was a travel agent. Hawaii is up there on the list of Fav places. These days I am enjoying the Florida Keys and the country side of the Carolina's. I'd like to check out Tennesee, it looks so beautiful.

I'd like to travel more..and more..and plan on it.

Nice pics Serena..and as always you look pretty in pink! A nice haircut is always good for a change, your hair looks perfect for a sassy, just above the shoulder, bob.

HUGS!!

Anonymous said...

I'm not feeling the blue or maroon hair thing.

Serena said...

Glad you're back home safe and sound, Leelee. Travel is good. Is your CA trip still somewhere on the back burner?

Yup, I do love my pink.:-)

I'm not really feeling it, either, TC. Maybe I'll give it a pass.:-)