Cold Spaghetti

Last week, I had the fun of playing photographer for Abeona’s Spring Fling!
The kids took the short walk to the levee, going to the end of Oak Street, crossing River Road, over the train tracks and past the stables. Once on the levee, they had snack, hunted colorful eggs (left by the “Rainbow Chicken”), awed at the horses trotting past, and waved to the conductor of the train who waved and blew his horn as he passed.
Will eagerly hunted the hardboiled eggs… quickly discovered that they were food… and smashed them on his head to crack it enough to eat. After the excitement of snack, egg hunting, and more egg snack, the kids chased a dragon (a kite) helping him fly with shouts of encouragement.
I’m only posting the pictures that feature Will, but I had a great time photographing all the kids and the scene. Kate smashed a gooey finger on the lens (again!!!) so there was pretty significant lens flare with the pictures. I ended up cropping many of the shots to deal with it. I cleaned the lens later and called around for a filter… but no one had the 50mm one I need. (I’ll order it soon!)
Happy Spring!

To my NOLA friends and readers… anyone going to be out of town/have an extra apartment and looking for house sitters/new friends during the first week of May (4-6th?) My girlfriends from college are coming (with partners!) and we’re trying to find extra space. We’ll hire a service to clean your Whole House as a thank-you!! These are top-notch, animal-loving, professional folk who would be dream occupants. We’re trying to keep everyone close and costs as low as possible… it would be a dream to not have to use a hotel.

Anyone know of anything…??

I am always impressed by my friend, Robin — whose “nursing while training” moment made the pic’o the week for Inside Triathlon.

– Three-year old temperament and tests.
– Wrangling Kate, the non-stop walking, into everything, smart, quick, and cute maniac.
– Getting Paul’s work *laptop* functioning… so that he can join me to work from Oak Street or Rue. That’s right, we’ll be able to work through Wi-Fi together out in the ambiance and atmosphere… once the darn machine is cooperating.
– Determining what to do about school for Will next year… and realizing that our options are dried up because we’ve waited too long.
– The flat tire and brake replacement on the car… and having to go to Mobile to get it fixed
– Wanting to do a hundred things (start on the back of the house renovation, upgrade to a bigger vehicle with latch, have a vacation, explore more of our local gems) but feeling overwhelmed.
– Needing appointments for a thousand services we’ve been neglecting for years (from dental to allergy to general and beyond) but unsure of who or where to go.
– Getting Kate to sleep.

In this city, St. Patrick’s is serious business. Two weeks of parties, parades, music, and food — everything accented with Guinness and Green.
We missed last week’s parades and events. This weekend, we attended the main parade, which runs through the Irish Channel neighborhood. It goes down Louisiana to Magazine Street, right past the home of friends Denice and David — who hosted us (and others of the Abeona clan) for a parade party.
It was standard New Orleans… big floats, great bands, food, families, and fun. It is much like Mardi Gras (even with many of the same floats and throws) except much more green. And much more alcohol. And PRODUCE.
St. Pat’s signature throws are PRODUCE. Specifically, cabbages. You have to be careful (particularly with kids) because those things pack a wallop. Along with cabbages, other garden-inspired throws include potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and even cucumbers (thrown suggestively to Katrina of La Divina with slow air kisses from a young stud on the float).
To round out our diets, the riders also threw packaged baby carrots, moon pies, and goldfish crackers, which we munched while watching the parades. We took home the Ramen noodles and had several of the packages for dinner that night (really).
Looking up Louisiana at the line of floats.
Corner of Louisiana and Magazine. Magazine was wild with fun and excitement as the crowd reached Parasol‘s.
We had to be careful with Will and the MoonPies — he wanted to eat everyone he caught!
Irish undies, anyone?
I have no idea what this was about.
These are extra tires that get pulled in case of a flat. This is the first time we’ve seen riders passed out drinking in them.
There were many (out of order) floats for Skip’s Wild Irish Clan. Apparently, my kid brother gets around?
Paul bonds with his St. Baldrick’s buddy, who we found out is friends with Denice and David, too.
Paul and Kate.
More floats on Louisiana. The conversation among riders and walkers was consistently about going to the bathroom. The parade is extremely slow — mostly because people stop to use the restroom in friends’ homes along the route.
Parents hang out while floats wait to roll.
Riders pass goodies to onlookers… see any veggies?
The guy on the left is about to toss me a potato.
See the guy on the left tossing a carrot?
I made a veggie dish with everything Sunday night. We gave our neighbor the cabbage. She said she’s going to make a dish with it and then bring it over to show us how to do it.
Some more of our St. Patty’s loot. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

To Will and Kate fans (ie: grandparents): many recent albums are up and available!

Thanks to the generous support of family and friends, Paul raised over $800 (when cash donations were totaled, I think it was around $860?) in ONE DAY for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. So either Paul has a lot of supportive family and friends, or a lot of people who were willing to pay to see his bald head. Thank you!Paul’s nervous laugh as things got started…
Nothing fancy! Others went down to mohawk first… unfortunately, Paul was a little nervous and camera-shy and didn’t realize he had the option!
Fellow shaver (who we ended up hanging out with at the St. Patrick’s parties the next day) hammed it up for cameras and audience.
Paul’s pink and blonde hair floated by in the breeze…
All done!
Will couldn’t keep his hands off Paul’s head — “it’s scratchy,” “it’s really short,” and “it’s shaved” were among Will’s responses. Later that night, he would also ask Paul “Daddy, why’d you shave your head?”
Paul holds a lock of his hair. We saved it. I have no idea why.
Local muse Chris Rose, who came across as much more insecure and gruff in person than I would have thought, gets shaved. He was funny (expected, as he’s writes with wonderful humor), a bit socially awkward, clearly nervous, and had a bit of a rough edge that seemed more a result of his awkwardness and nerves than anything. I wanted to get a picture of him and Paul together, but he ran off quickly after his shaving so we missed the opportunity.
But we DID take pictures with fellow shavee Ecoee, whose son Jude and partner Melody are friends from Music Together and future Abeona parents. Jude is the same age as Kate and weighs 26+ pounds… almost 10 pounds more than Kate!
Many Abeona kids came with their parents. It didn’t take long for the kids to find the one puddle in the lot to splash in!
Will went crazy in the puddle for a good half hour.
With many friends! It was a good distraction (along with hot dogs and ice cream) for the kids while parents talked and met with other community members, businesses, and Oak Street vendors. It was also a great opportunity for the Abeona community to meet more people in our neighborhood.
With all of the stomping and commotion, it was just a matter of time until…
…Will fell in the mud. It is telling that Will was the ONLY one to fall.
The mud didn’t stop him. He continued to jump and found a balloon to get stuck in.
By the time we were ready to leave, he was so muddy and wet that we had to strip him down to his undies. He wore Paul’s t-shirt (a lagniappe from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation) to enjoy two hot dogs before heading home.

How many degrees are you?

This excellent post highlights the history of natural disasters and floods throughout our country and how we all, to one degree or another, live with the risk of disruption due to natural events.

After our flat tire Thursday night, we went to dinner at Mona’s around the corner (too late to cook) and were so impressed with how well Will ate grilled vegetables and chicken with basmati rice and feta (and drank our Lebanese tea) that we agreed to his suggestion of visiting La Divina.
I had the camera with me and decided to practice night-time shots and after getting an okay from the staff working the store, had fun taking artsy-fartsy pictures of cones, panini, and gelato. Paul’s pink hair made it a little extra fun. (Can you spot him in the picture above?)I was happily snapping away when a man approached and asked if I was planning on opening a gelateria. Paul and I laughed and explained how we knew the family and the man introduced himself as their web designer, Gary Reggio. We had a great time talking to him and he asked me to take pictures of a variety of things for the website. It was FUN. What (if anything) gets used remains to be seen, but I would love the opportunity to re-shoot in daylight. Another New Orleans moment.

More news later, but here is the picture you’ve been waiting for…Happy St. Baldrick’s Day!