I headed off to the Quarter and the Marigny today. A woman who had inquired about an attendant position with me a few months ago but subsequently couldn't do it invited me to "coffee or lunch or whatever." At the time she answered my ad, her part-time job had gone full-time, but she said she thought I sounded like "a very interesting woman" and wanted to meet me anyway. She emailed me again at the beginning of the week, and I met her at her other part-time job in the French Market at around 11:00.
I had never been in the French Market, and it really isn't that big of a deal. It's overcrowded with tourists, it's hot in the Summer (and it IS Summer now here), and the merchandise isn't anything I haven't seen before -- though admittedly I've never been to any place which boasts three stalls in quick succession devoted strictly to Tabasco products. It was a little difficult to maneuver Reba and myself through most of it, and I was just starting to get cranky when I looked up and saw a sight which never fails to cheer me and make my heart go pitty-pat.
Amber. Loads and loads of amber. ::sigh:: Oh, happy, happy Dawn!
I drooled only a few seconds over earrings and bracelets when one of the ladies came around to help me -- since I could and did easily rest my chin on the tabletop. She produced a tri-colored bracelet set in sterling and draped it across my wrist. Green and cognac/cherry ovals winked against my browning wrist accented by muted butterscotch lovelies. ::sigh:: //Oh, take me home// it whispered seductively. However, just before the lady had come around, a multi-stone bracelet (moonstone, onyx, amethyst, garnet, mother-of-pearl, and a stone that I can't decide whether it's rose quartz or pink moonstone) had caught my eye, so I placed the two bracelets across the same wrist to let them duke it out for who got to go home with me. Problem was -- they played nice with each other. I balked a little at the price on the amber one (being an afficionado, I know it was over-priced, but not much). I warred for a couple of minutes until I decided I deserved them both. I've worked hard the last five months, I have an idea of what I'm going to do for my diss, and I just plain wanted them both. So I bought them. Take THAT, frugal conscience!
I then met Debbie and we took off for lunch in the Marigny. I really like the Marigny. It's quiet, it lacks tourists, it overflows with excellent food and drink and music and pleasant people, and there's lots to see even if some of it IS from the doorway because there's a step at the entrance. Debbie, though QUITE talkative, is a great woman who is originally from San Francisco (actually born there to beatnik parents) but has lived in NO for the last twenty years. She's 55 and done a lot from tutoring/mentoring kids to being a legal secretary to managing a fledgling band. She's discovered Hinduism and so in the last half hour of hanging out we had some interesting religious discussion. She was helpful enough to volunteer to help me over the stoop of the corner bookstore (next time, I said, as I'd been bouncing over bumpy sidewalks for a while and just didn't feel like volunteering for more bouncing) and clean up after Reba who decided to pop a squat in the middle of the sidewalk (::blush:: -- my dog has absolutely NO shame). After the bus arrived to take Reebs and me home (we were BOTH pretty hot after four-and-a-half hours in the Sun), she said we need to get together again soon because we still have LOADS to talk about. I agreed.
Also on our excursions, I found a place where I might consider getting my next haircut and a groovy clothing store called Gargoyles full of leather and lace and twenty-something Goth salesclerks with groovy tattoos (Anita, Jonikka, Jessie, and Sarah are SO getting taken there when they come visit me -- hint, hint). I stopped by Erzulie's only to find that it was owner Anna's day off. Her regular sales clerk (Nancy?) assured me she'd tell her I stopped by to say hello, and she told me Anna would genuinely be sorry she'd missed me. Seems, according to Nancy, Anna was muchly impressed with my knowledge of oils. ::blush:: I get the sense it takes a lot to impress Anna, so I'm honored.
Came home to discover the jerk-wads who live upstairs and like to throw their cig butts over their balcony onto my and my neighbor's stoops had decided to leave three bags and one box of trash on the sidewalk. I called the staff to report it because my next-door neighbor Erick and I refuse to get charged for it. I was told that someone had already called about it (discovered later it was Erick), they knew exactly who it was, the perps had already been written up for a previous offense, and if the trash was still there in the morning they would be written up and charged $30 for removal. Good, as long as you don't think it was Erick and/or me.
Now I'm just reading Harry Potter 5 and trying to stay awake. All in all, a good day.
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