Last weekend and this weekend and everything in between

So last Saturday, Erika and I decided to have lunch at Angeli on Decatur and do a little checkup on our favorite Quarter shops and hangouts. We shared a yummy sandwich of bacon, lettuce, tomato, mozarella, and pesto (mmm, I'm hungry for another one), then headed further into the Quarter to try to see if the place selling Belgian chocolate was still open. We got side-tracked by a French Market booth with groovy handmade bags, but what really distracted us was a little lapidary shop that had just opened that day. The husband hand-mines his stones in Arizona and/or Mexico or has friends who send them to him. He then polishes up the stones and creates some pretty amazing pieces of wearable art. His main shop counter was a fireplace mantle and surround he had scavenged from someone else's home demolition. In fact, all of his display cases were window frames that people have thrown out during post-Katrina cleanup. By the time we oohed and aahed over everything in the "shop" (it's more a booth than a shop), the rain was moving in. We ran for Jackson Square, trying to beat the rain and hide out in a coffeeshop, but we were still a half a block away when the sky opened up. E, Reba, and I took shelter under an overhang, but we still got a little wet whenever the breeze kicked up. Fortunately, I had my raincoat on the back of my chair and E had her umbrella, but poor Reebs . . . . We waited about a half an hour before giving up. E walked back to Moby (my van) and brought her around to where Reba and I were hiding. We came back to the apartment, bathed Reba, made hot cocoa, and watched my DVD of "Elizabethtown."

Sunday, E and I decided to try to catch a Katrina memorial concert at Louis Armstrong park. We left Reba at home in case the rain came again (there was a 60% chance), drove back to the Quarter, and had lunch at Mona's Cafe -- Mediterranean food makes the tummy happy. We mosied up Royal so I could find Erzulie's Voodoo Shop and maybe see my friend Anna, checking out various shops on the way. I've decided Royal Street is a tease street. I found a small herb shop, but there are two huge steps. Same at Erzulie's. MOST of the shops and galleries are inaccessible. ::sigh::

Two groovy places of note:

1. We stopped into an art gallery featuring Caribbean artists, and we discovered the lady has OLD Mardi Gras beads from 1900-1950 made out of Czechoslovakian glass. I bought a string.

2. A hotel called The Soniat House has the grooviest freaking inner courtyard. The doorman let us go in and check it out, and we just wanted to stay there all day. It was a good 10-15 degrees cooler than the street, there was a beautiful fountain and moss growing on the walkway bricks, and classical music playing softly under the ripple of the fountain. You simply cannot have stress in that place.

After a respite in a corner Royal Street grocery store (we thought rain was coming again, but after 45 minutes of munching chips and reading the Times-Picayune and watching the Discovery Channel on the store TV, nothing happened), we finally made it to Louis Armstrong Park. We got to hear two Katrina-inspired songs by a group called The Voice of the Wetlands, then there was a looooong break while we waited for a drumming group to set up. E saw about a hundred people she knew, and I got to meet the boy she had gone out with the evening she had come to see me at the hotel. He's a quiet Brazilian lad with an adorable smile. So completely cute.

I love my friend Erika, but sometimes I hate her, ya know? ::grin::

While we were visiting, some folks finally got on stage, talking about what was coming up next. I was only half listening, but then a name was said that just about made me pass out.

Chief Arvil Looking Horse.

For those of you who don't know, Chief Arvil Looking Horse is the 19th keeper of the sacred pipe of the Lakota tribe. If I were a Catholic, he'd be the Pope.

Even though there were people talking around me, I could still hear his quiet voice speaking about coming together as one to heal ourselves, the city, the nation. When he sang a heart song, I got chills and nearly cried -- but for the first time in a couple of weeks, a good cry. The peace emanating from him was amazing. How could all those people around me be so oblivious to it all?

In the week since, I've found a new sense of peace and calm. I'm starting to find my rhythm, even if I'm still trying to find a schedule with my attendants. My neck muscles still tighten at the end of the day, but they don't give me a raging headache.

Maybe it really WILL work out, just as Anita and Jess said it would.

In the last week, I've started looking for articles of info on Gambusia (the fish species I'm thinking of using in my studies), I've started catching up with friends, and I've enjoyed some of the early Lily smiles (the six-week-old baby of my friends Danielle and Mike).

Today I went with my friend/attendant Rachel to Whole Foods and bought Seeduction bread (yes, that is spelled correctly) and various and sundry organic yumminess. I also finally heard from Chad this afternoon -- he's been laid up the last three weeks after somehow injuring his knee while backpacking. He thinks he was just carrying too much weight. As he said, "My respiratory system and muscles could handle the strain, but apparently my joints couldn't." He's having an MRI this week to "make sure I didn't tear something up." Leave it to a boy to wait almost a month before going to the doctor. Tomorrow I will brave the bus to meet Erika in the Quarter for her birthday. Monday I will read for my classes.

And that's all I have to say about that.