Second time's a charm?

I just got my first NaNoWriMo pep talk email, which means National Novel Writing Month can't be far off! I seem to have gotten sidetracked last year. Perhaps my new routine will be more conducive to writing the 50,000 words necessary to produce a worthy novel(la)! Anyone else out there participating?

A day at Avery Island

After acres of sugarcane fields...a Zen Garden...

...complete with Buddha!

Tourists poking an alligator with a stick (sign didn't say "No Poking")...

Egrets content to eat fish...

A nice day to reflect!

Always look on the bright side of life

[Monty Python whistling here]

This week has been devoted to "defragmentation." With my heart in Austria, my body in Baton Rouge, my head somewhere in between, and my possessions strewn from Hell to breakfast, I was feeling pretty fragmented. This was counterproductive to my teaching, grading, correspondence, eating and sleeping habits. So last weekend I had a couple of indoor project days (Target shelving unit with about 300 pieces), this week I've been grading like a wild woman, and I finally managed to get to the OMV and insurance office. I now have a Louisiana Brown Pelican on my license plate! And I only had to pay about half the fees I expected :-)

The insurance visit was a fiasco. After 45 minutes the agent still wasn't finished processing my information and I had to excuse myself to teach class. I was so annoyed! But on the way home, I was driving along one of those beautiful live oak-lined boulevards in the Garden District and saw what I thought was a big pigeon drinking from a rain puddle in the middle of the street. Turns out that it was no pigeon, but a sharp-shinned hawk! Luckily I had my camera with me. Ta-da!

(I love that you can see strands of old blackened Mardi Gras beads from the St. Patrick's Day parade that goes through the neighborhood! Kind of makes up for the fact that you can't see his head.)

So I think there's a reason for everything! If the insurance agent hadn't kept me so long, I never would have seen this hawk at precisely the moment he was getting a drink! Pretty cool, huh? Share your "bright sides" in the comments!

Night of the Gecko

(A gecko looks a little like a transparent baby alligator)

My blogger friend over at An Extended Vacation has an anecdote about a gecko in the dishwasher which I thought I would follow up with a couple of my own gecko stories.

Gecko Tale #1: My first encounter with a Louisiana gecko (not to be confused with the charming anole) was a terrifying experience. I was looking for something under the kitchen sink when I moved one of those 2 quart Rubbermaid iced tea pitchers. A gecko had somehow managed to climb in, but because the sides were so high and slick, his little velcro paws couldn't get any purchase. Frustrated, Senor Gecko was running around in circles about 78 rpm around the bottom of the pitcher. I peered in to see what was causing all the fuss and saw this 4" translucent reptile with black buggy eyes and thought for sure it was a baby alligator! Like my friend at An Extended Vacation, I didn't go near the kitchen sink for weeks!

Gecko Tale #2: Getting ready for school one morning, I was looking for earrings in my jewelry box. I didn't have my glasses on, so I was Mr. Magoo'ing the offerings on the vanity when my eyes stopped on the lint roller about six inches from my face. The lint roller to which a gecko was stuck, and had been for some time! The gecko was still alive and allowed himself to be peeled off the sticky backing. We tried to rehydrate him with water, but whether he scampered off into the philodendron or was eaten by one of the local pigeons, we'll never know. Amusing in retrospect, but not at the time!

(Anoles, like chameleons, change color according to the environment)

On hot steamy nights like this one, you can count the geckos on the ceiling of any veranda Baton Rouge. Geckos and anoles are part of the Louisiana landscape. They eat bugs and are harmless... just as long as they stay outside where they belong!

Mozartgasse 13

The past few months, as I've moved from Austria to Iowa to Louisiana, it's been difficult for me to define "home." After living like a guest in other people's houses for two years, surrounded by their furniture, sleeping on their bed linens, and using their pots and pans, I forgot what it was like to be truly on my own. I've been in my own place for three weeks now, and until this weekend I was still feeling displaced.

They say that home is where the heart is, and I feel most at home in Steiermark, the Green Heart of Austria. "Green" refers to the 58% uncultivated woodlands, but it also means a healthy lifestyle with affordable organic food and an emphasis on nature and the outdoors, and people who live lightly on the earth. As I was lamenting my return to Louisiana, my friends all asked me "Can't you create a little Austria in Baton Rouge?" Thanks to them, I've come to realize that home isn't just a physical address, it is a state of mind.


When I left the Enns Valley, friends Anita and Raimund gave me an Austrian house number, a substantial piece of red and white enameled tin, reminiscent of the Austrian flag. Since July 20, the first thing I've done when I've moved into a new place, however temporary, is hang this sign in a prominent location. It doesn't matter what physical location I'm in, I live at Mozartgasse 13.


The people who've visited seem to like it here. :-)

Another photo-inspired contest

Check out my friend Angie's Short & Sweet Book Title contest. The contest runs through midnight, October 4, and she offers a choice of prizes for the winner. Even if you don't submit something, the entries so far are very entertaining! Tell her I sent you in the comments!

Whiskey and Funerals

We buried Ms. Dottie last week... for those of you in the know, that's "Dottie with the Body." Dottie was a member of the Whiskey Widows, a select group of elderly women who lived in my old apartment complex. Ms. Dottie always introduced herself as "Hi, I'm Dottie... with the Body." Of course, she didn't introduce herself to me that way, but rather to the attractive young man who was helping me move in. Dottie was a bit of a flirt :-)

When I first arrived, I was greeted by a neighbor who said, "We have cocktails every day at 5:00 pm at Ms. Verone's. You have a standing invitation to join us." Ms. Verone was the widow of the lieutenant governor under Earl K. Long. She was in her mid-80s and owing to a bum knee, she was virtually confined to her apartment (except when she ventured out in her indestructible Lincoln Town Car). Her social life was the cocktail hour, and she entertained us with stories of Louisiana politics, and fed us appetizers like olive cheese balls* and shrimp salad. On LSU game day, there was always a crowd at Ms. Verone's.

Carolyn, Dottie, Frances, Jerry, Sue, Nancy, Fred

For every Whiskey Widow there's a story: Ms. Frances was the daughter of a publisher and taught in the Baton Rouge schools even though she didn't need the money. She owned half a condo on the corner of Esplanade and Bourbon Street in New Orleans. She was very generous with the key, and I stayed there at least twice. Ms. Doris was the secretary for five Louisiana governors, including Jimmie Davis (who wrote "You are my Sunshine"). Sue B. also worked for the Baton Rouge schools trying to make a difference. There are two Ms. Margarets and a BeBe, and a number of us who just like to be inspired by these phenomenal women.

Because of their advanced age, the Whiskey Widows are becoming rarer and rarer. Verone died in 2005, the weekend of Hurricane Rita. Sue B. and I crashed her funeral (a long, sad story, best saved for another time). Ms. Frances died this past summer. And now Dottie... with the Body.

Contrary to their moniker, the Whiskey Widows prefer vodka martinis with a green cocktail tomato. Drink one this weekend in their honor, and to the health of those remaining!

Joey and Dottie

* Verone's Olive Cheese Balls:

½ lb. cheddar cheese, shredded
1 stick butter, chilled and shredded
1 ½ cups flour
cayenne pepper
worcestershire sauce
Jar of pimiento-stuffed olives

Combine the shredded cheddar cheese, the cold shredded butter, flour and cayenne pepper to taste. Prepare as for a pastry dough/pie crust, adding just enough worcestershire sauce to hold the mixture together. Wrap individual olives in the dough about an 1/8 of an inch thick. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. TIP: These freeze well and can be reheated!