Living in the Deep South

"However more abbreviated than its cousins it may look, February feels longer than any of them. It is the meanest moon of winter, all the more cruel because it will masquerade as spring, occasionally for hours at a time, only to rip off its mask with a sadistic laugh and spit icicles into every gullible face, behavior that grows quickly old." 
Tom Robbins Jitterbug Perfume

I now know "what they say" about the weather in Louisiana - if you don't like it, just wait ten minutes and it'll change. Just last week I had my choice of rain or sunshine - all I had to do was choose whether to walk out the front or back door. If only I had that option for humidity.

I cooked and ate collard greens for the first time in my life. No, not the collards swimming in pig fat that probably came to mind. I used a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks; they were cooked with garlic, vegetable stock and, soy sauce. I must say, I would willingly eat them again. Similar to spinach, but tougher. I made them to go with a Jambalaya recipe that I was trying. [See we are trying to get to know the culture here.]

City Park in Baton Rouge

While walking with one of my friends, at City Park in Baton Rouge, I was educated on mosquito hawks.  I always just assumed they were big-ass-mosquitoes; now I know better. There are so many new (to me) bugs here - just this summer I learned about love bugs. Swarms were everywhere, like in the movies about the end of the world. From what I have been told, mosquito hawks start coming out when the weather gets warm. As you can see in the picture, above, everything is green here. With all the rain that we've had this "winter" and the really warm temps, I'm sure flowers are going to start blooming.

 One of the things that I love about Louisiana, are all of the really old oak trees. There are some streets in the Garden District that are adorable - bungalo style homes with so much character on these beautiful tree lined streets.  I would love to live on one of those streets, only the proximity to the ghetto is a bit uncomfortable for me. I suppose we will stay out in Egypt for the time being.