Diverse New Orleans

Like sands in an hourglass, these are the days of our lives.  Make the best of it.  Grow where you are planted.  New Orleans is fertile soil, especially in the part of New Orleans that I like to share with you.  If you think I only share the best parts, be not afraid.  The worst parts are just as good.

Today is a beautiful day.  I think I will take advantage of my natural disposition and wile away the afternoon.  As I tell every young person who is interested:  Grow where you are planted.  I also tell them that if they want to learn how to play a musical instrument, I recommend playing the oboe.  An oboist has a deeply poignant role that only he or she can fulfill.  There is no other sound like that of an oboe, either in an orchestra or out on the street.

New Orleans is a city of oboes, of tubas, and of a lot of other instruments you probably don’t often hear played live where you live.  Like the rest of America, New Orleans’ diversity is part of its strength.

There are thousands of different breeds of roses.  A garden full of a diversity of rose species would be a place of beauty and a sweet-smelling, pleasant place.

There are thousands of species of snakes.  A pit of, I don’t care how many, species of snakes of all sizes, patterns, and appetites wouldn’t be so much beautiful as squirmy.

What would you rather be in the middle of?  A diverse rose garden or a diverse snake pit?  I’ll take New Orleans.  New Orleans is the best of all possible worlds.

I live in New Orleans.  I am enjoying my day today.  It is 80 degrees Fahrenheit and I am sitting outside watching the world go by on Esplanade Avenue.  A mother is burping her baby, rocking the baby in her arms.  There is nothing in this world more beautiful than a mother.  Today is another beautiful day.  You should be here.

A guitarist and an oboe player just showed up.  She is a lady oboe player, the best kind.  She really makes that oboe sing.  The guitarist strums along in the background and then they trade places and she supplies the structure while he solos like a real bossa nova Brazilian.  Wonderful!  A marriage of equals.  Whodathunk that a guitar and an oboe could sound so good!

I have no idea who the musicians are but I’m glad they showed up.  Another beautiful New Orleans day wiled away savoring life at its sweetest.  I’m not complaining.  Someone has to do it.  You should give it a try.  Welcome to my part of New Orleans.  I think you’ll like it.

It is 80 degrees Fahrenheit on January 9.  I can’t tell you how happy I am not thinking about having to shovel snow.  Every day in New Orleans is a beautiful day.  I know.  I live here.  Welcome to my world.

I love every day that has an oboe in its soundtrack.

New Orleans is a place full of both roses and snakes, or, more accurately, crepe myrtle and geckos.

Crepe myrtle blooms in a variety of colors, every blossom different, unique and alive, serving its purpose to the greater good of the world.  Every tree is different, never mind the flowers (though you should enjoy the flowers and their color and their scent—-don’t miss the forest for the trees!).  Crepe myrtle trunks and branches, though, they grow into organically molten surrealist sculptures.  They shed their bark, too.  Touch one as you pass by.  Caress it’s smooth bark.

All the street and yard lizards look the same to me.  I have never met anyone has ever caught one and kept one as a pet.  Alligators don’t count.  Lizards in New Orleans are like cockroaches except everyone likes the lizards because they are cute. Alligators don’t count except when they are babies.  Everyone loves a baby alligator.  Everyone loves a baby lizard.  Nobody loves a baby cockroach.

Every day in New Orleans is beautiful.  We live in a city full of pleasant serendipity.  You should come experience it for yourself.  I know where you should stay.

Esplanade Avenue is a beautifully diverse street that connects like neighborhoods that run the gamut of New Orleans culture and serendipity.  I love where I live.  You will too.  Everything cross pollinates in New Orleans.  You’ll see.  No one ever says their visit is too long.  Visit New Orleans like you live here.  You are on the right website.  La Belle Esplanade salutes you.