GIRL'S WEEKEND!

Dear Katie and Nessa, 

It was finally, finally time! As all of our boyfriends and dude friends went up to the wintry wilds of Bangor, Maine to hang out in an off-the-grid cabin, I had a beautiful handful of girls up to party and eat delicious foods in the warmth of my Vermont home. It was GREAT. We slept late, cooked fajita tat-chos (fajitas on top of tater tots), ribs, buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese, and drank pitcher after pitcher of gin and tonic. 

We even got to talk to Nessa (for her birthday) on the phone at the same time that Kyla called on Skype from Brussels! From California, Nessa chatted with Kyla in Europe on the computer from Vermont - technology is wild. 

Have you ever heard of a Shotski? Apparently it's a thing: a ski with shot glasses glued to it. Four shots get poured, four people HAVE to take a shot. We went through a lot of Fireball Whiskey that way.

It was fun. For sure - but we certainly did WISH YOU WERE HERE!!!

XOXOXO ZY

Happy Birthday Nessa!

February: time to get another year older. And on this day, I want to send the happiest birthday wishes to my birthday month buddy winning at life over on the west coast: Nessa!

May 2009: Misson Hill, MA

Happy birthday, Nessa!!! Who isn't hard to convince to drive all day to Oklahoma. Who gives me sequin mini skirts and X-Files graphic novels as gifts. Who taught me how to day drink. Who cooks all my favorite foods the best.

September 2013: 4 Corners.

You are a super cool person and I love (& miss!) you very much!

And I think we are aging WONDERFULLY!

Back to Vermont, To Live

So we finally turned the car around and drove home from Louisiana- from where it was warm enough to wear short sleeves back to winter, and the reality where I live!

But we can still long for Florida and Louisiana and all our friends while it's snowing in Vermont and still retain some of our New England cred, right?

Oh, just kidding!! What kind of person misses their home when their backyard is THIS????:

Farewell for now, The Delicious South with all your Spanish Moss.
I'm home, sweet home!!!

PICSPAM: La Prairie Tremblant

I was super stoked to finally get to Jean LaFitte National Historic Park's Barataria Preserve, a scant 30 minute ride from the heart of New Orleans. Named for the local pirate, the area preserves a piece of Louisiana's wild bayous, home to alligators, turtles, anoles, and loads of other swampy goodies. 

Here we are in Bayou Coquille, which was once an ancient Native American village, then crisscrossed by waterways and canals vital to the historic logging industry, but now mighty with towering baldcypress trees, live oaks, and dripping with Spanish moss.

Baldcypress and Spanish moss.

Gator!

Old Growth Cypress.

 

Spanish moss.

Lower Kenta Canal.

Spiny Softshell Turtle.

Spiny Orb Weaver!

Pipeline Canal.

Pickerelweed.

The "trembling prairie".

The journey ends as we gaze out on the flotant marsh, which is essentially a mat of marsh plants not anchored to the soil beneath. It is an entangled, dense expanse of plants and roots and peat moss with wetland waters flowing underneath, causing the mat to undulate or tremble. During Hurricane Katrina, this marsh had been pushed like an accordion from all the wind and water that inundated the bayou, but today, it has returned to normal in it's capacity as the kidneys of our ecosystem.

Up next: Let's go back to Vermont...

Aboveground Tombs of New Orleans, Louisiana

In between stuffing our faces full of po boys, cajun grilled oysters, muffalettas, and of course drinking from open containers as we cruised the streets, we also took part in the New Orleans Fringe Fest, visited the sculpture museum at NOMA, and explored the traditional above ground cemeteries at the St. Roch Chapel and St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. 

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest Roman Catholic cemetery in New Orleans, consisting of above ground vaults that were constructed mostly in the 18th century. Many notable people are buried here including the first mayor of New Orleans, voodoo priestess Marie Laveau (maybe), and some time in the future, Nic Cage.

Above ground tombs in the tradition of the French and Spanish as well as
for countering a low water table.

Vaults.

A sugar cane offering.

The presumed tomb of renowned Priestess Marie Laveau.

Superstition has it that when you visit Marie's tomb, you draw three X's and make a wish.

Nic Cage's pyramidal future final resting place.

Offerings.

The St. Roch Cemetery and Chapel (for which the surrounding neighborhood got its name) is famous for it's supposed healing qualities. That's right, inside there is a small and slightly creepy altar to the Saint famous for his miraculous cures, where people have left their old prostheses, glass eyes, and many notes of thanks.

Up next: Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve, aka, Bayou Time!