Fresh eggs can be found in your front yard, even on Louisiana Ave. in the heart of the city.

    Walking down Louisiana Avenue to St. Charles Avenue yesterday, I saw a rooster and four hens. One of the hens had escaped the fencing. Fresh eggs can be found in your front yard. I am told that the owner gets a fresh egg a day.

     A power walk through my "hood' demonstrated that each day brings surprises. I stopped to read the historic marker at the Van Benthuysen Elm House Mansion at 3029 St. Charles Ave. The Counsel General, an former U-boat  kaptain,  lived there and report to the Axis prior to WWII about naval activity from New Orleans.

    Walking is an excellent way to really see your environment.I am  most grateful for the sight-seeing tour of those 2.2 miles. Strap on some shoes and join me in my daily explorations. What have you found?


http://www.elmsmansion.com/history.html

Poem Inspired by Madie

Theater of the Soul

Dance, movement, creativity

The child really understands

What we struggle to grasp.

It’s all about play, abandonment.

Rather than being abandoned,

We play with abandonment.

The adult trying to grasp the meaning

Of  joy, fantasy, fun.

The child knows.

But we keep a tight grasp

For fear we’ll lose control.

It’s the control that we need to lose.

Why don’t we listen to the child?

Hands flung wide open

Waiting to grab all of the lusty air

Like wings ready for flight

We run and jump and hope

But fear the first jolt of

Weightlessness

And so we remain Earth bound.

By Rosalynn Rizzo-Moore

  Barcia's Grocery on Annunciation St.

  Working next to an expert who has been making sandwiches for the public for over 30 years left me in awe.

    Ann Barcia of the Po-Boy Store by the same name on the corner of Annunciation and Antoine Streets, was in need of help one day because her sister, and partner,  had knee replacement surgery. I volunteered to help out. My offer was accepted.

    My task was to answer the phone and to record the orders. Ann had already been putting together the very large order for 30 sandwiches when I arrived at the appointed hour; 10 A.M. Ann had already pre-sliced the Leidenheimer French bread into thirds with a little end left over from each loaf. I wondered if she made bread pudding out of the ends and she said, “No.”

     Ann commented that the bread was “very good today. Sometimes, depending on the weather the bread is not always exactly the same.” I learned that my shorthand and inexperience almost resulted in mis-made sandwiches.  

     “I want a hot sausage poor-boy with gravy. Hold the mayo and tomatoes.” I wondered how you put gravy on hot sausage. I learned that the homemade roast beef gravy was added to a lot of other sandwiches like hamburgers and luncheon meat.

      I watched Ann handle a meat clever to sever the frozen hamburger patties with a quick, well aimed chop; one, two three.. That was what it took to make a hamburger poor-boy.

      Ann had carved so many sandwiches that there was a demarcation on the counter from years of cutting the poor-boys in- half. A meat clever in one hand and a carving knife in the other, Ann went from the slicer machine back and forth to the industrial size burners where all of these delicious sandwiches are grilled. As she wielded the knife, clever, and slicer, I watched with pure amazement as she adjusted the slicer for the different cuts of meat. All of those years create a special waltz which Ann has mastered.

     “I want a roast beef poor-boy with extra gravy and I want a luncheon meat sandwich with the meat grilled.”

     I wrote as fast as I could trying to ask all of the right question like, “Do you want that dressed?”

Every sandwich is expertly made and wrapped in butcher paper. The roast beef sandwiches have an extra layer of waxed paper before the outer wrap is applied with two twists and the ends are secured.

     I watched Ann fill up three boxes for an order that morning. She knew when to make each group of sandwiches so that the hamburger, hot sausage, and roast beef sandwiches would be hot for the 11:30 A.M. pick-up time.

     Ann told me when we had a lull in the orders, that she and her dad used to complete orders for  the  post Tulane games. She said, “We had trays wrapped around this entire store and I made all of the dessert from scratch.”

     Dancing with Ann and her skills left me wondering how such an art could be lost to our city. I personally know that each roast beef sandwich has 12 slices of roast beef expertly grilled and flavored with that old Italian roast beef gravy. Stop by from 7 A.M. to 1 P.M. Monday through Fridays for an old New Orleans specialty.

My years of supervision bus duty paid off in an usual way yesterday.

     My dear friend, Laurie ( the lady that I wrote about on March 22nd when she and I encountered the 35 year old celebrating her birthday) had never had the Plum Street Snow Ball experience. She and I were playing tourist in our beloved New Orleans. We had just ridden over the new and improved Huey Long Bridge and had pastry at the Artisan Bakery on Oak Street. While on our way home,I discovered that Laurie had never had a Plum Street snow ball.
"Sacrilege." I exclaimed
      So off we went to retrace our steps. Twenty minutes later,we were parked and Laurie was waiting in line while I sat on a double sided bench under an umbrella. My side of the bench faced the one-way street about three feet from the curb.
     Next to me was a precious young girl, probably around five. She was enjoying a bubble gum blue snowball. Mom was eating a snow ball too. Mom got up and crossed the street to her car where the motor was running. The precious little girl got up to go towards her mother just as a car was coming down the street.
    Those years of bus duty kicked in, I jumped up, placed my arm in front of the quickly moving little girl and I said,"Sweetie, there is a car coming." The little one stumbled and fell onto her knees and spilled some of her treasured snowball. 
     The woman on the opposite side of the bench said, "Quick thinking." I was so relieved and grateful for all those years of bus duty!
     Mom said to the little one,"Mommy was just getting her phone." I believe that the little girl though that her mother was leaving when her mother headed to the car and opened the door. Mom had not said anything to the little one before she left the bench.
    Thank you God for the training.

Sun quilted floor patterns;

Divided, reflecting back onto woodwork.

Nuclear energy filtered into my space

Millions of energizing particles;

Sent to illuminate and radiate;

Your wisdom spread out;

Read, felt, appreciated.

Calls me to slow my pace;

Quit the race for a while;

Charge cellular batteries.

Channel the grief.

Unload the energy zappers.

Accept the reconnection.

Linger in the warm bath

Forget the rain storm;

Take off the sun screen

Luxuriate in the light

The energy, the love.

Rosalynn Moore

July 14, 2010

Sitting in the sun room

At 5:15 P.M.

The Annunciation

      This magnificent rendering of the Annunciation reminds me to consider that we all have a divine purpose. I recently had surgery to remove some "complex" cysts in my ovaries. These little reminders of my ability to create have been sending me messages since 1999. An ultra-sound here and there kept me on edge about what they were trying to tell me.

      Monday, I had these little cysts removed. It turns out that one cysts had encapsulated two others. A blessed trinity of sorts. Perhaps they were reminding me of my creative talents; or, that at 65 I still have time to create. 

      I certainly was relieved to learn that this gathering was a benign little assembly! I urged the oncologist to play a CD of music that I created during surgery. I was told by Celie, his nurse, that Dr. K. does not listen to music when he operates. I informed Celie that the music was not for him, but for me. I have read many books and articles about how hearing is very focused when we are "put to sleep." Or as Dr. W., the anesthesiologist, said, "I will paralyze you; put a tube down your throat to breathe for you,and give you amnesia. We will than reverse the process." 

       This is where I thought that I might decide to escape and not return. My daughter gently reminded me that the paralysis happens when an epidural is administered. She would know, she has had four, and produced four beautiful girls! I relaxed a little. The bold honesty of Dr. W. had me a little wary.

       Dr. K. commented on my musical selections, "In the middle of surgery I heard 'Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off'." He smiled. I returned the smile. A little humor to lighten up  the room. Two younger women, both Doctors smiled when they heard my selections. The List is as follows:

1.  "You Don't Know Me" By Ray Charles and Dianna Krall
2.  "Shower the People" by James Taylor
3.  "I Take My Chances" by Mary Chapin Carpenter
4.  "Try a Little Tenderness" by Otis Redding
5.  "To Love the Language" by Harry Connick, Jr.
6.  "Tequilla Makes Her Clothes Fall Off" by Joe Nichols
7.  "La Vie en Rose" by Kermit Ruffin
8.  "Get Happy" by Rick Bogart
9.  "Honky Tonk Woman" by The Rolling Stones
10.  "Silk Pajamas" by Thomas Dolby
11.  "Any Man of Mine" by Shania Twain
12.  "De Nova Adagio" by Alicia Keys
13.  "Orleans Street Boggy" by Julien Brunetard
14.  "Can't Help falling in Love" by Andrea Bocelli
15.  "Something to Talk About" by Bonnie Raitt
16.  "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley and the Wailers

     I highly recommend that you select your music to be played to you while unconscious. I also had hypnotherapy prior to surgery. All of the little extras that you can control. 

      Trusting that the Angels have a plan for me, I continue to create.... Bless you all! I am grateful to the hospital team.

Trust Fall

Desk Falling

Here is a photograph of me falling backwards into the arms of my students at Delgado Community College.

Sometimes in life one must take risks. These beautiful young women were shocked and amazed that I trusted them enough to leap off of a desk into their waiting arms.

I have been privileged to teach many such women. I am most grateful for their trust and support.

There is a line from Tennessee William's "A Street Car Named Desire," that has a very sad Blanche say," I have always relied upon the kindness of strangers."
Think about all of the times we place our hands into the care of strangers: a pilot, cab driver, hospital emergency worker, an unseen cook... The list goes on and on.

Perhaps we should trust more and question less.