Letters for George: NOLA in Bloom

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

NOLA in Bloom

Dear George,

I’m just back from my 6-day trip to New Orleans, having visited J, K, and our grandkids, V and L. My stay was completely enjoyable. Among other things, it was 30 degrees in Cincinnati when I left and 20 degrees when I returned, but New Orleans was in the midst of a warm and sunny spring. J and K’s mid-city home is a 20-minute walk to City Park, and I went there nearly every day. I’d been to the Botanical Garden in the park for a Thanksgiving light display, but never in the daytime. The 12-acre Botanical Garden opened in 1936, a WPA project during the Great Depression. It was originally called the City Park Rose Garden. Today it contains over 2000 varieties of plants from around the world and has several theme gardens, e.g., The Tropical Garden, the Butterfly Walk, the Japanese Garden, as well as the Conservatory of the Two Sisters. It’s entirely elegant as these photos suggest.

The New Orleans Art Museum is a few hundred yards away from the Botanical Garden, and it too is a civic treasure. Their featured show exhibited photographs from the Civil War which brought tears to one’s eyes. In addition, the Garden Study Club of New Orleans had organized an “Art in Bloom” floral display throughout the Museum’s galleries. The flower arrangements were coordinated with nearby paintings, and, all in all, it was stunning. Here are a few to enjoy.

Love,

Dave

G-mail Comments

-Jennifer M (3-27): So beautiful! Spring, we await you here in Cincinnati!

-Gayle C (3-27): David, Looks like a great trip! Lovely photos!!! Glad u had fun. Take care. :). G

-Terry O-S (3-27-14): The NOLA photos are gorgeous! A few years ago my son Dan was the Executive Director of the American Public Gardens Association and that garden would have been one of his members. He no longer holds that position.

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MARCH 2024 HOLIDAYS

MARCH 2024 HOLIDAYS

Sun., Mar. 10. Daylight Saving Time starts. Clocks move forward one hour at 2 a.m. // Sun., Mar. 17. St. Patrick’s Day. Celebrating one of Ireland’s patron saints and Irish-American culture in the U.S. // Wed., Mar. 20. Spring Equinox. One of two annual equinoxes in which the length of night and day are nearly equal. // Thurs., Mar. 21. World Poetry Day. Promoting linguistic expression through poetry. // Sat., Mar. 23. Purim starts. A Jewish holiday which commemorates Jews being saved from extermination in Persia. // (Source: wincalendar.com)

CINCINNATI NEWS

CINCINNATI NEWS

According to ratings by the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, Cincinnati ranks 4th best in parks among the nation’s 100 largest cities. 88% of Cincinnati residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. Neighborhoods where most people identify as a person of color have access to 4% less park space than those in predominantly white neighborhoods. Park amenities ranked high for Cincinnati in categories of basketball hoops, playgrounds, bathrooms, recreation, senior centers, and splash pads. Dog parks were much lower, only 1.6 dog parks per 100K people. Cities ranked higher than Cincinnati were Arlington, VA, St. Paul, MN, and Washington, D.C. (wcpo.com, 5-5-22)

EVERYDAY FOIBLES

EVERYDAY FOIBLES

I have one pair of prescription glasses for reading, one for distance (driving, movies). I also have a dozen $1.00 reading glasses from the Dollar Store so I can keep my prescription pair permanently on our dining room table. Of course I lost my distance glasses two years ago. I’ve been sure they was somewhere around the house, but I’ve scoured everywhere. Last week I got ready to go to my writers group and picked out a pair of reading glasses from my bedside table. One had orange and purple rims, one green and yellow, and one dark brown. I chose the conservative dark brown pair. At my group I tried reading with them, but everything was blurry. I was sure they weren’t Katja’s glasses, but they certainly weren’t my reading glasses. Back home Katja suggested that maybe they were my distance glasses. I looked out the window, and the house down the block was in clearer focus. So my lost distance glasses have been sitting next to my bed for the past two years.

FAMOUS POETS

FAMOUS POETS

Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1888. His father, a prosperous businessman, sent him to Milton Academy and Harvard where he excelled. At Harvard Eliot studied philosophy, earning a master’s degree under George Santayana. He then studied linguistics, poetry, and philosophy at the Sorbonne and at Oxford University, settling in England after his studies, working as a banker, and writing poetry. Eliot published his first masterpiece, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, in 1917, and he followed it with “The Waste Land” in 1922, a long poem that had tremendous impact on Western literature. Andrew Lloyd Webber adapted Eliot’s 1939 children’s book, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” into the stage musical “Cats”, one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history. Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1948, Eliot died in 1965. (Tessitore, Extraordinary American Writers, 2004)

MY WEEK (Mon., 4/8 - Sun., 4/14/24)

MY WEEK (Mon., 4/8 - Sun., 4/14/24)

We watched the total eclipse on TV, not wanting to risk our retinas. I read “An Ode to April” at my writers’ group and watched episode 1 of Ripley on Netflix (too scary for Katja). I went to the fitness center and did FaceTime with Donna. Katja and I ate out at Dewey’s (pizza and salad), Izzie’s (pastrami Reuben), and Lil Goodies (softserve sundaes). We took the tax info to our accountant, too late and requiring an extesion. Katja went to the Hair Salon. We wound up the week with Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office, a chilling PBS drama.