Back Home from N.O.

We had a great time in Louisiana. We flew into New Orleans on Friday and despite the fact that our plane was an hour and a half late and it took an hour at the car rental place, we had a great night in the city, eating dinner at a cozy Cajun restaurant and wandering around the streets for a bit. New Orleans is back to being New Orleans; the streets were packed with people reveling and otherwise carrying on, art galleries and funky antiques shops can be found on every street in great abundance, there are so many great places to eat it was difficult to choose. The architecture in N.O. is gorgeous; so many old buildings dressed up in decorative iron, with long, thin windows their eyes to the world. N and I saw one that appeared to be empty and we stood in the street for awhile fantasizing about buying it and fixing it up into a home/storefront. On a more unfortunate note, the city has experienced a rise in crime as of late, but we did not encounter any ruffians in search of money for drugs or anything else while we were touristing the streets. On Saturday we drove up to see my husband's family, two hours north in Lafayette. We visited several different places while we were there, including an old cemetary where my husband's great-great grandfather, who served in the Confederacy during the Civil War, is buried. I finally got to "meet" N's Grandma, Jeanne, who apparently was quite a character in life and who I wish I'd had an opportunity to meet while she was still on this side of the veil. Our trip home flowed without incident and we got back on Wednesday afternoon. It took all day for us to recover from traveling; even today I feel a bit tired and am tempted to forgo the gym, but I won't. It's nice to be home again. Our kitty missed us, and I'm happy to see life returning to its normal flow. The holidays are wonderful but grueling, and for a Jew the whole Christmas season can be a bit tiring. I hope y'all have a fun and safe New Year's celebration!!!