Watching the rain, I'm feeling pretty good about deciding to do JazzFest tomorrow instead of today. Besides after a day of driving and visiting, it feels good to hang out and start a new book, especially something relevant to election season. Last night I went with Melane M to a new movie theater in a neighborhood I once lived in for 12 years. Near it is a new Whole Foods. So predictably there are a couple of dumpsters on nearby blocks including the 2600 block of Dumaine. The dumpster is the sign that people are buying and renovating the old housing stock. The film we went to see was Bayou Maharajah, a documentary about James Booker, the piano genius. It had wonderful archival footage and a lot of my favorite people in it. A happy bonus was that another favorite pianist, Tom McDermott, was playing in the lobby which of course has a bar. Everything in New Orleans has a bar including the new Dryades Public Market where I had my requisite Mohito pre-movie. I look forward to my chat with Dave Cash about how all this gentrification is affecting poor locals. I'm checking things off my list fast, including a walk with Marie and Leila on the Lafitte Greenway which runs from mid-city to the French Quarter. We walked from Carrolton to Basin Street on the path and took the street car back.

I spent nights in Brookhaven and in Covington and had a great meal/visit with family in Baton Rouge. I've had my rapture moment at the Ogden, gotten lost in Lafreniere Park, and gone to a dog park for the first time with Julie. On to week two.

Before I head down to New Orleans, here is some April in Maine. "Somewhere else or bust" as Bonnie Raitt says. A parting blessing was a sunny almost 70 degree yesterday. It demanded a cookout, and we ate outside with friends on the first table of summer.