Art imitates life imitates art imi... oh my, my head is spinning

Margaret Macrina Dolphin (aka Maggie): Good gawd, girl, we've got fans in the Global Center!

Belle: But of course, darlin', and aren't they just the cutest things?

MMD: Bet that shrieky one could show a girl a good time.

Belle: Maggie, this is NOT one of those adult blogs.

MMD: Lucky thing because our daddy doesn't look to be growing up anytime soon.

Belle: Looks full grown to me. Have you seen the weight he's put on?

MMD: Shh. He doesn't really like to think about it.

Belle: Can you just imagine? There's a chance we get to star in our own adventures - in this exotic locale, no less. Just like my heroine, Miss Egyptian Hippo of Love, only here in my own home town.

MMD: That penguin's kind of cute too, but I think I'd get in trouble with the moose.

Belle: Honey, you're liable to get in trouble with any of those men. Better stick to picnics.

MMD: Sigh. Why did I get stuck with picnics? Do you know how much work it is to organize one of those suckers? And let me tell you, a really good potato salad is more labor intensive than folks realize, especially when you don't have opposable thumbs.

Belle: Men never appreciate all we do behind the scenes to make their lives pleasant and their food yummy. But with a tail like yours, honey, you don't need thumbs.

MMD: Well, I do like to flirt a bit now and then and men do notice me.

Belle: A few of the women do too. Me, I'm a BBW with the full kind of figure that makes for one helluva snuggle. Something to hold on to, if you know what I mean.

MMD: And you a right proper Anglican lady!

Belle: You can pray, play bridge, and still have fun.

MMD: Amen to that.

Daddy (off camera): Patience, ladies. I promise we'll have an adventure on Sunday WITH the camera (and Mimi, we hope). Until then, you've got to let me catch up on the news. And remember, some of us work 6 days a week.

The girls: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Daddy: Ahem.

MMD and Belle: Yes, daddy. But you're more fun when you're "retired."

Daddy: True, and poorer too. Let's praise King Jesus and Holy Mother Mary that there's an income these days.

Belle (as the girls wander off): "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille."
MMD: More like the nuthouse. Where's your dead chimp?
Belle: Max!
MMD: Teehee.

Daddy, aka the BB, here. Not sure if I can stand the star-struck ladies with dreams of Bollywood and beyond. Hope they know the way to San José. It's not like they're teenagers, but a good gossip magazine never gets ages right.

At the end of the day I slipped across the building to shoot this pic from an empty conference room. The casino and the Mississippi.


This is one shot of the buildings across the street as I exit work in the evening.


And, shifting the camera toward the left, one sees this. Love the restaurant name: Nacho Mama's. Lots of restoration lies ahead. Just before I exited to take these pics I crossed a marble lobby that was being polished. Quite a contrast.


This is a detail of the exterior of the parking garage where I drop the car off each morning. Portions of the building skin are just plywood boards, though the frame is reinforced concrete.


This is a mostly abandoned high-rise across from where I was working until Tuesday afternoon. I am told, by those who have worked on Sunday mornings, that some rather colorful party types emerge here to face the daylight. We suspect its a rave locale on weekends. Or something like that. We're all old farts, of course, and this gives us something to talk about. The gents seem to have enjoyed the very skimpy dresses the partying ladies wear.


Looking slightly farther to the right there is the boarded-up Vietnamese restaurant and other buildings still waiting their turn.


Here are more of the NOLA sidewalks I referred to in my thoughts on uneven ground. I walk past this each time I head over to Walgreen's or the Tulane Medical Center hospital cafeteria.


And this is the section of sidewalk I actually traverse when doing so. In between these two photos stands the monument shown in yesterday's pictures.


But if you turn slightly you look down this lovely strip with trees. This is looking up Elk toward Canal Street.


And that's the tour for today.

Y'all have to be patient about the Adventures of Maggie and Belle.
--the BB