Rake & Hoeh in N.O.

I went to New Orleans to see what it means when I say in response to frequent questioning about The Rake, "Elisabeth is living in New Orleans, apprenticing with a woodworker."

This is Elisabeth in the shop!

If you saw her previous entry, this is another angle on her first project, the swan bowl.

Here is her bench, still in progress but soon to be even more magnificent.

She has many projects, and Heinz is preparing for Jazz Fest next weekend so they are supposed to be working hard.

Fortunately I rescued her and we went to City Park my first evening for the free concert in the Park!

Elisabeth with Patrick and Heinz.

We rode bikes all over the place throughout the weekend.  Probably 50 miles or more! Took the ferry across the river.  

So sunny that we got sunburns, a thrill for a Mainer whose yard still had snow two days previous to this!

Earth Day featured a little festival in Louis Armstrong park, with the requisite brass band, lots of happy people.

Then it was Easter.  In New Orleans, Easter - like most things apparently - is about parades and parties!  We saw two parades: the one where the ladies wear easter bonnets and throw candy - 

And then the Chris Owens parade, which is a bit more New Orleans-ish

We hung out some with Elisabeth's first "host," who was supposedly her landlord but didn't charge her anything because she was staying in his vacation rental when it was empty!

Stanley, right, and his partner Lewis and their cool kid Elliot

Then later we biked to "the bayou" to hang out with the roommates for a while, basking in the light breeze and casual background acoustic music with great harmonies played by a random group of people...

On the last full day I was there, We rented a car and drove 20 minutes to a swamp tour that did not disappoint!

Then we drove down to Jean Lafitte nature preserve and went on the boardwalk, another cool place with a bunch of snakes and cedar swamps and wildlife.

On my last night we had a "cajun potluck" with the roommates, and got boiled crawfish and made dirty rice and greens and just hung out.

We did lots and lots of bike riding around the city, and I didn't photograph all the amazing beautiful, elaborately ornate houses and giant spreading live oaks, or the kitsch, clamor and 

debauchery of Bourbon Street; nor the amazing Audubon Insectarium.  Also I forgot to show you her giant, kind of shabby apartment, and I didn't have a camera when we went to Ladies Wrestling Night, nor when we took in awesome live music in the French Quarter....

But I did see all those things, and now I know what The Rake sees on her daily bike rides, and generally what New Orleans is about: in a word, it's about fun.  the motto: (as the song says) "Have fun, while you're still in the pink - Have fun, it's later than you think!"

Sunset on Lake Pontchartrain.