Addendum from the Porch

I went home a bit early today, and by 6:00 I was sitting on the front porch, finishing off yesterday's leftover wine, and looking out over the street as the neighbors slowly filtered back home from work. The wine was working wonders; silencing the day's static and giving me a chance, however brief, to enjoy the simple pleasure and time-honored city tradition of porch-sitting. Granted, a glass of wine is no match for the mind-expanding recreational drugs of the 60s, but then again it carries a lot less overhead. Here in New Orleans we're in the last phases of Spring. The trees and other plants are lush with new growth, the buck moth caterpillars, mostly dead from the recent ritual of the spraying of the oak trees, are everywhere, and there's a momentary sense of calm and relaxation before the real heat of summer descends upon the city. It's almost like people are afraid to mention the nice weather for fear it will hasten the arrival of Summer. Talk of Katrina is gradually dropping off as the old redundant complaints and inner-city whining increase to their pre-hurricane levels, and things are for the most part starting to return to normal, whatever that might be. I'll sit here a while longer soaking in whatever this tree-shaded uptown ennui is, and once the wine wears off I'll guess I'll be right back where I was to start with. But it will have been worth the trip, anyway.