on desire street

IMGP0058-1, originally uploaded by jilly71.

dueling trumpets

Last night I headed to Frenchman Street, which is less tourist- more local and closer to my Guest House than the quarter. OMG. There was this group of horn players on the street playing for money. Good thing I brought my little video maker...



The truly amazing thing that I couldn't capture on video was that there was a competing group of horn players on the opposite corner. It was insane! There were people everywhere. The music was all that you could ever expect from New Orleans. Ellis Marsalis was playing, and I hoped to hear it from outside because I didn't want to pay the $30. I popped into the Spotted Cat and listened to a set of The Cottonmouth Kings who were also tres amazing. This video looks like it was shot right where I stood last night and I heard almost the same thing. (not my video)

Gas off

Gas off, originally uploaded by jilly71.

new orelans- day 3

I got up this morning and went for a 3 hr bike tour. I would have preferred less talking and more biking. I can't recall most of what was said to me today. Which is kind of sad for $45. I did see some neat things and learned about the post Katrina marking on the houses and what they symbolize.

Then I came home and napped for 5 hrs. This heat...I went for a walk in the "suburbs" of Baywater and Marigny. I don't know what people are on about New Orleans being dangerous. If it is.. I haven't seen or felt a shred of it yet and I was walking where it was getting sketchy.

I had a great light diner at a place called Satsuma. Had a lovely young spinach salad with bacon, egg, onions and tomatoes. Mint ice tea and a side of crispy toast.

I'm off in hunt of some good music ala New Orleans. Ellis Marsalis is playing a few blocks away...

new orelans- day 2

Today I set out to do nothing but see where I went. I had one minor objective simply because it was close to my B&B.. was to find a Banksy graffiti job. I did find it, but it's been mostly covered up.

I wandered through the French Quarter in the muggy morning, staying on the shady side of the street. I know Louis Armstrong says 'life can be so sweet on the sunny side of the street' but it's also scorching hot. I took a lot of photos. You can see what I've been up to here..


side note: I bought a pair of Toms shoes in Toronto. They were incredibly comfortable and kept my feet cool.

Some things I did/ saw today..

• Bought postcards and wrote them all. They'll be mailed in the morning
• Bought a cool can of coffee called Cafe Bustelo

• went into a out of the way shop: The Voodoo Spiritual Temple and bought a bar of African Black Soap. It's kind of strange. 
• road the Canal Streetcar from one end to the other and learned I can buy a $5 all day transit pass
• wandered into a Photography Gallery and learned that New Orleans has an annual celebration of photography called PhotoNola. I also saw original Bellocqs, Arbus, Weegee, Adams.. wow
• saw a man riding a bike, wearing what looked like a tight curl black wig.. made out of yarn.
• saw a lot of for sale signs in the quarter and wished i had a million dollas to make a perfect B&B dream come true.
• happened upon a group of men in shorts, tube socks, gold spray painted shoes dancing in the street
• met a woman who looked exactly like Janis Joplin but from the 80's. I should have taken her photo. 
• noticed the flood lines on some buildings
• ate at Mother's
• wore myself out and came back to my room at 7pm and didn't leave

Tomorrow at 9am I have a 3hr bike tour booked with Confederacy of Bike Tours.

New Orleans

IMGP0054, originally uploaded by jilly71.

...but it also looks like Paris, Havana, or Brussels..

a brief look at the B&B

starting..

I have to admit.. reports that a huge methane gas cavity in the Gulf of Mexico could rupture and take out the ocean floor causing multiple tsunami's.. I almost booked my way back to safety and holiday boredom. Then I thought, what if I do and then what if nothing happens and I forfeit my B&B and my flights? I'd regret it. Would I regret being swallowed in a giant methane bubble? Probably. But I wouldn't really know. This way I have adventures under foot.

My first thoughts were.. it's like Havana & Cuba. It's hot and muggy. The French Quarter is alot like Havana Veija but not as run down. The bougainvillea flowers are in bloom, like in Cuba.. and the smell of damp wood and musty spices fill the air.

I'm safely in my lovely B&B. It's cool and quiet. In fact, I have the whole joint to myself tonight. The fridge is stocked with English muffins, bagels, peanut butter and juice. There's cold cereal and milk and I can help myself all I want. The ceilings are high and everything is really comfortable. Nice big bathroom, nice big room, a TV, WIFI, books, a common area, tourist pamphlets..etc. Honestly, we does anyone EVER stay in a hotel?

I don't smell any gas, but apparently a hurricane is due on the weekend. So is the gay pride parade.. 2 blocks away. I don't know what's in store for me except I hope I never have to fly on United's tiny wobbly planes ever again.

the beginning

I stayed up WAY too late last night and drove at breakneck speeds to the Calgary Airport this morning. I'm now in Denver, CO enjoying free WIFI while I have 4 hrs to kill at the airport. Too much time to get bored and not enough time to leave..

 I've gotten an email that my B&B in New Orleans is equipt with WIFI and now.. lugging my lap top with me makes all the sense in the world..


I can daily blog my New Orleans adventures and I expect to see an email or 2!

backtracking part 2

After my brief sojourn in the Manitoba prairie, I landed myself in Toronto for a 2 week get together. Toronto is a sprawling metropolis that in sideways glances reminds me of Europe and specifically Prague with the street cars you run out into the street to jump on. It's a vibrant city, full of colorfully dressed couples. If it was foggy, you might mistake Toronto for the 1950's where men wore suits and hats and ladies matched their gloves to their handbag and shoes. It's noticeable. Especially, when where you normally live everyone looks like they shop at Mountain Equipment Co Op.

I was there for work and thus, stayed in an apartment right downtown. What that meant was I close to everything and that included the preparation for the G8/G20 Summit. It got pretty hairy the last week I was there. The fences were going up. The trees were coming down and I even saw them hauling away giant installed public art fixtures and gluing down the rocks.The cops were out in full force, but I figured it was for the free Iggy and the Stooges gig headlining the NXNE music festival (that I was going to miss). I did see some fine graffiti though...

During my stay on the 36th floor, my lovely sister came to stay. We wandered up and down Queen St where I battled her for going into button shops while she tolerated me going into cheese shops. She's much more tolerant of cheese than I am of buttons. We took photos and got caught in a torrential rain storm. We admired figurines and then found our own. We ate lunch and made our feet sore finding it and when we had just about had it, we were rewarded with noticing one of our few mutually favorite musical groups happened to be playing a gig.

It was a real treat to find the First Aid Kit- the beautiful harmonizing sisters from Sweden were playing. And opening for them was the startling beautiful Samantha Crain,  who made me a fan that night. We bought the CD, the T shirt and gave away the free poster. I think it was the 1st gig I have ever seen with my sister ever. It was a perfect accident to stumble upon in Toronto.

Other fantastic adventures..

Finding Ashley at the Distillery district for her Supersonic Gypsy Cookies and other vegan treats.

Looking up to see the sign that said Vince Gasparro's Meat Market.. only 1 letter off the name of a very dear friend of mine.. who incidentally has had photographs of this location sent to him over the years.. What's odd, is that I was wandering aimlessly from trying to locate a friend of mine and happened upon it by accident.

Finding and visiting with an old friend who I was reminded on how smart and clever he was. The years haven't been good to him and we shared a few minutes that meant so much to me.

I found other dear friends that I hadn't seen in a long while. Gosh it's good to see old friends.

Toronto was good to me. It was hot, it was cool. It rained. It was muggy. It made me laugh and it made me cry. It fed me well and kept me awake at night and kept me entertained. It also reminded me of the kindness of strangers where I was walking down the street and encountered a group of people who were trying to do right by a small falcon who for some reason didn't want to fly. It did fly when there was an attempt to get him to a box, but there was something not quite right for this bird. 4 strangers came together to make calls to animal rescue, keep the bird out of the street, care about the what would happen and take it into their hands to make sure this small life stayed alive.

Thanks friends. Thanks Toronto.

one day, I will drive down this country road

View Larger Map

mutiny on the mailbox

mutiny on the mailbox, originally uploaded by jilly71.

backtracking, part 1

One night I packed a bag big enough for me and the luggage compartment on a plane. Sometimes, these aren't usually the same things, but I managed.

I got on a plane. This did not make me smile. The world is in a lot of pain thanks to fuel consumption. I will one day tell children of the days when we carelessly and recklessly got in big iron birds and traveled to far away lands with nothing more than a few days of clothes. This, I hope, will make me smile. Oh the folly of life. Driving across the country! You didn't!

I got to Winnipeg at almost midnight. I swear to blog land that Winnipeg smells like jasmine and lilacs  at night. I've smelled it twice. Maybe not in the winter, but I vow to not be in Winnipeg in the winter so I wouldn't know. I drove round and round looking for a tiny bar and stayed for maybe 10 minutes. Just enough time to be embarrassed "do you want to pay for the book I sent you too?!" ( I thought it had been a gift). I drank 2 cups of coffee and left. It was worth it to get the book. It's a very funny book.

I headed out on a road heading south. I figured I'd find it eventually- the main highway south that is. What I found was a secondary highway instead and passed through a small town call Domain.

A small town I'd never heard of and I've become oddly familiar with small town Manitoba in the last year. Something didn't smell right and it wasn't the cow manure. I took the first road going west..a connecting road. If you've ever been driving in the middle of the prairie at 1 am fueled on 2 cups of coffee, a dirt road connecting the secondary to the main is a bit freaky, especially at 120k.. gravel can twist your tires into the direction of a ditch if you're not careful.

After spotting what looked like a small gremlin in my toothpick eyes..

and deciding it was more likely a jack rabbit












I managed to get to Morden, Manitoba where my hosts were sound asleep. So, I did what any weary traveller would do.. I let myself in, left a note I was in the house, and went to bed.

I went to Morden to see my friend Denise who is packing up her house of many trinkets and setting off on an adventure to teach English in Vietnam for a year. She helps organize a sweet little Music Festival call the Back 40 where the best thing I saw was a band call the Doug and Jess band. That and a woman selling photo booth photos for 5 bucks. She was cool. Here's Jess and her husband fella Jeremy. Doug is her dad. If you look at the photos, he's the cool guy in the hat.

IMGP0004-1, originally uploaded by jilly71.

Jess wore a pretty dress and I took a bunch more photos.

And then I got some more of the prairies. 

I love to try and capture the birds and the crickets and the rain dew, but I never quite catch the silence. 

I also didn't eat the Saskatoon Perogies, to which I regret, but I did buy a vintage tin that says SNAP on it. I did have a most excellent time.

It'll be a while before I go back to Morden with Denise being away. I drove back to Winnipeg at the crack of dawn, dropped off the car, realized I'd left behind my camera batteries, got a coffee and  resumed my planet smashing journeys..

trippy

I just booked a whirlwind journey just because.

I'm off to Winnipeg, Manitoba where I'll rent a car and drive to the beautiful small town of Morden, to see an old friend of mine who helps organize a music festival there. She's going to Vietnam for a year to teach English and I figured.. why not!

From Morden, and back to Winnipeg I'll fly to Toronto where I'll work for 2 weeks to train a lovely girl to fill in for me while I'm away on holiday. When in Toronto, I get to stay right downtown on Spadina and Front. Maybe htis time, I'll get to see a bit of the city. Maybe my sister can come and visit from Ottawa. Maybe I can fly to Chicago for the weekend? Ooh there's an idea.

From Toronto, I'm flying to Calgary to spend some time in Alberta. My grandmother is turning 89 and there's a bit of a family reunion. Maybe I'll go to Edmonton and catch up with some old friends.

I fly out of Calgary for ...New Orleans.. one of my favorite cities in the US. It was pricey. Almost like going to Havana. Initially, the idea was to rent a car and drive around the swamps and small towns/ plantations.. but that was really pricey. I was looking at sleeping in the car under an old oak tree. Um. no. Just my luck and I'd park on the bad side of town on the wrong side of the street. So,  instead, I'll ride the streetcar named Desire and take a lot of photos of weeping willows, lone trumpet players and wrought iron balconies. Something I didn't do the 1st time I was there. I will eat the beignets again and the incredible chicory coffee from Cafe Du Monde and I'll make a penance at Marie La Veau's tomb.

I think I'll go back to Preservation Hall as well.

I will rent a car though.. for a day or so, so I can transport myself the 4 hrs west to Port Arthur, Texas- birthplace and childhood home of Janis Joplin. Sadly, when I was there before I took NO PHOTOS. It's too bad.. it's kind of a kooky dump.. but I'm kind of nuts about Janis Joplin. Don't ask why, not even I know why. There's some pretty weird swamp areas around there.. maybe I'll see an Alligator. Maybe I'll see some oil wash up on the shores. Maybe I'll have a life changing event.

And then I'll fly home to Vancouver and have a bit of a time off.

Maybe I'll go camping.

the 9 o'clock phenomenon

Every night where ever you are in Vancouver, you'll hear a "boom" and when you do you can rest assured it's 9 o'clock. The 9 pm cannon fires like clock work as it has for 107 years. For the 10 years I've lived in Vancouver, I've never seen it in person until last night when Michael and I were wondering what to do.. so we went to see it.. and you can hear/ see it too. Listen carefully for the echo when the sound hits the buildings across the Burrard Inlet.

blooms of the cherry variety

sunny Scottsdale

I've been ensconsed at the Valley Ho Hotel since Tuesday..As you can see from the photos, it's not a bad place to be trapped. It's an oasis of retro cool. A flashback to the rat pack around the corner. You expect to see Dean Martin holding court at the hotel bar. It's been alot of fun. I even extended my stay one day. Tomorrow I'll leave this island in search of something.. hotpefully out of the sun.

A friend snapped this picture of my picture show.

Hi Mom..

You're gorgeous. Thanks for the good genes.

Thanks for being my mother when I needed one instead of my friend. Thanks for being my friend when I could get on without a mother.

Thanks for pursuing your goals and setting a good example.

Thanks for your kindness, generosity of spirit and love.

Thanks for teaching me how to cook, sew and do my own laundry.

Thanks for teaching me how to be good with money and save for a rainy day.

Thanks for taking me on trips and teaching me the value of travel.

And most of all...thanks for it all being utterly and endlessly unconditional.

Oh.. and thanks for naming me Jill.

Love,
Me.

PS. I can't believe you wore a tiara either.What was with the horned rimmed glasses?

artist's statement

Havana is a poem unwritten. Melodies belch from the old Chevy and Buicks. Children yell songs in the streets and nearby the horses hooves tap out a somber beat. The men whistle and hiss to the tune while the Hemingway lookalike's sitting at the sleepy bars, keep time jostling their pocket coins to the fans beating the air. All of it under the dark pages of the night, barely recognizable if not for a few flickering lights.

From the moment I'd heard of the strange island country embargoed from the rest of the world, I'd wanted to go. The soupy mysteries of Che, Castro and the Mafia and the famous Hemingway legacy. The country is a sleepy time capsule; dusty and ornate, majestic and crumbling- the limestone doesn't stand up well to the salty time. Jose Marti once said, "Charm is the product of the unexpected." I don't know if he was referring to Cuba or not, but it's the best way to describe what you'll find when you go.

I am a self taught photographer.