Happy Birthday Satchmo!

This past weekend was the Satchmo Summerfest in New Orleans, LA - the annual celebration of Louis Armstrong's birthday. What a blast! It's been a couple years since I've traveled to New Orleans & when my feet touched the ground (& the hella-heat hit me), I knew it had certainly been too long. Memories of Hurricane Katrina are still abundant but the city is looking better & better. After spending over 15 years traveling between DC and New Orleans on business, this city holds my heart.

The festival started on Friday night with the Club Strut - a grand party on Frenchman Street where you stroll from club to club listening to the artists. Unfortunately a late thunderstorm nixed the strutting but the talent was still fantastic inside the clubs. Saturday and Sunday's activities were on the grounds of the U.S. Mint with 2 stages outside, 1 stage inside, various dance lessons, and a series of seminars nearby at the Palm Court Jazz Cafe. The heat dictated the plan of the day.......listen to a couple of artists; make your way inside to suck up all the air conditioning possible; back outside for a couple more artists; then down the street to sit & enjoy a couple seminars (again - in air condititioned comfort).
Saturday night was White Linen Night - another stroll around the Arts District & the Contemporary Arts Center - wearing your best white linen fashion.

Best of all I got to catch up with old friends, eat loads of fantastic food, visit the French Market and of course visit the local yarn shop. Hard to believe after all those years in the city, this was my first trip to the Quarter Stitch. A wonderful little shop, packed with knitting, cross stitch, and needlepoint goodies.




Can't wait to go back to my home away from home.