Gone Fishing

I will be taking some time off....going where my Internet connection will be on and off....can not post with a schedule or a promise. I will be near clean and clear lake waters, only to try fishing! One thing I want to do this summer.

All my life I have seen people fish from bridges and off the side of roads in Louisiana, only hoping for a good supper. I am wondering as they drop their lines, will they catch fish with oil! At this point it is hard to trust anyone and their ability to say it is fine to eat what you catch. The Gulf Coast is Seafood! Louisiana is "Sportsman's Paradise"....I pray it is not Louisiana Lost! With the faint smell of oil in the air, I feel sad. I hope for the best!

"If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there would be a shortage of fishing poles." Doug Larson...English middle-distance runner who won a gold medal at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. 1902-1981

Please to begin....

Jim Metcalf was beloved by many New Orleanian...he would charm us all with his words and wisdom. Jim Metcalf died in 1977, and was as warm off the camera as he was on...his weekly "Sunday Journal" was the best! I had the good fortune of meeting him and delight in it still, as a very fond memory! As Jim Metcalf use to say at the beginning of each show...."Please to begin"....

"Bourbon Street at Dusk"
"Time to get up now, you tired old sinner.
You've been resting all day
behind those drapes you closed this morning,
just as the sun was coming up
and the day people were beginning to stir.

They're turning on your lights now,
so it's time to roll out...cake on the make-up
and put those sparkling things in your hair...
those neon lights that attract the convention guys.

Across the way, some of your friends
are taking battered old horns out of their cases
A banjo's tuning up.
And somebody's fooling around with an old upright piano.
Any minute now, they'll be bustin' loose
with a hand-me-down version of jazz.
Trying to hold onto the music
that all started somewhere down here by the river.
And you saw it all.

I guess you've seen about everything,
come to think of it.
Heard every sad story there is to tell,
and every bum joke.
You've heard the steady step of reformers
chasing sinners drinking Hurricanes from plastic cups.

That's your thing, old girl.
This is "New Orleans" as the tourists say,
and you're the star of the show.
Curtain's going up, so please to begin,
You lovable old phony.
You're not half as tough as you pretend.
I know...I've seen you crying
when you thought no one was watching."

Only the beloved Jim Metcalf can make me want to pay a visit to Bourbon at dusk on a balmy New Orleans day....I so miss his words about the city!

Loving Barq's

It goes with everything in New Orleans. But of course there is a conflicting story. Here goes...Barq's was founded in 1890 in the French Quarter by The Barq's Brothers Bottling Company....Edward and Gaston. I think the conflict starts here...Edward moved to Biloxi Mississippi in 1897 and opened the "Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works". Some say Barq's is New Orlean's and some say it is Biloxi's.

I found someone who has been blogging about Barq's for over 2 years....the site has been retired but it is kinda neat to read. The site address is "Barq's-The blog with BITE!" This blog states it is all Biloxi's own....I think I should ask...."Blake Pontchartrain"... just the sort of question we can wonder about! Loving Barq's no matter where it comes from!

Need a helping hand?

Always needing a helping hand to remember just minor stuff, I have to find help from everywhere. I would really like to know about "Blake Pontchartrain". He is or She is the "New Orleans Know It All", that gives answers to the most wondered questions you have to offer. I like to think it is one very organized person that just loves to find the facts....a fact finder! Anyway this sort of thing just goes along so beautifully to make up this fabulous city of New Orleans....the mystery and mystic!

The pseudonymous or pen name "Blake Pontchartrain" can be e-mailed at askblake@gambitweekly.com or by writing to 3923 Bienville St. New Orleans 70119....just in case you want to ask a question!

"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it." Harry Emerson Fosdick...clergyman 1878-1969

One more thing...if you want a hooded sweatshirt for $35 that says "I am Blake Pontchartrain" on it, go to Cafepress...they are for sale!

The Thrill of a Hill

Most people who grow up with New Orleans as home, has many memories. Monkey Hill was a place where you could run, jump and roll down the highest peak in the Crescent City. The hill was created tn 1933 with sand brought in to raise the ground level to 15 feet or so. It was made for children of New Orleans to have a thrill of a hill. And that it did....most all remember rolling down and running right back up to do it all over again.

Monkey Hill at Audubon Zoo has a knew look now but after reading "Blake Pontchartrain".....(the New Orleans know it all)...Monkey Hill is not the tallest hill anymore. The badge goes to the "mountain" located in Couturie Forest and Arboretum that fronts Harrison Avenue in City Park. The official name is "Laborde Lookout". The New Orleans "mountain" stands at 53 feet tall, surely the tallest in the city.

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers) TV Host 1923-2003

Above and Beyond

"You can't depend on your judgement when your imagination is out of focus." Mark Twain

Fishing Man in Trouble

"Fish, to taste right, must swim three times-in water, in butter and in wine." Polish Proverb......NOT OIL

The Magic of Magic

Since I stepped into "Zucchini's" tricks and things in Monterey California, I have been thinking about MAGIC.

Here is an excerpt of "Making Magic" from My New Orleans. com, written by Carolyn Kolb.

"Nearly 10,000 New Orleanians crowded the wharves by the Canal Street ferry landing on Sunday, November 17, 1907, to watch magician Harry Houdini be shackled in chains and padlocks by First Recorder's Court Judge Jon Fogarty, using manacles from Orleans Parish Prison. Houdini then jumped into the Mississippi River. Half a minute later, when he emerged unchained, the crowd roared it's approval. New Orleans has always liked tricksters."

Love that story, I shall not leave this subject alone.

"No performer should bite off red-hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth." Harry Houdini

"My brain is the key that sets my mind free." Houdini

"The greatest escape I ever made was when I left Appleton, Wisconsin." Houdini

Harry Houdini (April 6 1874 - October 31 1926) Magician, escapologist, stunt performer, actor, and investigator of spiritual claims. Houdini claimed to be born in Appleton Wisconsin but it is said the birth was on March 24 1874 in Budapest, Hungary....many stories surround Houdini. He did die on Halloween in 1926! Fascinating.....

The Artist

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrape of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." Pablo Picasso

Check out some artist inspiration at Arthur Roger Gallery 432 Julia and Cole Pratt Gallery 3800 Magazine....New Orleans is such an artist city. Inspiration all over the city.

The Reader

A great used book store where the books are spilling out from the shelves is located at 714 Orleans in the Quarter. The name is Arcadian. Books are everywhere, they spill from the shelves on to the floor...stacked every which away! You will love it. The owner is not a stuffed shirt...very friendly and knowledgeable. Arcadian is very small but a charming place to loose yourself.

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." Dr. Suess

Amusement Water

At the Beach, at the Beach, at Pontchartrain Beach, you'll have fun, you'll have fun, everyday of the week!

Harry J. Batt Sr. owned Pontchartrain Beach, and what a grand idea he had! Mr. Batt traveled the world to find the most unique amusement park rides. So many memories that have been collected. I loved putting my POP (pay one price) bracelet on....so many rides....those were special POP days at The Beach! The Haunted House, Wild Maus, and The Zephyr all my favorite. As The Haunted House cars creeped thru the ghoulish characters...this would only prime me for The Wild Maus! Oh what carefree fun....At The Beach!

Back with the present day....with Bryan Batt, son of Harry and Gayle Batt. He has written a "Momior", an intimate book about his mother. I can not imagine growing up with an amusement park always at your disposal. Bryan Batt is a very accomplished man himself, his resume is very long... along with his a partner he has "Hazelnut" at 5515 Magazine St. An eclectic gift and design shop. They even have Pontchartrain Beach fabric! Sorry no Wild Maus or Zephyr print, but bright and colorful. As it states on their website..."Old New Orleans, with a chic metropolitan twist."

Byran Batt's book is titled "She Ain't Heavy She's My Mother." One of the questions asked by Craig Wilson of "USA Today" was..."What do you think kept her going through your alcoholic father's infidelities and now having to battle lung cancer? And a gay son to boot!"

Makes you want to read the book...doesn't it?

Pontchartrain Beach closed in 1983....Thanks for the memories!

Lake Ponchartrain

The city of New Orleans is wedged between the two watery worlds of the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain. The lake is actually an estuary, which is defined as a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers, streams, or bayous flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries are a dynamic ecosystem with saltwater entering according to the tides; freshwater flowing from rivers and bayous dilute the seawater, resulting in brackish conditions.

Lake Pontchartrain is the largest lake in Louisiana and the second largest saltwater lake in the United States, second only to Great Salt Lake in Utah. The lake is 40 miles long, 25 miles wide and the depth is 10 to 16 feet.

Don't Fall into the Water!

"There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better." ...Bob Dylan, from "Chronicles" Volume One.

Me too!