three snapshots

It's easy to get down on New Orleans, (especially in September, especially in 2007),
so it's good to remember the good sometimes:

Today:
On my way to work, an army of angry geese rushes to the water. The ducks and swans are already in. A flock of wild parrots flies up to their palm tree nests. On the way back, Vietnamese women squat in the neutral ground, shaded by coolie hats, weeding the monkey grass as if it were a rice paddy.
In the afternoon the Hare Krishna families from their Victorian Swiss Chalet home on Esplanade, all in saffron robes, are walking along the bayou, passing the lesbians walking their dogs.

At Hanukkah time:
A menorah-mobile weaves through the Uptown streets, blaring Jewish folk songs. It is a small compact car, with a full scale electrified menorah on the roof. Passing Audubon park, a group of Tibetan monks in full regalia are walking, as if escapees from Lost Horizon. A bit further on, they pass two very tall, chicly dressed transsexuals.

this Sunday night:
Driving home after a midnight meal, we spot two boys bouncing blithely through the Marigny streets in nothing more than very tight white underwear. Coming up from the river bank is an older man with hair hanging to his back, wearing a short jacket... and nothing else. On Elysian Fields are two midgets, both in perfectly ordinary clothes.
On the way home, a middle aged woman is riding a long haired pony down the streetcar rails of St. Charles Avenue.
It is 1:30 AM.

The best part of all, however, is that I could probably think of a hundred more such sights if I tried.