This past Sunday was Mother’s Day.  Of course, this meant that I called my glorious mum and had the pleasure of chatting with my parents for a bit.  Which was awesome.  It felt really strange to not be up that morning, preparing to hit the road for the short jaunt up to their place to spend the Day.  I’m fairly certain it was Weird for them too.  This relocation comes with many forms of transition and adjustment, not just for us, but for a lot of people.  However, it was immensely good to touch base with them with voice-time and catch up a little easier than via email.  I had sent her a Yemaya vodou doll/statue from Voodoo Authentica as a gift, she seemed appropriate.  I’m glad mum likes her, she is apparently overseeing activity from a good spot in the living room, hurrah!  I love it, that I have a family that I can send “Weird Things” to, it is so very awesome.

Afterwards, J and I ventured out for one of our epic random exploratory drives.  This time, we drove west out River Road, just to see.  I think we made it as far as Laplace before the day began to wane a little and it was time to head back toward our territory.  It was a combination of beauty and not-so-beauty – it was nice to see the backend of some of the towns out that way (as opposed to viewing places only from the interstate), and there was a little of that plantation country that was quite lovely.  The myriad of refineries was not so lovely, however, but they lent a bit of a Blade Runner surrealism to the surrounding landscape.  So it goes.  I wish we could have gone further.  Next time!  As it was, we drove back…and kept on going to the Crescent City Connection bridge, and across.  It’s about time we crossed that bridge, we’d not done so yet.

The CCC

I remember taking an epic road trip with my friend K in 2005, to Portland, OR.  We crossed many a bridge, including one that took us over the border into Washington state.  Just to say we’d been to Washington, of course.  And J and I crossed several last year in Michigan.  There is a certain magic to bridges, because they Take You Somewhere that, without them, you cannot go.  You start in one place, and end up in another.  Such is the power of the transitional barrier of water, and of bridges.

We rode through Gretna and Westwego, because we had not yet, and then recrossed back into Metairie via the Huey P. Long bridge.

Huey P. Long

At least we took the Huey Long on purpose this time.  It was our first week here, or second? that we got suckered off onto the bridge with no option but to ride it out until we reached the other side.  It was a little eerie, at night.  At least for the new kids, at that time.  Anyhow, somewhere along there, J expressed a craving for mudbugs.  How is it possible, said he, that we moved ourselves to southern Louisiana right at the beginning of crawfish season, only to crack nary a tail?  So, we pulled off for a pound plus some baked macaroni, as a fine end to our day’s jaunt.  J picked up the tab for Mother’s Day as, although I have no 2-legged children to chase after, I AM the harried mudther of a 4-legged furry spaz.  😉

Mother’s Day Mudbugs

Thus, a lovely day:  parental voices, exploration, bridges, and crawfish.  Life is often kind.  😉