have a tidy coffee table like you see in those chichi design magazines. Mine is always

covered with books, magazines, DVD’s, CD’s, iPad, journal and, at various times, dog biscuits, remote controls, plates of crumbs and cups of half-finished tea. I love the minimal look of a coffee table with only an object or two but that will never happen here for more than a few minutes when I dust and put things away. I need my books and reading material close by.  The book you see there, “New Orleans Style”, will be reviewed here soon. I hope. I intend.  The Frida Kahlo book is fantastic, full of copies of Frida’s own journal entries and art. It’s beautiful. I have a thing for Frida. The DVD on the left is “I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing”, an indie film from Canada. It’s wacky. I don’t know if I like it yet because I haven’t finished it. Don’t you love how you can pause a movie and go back to it later? I love that.

I recently retired my almost 6 year old group blog, NOLAFemmes. I just kind of got tired of bouncing from this one to that one plus I never felt I could write there like I can here, you know, in a personal way. I want to write in a personal way for 2015. I hope a few people will follow me over here but it’s ok if they don’t because you’re here. You’ve been here all along. (OhGod, that sounds like the bartender in The Shining.)

I’ve written a few poems in the past couple of weeks but I haven’t decided if I’ll post them here or not. If I decide to submit them somewhere then I won’t , otherwise, I probably will. Actually, I dreamed one last night. I kept waking up with these words in my head and every time I woke up a few more words would be added. I think I’ll post it. Here it is:

your eyes are gray as the air
between skyscrapers when
cold fog rolls in, people scurrying
about clutching their coats
close to their chins thinking about
a warm fire or maybe just a radiator
and a long drink of a fiery liquid
sliding down the throat and warming
the belly

It’s been cold here and damp so I’m sure that’s why I dreamed that scenario. I’m pretty miserable because I’m a true Southern girl who likes warm weather and light clothes. This bundling up just to go outside is a lot of trouble. Plus uncomfortable. I could never live where it snows even though I love photos of snow covered countryside. Just keep the photos coming and keep the snow up North.

I think I’ll go get a cup of coffee now. My belly is getting cold.