And Introducing...

...Cam and Mrs. Pike!

Who came to visit us this past weekend. Cam pointed out that he and I will have been together ten years this October. On the one hand, that is reasonable. We've been friends a long time. On the other, how is it possible that he walked into my party ten freaking years ago???? And on yet the third hand that I keep close by just for situations like this, I can't really get my head around the fact that there was a time I didn't know him, and ten years seems mighty short.

As for Mrs. Cam, she came along not too much later. Cam told me about this woman he'd met and asked me to meet her. I agreed, because he was Cam and I'd been through a heartbreak with him and damned if I was going to watch him go through another one. Mrs. Pike and I met at a coffee shop ~ and I walked in with a huge chip on my shoulder. There was no way this lady was going to win me over in a couple of hours and a cup of coffee. Two hours later, I walked out, went home, and emailed Cam: Don't screw this one up. If you do, I'm keeping her. When I ended up a bridesmaid in their wedding, it was because of the relationship she and I had built, not because of the one I had with him. 

We ate and laughed and walked and braved the weather and ate some more. There were three bars on Bourbon Street. Two dance clubs. An upscale bar. A dive bar. Two different tours. A movie set. And a gecko.

The movie set

Not the movie set

My two favorite things I learned ~

Thing the First: The area just beyond Rampart Street used to be Storyville, the bordello/red light district. The working girls would wear jasmine perfume and dance to the music that was playing. It is believed that the word "jazz" was derived from the jasmine perfume they wore while dancing.

Thing the Second: Mrs. Pike and Lithus cut quite a rug. And they both play the spoons. Who would've guessed?

Not pictured: Spoons

Statues. Parks. Narrow streets. People watching. And talking until I was hoarse.

It was a whirlwind 72-hours that made me very happy.

Me, very happy

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee, but good friends are priceless.