kristen is going to new orleans soon, and it reminded me to share photos from a trip i made last year. we spend as much time as we can in new orleans… we love it there.

on our last trip, we visited the house of dance and feathers in the lower ninth ward. we were greeted by the warm grin of the proprietor, ronald lewis. he shared his enthusiasm with us for music (he was dancing the whole time we were there) and the mardi gras indians. i will keep it brief here, but i have long held a fascination with the indians – the few glimpses i have seen of them in real life have left me breathless. they are like magic. each indian creates their own costume, often over the course of a year, beading most of it by hand. mr. lewis told us that he and his friends often bead together while they are grilling out, and i just loved that image. the day we visited his backyard museum, it was the night of st. joseph's day – one of the biggest nights of the year for the indians, so they had the grill fired up.

there is a book about the house of dance and feathers and it is available from the Neighborhood Story Project.