We are experiencing drought conditions in New Orleans right now, with the second lowest measure rainfall in decades and gardens everywhere are screaming for water, water and more water. It’s not just gardens that can be affected by the drought…as the ground dries out, it can shift under slab homes, causing problems with foundations. Even…
Category Archives: Lagniappe
2011 Louisiana Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday
As much as I would love to stick my head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist, the Atlantic hurricane season starts on June 1st. The silver lining is the opportunity to stock up on emergency supplies without paying state sales tax. Plan ahead and save a few dollars. From the office of Senator…
The Good Old Days Are Alive and Well on the Porches of New Orleans
Someone recently told me that they missed the “good old days” when every house had a front porch and people sat outside and visited with their neighbors. While our lives may be a bit different than they were back then, there are still neighborhoods in and around New Orleans that offer front porches just made…
New Orleans West Bank | A Small Town Feel in a Metropolitan Area
Despite the fact that I live less than 5 miles from downtown New Orleans, my neighborhood hasn’t lost that small town feel that it’s had since I was a little girl growing up on Berkley Drive in Algiers. Truthfully, in all of these years I haven’t gone very far…I still live in Algiers, just a…
Frugal Homeowners Impact the Housing Market
I was reading this article on cnbc.com about the states with the healthiest housing markets in the U.S. Louisiana did not make the cut, but the statistics seemed to focus on average home prices, the percentage of home owners in a state, the mortgage balance vs home value…all good indicators of a healthy real estate…
Springtime Traditions
We all have our own ways of celebrating spring. For some, it’s the opportunity to fling open the windows, air out the house and clean every nook and cranny. For others, it’s the joy that comes from new life…planting seeds in a garden and watching them take shape as vegetables and flowers, filling the landscape…
Just in time for Earth Day….
Just in time for Earth Day 2011, my shiny new recycling bin was delivered yesterday by the City of New Orleans, complete with the de riguer fleur-de-lis embellishment. I’m excited about the fact that it has wheels and holds a lot more than the old blue bins and can’t wait to fill it with all…
Algiers Residents Need to Sign Up for New Recycling Carts
In January, Algiers residents started being charged more for garbage pickup. Substantially more. Like double what we were paying before. Part of the pitch for this increase was that we would see the return of curbside recycling, which has been absent since Katrina unless you paid for a private service. Sure, there are monthly drop…
Spring Forward into Spring 2011
Despite the fact that Arizona continues to be a hold out, the rest of us will lose an hour of sleep this weekend as we spring forward into Daylight Savings Time. Before you head off to bed on Saturday night, don’t forget to set your clocks forward one hour. Or, you could wait until the…
Signs of Spring in New Orleans
While many of my friends around the country are still shoveling snow, I almost feel guilty for having spent the weekend putting in new bedding plants in my flower beds and planting seeds in the vegetable garden. I’ve been spotting blossoms on peach trees, blooms on camellias and Japanese magnolias and the number of petunias…
