| From Spring into Summer |
[Jun. 4th, 2008|10:26 am] |
“And whenever you smell Sweet Olive, you’ll remember this moment,” said Reverend Jerry Schwehm, as he pronounced the radiant couple man and wife, then hopped on his Harley and headed out into the fragrant evening.
A particularly memorable moment from the exchange of vows that took place under the canopy of our sweet olive tree this spring. A couple living in Ireland had decided that New Orleans’ accommodating marriage regulations would make this a simpler place to tie the knot than back home.
And so John and Anna did, the only objection coming from the mockingbird in the tree, who was not at all pleased that we had chosen her territory for the ceremony.
Each time I’ve stepped out the door these last few months I’ve tried to sort out the scents of sweet olive, gardenia, ligustrum, trumpet flowers, confederate jasmine, and many blooms whose scent and beauty I celebrate despite their anonymity.
It’s been a particularly beautiful spring. Our part of city has been abuzz these last few months—well as abuzz as New Orleans gets. It’s a good feeling. We’ve had an amazing assortment of guests, and breakfast conversations fuelled by discussions about music and food and history and politics. We walk away from each of these delightful exchanges reminded of why we decided to become innkeepers.
And now we’re looking ahead to that time in the city that is the definition of the word “languor.”
For me summer is about getting up early and walking through quiet streets into the French Quarter, then maybe a stop for breakfast at La Peniche on the way back. I have a long list of museum exhibits I haven’t made yet including the Treasures of Napoleon collection on display at the old Mint Museum just a few blocks from us. I still haven’t made it to the retrospective at the New Orleans Museum of Art of the work of George Rodrigue, famed for his Blue Dog. And the World War II museum has a cool sounding exhibition at the moment called Reel to Real, about Hollywood and the war. There’s also a brand spanking new museum that’s all about food and beverage in the South. Then, duly inspired, it’s off to try one of the dozens of new restaurants that keep popping up.
Nap. Repeat.
Our tourism folks on the other hand haven’t been all that languid and are busily conjuring up stuff to entice people here in the summer. They’ve rolled three terrific festivals into one on the weekend of June 13: The Creole Tomato Festival, Cajun/Zydeco Music Festival, and Seafood Festival all go down around The Mint and French Market. Hard to imagine that won’t be fun.
And coming up later in the summer will be two more personal favorites: The COOLinary Festival that lets you dine from July into September at places like Emeril’s for around $30 or less. The list of participating restaurants this year hasn’t been announced yet, but as soon as it is, we’ll be making our calendar of dining days.
And then there’s the Satchmo Fest the first weekend in August put on by the same folks that do the French Quarter Fest, with a weekend of awesome music just a few blocks from us.
We of course will once again be offering special summer rates: $75 in June and $65 in July and August, with the Courtyard Suite slightly more. Our 4th night free special will also continue through the summer.
So if a little heat and humidity won’t keep you away from a good time, give us a holler and we’ll keep you posted on everything that’s going on this summer in the city.
All our best,
Dave, Dale, Clara, and Happy
http://www.sweetolive.com |
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