Sunday afternoon in the Quarter

It was a dreary day and might have rained, but I decided to take a walk around the Quarter anyway.

There were a lot of people down there, eating, drinking and having a good time.

I stopped in my favorite dress store and tried on sun hats in the French Market. That took alone at least 45 minutes.

I had a long conversation with the hat lady who told me about her living in Mendocino, Calif., taking art classes in San Francisco and traveling around the country teaching tennis. She really wanted to be an artist. Now, she's selling hats. That's how it is.

This amazing woman was entertaining a crowd, singing  an apropos "Stormy Weather" in a soulful way. When she finished the verse, she stood up and played it on clarinet. Wow. I'd never heard her before, but her name is Darlene. She was selling CDs and I didn't buy one and now I wish I had. I did drop a dollar in the bucket to try to get the tips going.

I headed down St. Peter to Preservation Hall, but there were no performances till the evening. I'll have to do that now that the weather's better. And also eat at the Gumbo Shop.

All those violin lessons!