King Cake Latte

I walked up to the counter, highly skeptical. “What do you put in a latte to make it taste like a king cake?” “Caramel and cinnamon” was her perky response. I’m in Slidell, and workers here actually understand customer service – something that cannot be said about New Orleans.

It is no lie. Truth in advertising. It tastes like liquid king cake. OK, not like it’s been blended up, not like a king cake smoothie. But yummilicious.

I went to the library today to sort books and it was great fun. Friends of the public library, who support it, have received over three million donations – and somebody has to sort through them all for the twice-weekly book sales.

There are some really great books there – I almost came home with a full set of Magic Tree House for Cece.

The fun part was getting in touch with my inner Virgo. I have a hard time following their strict guidelines – so many of the books have to be “recycled” where a company pays 8 cents a pound because they’re so outdated (1989 computer manuals, for example). It’s unfortunate that people spend all the money on postage to mail books that nobody will use or buy – they should have saved the money and sent it directly to the library as a donation for the damaged roof, etc.

It’s a really beautiful library, with all sorts of great places to sit and read. It’s in an old mansion. The books must be upstairs, because the downstairs is all parlors. We sell out of the carriage house in the back, and we sort in the catacombs below. It’s fascinating and fun to sort through. Of course I’m a speed demon – I recognize most books instantly and can categorize without looking through them, and I move fast. Self help, two biographies, an archaeology, and four hardback general fiction. I dart around the high school girls chatting and the English woman dictating what everybody is doing wrong (the guy in charge told me to take everything she says with a grain of salt – but he didn’t have to, because her first words were, “Oh, are you one of their [the high school girls’] classmates?” “I’m almost 40, so I would think not.” How else do I respond to such a silly question?

But I do not mean to bitch about the library peeps – they’re great and we had a good time. The guy in charge brought us Whole Foods pizza and natural soda and told me I could take all the books I want (I didn’t, of course – since my entire goal right now is to get rid of all the books I own!). And he even gave me a mug, so I don’t forget about ‘em, he said.

Oh, I’ll be back. Work that is helpful, I get to move around, I get to sort things and look at interesting books, and free lunch? Why would I not be back?

Oh yeah. Because I’m behind in all my work. Oh well.

I went to go see Norwood after, but he had just left so I’ll go see him on my way back from Slidell. I miss him – he makes me laugh, and I was glad he called out of the blue yesterday. And Kim’s moving into a new place next week and I’ll go visit her after that. I need my excuse to go to Alabama, and she’s it.

I went to the Laundromat and some woman came in with five kids – she has nine total, she said. And she started in on Jesus. The thing that gets me is that the people she approached said they’re Christian and talked about their personal faith – and she explained why that’s not good enough. Hello? That’s the thing with Dayton’s church that bugs so much – as if THEIR way is the only right way. Give me a break.

I have yet to have a Southerner accost me about Jesus. Oh, faith is strong here – but nobody tries to push me (at least not yet). This woman was from Jersey, and she needs to go back. Damn Yankee. She’s just lucky she didn’t start in on me. She went over to another woman who said, “Yes, and I already heard you flapping your trap about it.” Good call. I don’t like pushy people of any persuasion.

Oh, I can be plenty pushy about my liberal ways – but I don’t bring it up. I didn’t bring up homosexuality to Ay’s sister-in-law (who is currently pregnant with no plans of marriage), she did – I just thumped her down when she was being homophobic. Like PAP yesterday – I didn’t bring up racism, he did – I just thumped down his naivete. (Which is really far more pernicious than just naivete.) I don’t walk up to strangers in public places and say, “What do you do to end segregation in your neighborhood? Let me give you a little pamphlet about what you can do, and since I’ve seen the true way let me tell you.” Don’t give me Bible tracts unless I ask for it, people. Don’t push your views on people who have not asked – I cannot stand that. It’s beyond disrespectful.