Yeah, this is the first year in a long while in which I have finished the holidays and felt a real sense of slowing down--or well, I did until I recently adopted a puppy. But the I feel the desire to just disconnect and hibernate--not entirely, since I am a very outgoing and active person, but relative to my baseline. All the years living in New Orleans were kind of exhausting, even for me. Halloween through like April/May was constant: the holidays, Mardi Gras season, St Patrick's/St Joe's, Mardi Gras Indians, Easter, French Quarter Fest, JazzFest, Bayou Boogaloo...crazy busy.

The summer was the downtime.