New Orleans, April 2, 1848   Tendrils of morning fog drifted through the live oaks of St. Anthony’s Garden. Nestled behind St. Louis Cathedral's towering spires, the garden was an Old World masterpiece transplanted to the New World. Brick pathways formed a cross that met at a gurgling fountain filled with water lilies. Manicured hedges of boxwood created intimate alcoves. Magnolia trees joined the oaks overhead, their white blossoms hanging like faint ornaments in the pre-dawn light. The air...

(Dedicated to Tony Morris)   As a man sow, shall he reap. – Bob Marley   You’ve heard the warning. Don't try this at home. Here's another one for the list. Detoxing from alcohol. I already knew that, having endured it enough times to prove every theory of alcoholic insanity. But here I was again, 2:00 a.m., alone in bed. My longtime girlfriend, LeAnne, had deserted months earlier, weary of my lurching trip along the bottom. “Don’t call me,” was her parting salvo, “until you get your act...

Those who do not want to lose their blindfolds for fear of the light, deserve the dark. – Quechan proverb   Cusco, Peru   "Not far now!"...