The Power of Words

Chicks Gone Wild

New Orleans has a fowl problem. It seems that when Katrina wrecked the city, some lucky surviving chickens literally flew the coop. Now their wild descendants are populating the city's streets and parks.



It's reached the point that our local paper even ran a feature on it, which you can read here. I snapped the pictures above a couple of weeks ago, and Danielle took the ones below last summer.



They say animal control officers have been attempting to round up to the chickens, which they then deliver to a local farmer known as "the Chicken Man". Unfortunately, chickens are notoriously hard to catch, and of course the roosters have nasty sharp spurs. Frankly, I wouldn't want to tangle with this guy.



Caffeine update: I'm still sticking to my resolution and the blistering headache is finally gone, but man would I like a latte right now...

Masochism, Caffeine, and Sympathy for Addicts Everywhere

I'm giving up caffeine for health reasons, and today is my second day. The blinding headache hit around noon yesterday, so I fired up Le Google and went to type in "caffeine withdrawal headache treatment." I got as far as the word "withdrawal" before Le Google in its infinite wisdom completed the phrase for me. Obviously a common problem. Can't you just see millions of agonizing, coffee-deprived people around the world hunching over their computers and frantically typing in caffeine withdrawal headache treatment?

The funny thing is, I never even drank coffee until recently; I simply didn't like the taste of it. Thanks to all those years in England and Australia, I was however seriously addicted to black tea until I broke that habit about five years ago. Then I discovered lattes. Mmm. But I was still careful not to drink it often until my mother went in the hospital last year and I was staying awake 36 and 48 hours at a stretch. After that I got in the habit of having a (giant) latte every Saturday and Sunday morning as a treat (although if the opportunity offered at any other time, I usually grabbed it. My favorite coffee shop, pictured above, is just down the street.) As my caffein addiction mounted, I slid back into the habit of drinking English breakfast tea all day long. Now I'm going cold turkey again. Aren't you glad you're no where near me?

I know it will all pass. Perhaps someday I will even be able to have a latte without suffering the same disastrous results as an alcoholic who falls off the wagon. But oh, the pain. Oh, the longing. What I wouldn't do for just one sniff...

Pardon me while I go make a cup of herbal tea.

What You Don't Want to See When Taking Your Daughter to the Airport

My daughter and a friend have been spending the past week with us, home from school for spring break. They were supposed to fly out Sunday evening, but their flight back to Florida was canceled thanks to the hole that recently ripped open in one of Southwest's 373s. Then, this morning, New Orleans's airport had some excitement of its own.

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Fortunately, my daughter was able to get out with only a brief (second) delay. But this sort of thing is seriously not good for my nerves. Funny, I'm not a nervous flyer myself, but when it comes to my dears, that's another story altogether...

AP Photo/Eric Long

The Poisoned Pen Conference

I will be speaking at The Poisoned Pen's Writers Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, this June 24th and 25th. On Friday afternoon, I'll be on a "History and Mystery Tea" from 3-5 p.m. with Laurie R. King, Peter Lovesay, Lauren Willg, Jaqueline Winspear, and Patricia Wynn. Then I'll be doing another session Saturday morning. Other authors participating include Alafair Burke, Jan Burke, Michael Koryta, Sophia Littlefield, and many more. (You can click on the above flyer to see it larger.)

The conference will be held at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. Accomodation is only $89/night (plus taxes); the registration fee for the conference is $50. As most of you know, The Poisoned Pen is one of the country's top independent mystery bookstores. They do a wonderful job of supporting up and coming authors, sell signed first editions on line, and have even started their own press to keep favorite series in print when their authors are dropped by New York publishers.

Registration is limited to 125, so if you're interested, you'd better hurry!