Blooming Flowers on Baronne

I’ve noticed recently that I take a lot of pictures of thing that represent the rundown parts of this city.  That’s partly because that’s most of what this city is–rundown and largely abandoned–but why this is and how this could be different is also largely what I think about when I’m tooling around this place.  But New Orleans is also crazy beautiful.  Today I stopped on Baronne to snap a photo of these beautiful yellow flowers.  I’ve got fuschia ones in my courtyard.  They are wide open today, what with the bright sun.  My friend S., who is now shivering away in Utah, says the whole place smells like plants making love.  And he’s right, except for the places that smell like decay.  But today I concentrated on scenes like this–flowers blooming brightly in mid-November, oak trees stretching over streets, and the delight of a lemonade stand (!) so late in the year.