Smithsonian Day Live

David and I love to take advantage of free  museum entries for Smithsonian Day Live each year. The list of partnering museums, though, is not huge, and we've actually been to all the museums on the list at least once (including the really pathetic joke of a Voodoo museum: do not waste your money or time if you're in NOLA). Next year, we'll maybe plan better and travel to a farther museum: one in Mississippi or Baton Rouge, perhaps.
But for this year, we opted for a quick trip to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

There were a few new pieces.

It's a small museum, and there wasn't much new there, but I took the time to study a pastel work that is remarkably similar to something I was working on. The subject matter, that is. I was using watercolor, and I don't love it, so now I'm considering throwing it out and starting fresh with pastels. How did he get oil pastels to look so watery???

We also got some rooftop views of the city, even though it was very much like the surface of the sun up there (Friday was 95 degrees and Saturday was close).

The national WWII museum

Lee's Circle - with empty pedestal!

We had planned to eat at Cuzco for dinner, a Peruvian family restaurant on Freret street, so David suggested getting a drink first at the Catahoula Bar. They offer a variety of pisco drinks. We walked over and had a pisco sour, which was fine, but - man. That place was DISGUSTING. It was nearly empty, and there were bored employees lounging all over, but it was filthy inside. Heavy burned grease hung in the air; the floor was littered with dried up limes; dirty cups with dead flies sat on half the tables; plastic wrappings littered the seating area. As soon as you walk in, and also from the bar seating area, you can see right into the kitchen, and it was not only dirty, it featured a full industrial mop bucket that reeked of dirty mop water. The patio had a never-been-dumped ashtray on every table. It was bizarre. It's supposed to be a kind of posh little bar in a boutique hotel, but it looked like a college dive bar.
Cuzco, though? Never disappoints! Incredible food and excellent prices, plus it brings back nostalgic memories of our trip to Peru.

How was your weekend?