Things I’m contemplating during a late-night swim under a bright moon and rustling palm branches above me:

* You can tell summer has officially arrived here in the Valley of the Sun – we had our first “High Pollution Advisory” today. Ahh yes, the mean season is soon to be upon us…

* …which is why I’m glad we have the swimming pool. The water temp is still in the low ’80s – refereshing enough for a late-night swim – but it won’t stay that way for long! Last year it made it all the way to 101!

* My favorite view in all the world is from the pool deck on the roof of the Omni Royal Orleans, looking over the rooftops of the French Quarter towards the Mississippi River, right in between that big bridge on the right and that big bend of the river to the left. When I close my eyes, I can feel the breeze and the pulse of the city and the River all around me. Nothing like it in the world, and I can’t wait to be back there the first week of June.

* Just got “The Complete Piano Music of Scott Joplin” performed by Canadian pianist John Arpin, and it’s fantastic. Like most people, I guess, I first heard ragtime music and got hooked on it via the movie “The Sting”, and then branched out into enjoying all kinds of music associated with New Orleans and Louisiana – especially Dixieland and zydeco. The River, the Gulf, music, food, architecture – these are the things that fuel my passion for my favorite area in the whole wide world: southern Louisiana.

* We’ll soon have a new Kentucky Derby winner, and this year, my pick is Dominican – especially since he’ll have a bunch of nuns there rooting him on. Derby Weekend is one of the things I miss most about our Kentucky years. The year Charismatic won, we were stitting in a Mexican restauant, and when the race started, everyone left their tables to gather around a tiny TV to watch the race. Everyone was yelling and cheering, and then after Charismatic crossed the finish line, everyone simply went back to their tables and their food. Pretty funny.

* Some other things I miss from our Louisville days: watching the sun set over the Indiana hills with our friend Jana over cocktails, talking baseball and religion over a “Speedy Gonzalez” at “The Hole” with my friend Jerome (really, the restaurant was the Los Aztecas on Taylorsville Road, but it just felt so out of the way, that’s what we called it), chicken tortilla soup and spinach enchiladas at Ernesto’s, on Shelbyville Road, and the best Cuban food in the world at the Havana Rumba restaurant (run, BTW, by our good friends Marcos [he’s the one in front] and Ingrid [she’s the dame]).

* Hmmm… could it really be possible that LBJ was involved in the conspiracy to kill JFK? (Hat tip: Free Republic)