Scenes from summer

It's a blurry cell phone photo, but it captures the scene well enough for me. This is the view of St. Charles Avenue from the expansive front porch of the Columns Hotel, as viewed late in the evening one night last week.

Smiling friends in summer dresses. Heavy glasses full of cold drinks, drowning in pools of condensation. The heavy iron growl of the streetcar as it slugs Uptown toward the Riverbend. Clouds of chatter and laughter rise from small crowds around each table.

What's not to love?