Some things that I'll miss...

There's an old brick church on Jackson down by Tchopitoulas that has a neon flaming heart and cross in the window. A neon church sign.

Sometimes the sewerage lines beneath the shoddy streets will break through little cracks in the asphalt, springing out and dripping along a puckered crevice to the curb.

I've seen some of the most beautiful weeds in the world here. Jurassic ferny palms, punching up through concrete and rubble. Tiny violets inside a tossed out go cup greenhouse. Clover and even black-eyed Susans nudging their way through debris and detritus in abandoned lots.

Stalls slung with faux gold and silver chains and amulets and purses and pill boxes in the French Market.

Ferns growing in the sixth floor window casements of brick buildings in the Central Business District like the hanging gardens of Babylon.