Keith Robertson

“Porch Season”

Kenny had a concert to attend on Tuesday evening and so handed off the “trivia pack” to me for my role as substitute scribe.

Some interesting questions:

“Name one of two people nominated for over 50 Oscars.”  I was pleased to pull the composer John Williams from my memory banks.

“What was the company that launched a mail order compacted mattress in the 2010s?”  Nic knew “Casper”, which I have not heard of.

“What cat has the longest tail?”  Jack knew “Maine Coon.”  I never heard of that either.  The opposite would be the Manx from the Isle of Mann.

The half timer:  Pick the original four Monopoly tokens from this list:

• Battleship
• Money Bag
• Iron
• Scottie Dog
• Thimble
• Top Hat
• Wheelbarrow

We got three – picking the Scottie instead of the Battleship.

The final question was very hard:

1. How many Roman Emperors were there prior to 1 AD?
2. Number of planets with moons?
3. Number of teams to win the English Premier League?
4. Age of Harrison Ford in the original Raiders?

We were in first place by 9 with 99 points, and so bet 12 and were not confident.  Here are the answers:

1. How many Roman Emperors were there prior to 1 AD – 1
2. Number of planets with moons? – 5
3. Number of teams to win the English Premier League? – 7
4. Age of Harrison Ford in the original Raiders? – 38

Second place – that’s four weeks in a row with either first or second place!

Diana was quite frustrated on returning from yoga on Wednesday morning.  The continued activity to set up the massive wedding reception tent had a semi-truck blocking Magazine Street for quite a while.  We heard that the family donated $1 million to Audubon park to help offset all the disruptions.

Kenny invited me to lunch with his friend Orissa on Wednesday.  We chose the Rum House and had a very enjoyable chat.  It’s always fun to meet someone new and interesting.  You may remember that I enjoyed Orissa’s book a few weeks ago:

Meanwhile, Diana and Kara were enjoying a beautiful day at the Sunnie’s pool.

Not to be outdone, the guys gathered at St. Joe’s to celebrate Thom’s birthday.  He’s giving an animated update on how he injured his ribs, followed by some clarifying details from Kenny.

I had a second invite of the week to meet some more of Kenny’s eclectic band of friends.  This time Phil and Harold (tennis friends) met us at Gattuso’s in Gretna.

Phil’s son is the proprietor and so we got great service and a full tour of the establishment after lunch.   Harold was an interesting character – a very good keyboard player who also writes songs and sings.  He played me a song that sounded very professional.  I look forward to seeing his band.  I should mention that he’s also finishing up a novel.

Heavy traffic on the bridge back over the Mississippi meant that I arrived home just as Sandi was coming to meet us on the porch after her Mahjong session across the street at the Chicory house.  We migrated from our porch to meet up with Nic on the lovely Columns porch.

And I’m not getting any better at selfies.

We teased Bill and Shanie, spending time in Sacramento, with views of the gorgeous weather and their empty seats on Friday evening.

It’s almost time to see how the Saints do in New York against the Giants, with the Cowboys not playing until later this evening.

I admit it – I did a poor job of reading this week.  No good reason why.  I continued to work through “The Steps” by Sylvester Stallone.

A paragraph that Will can relate to:

“I wouldn’t come out down the birth canal, so a member of the medical staff used forceps to pull me out. There are certain risks to that. Bad placement on the baby’s head can cause lifelong injuries, such as skull fractures, brain trauma, facial eye trauma, and my type—paralysis and permanent disfigurement. They accidentally crushed a nerve that partially paralyzed the left side of my face, and that changed my life forever. I was left with this crooked mouth and a permanent slur. So be it.”

On self educating on how movie dialogue works:

“Most of the time, things at the theater were peaceful, and I was able to focus on the films. I watched hundreds of films multiple times. I also started recording them. I bought a secondhand tape recorder and taped the film’s dialogue, then went back to my room after my shift and wrote it all out in notebooks. I’d think, Why does this moment work, and that one does not? Why does the audience laugh here? Why does the audience get upset there? I would perform a “cinema autopsy” on a daily basis. Sometimes the answers I sought came easily because the movie I was dissecting was great and the screenplay flowed beautifully. Like the movie M* A* S* H, which I must have seen at least seventy-five times. Then there were the movies, some of them by very good directors, that failed to move people. I remember we showed an indie film called The Rain People by a young director named Francis Ford Coppola. One night he came in to check on the crowd. “How’s the film doing?” he asked. “Okay,” I answered. “Okay? Mind if I look inside?’ “Sure.” “

And Coppola’s reaction:

“IT’S INTERESTING TO THINK ABOUT FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S journey. Here was a man who was completely devastated by the rejection of The Rain People, one of his earliest films, but two years later he made The Godfather. A masterpiece. I still wonder if it was the lessons he learned from The Rain People that helped him make such a great film. Lessons, lessons, lessons.”

About the wonderful New York Public library:

“WHEN I NEEDED MORE STIMULATION, I WENT TO THE New York Public Library. It’s an awe-inspiring building. When you walk up the steps, you are dwarfed by the immense facade. It’s massive. It looks like a cross between a bank and a temple, which is fitting when you realize it houses more than 52 million volumes. When I heard that figure for the first time, from a guard I was talking to one day, it hit me like a ton of bricks: 52 million books, manuscripts, letters, photos, and papers! How many millions of people spent months and years of their lives tapping into their imaginations and their personal experiences to put their thoughts on paper? This was going to be my second home. Initially, my visits to the library were a refuge from the craziness of city life. I would enter through the doors and step into a realm of complete silence. TRANQUILITY. The fifty-foot ceilings and the eerie silence made me feel like I had entered the Vatican of Intellectual Pursuits. The Vatican of Words. I loved it.”

Have you ever heard of Pavlov’s Dog as it relates to music?  Yes – there was a progressive rock band by that name in the early 70s – I believe I have at least one of their albums in my collection.  The lead singer with the very high voice died last week:

David Surkamp dead at 73 – Pavlov’s Dog

I had always thought of the band as English and was surprised to read they were US based.

Staying in the progressive vein, I read a top 5 albums article from a heavy metal guy and was surprised to find this in his list:

And finally, the sublime Billy Joe:

“Domecoming – 20 years on”

After I posted last Sunday, we headed over to watch some football and enjoy Nic’s excellent cuisine.  Sandi’s out of town and he wanted to feed us all again.  Such a trooper out at the grill in the rain.

Quesadilla, salad, sweet potato, multiple spice levels of steak – what we’re coming to recognize as a classic Nic feast!  And a vast supply of leftovers as well.

I’m really not good at this selfie stuff.

At some point in the evening, Nic asked Diana if she had any interest in attending the biggest game of the year at the Superdome on Monday.  He had some extra tickets.  We were very happy to take him up on that.

Monday was a huge day in New Orleans with a lot of national TV coverage – the 20th anniversary of the “Domecoming.”

The first game played in the repaired and reborn Superdome after Katrina was a Monday Night Football game against the Atlanta Falcons, 20 years ago.  Steve Gleason, #37, blocked a punt early in the game that was returned for a touchdown – setting up a huge win for the Saints and the city of New Orleans.

Gleason was diagnosed with ALS in 2011, and has now lived many years more than expected, raising money and setting up programs that have had a huge impact on the community of folks living with the disease.  He is as big a hero in New Orleans as Superbowl winning quarterback, Drew Brees.

We met up with Shanie and Bill and walked down to Lafayette square for a 2nd line parade to the Superdome.  Gleason was presented with a key to the city and then he led the parade, including Drew Brees to the stadium.

We enjoyed a pre-game tailgate celebration at Grace’s office (Shanie and Bill’s daughter-in-law.)  This was a pleasant relaxation outside of the craziness of the immediate stadium environs.

Over at the stadium, we discovered that Nic had lined up some amazing seats for us – 2 or 3 rows back from the field on the 40 yard line – closest I’ve ever been to the action.

Gleason and Brees led the “Who Dat” before things kicked off:

Our friend River and Irma Thomas kicked things off with an excellent rendition of the national anthem:

I love the moment in that video when Brees realizes the sudden volume increase is because the camera is on him.

The Saints played very poorly after all the build up.  Turns out the anthem performance was really the highlight.  The halftime show with Trombone Shorty and Eric Church was also a bust due to really poor sound at a low volume.  We left after the halftime show and watched the embarrassing end of the game at home.

I assisted with some Halloween decorating on Tuesday.  The scary spider and purple lights are up now – it only took a couple or maybe three attempts to match reality to Diana’s “vision.”  Tony and Britney next door have purple lights and so now we have a theme going.

Trivia was a bit of a mixed bag on Tuesday evening.  A big highlight was our perfect score at halftime.  I was proud of us for getting maximum points from the halftime question:

Match the states :

• Oregon
• California
• Massachusetts
• Alabama

with the novel:

• Of Mice and Men
• One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
• Little Women
• To Kill a Mockingbird

What do you think?

Our correct answer:

• Of Mice and Men – California
• One Flow Over the Cuckoos Nest – Oregon
• Little Women – Massachusetts
• To Kill a Mockingbird – Alabama

We missed a few hard questions in the second half, and were tied for first place going into the final question.  We did not get that correct and wagered 20 points (maximum.)   There was a mix up in scoring that we let slide and they had us in second place by one point.  The final challenge:

Put these in order from most to least:

• Teams that have won the FIFA World Cup
• Presidents that were Generals in the Army
• States that have one or more cities with more than a million population in 2022 census
• Countries that start with the letter “F”

The correct answer (not our submission – we had several out of order):

• Presidents that were Generals in the Army (12)
• Teams that have won the FIFA World Cup (8)
• States that have one or more cities with more than a million population in 2022 census  (6)
• Countries that start with the letter “F” (3)

The Falklands and Faroes are not sovereign countries and so didn’t count.  We were shocked at the number of presidents that were generals, and thought there were many more states with 1 million population cities.  That was a very hard question.

I drove to the hospital on Thursday for a much awaited MRI.  The hospital said the insurance company had not approved the MRI but had no reason why not.  We left and I called the insurance company from the car – they had no record of any request for authorization from any doctor or hospital for me.  Mind you – this is an appointment that I scheduled in August.  So frustrating!  I have scheduled an appointment with my primary care doctor to discuss next steps.

Jeff and the girls (Jazz and Cali, his Cavalier King Charles spaniels), along with Bill, Shanie, and PJ (their three and a half year old grandson) joined us to watch the Cowboys play Tampa Bay on Thursday evening.  PJ enjoyed light up penguin.

The Cowboys played a typically inconsistent game with really horrible defense, ultimately losing.  We enjoyed meeting PJ, a great kid with really good communication skills.  At one point he found me on the porch to ask, “Keith, will you turn on the record player so that I can listen to some of the music?”

On Friday, hurricane Isaias made landfall east of New Orleans.  We got some wind and a little rain, and that was it.  Things were quite different in Navarre Beach where Denny was worried about Carolyn’s condo.

Saturday began with a walk in Audubon Park where I was amazed by the size of the tent being erected by the club house.  Apparently for a fancy wedding next weekend – nobody’s saying who’s getting married.

As we were leaving the park, Nina and her boyfriend Nathan were pulling up for a walk.  We enjoyed meeting and chatting with Nathan, a very pleasant and thoughtful man.

Reginelli’s (a local chain of pizza joints) was having an Italian cultural festival to celebrate their 30th anniversary and we sampled that briefly after our walk.  One had to buy tickets at a central booth to use for the food and drink and we really couldn’t be bothered waiting in the long line and trying to figure out how many tickets we would need.  A quick visit was all that was necessary.

It was time for the girls to get their dance on on Saturday night.  Where Y’acht performed the music of Abba and The Bee Gees at the Broadside – such a wonderful venue.  We picked up Shanie and her friend Christina, visiting from Houston.

There were twelve musicians onstage, including a string quartet called the Electric Yat Quartet.  The sound engineer did his usual stellar job with such a varied group of instruments and voices – the mix and volume just right.  My Dad would have loved the Abba songs:

Here’s one featuring one of our favourite dancers:

The band did an impressive job with the Bee Gees songs:

The band took a break at 10pm and Diana was not ready to leave.  We waited for a few more songs and then I was able to drag her home kicking and screaming.

Diana had 8am tennis on Sunday – part of the reason that I had tried to encourage an earlier bedtime from the Broadside.  That was followed by a brunch to celebrate Libby’s birthday at El Pavo Real (a good Latin/Mexican style restaurant.)

Those things standing on end are very yummy mushroom treats.  Diana saved me some and Jancy added one – thanks girls.

We Face Timed with Francesca to wish her a Happy 7th Birthday.  Diana thinks Frankie looks nothing like her.  Hmm.

We made our way to the annual Blues and BBQ festival on Sunday afternoon.  The weather was great, albeit a bit too hot in the direct sunshine.  You have likely heard me mention how much I love this festival – never too crowded with constant, quality music from stages on either side of Lafayette square, great food, art, and reasonably priced drinks.

I listened to some of Mia Borders with her very large band, before heading into Gallier hall for an interview with Booker T. Jones.

It was nice and cool inside the small theater where DJ Soul Sister interviewed Booker T. .

The interview with George Porter Jr. (most famous as the bassist for The Meters) ran long and I heard a question about why there weren’t more melodies on their first record.  Porter explained that was because their producer/manager wanted them to sound like a New Orleans version of Booker T. and the MGs.  Soul Sister commented that Booker was coming up next.  “Booker’s Here?” – Porter got quite excited.  Interesting that he didn’t know who was headlining the festival that day – we’ll assume he was very focused on his own earlier performance.

Booker was very impressive – full recall of dates and names from all phases of his 81 years.

I returned to our spot in the square and listened to some more music.  It was going to be a while before Booker took the stage at 7pm and so I suggested a visit to Luke down the street.  Diana was all over it.  The bar was full but they did find us a table to enjoy Happy Hour.

That’s a good looking Happy Hour menu.  We started with the “Chef’s Gulf Dozen” oysters – 6 regular gulf and then 3 each of smaller, more briny ones (the kind that I like.)

McD looks quite happy with her two primary food groups.  Still a little hungry after the oysters, we tried the escargots and bone marrow (not a combination that I’ve seen before.)

This was an excellent and unusual dish with at least two dozen delicious escargots.  The bone marrow was the best I’ve tasted.  We will be back to have this again.

You can tell we loved it.

We returned to the festival in time to catch a bit of Little Freddie King (looking weak after his recent bicycling accident and hospitalization), and then the headliner, Booker T. Jones.

It occurs to me that many of you may not be familiar with Booker T., so here’s some history:

Booker T. Jones Wiki

He is best known for the early 60s hit “Green Onions.”

Here are some Booker videos:

My hunger for live music was well sated this week.

Back home, I finished out the week by watching a couple of episodes of the new Brian Williams interview show – Michael Douglas and Roseanne Cash were great guests.  Diana thinks that I’ve watched the Roseanne one before, but it all seemed new to me.

I finished up “Good People” by Patmeena Sabit and am sorry to say that it didn’t live up to the great reviews and hype, or to my initial positive impression.  The approach of telling the story through entries from friends, school teachers, investigators and the like just became too repetitive and trite after a while.

Here’s one paragraph that I did appreciate:

“Patrick Delaney, Security Director, Theodore Roosevelt High School 

I made good progress on the Sylvester Stallone autobiography, reaching the time where he gets serious about screenwriting.  I’m looking forward to finishing this soon.

We’ve had a lot of music in this post already, so I’m limiting myself to this one track from the upcoming Steve Gleason album “Rebirth.”

“Happy Birthday to Kara”

Diana had a typical Monday – pickling and working out with Sandi.  I had some quiet time learning a new piano song and starting a couple of new books.

I watched a TV show set in the 80s in the evening and was transported right back to high school by the music – Ultravox, Visage and Kim Carnes.

I had the closed captions on and was shocked to realize that I had a lyric to “Bette David Eyes” completely wrong in an entertaining way.  I always heard it as “All the boys, they think she’s a spaz,” but the correct one is “All the boys, they think she’s a spy.”  The things you figure out 45 years later!

Having started down the rabbit hole, here’s a wonderful live version from the Crash Test Dummies (another blast from long ago,) albeit with an incorrect spelling of her first name.

Here’s the original 1975 version, written by Jackie DeShannon after watching the 1942 film, “Now, Voyager”, starring Bette Davis.  What a different feel this version has.

Ok, I’m back above ground again – back to the regular blog flow.

The morning weather on Tuesday was conducive to a walk and so I took my newspaper down to French Truck coffee and had a relaxing time reading and watching the Magazine Street characters come and go.

Returning home, it still wasn’t unbearably hot yet, and so I gave the red brick steps and front area a second “Wet it and forget it” treatment.  I think I’m still going to have to do a bit of pressure washing to finish things off next week, after the end of week rainstorms pass.

Getting in the home maintenance swing, I got out the drain snake and cleaned out the bedroom shower and sink drains – all seems good now.

Just as that equipment was returned to the three car garage (small storage shed in the backyard), the termite guy showed up for our annual inspection.  They tell me that the treatment we received in 2023 should last ten years, and he didn’t see any evidence of anything concerning.

Diana did have a medal to show for her efforts on returning from pickleball.  Third place with a new partner to finish out the Tuesday series:

The early arrival of Curtis the termite dude meant that we now had a free slot in the afternoon to get our COVID and Flu shots.  Diana did not find those shots pain free.  She went first and was quite disturbed to see the needle length as I got mine.  Of course I pretended that I hadn’t felt a thing.

I think it was on Tuesday when I heard, “I will tell you that this cinnamon roll was exceptional!”  This was Diana talking about the treat from Bywater Bakery that she had just finished.  “Why would you say that?”  “It was super moist, had tons of cinnamon, and amazing icing.”  Those are not my thing – too sweet – so I can’t comment.

How did we do at trivia on Tuesday evening?  Well…both Bill and I were present, and we added Nic and Aidan to the mix – so we should have had no trouble.  That was not the case – going into the final question we were in 4th (last) place.  It was critical that we answer correctly and looked like we should bet the maximum 20 points.

The challenge was to put these four “parade” items in chronological order from earliest to most recent:

• Parade magazine first published
• Easter Parade, starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire released
• First Macy’s Thanksgiving parade
• Don’t Rain on My Parade from Funny Girl released

Scribe Kenny did a great job of facilitating our “discussion” about whether Parade magazine or Macy’s parade came first – we were confident about the other two.  Our final answer, with a 20 point wager:

1. First Macy’s Thanksgiving parade  (1924)
2. Parade magazine first published  (1941)
3. Easter Parade starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire released (1948)
4. Don’t Rain on My Parade from Funny Girl released (1968)

We were correct and leapfrogged from last place to first by a good margin.  To be fair, those were tough for the younger teams.

Diana was busy making throws for Shanie’s Cleo Mardi Gras ride – 24 repurposed necklaces while I was gone at trivia.  Impressive!

I should mention one stellar question from Bill.  It was a question about advertising many years ago – “What had the slogan, Nooks and Crannies?” Bill piped right up with Thomas’ English muffins.  Nobody else at the table had ever heard of it, leaving Bill incredulous.  He was the only person in the building that knew this.  I’d never heard of it and then it shows up on TV right afterwards.

Nic had a great contribution also – Mel Blanc as the voice of Bugs Bunny.

Diana started Wednesday with yoga (outside, maybe for one of the last times this year.)

Colleen came by with a couple of her daughter, Isabel’s, friends from the Netherlands.  They were in town for some kind of water conference and Colleen was showing them around.  They had seen her brother, Hugh’s, house across the street and stopped to say hello to us.  I was telling them that I spend a lot of time in Amersfoort when we had a data center there.  Colleen thought I was messing around as Hugh had just told them about a 3D printing business that he had there.

We made an afternoon visit to the skeleton house (State and St Charles) mid afternoon.  Dolly Parton was a big new feature to the other hundreds of skeletons and punny names:

Shanie, Bill, Robin and Aidan joined us to review the bony display.  We migrated from there to Happy Hour at Chais Delachaise.  The usual half price treats- sliders, mussels, and frites were ordered up to match the half price wines.  Nic joined and a very good time was had by all:

Dee and Colleen both had birthdays on Thursday, Dee with a special milestone:

I watched a new movie, “The Last First, Winter K2” on Friday.  This is about an attempt to be the first climbers to summit K2 in winter.  It’s the last of the 14 mountains over 8,000 feet that hasn’t been climbed in winter. Egos and politics enter the fray and things don’t end well for everyone.

We took Kara for a belated birthday celebration at the Bouligny Tavern on Saturday night (it’s one of her favourites.)

The crab claws, hush puppies and meat and cheese plate were all quite yummy.

Kara opened her gifts, based around the “London Calling” candle that I found in the Marquee monster art show in Asheville.

The girls joined up with Laura and Libby and enjoyed some of the “Art for Art’s sake” event on Magazine Street.

This song is in my head whenever I hear that event advertised.

Entertainingly, they ended up at the Bulldog bar – the place where we go after a big trivia win.  I think the girls must have been missing their husbands – all in Bay St. Louis except me, lovingly staying home to make sure Diana survived all the rain and flooding forecast for the weekend.

My first book this week was “Good People” by Patmeena Sabit .  The approach is quite unique – each chapter giving an opinion on happenings from the perspective of family members, teachers, the principal, investigators, and friends.  I was starting to doubt the accuracy of these reviews until I reached around page 100 and everything started to come together and the excitement grew.

“A thrilling tour de force of a novel. I’ll be recommending this book to everyone.”—ANN PATCHETT

“ONE OF THE NEW YORKER’S BEST BOOKS OF 2026 SO FAR • LONGLISTED FOR THE GILLER PRIZE”

Here’s an online summary:

“The Sharaf family is the picture of success. Prosperous, rich, happy. They came to this country as refugees with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. And now, after years of hard work, they live in the most exclusive neighborhood, their growing family attending the most prestigious schools. Zorah, the eldest daughter, is the apple of her father’s eye.

When an unthinkable tragedy strikes, everyone is left reeling. There is talk that behind closed doors the Sharafs’ happy household was anything but. Did the Sharaf family achieve the American dream? Or was the image of the model immigrant family just a façade?

Like a literary game of ping-pong, Good People compels the reader to reconsider what might have happened even on the previous page. It’s a riveting, provocative story of family—sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, and the communities that claim us as family in difficult times.”

I started “This is Happiness” by Niall Williams when I thought I might abandon “Good People.”  This is set in a small Irish town and I really enjoyed the descriptions that seemed typically Irish and not something you typically come across.

Here’s an online summary:

“Change is coming to Faha, a small Irish parish that hasn’t changed in a thousand years.

I watched a show where Lady Gaga picked the ten (or more, I think ultimately fifteen) songs that had shaped her career.  This one was an interesting choice:

I thought the show was really well done.  It’s a Rolling Stone interview series that you can find on YouTube.

This song has one of the more impassioned vocals that I’ve heard:

This is a great live recording of LaFave’s cover of the 1966 original by the baroque pop band, The Left Banke.

Back to the high school music rabbit hole, finishing up like I started on Monday, this one by a different Kim was in heavy rotation when I was listening to those other three:

Interestingly the lyrics were written by her father, with music composed by her brother on a Wasp synthesizer.  If you are so inclined, here’s some super geeky information about that synth from the 70s:

Bill turned me on to this excellent group:

Another unique Icelandic musical export.

I love the tone and sound from Melissa on this.  Very reminiscent of Ben Webster.

“Oscar Rossignoli”

This was a quiet, relaxed and “chill” week.  Just what we needed after a couple of weeks of travel.

Diana had all the usual pickleball activities.

After being in last place for two weeks, the Bayou Boys trivia team had a resounding first place win.  What was different?  Well…I was traveling for the two weeks.  And we added Bill to the team this week.  You can decide for yourselves what impact those things had on success.  Bill did contribute solid answers for a few questions.  He has certainly been invited back.

Diana was pretty busy on Wednesday.   She had a very quick change after pickleball before meeting Kara (and it turns out Kenny also) at Sunnie’s on Freret Street.   I had to hustle to be ready to drive her over to sip and eat by the Sunnie’s pool.

I had a conversation with Philly Tim mid-week and he was telling me that he was in hospital for a test to make sure cancer hadn’t returned.  It took a while and Dee came across a wall display about the therapy/companion dogs that visit people in hospital.  She found one that said, “My name is Timothy Patrick, but you can call me Timmy.”  How perfect is that.  Dee said, “I’ve got to share this with Keith.”  I’ve been calling our Timothy Patrick “Timmy” for close to 20 years now.

Kenny got a letter to the editor published in the local Times Picayune newspaper.  He was reacting to someone who appears to have been misinformed/missed the point.  Well said, Kenny!  My friend is a “published author.”

Friday, September 25th, 9/25, “Nine to Five” was “Dolly Day” in New Orleans.  The Krewe of Dolly, including our friend, Debra, paraded through the Quarter, ending at the Jazz Museum where the mayor declared “Dolly Day.”  Some pictures from Bill, who braved Bourbon Street.

The Dollys had an after party at Blue Nile and then an after-after party at the just re-opened Hi-Ho Lounge on St Claude Avenue.  I was happy to think of all those hundreds of people buying drinks at the Hi-Ho to help get it started.  I’ve passed a few great evenings in there listening to live music.

I invited Diana to brunch at Atchafalaya on Saturday.  I had seen somewhere that the Desert Nudes were going to be providing the musical accompaniment and I really enjoy their repertoire and harmonies.  We had a tough experience with our waiter the last time we dined here, and I was really hoping this would be a different feel.

Things were very different.  All of the staff were happy and friendly, and our waiter was very good.  The food was wonderful – check out the specials list:

I like that they call out the “Musical Guest.”  Diana couldn’t resist the soft shell crab BLT – crab and bacon being two of her favourites.

It was a great dish – Texas toast topped with lettuce, tomato, bacon, soft shell crab, poached egg and hollandaise sauce.

I love a good migas or huevos rancheros breakfast, and so I was happy to see the latter on the menu.  These were some of the best that I’ve had – the pulled pork so juicy and flavorful.

The bill came with a clever postcard – Atchafalaya in the unusual snow storm.

I’m glad we gave this place a second chance, it’s one of the tastiest and most pleasant brunches that I’ve enjoyed in a while.  We’ll be back soon.

Diana suggested that we could listen to the free music at the Kingpin on Saturday afternoon.

We invited Nic and Sandi to join us.  The music wasn’t wonderful and it provided a pleasant background to a good catch up chat that I had with Nic.  He was in Omaha last weekend for his son’s wedding and had some stories to tell.  And some lovely pictures to share.

Shanie and Bill were not able to join us at the Kingpin due to a conflict with showing Bill’s cousin, Robin, and boyfriend, Aidan, around.  One of the two texted asking, “Where’s the after party?”  Problem easily solved with a Theo’s pizza order to our home.

We had all six over for a couple of hours – watching LSU beat up on the Aggies, talking about pickleball at high volume on the porch, revisiting the guy who thinks the timing of Bill’s jokes is poor, discussing “wheesht”, on a pillow on our sofa with Aidan, who says his dad used that all the time growing up in Ireland.  All of that made for a fun evening and meeting a great new couple.

Sunday began with a drive over to the Bywater Bakery for a free concert. Shanie, Bill, Robin and Aidan met us there to listen to John Boutte perform.  What a highlight of the week.  As we were unloading chairs and stuff from the car, I saw and heard Oscan Rossignoli playing on the “piano in a truck.”  I know you’ve heard me comment about him before, and he really is a piano genius – particularly with jazz classics.  John Boutte is a New Orleans treasure with an angelic voice.  What a great way to start out a Sunday?

Part of enjoying music is the vicarious energy of somebody else enjoying it too.  Robin provided that, lighting up as soon as Boutte and krewe started up.  She sings in a jazz band and this was certainly her jam.  The vibe at Bywater bakery is always great – an eclectic group of happy people.

Things finished up at 1pm with “Treme”, the theme song that Boutte composed for the HBO show.  Here are two versions – K’s static and D’s roaming among the musicians – I’m not sure why I’m even showing mine.

Our fancy friends needed to leave to attend a Saints pre-game party, and we hung out until the end, enjoying some of the croissants and stuff that Diana kindly stood in line to purchase.

We’re a bit more than halfway through the Saints game and they are looking solid.

I’ve almost finished “Degas at the Gas Station” by Thomas Beller and it has been a good journey.  This is a collection of short stories that are loosely connected and I’ve found most of them quite enjoyable.

The author talking about the stories:

“Many of these essays recount confrontations or predicaments that a more cautious person would have avoided. They were written over a period of time during which I got married, and we had a child, and then had another. Concurrent to these events, I moved from New York City to New Orleans, with a pit stop in rural Virginia. All of it normal enough on the face of it, yet within each one of these episodes, I found my way to the sort of Clouseau-esque fiascos one usually dodges with a little foresight—again, not a strong attribute in a kid who may have liked to walk backward.”

From the “Kinks at the Garden” story:

“I hadn’t yet connected with the wistful, bitter, and very English flavor of Ray Davies’s songs, such as “Celluloid Heroes,” “Waterloo Sunset,” and on and on. The Kinks, for us, at this point, were “Low Budget,” “Catch Me Now I’m Falling,” “Destroyer,” and “Lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-la.”

And I have a Soundwaves art piece of “Waterloo Sunset”, signed by Ray Davies, in my direct sight line as I write this.  Thanks, Diana!

Speaking about the joy of the strip mall Vietnamese places on the “West Bank:”

About the ease of parking in New Orleans and the “encroachment” wind up:

“At some point we will be back in New Orleans, where parking also elicits strong emotions, if for a very different reason: Everywhere you go, you can find parking. If you go to a restaurant, you drive your car and park. Sometimes right in front! Maybe you have to park a block away. On the other hand, people in New Orleans get very jumpy if you encroach on, or even just crowd, their driveway space. I respect this neurosis, because parking engenders a kind of insanity, as do cars in general.”

Finally, a small quote about Katrina evacuation:

“Ten minutes later it was established that I could not in fact help her turn off the headlights—no matter what button was pushed. She was also from New Orleans, “Old Metairie,” she explained when I asked what neighborhood. That’s the place that elected David Duke. Her husband was back there, in their house, she said. It had started taking on water. We commiserated about the city, the storm, and I marveled at the sleek and powerful curve of the new car’s body. But what would all that power and elegance mean if the battery was dead? “

I have many more highlights, but you can tell how much I enjoyed this one.

I heard this song from the Jayhawks wonderful new album, and couldn’t help but think how much they sounded like Crowded House.  That’s a good thing!

What do you think – sound anything like this?:

Oscar’s latest single:

“Variety Week”

Monday was typical for McD – lot of pickling and a workout.

Tuesday was haircut day for me.  That was followed by a trip to Trader Joe’s.  I texted Finn this picture from the checkout line.

He replied that you feel less guilty consuming them because they are “Teeny Tiny.”

We did very well at trivia in the evening, albeit with a couple of disruptive team members – I won’t name names this time around.  I didn’t think we were confident enough on the last question – put four forts in order from furthest north to most southerly.  The group consensus was to wager the full 20 points.  A wise decision as we were the only team to have it correct, winning by a margin of over 40 points – maybe our strongest win yet.

Interestingly, we could have won by an even bigger margin.  I was relatively sure that the answer to, “Which artist has the most cumulative weeks on the Hot 100 music chart?”, was Mariah Carey.  I had heard it somewhere pretty recently.  The group was more comfortable with Michael Jackson.  Mariah was correct – I should have been more vocal, but wasn’t completely sure.

Similarly, Thom was sure of the answer to, “In what state of matter does 99% of the visible universe exist?”  He pushed for plasma, saying that’s what made all the stars glow.  Denny and I had not heard of a new entry to the “Solid, Liquid, Gas” family and so pushed for Gas.  Kenny did ask “Are we sure we want to ignore the answer from the only one of us with a PhD?”  We did and were wrong – sorry Thom.

My final trivia story – there’s a question type called a “mashup” that involves putting two things together in a single phrase.  Alex and Pepperoni have been good at that in the past and we commented that we were going to miss them both for that question.  Our scribe became a big indignant, sharing that he had successfully guessed several in the past also.  “The Legend of Zelda Fitzgerald” was a nice demonstration of the scribe pulling from a few team members to arrive at the correct “mashup.”

Diana started her Wednesday with yoga (inside for the first time in a while) and pickleball.  She then made a quick change before we joined the KKs for Happy Hour at Cafe Degas.  Kara had suggested that we meet there prior to a talk we planned to attend at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA).

We shared some of the usual favourites – escargots, meat and cheese platter, fries with aioli, and ravioli.  Then we added in a new twist – a dessert called “île flottante”, meaning floating island.  Have you had it before?  I believe this is my first introduction and it was quite delicious.

A floating island of soft meringue sits atop crème anglaise.  The meringue is quite different than the typical kind used in a pavlova, for example.  The pavlova is crispy on the outside and chewy inside.  The “island” type is soft and served at room temperature rather than hot.

Our talk at NOMA was part of the “Elders Sacred Talk Series” and featured Jackie Harris and Deacon John.  It was quite similar to the talk we attended at the Jazz and Heritage Center a few weeks ago – also featuring a celebration of Germaine Bazzle.  There was no music at the NOMA event – just conversation, and I think it would have benefited from a small band playing a few songs with Deacon John or at least some videos that he could react to.

Both participants answered the questions well and I thoroughly enjoyed the time.

We took advantage of another library culture pass on Thursday.  This time for the Pontchartrain Conservancy Lighthouse.  Established as a lighthouse in 1839, all but destroyed by Katrina, the building now stands tall and proud.

We were fortunate to get a private guided tour (the only two folks there) that gave us a whole new understanding and education about the history of New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain.

The old lighthouse lens was interesting – a Fresnel type.

There is a weather camera at the top of the lighthouse that often provides footage for the news – particularly if waves are crashing off the sea wall.

I surprised Diana with a visit to the nearby Desi Vega’s Steak Burgers.  Lindsey was a wonderful bartender/waitress.  Can you believe what was showing on the TV?  As if we didn’t have enough pickleball on our schedule.

We both enjoyed the burger that we shared and Diana particularly enjoyed the tater tots.

While Diana was getting her hair done on Friday, Kenny picked me up and drove me over to Rocky and Carlo’s restaurant in Chalmette.  This is as far as I have driven for a meal in a long time – the better part of 30 minutes after waiting on a train and the raising/lowering of the canal bridge.

Trey met us at the place which specializes in large portions of Italian classics (veal and eggplant parm, stuffed peppers and the like) and po’boys.  Trey was as unfiltered and entertaining as ever.   I had the eggplant parm – didn’t really care for it but did enjoy the “side” of mac ‘n cheese  that provided 3 or 4 left over meals.

The boys went to Bruno’s to watch football on Saturday afternoon and recruited our local food writer, Ian McNulty, to join their group.

Meanwhile, we headed to Nic and Sandi’s to celebrate her birthday.  Nic loves Italian cooking and had been at it all day.  All kinds of yummy meats had been bubbling away in his red sauce.  There were six couples at the dinner party, all with some pickleball connection:  Bill and Shanie, Ken and Rachel, John and Beth, and Laurie and Michael.  There were two couples I didn’t know and it was fun to chat with Ken and discover that he likes all the same music and food as I do and retired to New Orleans three years ago for all the same reasons that we did.

Nic sent us home with plenty of leftovers.  What a lovely evening.

We both had early starts on Sunday morning.  I was out the door at 7:25am for a pickup by Kenny and Diana had 8:30am tennis.  Kenny and I met Chris Peet at Stanley for breakfast.  This is a famous French Quarter breakfast place, right on Jackson Square,  that closes for good on Labor Day (Monday).

Diana and I had planned to meet Chris there a few weeks ago and then he had a conflict, and so he suggested that we go before it closed.  Kenny and I spotted him and the Love trike from down the street.

I’m glad we made the effort to visit Stanley one last time.  The food and company were very good.  Kenny even got to take a spin on the Love trike.

The rest of the day was spent watching US Open tennis and football.  I’m so glad to have football (college this week and NFL next week) back.

I finally finished up Villa Coco this week.  It really was a bit of a slog, interrupted occasionally by some very funny pieces.  I really wouldn’t recommend this one.

Here’s an example of some of the writing that made me smile:

“He removed his hat as one removes the lid from a pot, then smiled to all of us as if sure we were admiring the single blond lock that clung to his otherwise bald forehead like a price sticker to a melon.”

An interesting comparison of America and Italy:

“What Americans know of Italy is a confection of movies and food; for expedience’s sake, restaurants and filmmakers have grafted Naples to Sicily, Rome to Florence, creating a Frankenstein’s monster of pasta and accordions and Leonardo and cheese. In fact, the nation is much younger than America itself; unification was achieved only in the time of Dickens. It is the opposite of America: not a colonizer’s canvas cut into political states but ancient kingdoms brought together into one nation. And so the passage from Tuscany into Emilia-Romagna was not like that from South into North Carolina, which, no matter how Americans may squabble, is hardly to be noticed, but more like the passage from Spain to Morocco (one I made in my later travels). There was a change of landscape, of culture, of history, of language, and, of course, of cuisine.”

Clorinda loved to buy a raft of Christmas panettones to distribute amongst friends and family:

“A bakery displayed domes of Christmas panettone in dark blue paper and plain pandoro wrapped in clear plastic, ready to be shaken with powdered sugar, and some other cake labeled Focaccia Natale that looked nothing like what we had eaten in Recco.”

Funny but true:

“She took the cane in one hand. “You are still thinking of America?” “I have a ticket.” She was saying: “We both know what would become of you.” I snapped to attention. “And what is that?” “You would go back to old habits,” she told me, tapping one of my slippers with the tip of her cane. “Such as?” “You would start thinking again that literature began with Hemingway and art with Warhol. That the fate of the world depends upon your presidential election. That a proper dinner conversation is to discuss your favorite television shows. Like every American, you would lose—””

A new artist for me that I’ve been enjoying this week:

The new Jayhawks album continues to get a lot of play:

“New Friends and Joe Krown”

We had the typical Monday early start for the 8am pickling session.  Shortly after that Daniel, our appliance repair guy, and his son showed up to look at our dishwasher, washer and dryer.  The dishwasher was deemed not worth messing with – too old and too difficult and costly to fix.  It’s fine – we use it rarely anyway and I’m going to try one more full reboot before giving up.  The washer needs a part that has been ordered and we need a chimney sweep for the dryer vent.  Such joy!

I got to sleep in on Tuesday as the pickling didn’t commence until 11am.  That was followed by lunch at Porgy’s on the way to run some errands in Metairie.  This was Diana’s first visit and she really enjoyed the food, service and vibe of the place.  We had ceviche, a Thai style gulf fish ceviche tostada, and a special shrimp burger – all delicious.  Even the rose prosecco was pleasing to McD.  I think she’ll be looking to return soon.

Well sated with incredibly fresh seafood, we headed over to Metairie to make some returns at Target and for me to shop for a couple of shirts for upcoming travels.

We were home in time for me to rehearse for trivia with an episode of Jeopardy.  The news of Dolly Parton’s passing broke and so I did a little trivia preparation for questions about her.  We didn’t get any but Tom, quiz master, told a story about his first day as a radio DJ and the first song he ever introduced – 9 to 5 by Dolly.  Here’s a cartoon from the paper of Dolly’s note at half mast.

Our friend, Debra, is in the Krewe of Dolly and we’re waiting to hear when they’ll have a second line celebration.

My Jeopardy prep paid off – there was a question about which movie poster contained the three words, “Why so serious?”  That was on the episode I watched and so I was able to state confidently that the answer was 100% surely “The Dark Knight.”  I knew a lot more of the answers than usual – just the luck of the draw.  I was most proud of “Which Shakespeare play has the phrase – something wicked this way comes?”  Obviously “Macbeth.”

The Enid – the Shakespeare clue brought them back to me.  A wonderful concert at the tiny theater above the Playhouse when I was at university in Edinburgh.

Apologies for that diversion.  Would you like to hear about the final trivia question?  I thought you most likely would.  It was one of those add up the numbers and come within 5 of the total.  The four numbers were:

Procida is a new restaurant that opened a week ago on Wednesday.  We read the review in the paper and decided it was perfect for Diana.  What do you think?

Here’s the review from the paper:

procida ian mcnulty review

We drove over to the Marigny and found the lovely new restaurant.  Open exactly a week total.  The green haired hostess did not give a good first impression – surly and pecking away on her iPad like an airline ticket agent.  Thankfully everything after her was much better.  It wasn’t just us – I watched her repeat the performance for every group that came in – maybe not the ideal job match?  Here’s the menu – so many good choices – what would you have gone with?

We opted to start with the Sicilian arancina and the smoked swordfish carpaccio.  Both great and the swordfish was just delicious.  Off to a great start.

Diana had the bucatini and I chose the anolini.  Again, both were delicious and very different.  The bucatini aglio e olio was finished with pangrattato, the tiny breadcrumbs fried in olive oil that make a crunchy contrast to the crab and the noodle.  I thought it was a great dish.  The anolini had fried zucchini, smoked scamorza cheese and lemon.  I had not heard of scamorza cheese – apparently the smoky, denser cousin of mozarella.  I just had some leftovers and the lemon flavour really came through.

Dessert time?  Diana had mentioned tiramisu for a few days and was ready to jump in.

This was a very traditional tiramisu and I loved it.  Procida will do very well after they get rid of the green haired hostess – the food, space and vibe are all very good.

I rewatched a few episodes of “Shrinking” on Wednesday evening.  Just as good the second time around.  I saw some framed record albums in Jimmy’s house and wondered what two of them were – I knew the Lou Reed one.  The beauty of AI – a 10 second search and I had the answer.  I’m a pretty big Pink Floyd album and have never seen that Syd Barret album.

Thursday was two pickling sessions for Diana and reading, music and admin for me.

We met a couple of Diana’s pickling girlfriends and husbands on Friday evening – Sandi, Nic, Shanie and Bill.  We started off at the Rusty Nail, migrated across the street to Plates for s dinner of Spanish tapas, and then retired to Bill and Shanie’s flat for stories.  I had a great time and enjoyed the new friends very much.

We had planned on sitting outside at the Kingpin to listen to this music on Saturday afternoon:

We ventured out to Martin to get a bottle of wine for our neighbor, Tony’s, birthday and decided that it was way too humid to sit outside.  Those that braved the heat reported that this was a great show.

Kenny and Kara joined us on the porch after dinner for a while and we had an enjoyable visit as Tony’s birthday party would down next door.

Denny and Anne stayed in NYC for an extra night and Kenny had a tennis match, so we invited the new pickling friends to join us to listen to Joe Krown at the Old Point in Algiers on Sunday afternoon.  Diana and I enjoyed brunch at Maya’s before picking up Sandi and Nic for the drive across the Mississippi.

I really enjoyed the scene at the Old Point – a good crowd with us for once finding ourselves on the younger end of the gene pool.  Joe Krown played as effortlessly as ever.

Kenny joined us on the porch to close out a very pleasant day.

I haven’t completely finished “Villa Coco” by Andrew Sean Greer yet.  It certainly doesn’t move at the pace of the wonderful “Less.”  Hopefully it will pick up in the later sections.

I was glad to see Cyril Neville awarded a “Guardian of the Groove” from our wonderful local radio station, WWOZ.

It’s a small list of honorees – Marcia Ball has one.  How about this song from Cyril and Joe:

I haven’t heard anything that good in a long time.

The excellent and underappreciated band, the Jayhawks, have a new album out – always a treat:

“Musical Elders”

Diana started Monday as usual with pickling.  Then a new feature, regular workouts with Sandi at Franco’s gym – seem to be going well.  That was followed by more pickling and then a quick shower/change before our evening activity.  We drove over to the Jazz and Heritage Center, straddling the boundary of the French Quarter and Treme.

Here’s the description from the Jazz and Heritage Foundation:

Herlin Riley is New Orleans musical royalty.  His resume is very long and very impressive, having helped Wynton Marsalis establish the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra, and playing with Ahmad Jamal for many years.

Some details on Riley’s accomplishments:

Herlin Riley bio

Riley interviewed the pianist, Lawrence Cotton (right), who was quick to let everyone know that he would be 100 in 6 months.  Wow.

The band played a couple of tunes before the interview with Germaine Bazzle took place.  Anytime that I can see Herlin Riley and Oscar Rossignoli playing together, I’m there.  Oscar seems to get more impressive every time.

The emcee’s didn’t have to work as hard in their conversation with Germaine Bazzle – she’s only 94.  And then they gave her a microphone – amazing.

I’m really glad we took the time to attend this show.

I heard quite a bit of chatter during the week about beeping from the dishwasher.  It’s frustrating because I can’t hear it.  It’s a Maytag and I assume they didn’t think old people would ever need to hear their alarm beeps and put them at a suitably high frequency to miss me.  Don’t worry – a repair guy is coming tomorrow.

We watched a movie called “Don’t Say Good Luck” on Monday evening – the benefit of a 5:30pm start on the Legends show.  Diana thanked me for picking another tear jerker – I really didn’t know, it was at the top of the Netflix new list.  Adam Sandler’s daughter stars as a theater-kid navigating performing in the big school play while also supporting her mother in fighting cancer.

“Mothers and Sons is a 2025 novel by Adam Haslett. It explores the long estrangement between a 40-year-old New York City asylum lawyer named Peter and his mother, Ann, who runs a women’s retreat in Vermont. As Peter handles a compelling new asylum case, past trauma and a 20-year-old act of violence force both mother and son to confront the secrets that drove them apart.”

I think I might have found what I need with the latest from Andrew Sean Greer – I loved his “Less” several years ago.  It’s a little too early to confirm, but I think I will see this one all the way through.  Here’s a summary:

“Happy 60th Birthday, Greg”

The picklers had a successful outing to their clinic on Tuesday, Diana winning a second place medal, and Laurie coming in third.  I believe there were at least eight teams.

We had a less successful trivia outing on Tuesday evening.  Early in the game, I was able to encourage the team to choose “Quebec City” as the answer to a question about the city that was capital of the first French territory in Canada.  Some wanted Montreal and I said I hadn’t seen any evidence of that on our visit, and knew that nearby Quebec City was much older.

I forgot to mention that I assumed “scribe” and team captain duties from Kenny, who was off attending a King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (yes – that is really the band name) camping weekend festival in Buena Vista, Colorado.  Here’s a short video that Kenny sent if you would like a view into what the event looks like.  I’m pretty sure I aged out of that whole scene.

We were in contention going into the last question.  Put four events in chronological order.  We were confident that “I Dream of Jeanie” was earliest, followed by “Billy Jean King’s Battle of the Sexes.”  We were undecided on when “Little Janie” from Elton John was released and on when the “Diaper Genie” was launched.  I was confident that we had a “Diaper Genie” in 1988 with Will, and others were thinking that “Little Genie” was from the 90s.  Oops – my memory was incorrect and “Little Jeanie” was earlier than anticipated.  We bet all 20 points and so did not place.  Had we flipped those two questionable answers, we would have been in first place.  Maybe I wasn’t such a great scribe/team captain.  I will have an opportunity to try again or pass the torch next week.  We’ll see what the group thinks.

Launch of Diaper Genie (1993)

Bill Jean King battle of the sexes (1973)

Little Jeanie by Elton John (1980)

I Dream of Jeanie (1965)

On the trivia theme, I had been assigned to research Hemingway facts after we missed “Death in the Afternoon”, his novel about bull fighting, for the second time, instead picking “The Sun Also Rises.”  That one only has a bit of bull fighting late in the novel.  The Saturday New York Times puzzle shows exactly how this confusing info enters my brain.

Diana had a workout with Sandi at Franco’s on Wednesday morning – this is a new routine she’s contemplating adding to her busy schedule.   There were no competitions in pickling following the workout, hence no medals.

I braved the heat on Thursday morning for a walk to French Truck Coffee to read the paper.  After that I completed the three mile circuit down Magazine to Napoleon, up to Prytania and back home.  I was quite sweaty on arrival back.  This sight distressed me on my walk.  I keep seeing this ridiculous Tesla truck around town – and parked in front of a wonderful local tapas place (Baru) it just looks completely ridiculous.

Diana returned from pickleball to report that she and Laurie got first place in the open play tournament.  She was quick to point out that there were only four teams – still worth celebrating, I think.

Anne’s birthday was on Thursday and we celebrated on Friday with a group dinner at the Rum House – always an easy, casual and tasty choice.  Dinner was followed by a visit to NOLA Brewing where a live band was playing at 7pm.  I was taken by surprise when, entering via the back door by the stage, I was greeted by thirty little girls running around squealing and having a birthday party.  At a BREWERY, WHEN A BAND IS PLAYING???  This place needs to decide if it’s a pizza and beer place with live music FOR ADULTS, or a McDonalds play ground for kids’ birthday parties.  Geez!

We retired to the front bar and had a nice, kid-free visit albeit without any live music to enjoy.

Diana had early morning pickling on Saturday and I made a quick trip to Trader Joe’s for supplies to make a charcuterie board for Greg’s 60th birthday party in the afternoon.  I stopped into the wonderful Mojo on Freret for a coffee prior to my shopping expedition.

We made our way over to Greg and Colleen’s in the afternoon.  As I was storing my backpack behind the house, I caught sight of Valerie Sassyfras hiding in the corner.  Apparently Denny had taken the blame for hiring her, but it was all Colleen.  Regular readers may remember that she played our New Year’s Eve party two years ago.  Here is her Happy Birthday to 60 year old Greg:

Gifts were unveiled after Valerie with a very poignant moment.  Greg lost “by far my favourite ever dog”, Rufus, a few months ago.  Rufus was a stray that hung around Greg’s home on Baronne street and his girls ultimately convinced him to take the dog in.  Jeanne, Greg’s sister, had painted a special portrait of Rufus by the hot tub for the occasion.  Greg was very moved.

And we weren’t finished there.  Daughter Lilly had sewn a custom Rufus t-shirt for the event.  All this hidden talent!

Fun pool time ensued.  Oliver practiced his Buzz Lightyear pose, while 6 week old brother Ezra bounced around the family members.

Sunday is a quiet day so far.  Diana has been doing yard work and lolling in her pool.  I’ve been watching the Sunday morning news programs and getting frustrated at our inept politicians – all around.

I’ve almost finished “The Emperor of Gladness” by Ocean Vuong.  I did not love this book but kept with it, having rejected quite a few after a few chapters recently.  Oprah raved about this and I usually enjoy her recommendations.  This one is too plodding, mundane, and depressing.  Here’s the online summary:

“One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.

Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong’s writing—formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness—are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance.”

Let’s start off with a playlist that I loved.  I’m sure everyone will have something on there that hey don’t like – but I love all of these songs – custom made based on what I listen to, so one would hope that’s the case:

I heard this Joan Armatrading classic on a TV show – so good:

I’ve been on a “God Only Knows” kick lately.  My favourite Beach Boys and maybe all time.  How can a song start with “I May Not Always Love You” and follow it up a few lines later with “God Only Knows What I’d Be Without You.”

There are over 100 cover versions.  A few interesting ones:

And finally, the sublime Hank Marvin and the Shadows: