Author: keith.robertson@aig.com

“We all survived Christmas”

We ventured into the dangerous territory of Number Three Gypsy Hill on Christmas morning.  The monsters were in pretty good form, and enjoyed their Pokemon gifts.

Francesca was excited about her unicorn sockies and the books signed by the Bush girls.  I’m not sure Adamo was a huge fan of the books.

We didn’t stay too long and the crew needed to get packed up to head to their other Grammie’s house.

 

 

Back in the kitchen for Diana and Alicia.  This time a ham and au gratin potatoes.  Diana managed the timing of the ham with great results, and Alicia’s spuds were delicious.  My contribution?  Massive – I poured the glaze over and pinned the pineapple on as the ham went back in to finish.  Here’s the group enjoying dinner:

The gift exchange was entertaining.  Gianluca is getting concerned about his appearance and totally owned the “Bro Glo” self tanning cream that we selected from his list.

 

 

 

Giancarlo came with a number of books and artifacts to share.  He said a little about each item, and then we each made a choice.  Wasn’t sure where it was going at the start, but it worked out fine in the end.

 

And then things got really entertaining – Clorinda loves her silly animal toys that sing Christmas songs.  So, Marco thought it was a good idea to get her and us both a new penguin that runs around the floor in circles and sings Jingle Bells.

It all started with the singing llama a few years back.  It never ceases to get a big laugh from Clorinda.  Here’s Marco doing the llama dance:

I found out earlier in the day that Marco and Julie’s little white dog, Yeti, was going to be staying at Clorinda’s home for several days under Alicia’s care.  Clorinda has pretty strong feelings that a dogs place is outside, so I was interested to see how this would go.  There was sufficient activity to distract her and, by the next morning, she seemed resigned to tolerating things.

Here’s a picture that Jude composed.  I really like it.

I went on an excursion to Mavericks with Adamo and Luciano on Boxing Day afternoon.  If you’re not familiar with Mavericks, it’s a surfing break near Half Moon Bay (about 10 mins from Pacifica.)  It has some of the largest waves in the world and some very unique challenges.  There’s a famous annual surfing competition about this time of year that draws thousands of spectators.  You can’t really get a feel from the scale in this video, and there were about 30 crazy souls out there surfing.  Very fun to watch.

The walk along the beaches to arrive at Mavericks was a lot of fun.  Adamo and Luciano insisted on paddling around in the gooey sand.

I forgot to mention that, prior to the expedition, I helped Francesca give the kitties a bath.  Hilarious.

Will, Christine, and Ollie came for dinner on Boxing Day evening.  Grammie was certainly a bit concerned when Ollie and Yeti started rough-housing around.  The Indian food, and ceviche that they brought from Redwood City, were all excellent.  A real feast.

After dinner we did a small gift exchange.  Last year, or the year before, we gave Campbell a Mardi Gras cushion that had sequins on one side.  Clorinda was very entertained pushing the sequins one way and the other to make patterns.  So…Will and Christine were very excited to gift her one of their well traveled pillows with the same feature.  Apparently this has been to Burning Man and several other crazy festivals.  Clorinda was initially quite excited with all the coloured tissue paper and then loved the pillow.

A hilarious game of throwing the pillow at Keith, getting wadded up tissue paper back, telling Diana to tickle Keith’s bare feet and such ensued.  It brought poor Diana to tears.

Our flight home to New Orleans on Wednesday morning was delayed a couple of hours due to crew on a delayed flight.  The airport was very busy, but we made the best of it and made it home smoothly.

Now it was time to start preparing for hosting the Krewe on New Year’s Eve.  I took another stab at trying to get the ice dispenser to work.  All the parts fell out and I had to guess how to reassemble.  I have an exploded view now, so will be able to fix it in no time.  Suffice to say – no ice dispensed via the door at the party.

We spent some happy time cleaning the wood floors and all the bathrooms, and then decided to “work together” on assembling a folding table for the food.  You can see here what happens when the table isn’t locked in the middle before we try to stretch the cocktail skirt around it.  What a pair!

Fortunately, Diana’s work on the dining table was much smoother.

Denny brought over a keg for the kegerator outside.  He was not impressed with the new Cowboys tap that I got as a Christmas gift from Will.

Now it was time for me to go and pick up the catered food in Old Metairie.  I thought I’d walk around the corner to Gracious bakery before making the drive.  Is that a brass band I hear in somebody’s front yard?

Sure enough, somebody had hired a decent sized band to kick off New Year’s Eve.  I wasn’t able to navigate past the crowd to pick up baguettes, and so opted to drive to the catering place and do that later.

The Italian shop was classic old school.  Very friendly and helpful folks, with what appeared to be an excellent sandwich counter.  The lady kindly helped me carry the trays out to the car.  All of the food was excellent and well received by the Krewe.

 

I watched some of the Sugar Bowl parade in the afternoon and was amazed that those guys were brave enough to march Bevo, the longhorn mascot, through such large and boisterous crowds.  He didn’t seem phased at all.

Folks started arriving around 7pm.  The kids dropped off their parents and stayed for a short while.  Here’s a glimpse into the hubbub:

And here’s a collection of pictures from the rest of the evening.  We think our first party in the new home was a success.  Happy New Year to all of you!

I’m still working through “Wellness” – it is a 650 page tome.  The writing and story are very good so far – particularly a section on how Facebook algorithms really work.  I’ll have much more to say next week – when we don’t have any big events happening.  Time to rest up for Mardi Gras.

Butch Walker – such a great voice, and an amazing producer:

You know I’m a sucker for Mark Knopfler’s guitar sound and style:

That’s another year of blogging drawing to a close.  Now I have to work on getting a book printed, so that we can review in old school fashion.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

“Happy Birthday Diana, don’t cause a fire!”

On Monday, Kenny invited Diana out for a birthday dinner at Superior Seafood.  Diana particularly liked that Nina and Ian were able to join – the whole Kirsch family.  They devoured several dozen oysters during the Happy Hour special.

We had a bit of an “oopsy” with the birthday cake.  I joked to McD that she should blow it out.  She did, with sparks flying towards my shirt.  The waiter was quite concerned.  No damage done and the Chief didn’t need to take any action.

Diana opened her birthday gift when we got home from dinner – a blue and white vase that she seemed to like quite a bit.  I forgot to get a picture of her with it.

I may have created a monster by gifting a New York Times annual puzzle subscription.  Diana has become addicted to the Spelling Bee – and in particular getting Queen Bee status by finding all possible words that are in the list:

After all that excitement, we proceeded to open Christmas stockings and gifts.  I had been telling Kara, at dinner, about the silly high-end Italian oven that doesn’t even tell you the temperature it has reached or alert you when it gets to the right temperature.  She suggested I get one of the thermometers that hang in the oven – great idea.  An hour or so later and Santa had taken care of it for me.

 

We loved these Scottish pillows from my Mum.  They’ll be fun for visitors to try to interpret.  Mum also couldn’t resist another penguin friend for BP.

 

 

 

 

Oh no – a penguin face-off.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday was another travel day.  This time a direct flight from New Orleans to San Francisco.  Weather in San Francisco delayed our take off by a bit over two hours, resulting in over seven hours on the plane – we could have flown to Europe.  Alicia was a good sport and picked us up at the airport shortly before midnight.

Wednesday was a pretty quiet work day on Gypsy Hill.  Diana did babysit Massimo and Francesca for a few hours.  We were both very tired from the traveling.

We did make it out of the house and off the Hill on Thursday.  Diana offered to take me to lunch.  We rejected trying to fight the crowds at Pedro Point and instead made the short drive to Half Moon Bay and La Costanero.  This is a place we had visited with my birthday gift certificate.  Diana had the trio of ceviche samplers and I enjoyed a very fresh beet salad with grapefruit and other goodies, followed by a mushroom empanada.

Diana spent much of Thursday and Friday procuring all the ingredients for the Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner on Christmas Eve.  Always a ton of work and delicious.

I “helped” Adamo assemble Frankie’s bike on Christmas Eve.

“I’ve assembled so many bikes over the years, that there’s absolutely no reason to pay any attention to the instructions.”

“I think that front mudguard is on backwards.”

“That’s the only way it fits.”

“That’s because you’ve got the front fork the wrong way round.”

“Oh, I do, and it has a little arrow sticker pointing to the front.”

A classic Adamo interaction.

Now, we needed a test pilot:

Diana, Adamo and Alicia slaved away in the kitchen for several hours to create the Feast.  Scallops, lobster, sole, angel hair with anchovies, sardines, shrimp dip – I always forget one of them.  The gang had a great dinner:

Amy was talking about being allergic to poison oak, and then Jude pipes up with, “Andy’s highly allergic to ocelots.”  Firstly, we had to look up a picture of an ocelot, then investigate the story.  Apparently they had both held ocelot cubs at a nature reserve in Napa.  Jude had no issue, but about ten minutes later, Andy was all up in a rash.  He joked that he now shares that when asked by a doctor if he has any known allergies.

Clorinda really enjoys her silly animal toys that sign Christmas songs – they never fail to bring forward joyful laughter from her.  Several more seem to have shown up recently.

I really like this picture of Diana talking to her Mum that Jude captured:

 

 

After dinner, the little monsters went home and prepared for Santa.

And then, everything was finally quiet.  I’m not sure why I can’t see any lumps of coal in this picture:

I have a t-shirt that says “Be a New Orleanian, wherever you are.”  Clorinda typically asks me what that means.  I found a little tag in one of the Christmas gifts that explains it well:

New Orleans: Sunken and sultry,

Magical and mysterious,

Down home and slightly dangerous,

There is no other place like it.

When you truly love something, you want to share it with as many people as possible.  So whether you’re born here, a transplant, or simply passing through, we hope you can be a New Orleanian wherever you are.

My first book this week was “The Modigliani Scandal”, by Ken Follett.  I chose it at the library because it was a small paperback, ideal for travel, and from an author that I knew I would enjoy over the holidays.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit.  Not his best, but an entertaining and interesting read.  Here’s an online summary:

“A high-speed, high-stakes thriller from Ken Follett, the grand master of international action and suspense. Look out for Ken’s newest book, A Column of Fire, available now.

A fabulous “lost masterpiece” becomes the ultimate prize—for an art historian whose ambition consumes everyone around her, an angry young painter with a plan for revenge on the art establishment, and a desperate gallery owner who may have double-crossed his own life away. Behind the elegance and glamour of the art world, anything goes—theft, forgery, betrayal, and maybe even murder. . . .”

I’m working my way through the new Nathan Hill tome, “Wellness.”  Not quite half way yet, so much more to come next week.  This is a very well constructed book so far, jumping around in time and revealing secrets that add to the overall plot.  Hill is a unique and gifted writer, who has clearly spent months researching.  Here’s an online summary of a long and complicated plot:

“When Jack and Elizabeth meet as college students in the gritty ’90s Chicago art scene, the two quickly join forces and hold on tight, each eager to claim a place in the thriving underground scene with an appreciative kindred spirit. Fast-forward twenty years to suburban married life, and alongside the challenges of parenting, they encounter the often-baffling pursuits of health and happiness from polyamorous would-be suitors to home-renovation hysteria. 
 
For the first time, Jack and Elizabeth struggle to recognize each other, and the no-longer-youthful dreamers are forced to face their demons, from unfulfilled career ambitions to childhood memories of their own dysfunctional families. In the process, Jack and Elizabeth must undertake separate, personal excavations, or risk losing the best thing in their lives: each other”

Let’s start with something from the late, great Greg Allman.  So much emotion conveyed with that unique voice and style:

If you want to read about an interesting and varied life, look up Charley Crockett.  Here’s one about the DFW river:

And finally something from another late, great:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!

 

“Happy Almost Birthday, Diana

I had a haircut at Aidan Gill on Tuesday morning.  I always like to pop next door to Juan’s Flying Burrito for lunch afterwards.  I asked Diana if she’d like to join me, and she walked over.  I forgot to mention that Aidan Gill’s was about a fifteen minute walk for me.  It’s so nice to be able to walk to so many things. Juan’s is Timmy’s favourite place to eat and so we tortured him with pictures of our food and drinks.

 

I talked Denny and Greg into joining us at Dos Jefes on Tuesday evening to listen to Joe Krown.  He recognized Denny as “the carwash guy.”  And as usual, Denny didn’t have any coupons with him to share.  Joe never disappoints – just an excellent pianist, even on a somewhat out of tune old upright.

It seems Santa was a bit “sleepy” at the Dos Jefes bar:

We  flew to Dallas on  Wednesday to have dinner with H0lly and Finn.  We chose Rick’s Chophouse  because we were able to stay in the hotel upstairs, and because I believe they have the best shrimp and grits to be found  – still better than any I’ve had in New Orleans.  Everyone enjoyed their dinners and we exchanged some fun gifts.

It was chilly outside, but we managed to snap a few pictures of the kids with the holiday decorations:

Travel home on Thursday was smooth, and we rested up on Friday.

We had been looking forward to trying Dakar NOLA for dinner on Saturday night.  This West African and Senegalese restaurant serves a seven course tasting menu in one seating per night at 7pm.  The chef and restaurant have won many awards over the last year or so:

https://nola.eater.com/2022/11/15/23460203/dakar-nola-new-orleans-most-exciting-tasting-menu-opens-forever-home

We enjoyed this experience tremendously – it was an excellent early birthday dinner for Diana.  Here are an early seafood dish and the pecan pie like dessert:

And here’s the full menu:

The wonderful evening concluded with a group picture in front of the wall of West African masks:

Longtime Cowboys fans knew that the very impressive winning streak couldn’t last.  And on Sunday, it all came crashing down, with a pitiful loss to the Buffalo Bills.  We’ll see where things go from here.  Maybe they got it out of their systems.

Sunday was Kenny’s (The Chief) birthday.  We celebrated by attending James Booker fest at the Maple Leaf.  What a great group of New Orleans piano players paying tribute to the legendary guy who, along with Professor Longhair, started it all.

 

 

 

Some pretty flowers have emerged on the side of our house.  Not sure what kind they are.

 

 

 

 

This was an excellent week of reading.  “The Guncle” by Steven Rowley is one of my favourites in a long, long time.  Alternating between laugh out loud humour and tear jerking sadness from one paragraph to the next, this is a writer at the very top of his game.  I loved this book.  I didn’t carry the hardback with me and so don’t have the quotations that I wanted to share.  Here’s the online summary:

“Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is, honestly, overwhelmed.

So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick’s brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of “Guncle Rules” ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled acting career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting–even if temporary–isn’t solved with treats and jokes, Patrick’s eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you’re unfailingly human.

With the humor and heart we’ve come to expect from bestselling author Steven Rowley, The Guncle is a moving tribute to the power of love, patience, and family in even the most trying of times.”

Here’s my annual list from Spotify of most listened songs:

I even got a short video from Jeff Tweedy thanking me for listening to so much Wilco.  I remember I couldn’t get enough of “Take Me as I Am” after the Tedeschi Trucks performance at Jazzfest.

A good version of the Nick Lowe classic that I ran across this week:

I’ve been assembling a New Year’s Eve playlist as we’re hosting this year.  This is a good one:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!

“Chefs Timmy and Denny”

I really had great intentions of posting here every week – any  more and it’s too much work to remember the details.  Things just got too busy again.  Anyway, here goes with what I can remember.

On Monday, November 27th, we flew from San Francisco to Austin.  This time we chose Alaska airlines as they had the only direct flight.  The flight was comfortable and uneventful.  The food on American is certainly better than on Alaska.

I was disappointed to find that Thom’s Market, just around the corner from our hotel, had stopped carrying Taco Deli breakfast tacos.  I had been looking forward to my Tuesday morning breakfast treat.  They had some new company providing tacos, and they were not nearly as good.  Apparently they parted ways by “mutual understanding.”  I’m going to have to go to the real Taco Deli next visit.

We were in Austin to attend my company Holiday Party on Wednesday night, and Tim (our CFO) invited the Executive Team to his home for dinner on Tuesday night.  We drove around in circles for a while as our crack Administrative Assistant team had dropped one of the digits from the address.  Had we been observant, we would have seen that there was only one house with a large blow up koala bear out front.

Tim and his wife, Heidi, put together an excellent feast for us.  Tim loves to cook meat on his various grills, and this time served a delicious, melt in your mouth ribeye steak.  We all commented that it was much nicer to eat like a family around the dining room table than to go to a restaurant.

The Holiday Party was a big success.  We hosted it at Bar Peached again and had the whole restaurant and outside areas to ourselves.  I thought the cocktail menu was very clever, and the snacks were delicious – particularly the hoisin duck baos.  Spouses were invited this year and so Diana and Lisa had a good time chatting with everyone.

We flew from Austin back to New Orleans on Thursday afternoon.  The flight was a little late, but otherwise all was smooth with the trip.

On Friday, I made another excursion to the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV.)  I thought that I had all the papers necessary to register our car, but no – missing a copy of the title.  I’ll round that up and try again…

I heard on Friday afternoon that two of my favourite restaurants were closing – Rabbit’s Foot and Seafood Sally’s.  I was just getting used to walking to Rabbit’s Foot and enjoying a nice coffee and wonderful breakfast sandwich.  Seafood Sally’s had a good oyster happy hour and a great outdoor seating location on Oak Street.  Rabbit’s Foot was carrying too much debt from a very slow summer, and Sally’s had a kitchen floor inspection issue that shut them down for several months.  Very sad, but I was determined to have one more visit to Rabbit’s Foot.

We had a lot of rain overnight on Friday, and several drainage pump units were not working properly.  This made Rabbit’s Foot quite difficult to get to.  I persevered only to find they weren’t able to open because too many employees couldn’t get there.  Ugh!

This was the scene on the street to the right of the photo of the coffee shop:

 

After things dried out a bit and the flooding subsided, Diana and I visited the local toy shop to get some gifts for the “Toys for Tots” party on Saturday night.  I really enjoyed browsing around the small, local toy shop.  The party was two houses down from us at Roeland and Jules home.  There were well over a hundred people in attendance, and you would not have known anything was going on from outside.  We had a nice time and had a very interesting chat with our neighbor Hugh, Colleen’s brother from across the street.  He has some 3-D printing businesses and is in the process of testing printed lungs in baboons – crazy technology.

Kenny’s official Fire Department retirement party was on Sunday.  Denny was kind enough to pick us up and deliver us to the Union Hall.  We had an enjoyable chat with Kenny’s mum, Miss Sue.  She remembered meeting us last year and was still as sharp as a tack at ninety.

On Tuesday, I made another excursion to the Louisiana Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV.)  This time I had all the documents they could possibly need and was successful in obtaining a new license plate for the BBB.  I was shocked when it came time to pay – online information had me thinking it would be around $66.  Then the lady said it was over $1,200 – bit of a discrepancy.  Apparently some sales tax scam for new residents.  I had already paid sales tax in Texas, but that didn’t seem to make any difference.  Always something with this move.  At least we’re all legal now.

Diana and the girls had oyster Happy Hour on Tuesday evening, so Kenny came over and we went to watch a basketball that his son, Ian was helping to coach.  Denny joined us and we decided to visit the local Milan lounge for some pre-game entertainment.  The folks in the bar were entertained as Kenny yelled out answer after answer for Jeopardy questions.

The basketball was good entertainment, with the Willow team losing in the last minute.  We met Diana and Kara at the Kingpin, and were entertained to find Fred with a friend at a table in there.

On Wednesday night, we had Sips at Commander’s Palace down the street.  This was an early birthday gift for Diana from Merry Lee and Jeff.  One could sample around eighty different champagnes and wines, while enjoying the delicious snacks – the little cups of soup were ridiculous.

Jeff and Merry Lee came back to the house for a while and we listened to some eclectic Christmas music on the turntable.

Marcia Ball, Shelley King, and Carolyn Wonderland had their “Home for the Holidays” show at the House of Blues on Thursday night.  I had two suggestions for a pre-concert dinner for Diana to choose between – Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 49 or Kingfish.  She opted for the tiki inspired option.  The dinner was excellent, finishing with some perfectly cooked and very large scallops.

 

A short walk, and we were seated and ready for the show.

The girls did their usual great job and we enjoyed it very much.  Here are a couple of clips:

We walked several miles on Saturday morning, checking for gift inspiration in the small, local stores on Magazine Street.  Unfortunately, we returned empty handed.  Diana couldn’t even find any shoes in the “Feet First” store – very unusual.

Chef Denny invited the boys over for a steak night on Saturday.  Alex, Kenny, Greg, Thom and I enjoyed the feast that Denny had put together.  Hangar steak, twice baked potatoes, creamed spinach, and a yummy red wine sauce.  Thom brought a selection of wines that we sampled.  Good fun hanging out with the boys.

Sunday began with a couple of laps around Audubon park.  Twenty mile an hour plus winds blew out the cobwebs during that walk.  The Saints had a good win, and now I’m getting excited for the Cowboys and Eagles game this evening – a very important game for playoff positioning.

I borrowed “The Descendants” by Kaui Hart Hemmings  from Clorinda’s library.  This was a good read – mixing some ribald teenage character humour, with some very poignant and sad scenes.  I would recommend it.  It did take me a while to stop thinking of the main character as George Clooney, who played him in the movie version.  Here’s an online summary:

“Narrated in a bold, fearless, unforgettable voice and set against the lush, panoramic backdrop of Hawaii, The Descendants is a stunning debut novel about an unconventional family forced to come together and re-create its own legacy.

Matthew King was once considered one of the most fortunate men in Hawaii. His missionary ancestors were financially and culturally progressive–one even married a Hawaiian princess, making Matt a royal descendant and one of the state’s largest landowners.

Now his luck has changed. His two daughters are out of control: Ten-year-old Scottie is a smart-ass with a desperate need for attention, and seventeen-year-old Alex, a former model, is a recovering drug addict. Matt’s charismatic, thrill-seeking, high-maintenance wife, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat-racing accident and will soon be taken off life support. The Kings can hardly picture life without her, but as they come to terms with this tragedy, their sadness is mixed with a sense of freedom that shames them–and spurs them into surprising actions.

Before honoring Joanie’s living will, Matt must gather her friends and family to say their final goodbyes, a difficult situation made worse by the sudden discovery that there is one person who hasn’t been told: the man with whom Joanie had been having an affair, quite possibly the one man she ever truly loved. Forced to examine what he owes not only to the living but to the dead, Matt takes to the road with his daughters to find his wife’s lover, a memorable journey that leads to both painful revelations and unforeseen humor and growth.”

Kenny sent me this video of Joe Krown playing Booker’s “Classified” at Dos Jefes.  It’s like he has four hands:

A great song from the new Band of Heathens acoustic album:

And finally, something from Josh Ritter:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“A Unique Thanksgiving Travel Experience”

Tuesday started early with a drive to the New Orleans airport just after five a.m..  Our flight to Dallas was smooth and we had just under two hours to change planes and relax in the club.  The flight to San Francisco left on time, taxied out to the runway, and then things took a bit of a turn.  We seemed to be sitting still for a while.  The pilot finally came on to let us know that the parking brake wouldn’t release and we needed to head back to the gate.  After working on things for a while, they took the plane out of service and we waited to find out when the replacement would be ready – if there was going to be a replacement.  Typically, we would have found another flight, but not two days before Thanksgiving between two major airports.

The replacement was scheduled for four hours later.  A long time to spend in the club, and there were far too many kids in there.  So, after that 4 hours of sitting around, we did take off for San Francisco.  The flight was pleasant and we were a few hundred feet off the runway when, WHOOSH, we’re heading up at quite an angle and speed.  Apparently the pilot saw another aircraft crossing our runway “way too close for comfort,” and decided to execute a “go around.”  I looked out the window as we were ascending so quickly and saw the offender, and agree it would have been close.

The flight attendant had quite a sense of humour, saying, “Well you guys had an aborted takeoff and an aborted landing in the same day.  I’ve never heard of that before.”  We were travel weary when we arrived on Gypsy Hill.

Diana was up early the next day, chopping vegetables and prepping the stuffing.  Alicia worked on potatoes au gratin.  They were busy most of the day with feast prep.  Thanks girls!

Thanksgiving at Adamo and Amy’s home began in the early afternoon and wrapped up in the early evening.  Other than Francesca screaming for the iPad for a solid half hour before she passed out, it seemed quieter than usual and quite pleasant.  I was able to watch the Cowboys with another big win and have good visits with Marco, Andy, and Jude.  Will, Christine and Ollie joined us again and had a great time.

 

Clorinda thoroughly enjoyed herself and, for the first time in a few years, wanted to give a speech:

Look at these clever deviled eggs that Anne created in Florida:

I was up early on Friday, and decided to drive down to the prettiest Taco Bell in the country for breakfast.  Here’s what this cantina on the beach looks like – beautiful views all around.

There were a lot of surfers to watch from the back deck.  I had brought a book, and didn’t end up needing it with the surfer entertainment.

I watched a couple of excellent college football games on Saturday.  Alabama had a very fortunate last minute touchdown to beat Auburn.  Michigan had a strong performance to best Ohio State.  Very close and entertaining games.

Marco, Julie and Yeti came for dinner on Saturday night.  Alicia had made a yummy vegetarian curry.  We have some nice leftovers to enjoy later today.

The New Orleans Saints are currently working hard to keep up with the Atlanta Falcons – hopefully they’ll improve as the game continues.

My first book this week was “A Symphony of Secrets” by Brendan Slocumb.  It is the follow up to “The Violin Conspiracy. ” I think I enjoyed it a bit more than the debut, and would likely not recommend it to someone that doesn’t know quite a bit about music.  I think the “Secrets” were obvious way to early in the book.

This paragraph entertained me, reminding me of Laura (our neuroscience friend) saying that one of her husband Alex’s best qualities was his “spatial awareness.”

“Eboni was brilliant – and at Columbia he’d encountered many very smart people.  She told him once that she’d tested off the charts for spatial intelligence, which, in its simplest form, meant she was able to visualize shapes in three dimensions.  She never got lost and could read a map at a glance.”

I love this section in which we meet Josephine Reed for the first time:

“-and then she turned another corner and from an open door, like mint in cool water or the smooth taste of fresh cream, the sound poured over her: a trombone, a clarinet, and then a trumpet lifting itself up like a benediction, blessing the air with a run of notes that Josephine breathed in like the smell of the earth after a spring rain.”

On listening to different recordings of the same music:

“For instance: on the first loop, he could focus on the cello line and wonder how the London Symphony Orchestra could play the lower notes so perfectly clear at such a fast tempo.  The next time around, he’d sigh when the trumpet fanfares come through.  Three times after, he was shocked that he hadn’t noticed the trumpets playing triplets, using two different notes.  Man, this was double good.”

My next book was “Vanishing in the Haight” by Max Tomlinson.  It is a murder cold case mystery set in and around San Francisco and it becomes very clear that the author spent many years in the area.  His descriptions of routes, buildings, clubs are just too spot on to not be a local.

I sped through this book and enjoyed the pacing and unfolding of the plot very much.

This paragraph is interesting.  I’m writing this from the hills on Sharp Park Road:

“Past the high school she cut a hard left without signaling, skidding onto Sharp Park Road.  She climbed quickly into the hills, gunning the big V-8.  The Torino roared towards the summit.  But every time the road straightened out, she saw square headlights in her rearview.”

Here’s the online summary:

“Between fending off a lecherous parole officer and trying to get by in 1978 San Francisco, private investigator Colleen Hayes struggles to put her life back together so she can reconnect with her runaway teenage daughter. Then her life changes dramatically. She accepts a case from wealthy, retired industrialist Edward Copeland. The old man is desperate to solve the brutal murder of his daughter, a murder that took place in Golden Gate Park eleven years earlier—during the Summer of Love. The case has since gone cold, her murderer never found. Now, in his final days, Copeland hires Colleen to find his daughter’s killer in hopes he might die in peace. Colleen understands what it means to take a life—she spent a decade in prison for killing her ex. Battling her own demons, she immerses herself in San Francisco’s underbelly, where police corruption is rampant. Her investigation turns deadly as she pries for information, yet there is little to go on. However, a song on the radio makes her wonder—did the murdered girl leave any clues that others may have missed?”

Just one song this week, and it’s a great one:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

 

“Alejandro!”

I was really trying to stick to weekly updates, but it’s just been a very busy time – exactly what we were hoping for when moving to New Orleans.

When I left you a couple of weeks ago, we were getting ready to drive to Baton Rouge (about an hour and fifteen minutes) to see Alejandro Escovedo at the Red Dragon listening room.  Kenny drove over, we enjoyed our Francolini’s sandwiches that I had picked up earlier in the day, and then took our places on a comfy couch for the show.  What a fantastic way to see a show.  The only downside – I had to drive over a hour back home.  Next time, we need to stay the night.  Here’s my favourite song from the evening, “Down in the Bowery.”

During the week, we joined the New Orleans library.  This is housed in a beautiful mansion on St Charles Avenue.  The family that owned the house donated it to the library.  It’s starting to feel like we’re locals.

 

 

 

I made another stab at a pizza in the smoker.  It turned out reasonably well and Jack seemed to enjoy it.

On Thursday, the Bush girls had a book signing at the Garden District Bookstore, just across the street.  Kenny came over to observe the scene.  There was a long line of mothers and daughters when we first visited, and I was able to convince McD to go back over when the line died down, and pick up a signed book for Francesca.

Friday was Boys’ Night Out.  We had dinner at Casa Borrega – a really good Mexican restaurant, which happened to be across the street from the boxing gym where “Friday Night Fights” was housed.  Denny’s carwashes sponsor the event and so we had four ringside seats.  The event was poorly managed, with way too many people, so we didn’t stay too long.  We’ll need to get Denny engaged for some improvements.

I suggested a road trip on Saturday and Diana was all in.  We drove over to the Mississippi Gulf coast and had lunch at Bay St. Louis.  The oysters were amazing – I ate three of them, so you know they had to be good.

 

 

We thought this carved “Angel Tree” on the boardwalk in Bay St. Louis was very clever.

The drive down the coast to Pass Christian was not what we expected.  Beautiful white and clean sandy beaches,  and huge mansions by the beach.  Apparently many affluent New Orleanians have second homes there.  It’s very pleasant to be able to reach the beach in just over an hour.  It would have been around eleven hours from McKinney.

I met Kenny and Thom at Cooter Brown’s to watch the Saints game on Sunday, leaving at half time to come home and watch the Cowboys with another blowout win.

We flew to Austin on Monday for my quarterly Board meeting.  Diana accompanied and we had a delicious dinner at Este on arrival.  The seafood is so fresh and delicious.  We started out with the rainbow trout ceviche with grapefruit sauce.

Through some kind of weird synchronicity, the painting in the elevator lobby on our floor at the hotel was of Alejandro Escavedo.

The Board meeting went very well, and so we celebrated with a snack at Clark’s oyster bar, and then dinner at Emmer and Rye.  I loved the tapas tasting menu, while some other members of the Executive Committee weren’t so excited.  The highlight for me was the wagyu tartare.

 

 

Thankfully, we left plenty of time to get to the Austin airport on Wednesday morning.  What should have been a twenty minute drive turned into a ninety minute drive due to an accident that closed the freeway.  We were much more fortunate than Damon who took almost six hours to make the same drive.

Denny and Anne met us for Happy Hour at Costera on Thursday – always such good food and drinks.  Andre Darlington was doing a book signing across the street after Happy Hour.  Denny joined us to hear him talk about his new Christmas Booze and Vinyl book.  I was able to get my Booze and Vinyl book signed.

I asked the gentleman standing next to me if he knew what the arrival cocktail at the signing was.  As he answered me, Denny realize he was an old boss from HP – Shelton.  He lives just one street over from us and invited us back for a drink.  What a beautiful house, and maybe Diana’s best shot at having a pool to use in the summer.

Saturday was another busy day.  We had a nice walk around the neighborhood and then attended a Laurel Street porch musical concert.  Mahmoud Chouki is a very talented musician from Morocco, now living in New Orleans.  His band was very, very good.  Here’s a sample:

Kenny, Kara and Lynn met us and I’m not sure anybody really enjoyed the music as much as I did.  I would describe it as Middle Eastern jazz – a bit of an acquired taste.  I’m not sure there’s anywhere else where you can just show up with a folding chair and listen to music on somebody’s porch.

That’s Patois restaurant on the right, one of the first places that Diana and I enjoyed dinner together in New Orleans.  I thought Mahmoud’s saxophone player was great:

As if we hadn’t had enough music, we splintered into a couple of groups – one (D’s mostly girls group) off to dinner at Café Degas, followed by Connor at the Old City Jail.  The other (Kenny, Denny, Tres and me) down to the House of Blues to see Zebra.  Never heard of them?  I hadn’t either.  Led by Randy Jackson on guitar and vocals, the trio has all the original members from 1975.  They sound a bit like Led Zeppelin might, if they were from the  southern United States.

Denny and I enjoyed a Tiki bar snack before the show and were fortunate to have VIP access as the show was completely sold out and very busy.  I chuckled at the guys around me who knew every word to every song.  All a matter of where you were when.

 

Diana’s group waited a while for their show to start and enjoyed the venue.  Their dinner at Cafe Degas was a success, with Diana really enjoying her soft shell crab.

 

 

 

 

Now I’m enjoying what I hope is yet another Cowboys blowout win over the Carolina Panthers – it’s off to a good start.

I finally finished “Be Mine” by Richard Ford.  This was one of the best books that I’ve read in a long time.  Frank Bascombe is such an excellent character, and this one alternated between laugh out loud funny and heartbreakingly poignant.

I have a ton of dog-eared pages in this book that I was going to share, but I should focus on the Cowboys game.  They’re off to a slower start than I was hoping for, but seem to be picking up speed.  Here’s the online review:

“Over the course of four celebrated works of fiction and almost forty years, Richard Ford has crafted an ambitious, incisive, and singular view of American life as lived. Unconstrained, astute, provocative, often laugh-out-loud funny, Frank Bascombe is once more our guide to the great American midway.

Now in the twilight of life, a man who has occupied many colorful lives—sportswriter, father, husband, ex-husband, friend, real estate agent—Bascombe finds himself in the most sorrowing role of all: caregiver to his son, Paul, diagnosed with ALS. On a shared winter odyssey to Mount Rushmore, Frank, in typical Bascombe fashion, faces down the mortality that is assured each of us, and in doing so confronts what happiness might signify at the end of days.

In this memorable novel, Richard Ford puts on displays the prose, wit, and intelligence that make him one of our most acclaimed living writers. Be Mine is a profound, funny, poignant love letter to our beleaguered world.”

The new Chris Stapleton album seems to be very good – I’ve only listened once.  Some new sounds, like 70s Soul or R&B.

How about this version of one of my favourite John Prine songs – very creative:

And here’s another creative cover:

I remember listening to this in Mad Hatter’s on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh during the Heriot Watt years.  They had a video screen for the songs and this one had Bruce pulling Courtney Cox up on stage.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all.

 

 

“Birthday Week”

The weather did not improve last Sunday for Adamo’s birthday party.  The Sam Chase band had to play in the garage.  Everybody seemed to have a good time, although it was a bit chaotic with so many people inside.  It was good to see Will, Christine and Ollie.

The next birthday was Clorinda’s 92nd on Tuesday.  The crowd was a bit more manageable, other than the two little monsters.  I enjoyed watching the baseball playoffs with Mike and Chris (Carolyn and Caroline’s boyfriends.)  The wontons that Carolyn brought were delicious.  Here are a few pictures of the birthday girl:

I had a circuitous flight home on Wednesday.  There was a thunderstorm over Dallas most of the day.  We circled around Kansas for a while and then diverted to Longview, Texas for fuel.  I was worried that the flight crew would time out there and was starting to plan on finding a hotel.  No worry needed – they didn’t have a set of stairs tall enough for anyone to get off the plane.  We did finally land in Dallas, then it was a waiting game for the flight to New Orleans – this picture was the last update and was nowhere near accurate.  A break in the thunderstorm did allow us to take off after midnight, and I made it home around 1:30am – a long day of flying.

Denny and Anne invited me to “the Rolling Stone” restaurant on Thursday night.  I had no idea what that was, but went along.  The place is about a mile from our house and is called “Beggar’s Banquet”, a famous Stones album.  Look at this amazing menu:

The scallops in the Coquilles St Jacques were perfectly cooked and delicious.  The mushrooms and ahi tuna were also excellent.  We finished up with the beef short rib.  I’m looking forward to returning as the food, presentation and service were all excellent.

Alex came over on Friday night and we enjoyed hanging out and listening to music for a few hours.

I walked to “Rabbit’s Foot” for breakfast on Saturday morning.  It’s about a half mile down Prytania from our home, and the food and coffee are excellent.  This could easily become a new weekend routine.

I took some pictures of Halloween decorations and other things on my walk:

McD had to scramble to make her flight on Saturday morning.  Her original flight was delayed and so they moved her to an earlier one.  She made it home around 5pm and has been busy cleaning up the house this morning.  Now she’s off with Anne to enjoy the tennis machine.

The Cowboys game isn’t being broadcast here, and of course they are playing very well.  33-3 just now, and it’s not quite halftime.

I’m still working my way through “Be Mine” by Richard Ford.  It’s one of those books that you really just like to savor.    I should be finished next week.

The Beggars Banquet restaurant had me playing my favourite song from that album, “No Expectations.”  There are a lot of interesting versions out there:

Let’s finish up with something from the late, great David Lindley:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!