Category: Weekly Updates

“Gator warning!”

This was a relatively calm week after all the activity in Scotland last week.

A trip to Austin on Tuesday brought my first visit to the office in a while. Really wanting to accomplish this in a day trip, I left the house early and arrived home very late – an overnight hotel might have been a better idea.  I enjoyed my favourite breakfast taco from Taco Deli on arrival in Austin airport, and then a negroni and snack from Juliet Italian restaurant on the way to the airport in the evening.  Lunch wasn’t such a successful endeavour – something just didn’t sit right in my tummy.

Overdue for a haircut, I made a visit to Aidan Gill on Wednesday.  Aidan’s wife is back at work after suffering a stroke.  We made a drive over to Angelo Brocato’s to pickup some of her favourite treats – cannolis.  I think I made a friend for life on delivering those.

Trey invited us to meet his new “hound”, Scout, on Wednesday night at Picnic restaurant.  This was a new experience for us, having driven past many times.  Trey’s friend, Nina, provided some lovely musical accompaniment.  Picnic has a very reasonable Happy Hour and also some more healthy snacks than their well known fried chicken.

The clubhouse at the golf course in Audubon park was recently acquired by the Brennan restaurant group, and we had been talking about trying it.  Happy Hour on Friday seemed like a good opportunity.  The krewe was quickly assembled – Thom, Kenny, Fred and Kelly.  Unfortunately the kitchen closed early on Fridays and the bar was only open until 5pm – poor research on our part.  No problem – it was a short drive to the wonderful Happy Hour at Chaise Delachaise.  Our table was only available for a short while, so we met Kara and Nina at the Kirsch home and had an enjoyable visit.

Diana joined Kara for yoga in the City Park sculpture garden on Saturday morning, while Kenny and I had a walk around.  There’s always something to be learned when you go on a walk with Kenny – he retains so much historical information.  McD was a bit disturbed to notice this gator swimming under a bridge they used in the garden.

A treat was earned after the “gator fright” and so we visited Leo’s bakery – new to us and tucked off where we would never have found it.  That’s one of the beautiful things about New Orleans – all these little gems hidden away in neighbourhoods.  The croissants were amazing.

We shopped for food and drinks for our Sunday dinner party in the afternoon.  Diana remarked that I was the most patient ever as we were struggling to find things in Whole Foods – must be part of the aging process.

Fred and Kelly joined us for dinner on Sunday.  Chef D prepared her delicious Chilean sea bass and mini stuffed peppers.  The first in our planned dinner party series was a big success – thanks Diana!

I continued my slow read through “Southern Man” by Greg Iles – I really need to stay focused and finish this one up.

More time was spent on the short essays in Ann Patchett’s “These Precious Days.”  Last week, I found the essays of mixed enjoyment and this week I’ve enjoyed every one that I read quite a bit – maybe I’m just in a better mood?  I recommend this collection a lot.

I heard this on WWOZ radio and really enjoyed it:

A pleasant guitar sound from Al Stewart in a really deep track:

And finally, a fun cover of a J.J. Cale classic:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

“Great to see you after 40 years!”

On Monday we drove through to Currie (just outside of Edinburgh and next to the Heriot Watt University campus where I spent the first year of my university career) to meet up with Bobby, a classmate and part of the small group that hung out together so many years ago.  It’s close to 40 years since I last saw Bobby.

The Riccarton Inn hosted our reunion.  Diana enjoyed our historical stories quite a bit.  Bobby is a very good musician – playing both the standup and electric basses and he had a lot of good tales about his travels with bands and the albums that he’s made.  One fun story involved the old Mountbatten building in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket area – this was the home of the Heriot Watt Electrical Engineering department for the final years of our degrees.  It’s now a hotel and Bobby had played a wedding gig there.  He said the reception was in one of our old lecture halls and it still had the terraced slope – he was having interesting flashbacks.  That got us off thinking about presentations we had to do in that lecture hall.  We remembered Andy’s troubled talk about the Free Masons that made us realize we should take this assignment seriously.  Bobby gave a talk about a band recording that had won an award, playing the recording to occupy the final five minutes of his required talk time.  Then he reminded me of Euan’s grave digging talk – I had completely forgotten that.   Euan had that as a summer job and it was certainly the most unique presentation.

We were intrigued by the way the dry/sweet and boldness of wines were indicated on the menu.  Why don’t we have this?

We enjoyed this sign outside the Inn, “Good Banter”:

After a lovely lunch, Bobby invited us back to his home to meet his wife, Kirsty.  She is also a musician and teaches violin in the Currie and Balerno school systems.

We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Kirsty, and were treated to their granddaughter, Cassie, when she was woken up from her nap.  Cassie quickly warmed up to Diana and enjoyed her reading of the “Wonky Donkey”, a hilarious children’s’ book.

Bobby had told us about “walking football” which he really enjoyed due to his bum ankle.  What he didn’t tell us was that his team had won the competition – as evidenced by the huge trophy in his entryway.

I remember Bobby played forward for the Heriot Watt team and knew he had played semi-professionally for a short while.  Makes me seem very lazy – he holds down a full time job (until recent early retirement), plays many musical gigs every week, and participates in a busy sports agenda.

Here’s an explanation from the official walking football website about what makes it different:

“The biggest difference, as the name suggests, is there is no running. Walking football is played at walking pace, with players not allowed to run. This includes with the ball or off the ball, and includes jogging. You can ‘walk’ as fast as you want and walking as described in the rules is “one foot must be in contact with the ground at all times.”

One other big difference to association or 5-a-side football is that it’s classed as non-contact sport. Although tackling is allowed, this must be done with no contact.”

Our drive to and from Currie on the “wrong” side of the road was uneventful until it wasn’t.  Close to home, several long PVC looking pipes broke loose from a van in front of us.  They were headed straight for the windshield.  Fortunately there wasn’t a vehicle in the inside lane and I was able to swerve and avoid any damage.  Arriving home, I found the next door neighours out front watering my Mum’s garden – apparently they had been quite worried about my ability to drive through to Edinburgh and back given all the changes in the roads.  Sometimes I wonder how I get by, between Kenny’s concern about my driving in New Orleans and now this concern in Scotland.

I’m so happy that we made the effort to connect with Bobby – such a nice day.

Tuesday began with another walk and run along Kilwinning road.  This time Diana reported that the “mountains” were back to being “normal hills” – she’s adjusted to the undulating terrain.

We had invited Mum to lunch at the Laird’s Table restaurant outside of Fenwick and asked if she would like to include a friend or two.  She decided on the Dunlops and we were very happy to include them – always entertaining.

They were just back from holiday in Norway and had told us a bit about that.  Most of the stories were about their ever expanding family.  We had a very enjoyable lunch for several hours and laughed at the banter.

We also laughed at the “mini meringues” desert:

And of course Diana got all the pictures that she wanted:

The flights home on Wednesday were very pleasant, albeit the 10 hour leg from London to New Orleans certainly feeling quite long.  Diana was pleased when champagne was served before takeoff and I appreciated that drinks and food service started about 30 minutes after takeoff.  Much improved over our night flight over to London.

I really enjoyed the cheese plate for desert – with fancy oatcake presentation:

The “Gentlemen Out At Lunch” club (Thom, Alex, Dennis and Kenny) convened our inaugural meeting at Plume in Algiers on Thursday.  The food and service were excellent and we got to try a decent selection of the menu by sharing food among five of us.  This is the young couple that operates the restaurant with the help of their son:

The food is certainly not typical of the Indian food you find in the U.S., with light and flavorful sauces.

We voted on logos for the group.  My submission:

The name was tweaked to replace the “To” with “At” in order to create a nice acronym (GOAL).  The picture was deemed too “fancy” and “stuffy”, and so I’ve now come up with version 2.0:

I had the original displayed on a small easel for the krewe to review.  The owner noticed and asked if we would sign it and leave it for her to display on the wall – we were happy to oblige.  I’ll have to return and take a picture of that.  I was chastised for not taking any pictures – we were chatting and having too much fun.

After lunch we made a quick stop at the Crown and Anchor before sitting for way too long in traffic on the bridge over the Mississippi.  One final stop at the Milan Lounge to play along with Jeopardy on their TV (it’s a regular thing there every day).

As if we hadn’t had enough wonderful food for the week, we met a colleague of mine, Fred, who retired a couple of years ago, for lunch at Commander’s Palace on Friday.  Fred grew up in the New Orleans area and has lived in the Dallas area for the last 20 years – he makes regular visits to New Orleans to enjoy the food and drink.  The food and service were exemplary as usual during our 3 hour lunch.  It’s always good to catch up with Fred.

This is the time of year when we can expect heavy thunder storms most days.  We were able to get our walks in around the downpours on Saturday and Sunday, with some of the loudest thunder claps I’ve ever heard on Sunday.

I finished up “All the Colors of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker on the flight home.  The subject matter is certainly dark, as the title would indicate, and I enjoyed this read quite a bit.  Great characters and twists that weren’t the typical incredible nonsense.  I recommend this one.

I’m still plugging away at “Southern Man” by Greg Iles and should finish that monster in the next week or two.

I‘m also reading Ann Patchett’s “These Precious Days”, a collection of her essays published in 2021.  Some of these appeal to me more than others and the writing is as excellent as always.  The first essay about Patchett’s three Dads is my favourite so far.  The one about her husband’s flying obsession a close second.  The one about knitting- not so much.

Slash, guitarist for Guns ‘n Roses, has a new album – here he teams up with Chris Stapleton for a good cover of a classic:

The sublime original:

And finally, an old classic that popped up on a playlist:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

“Happy Birthday, Mum”

Diana and Anne enjoyed some fancy pool time at Merry Lee’s pool and cabanas on Monday.  I say it’s fancy because of the ability to reserve a luxury cabana with a fridge and TV.  I dropped Diana off, Anne joined her shortly thereafter and brought her home later in the day.

Kara invited Diana for oysters at Superior Seafood on Monday.  She just wanted to get together before we left town.  We’ll only be gone for a week, but very sweet all the same.  They had a good time for several hours.  Quite the fun Monday for McD.

Kenny, Kara and Diana had a walk and run in the park on Wednesday morning since yoga was cancelled.  I finished up work and joined them for a late breakfast at La Boulangerie.  This was Diana’s first visit and it’s a long time since I was there – the food and drinks are all very good and it’s nearby.  We should visit more often.

The 10:30pm British Airways flight took us to London Heathrow on Wednesday night.  We had a long layover and arrived in Stewarton on Thursday evening.  I’m always very impressed with the service on the less than an hour flight to Glasgow.  We were served drinks, high tea, and coffee all in much less time that it took to get a drink on the long flight from New Orleans.  Here’s a view coming into land in Glasgow, including the island of Ailsa Craig where curling stones hail from:

Mum’s birthday was on Friday.  The day started with a walk (Keith) and run (Diana) out Kilwinning Road into the country.  The views of Ailsa Craig and Arran were excellent.  On returning home, Diana complained about the incline and length of the “hills” – not something she’s used to in New Orleans.  In the afternoon we ran some errands in Stewarton – “paid the papers”, filled up with petrol, and had a delicious lunch at a local café.

Saturday began with a walk and run on what was hoped to be flatter ground in Lainshaw Woods.  Diana reported that the “mountains” killed her on this run.  I think her altimeter must be wonky as there were really only a few small inclines.  Her sore legs said otherwise.

Mum’s house became very busy on Saturday afternoon.  Elspeth, David and Bramble (dog) arrived at almost the same time as Heather, Michael, and Mila (dog), soon to be followed by Struan, Emily, and Bonnie (dog).  Nine adults and three dogs in a small living room was quite chaotic.  Struan had shorn off almost all of Bonnie’s coat, creating a strange looking dog that really was not happy with him.

We loaded into a couple of cars and headed off to dinner at Seamill Hydro in West Kilbride.  Bramble and Bonnie were left behind at Mum’s house – more on that later.  Seamill Hydro is a lovely hotel that hosts many weddings (Elspeth and David’s several years ago).  The coastal setting with a view over to Arran is beautiful:

We were seated in a quiet area and enjoyed a lovely meal.  The Hydro was chosen as it has a robust vegetarian and vegan menu.  I had haggis and potato croquettes as my starter and then cauliflower gnocchi (from the veggie menu) for my main – both were quite yummy.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their meals and the setting allowed us to have some fun banter and conversation – we even learned about Struan’s new IT job.  Several times during the evening I found myself thinking how much Struan’s mannerisms and facial expressions reminded me of Campbell.  Elspeth told me they actually think he reminds them of me.  Here’s Mum with her surprise birthday desert:

Diana couldn’t resist the pavlova:

After that it was time for some fresh air before the drive home.  Here we are with the island of Arran behind us:

On arrival home, we were greeted by the next door neighbours who had responded to the house alarm going off.  Apparently the dogs had managed to “escape” the kitchen and trigger the alarm.

David and Elspeth spent the night at Mum’s and we started Sunday with a walk up the road to the Kennedy farm, Meikle Corsehill, with David and Bramble.  David was channeling Rex Harrison in his Dr. Doolittle role on the walk:

Bramble didn’t want to be left out:

A dog at Meikle Corsehill was having a good bark at Bramble, causing it’s owner to come out and investigate the disturbance.  The owner, Ian, happened to be a previous employee of David’s and they had a good catch up chat.  I reminisced about taking in the hay on the farm, feeding the cows in the milking barn, and playing in the hay barn with Willie Kennedy and others.

After the walk we settled in to watch the Wimbledon men’s final – a bit one-sided, although not as much as the score indicated, in my opinion.  We enjoyed a yummy lunch and then said goodbye to Elspeth and David, who needed to make the long drive home before it got too late.

What a wonderful couple of days with family!

The ESPN Espy awards ceremony happened during the week.  Steve Gleason received the Arthur Ashe courage award and delivered an excellent speech using his computer aided voice.  His son, River, joined him onstage for support.  Here’s the video:

I had to take a break from “Southern Man” this week as it’s way too heavy for travel.  I switched to “All the Colors of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker, which I have online and have almost finished.

Here’s an online summary:

“Late one summer, the town of Monta Clare is shattered by the abduction of teenager Joseph ‘Patch’ Macauley. Nobody more so than Saint Brown, who will risk everything to find her best friend.

But when she does: it will break her heart.

Patch lies alone in a pitch-black room – until he feels a hand in his. Her name is Grace and, though they cannot see each other, she lights their world with her words.

But when he escapes: there is no sign she ever even existed.

Left with only her voice and her name, he paints her from broken memories – and charts an epic search to find her.

As years turn to decades, and hope becomes obsession, Saint will shadow his journey – on a darker path to hunt down the man who took them – and set free the only boy she ever loved.

Even if finding the truth means losing each other forever…”

This has been a very enjoyable book so far, one that I have read in the wee hours when I was suffering from jetlag.

Some passages that I enjoyed:

A unique simile:

“was a steady drip from a leaking faucet, like a metronome that scaled up the tension.”

An interesting new word for me:

“The low hum of a generator buried beneath the baldachin of nature. They’d find him dead. Of course. And they’d catch the guy, but..”

Some other new information to me:

“Days were named after the planets of Hellenistic astrology. Saturn, Sun, and Moon. Saturday, Sunday,… Moonday.”

On the strained relationship between Saint and her new husband, Jimmy:

““He treats you well?” Patch said. She wanted to tell him that Jimmy said there wasn’t room for her piano. That sometimes she fixed his dinner and he forgot to thank her. That he was not silly in any of the good ways. She wanted to tell Patch that Jimmy did not like her being a cop. That he wanted to have children right away, and that when they did he expected her to step out of her life and into a mother’s. Most of all she wanted to tell him that she was scared. She was a cop who had done so many brave things. But she was scared.”

““He never made me laugh. And I knew, before I met him. I knew love and laughter and how sweet life could be.” “You still married him.” She looked at Patch like he was a child, like he did not know how the world kept turning. “Sometimes people reserve so much of themselves. It’s like saving a fine wine for an occasion that never materializes.””

A great song by Martin Sexton (not related to Charlie Sexton at all – a misconception that I’ve had for a number of years):

A really interesting song from Thievery Corporation:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!