Category: Books

“Lundi Gras King and Queen”

Monday, Lundi Gras, was a big day for our group.  We had brunch at Commander’s Palace.  We were seated in the same booth we had when celebrating Campbell and Molly’s engagement.

I loved my pulled pork benedict, paired with the three little soups appetizer (including turtle with sherry) and the bread pudding souffle with whisky sauce.

Other folks had eggs Sardou and tournedos of boeuf.  Those who had eaten at Commander’s before commented that the food seemed even better than ever.

We made a quick trip upstairs to say hello to Fred and his family – standing reservation for two tables for eight people.

This was my request from the band roaming around the restaurant and taking requests:

Julie was presented with a toque to celebrate her birthday (not really but the original trip that didn’t work out was for her birthday.)

As we were readying to leave, Ti (one of the two owners) stopped us for an announcement – Marco and Julie had been chosen as the King and Queen of Lundi Gras.  They were helped into their capes, masks and crowns before parading through the room.  What a treat!

Marco really got into the parading through the room part:

What an amazing experience.  It was so much fun to share our wonderful local establishment with new people.

After some regroup time we were able to enjoy a bit of some night parades.  Orpheus always impresses with the illuminated floats.

Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) began early with the assembling of the “Buttercup walking krewe.”  Several new members joined this year – Hugh, Sarah, Patrick, and of course our guests.  We had a blast parading down St Charles Avenue to Canal street.  I laughed as we stopped for Greg to do repairs -he travels with a full set of tools – battery powered screw driver, hot glue gun – who knew.

From Canal Street we paraded down to Harry’s Corner bar at Charters and Dumaine.  Here’s most of the group there:

The French Quarter was quite a scene with all kinds of impromptu bands and groups parading around.

I hope that Julie’s question on arrival, “What is it that you really like about living here?”, was answered over the few days they stayed with us.

Marco and Julie made their way back to our home and caught an Uber for their flight home.  Vince and Lori departed on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday and Thursday were very much catch up days – cleaning up and attending appointments that had been pushed out until after Mardi Gras (when we can easily exit the box and drive to them.)

Diana got energetic and had pickleball with Laurie early Friday.  Then Kenny picked us up for lunch at the new Cuban restaurant on Freret Street, Cafe Conmigo.

We enjoyed the Cuban sandwiches, croquettes, pastries coffee and drinks.

Chandler, one of the folks operating the place, had recently visited San Sebastian for “research” on the new Basque restaurant he’s part of opening in mid-March.  We got a couple of great recommendations for our trip.

We finally found some energy on Saturday morning and headed out for a run/walk in the park.  The humidity was almost 100% and fortunately there was a slight wind and the temperature was mid 70s.  Nothing compared to what’s to come but a bit of a shock to the system this early in the year.  We ran into Kenny doing laps on his bike.  He was looking forward to Kara’s return from Italy on Saturday evening.

After the park we stopped by Denny’s to return some things and do some final planning for our upcoming trip.

We invited Kenny and Kara to join us for music in the sculpture garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) on Sunday afternoon.  The chilly weather meant the event was moved inside the museum.

Sir Chantz was quite entertaining – singing over multiple octaves, playing a great trumpet, dancing, tap dancing and performing double back flips – he did it all at a high level.

Here’s something from his larger band – they spend a lot of time touring in Germany:

Sir Chantz was followed by the Wes Anderson IV quartet.  Such a wonderfully sweet and smooth trombone tone.

After music, Kara (just back from Turin and Milan on Saturday night) suggested a visit to The Bell.  None of us had been and thought that sounded like a great idea.  This is a gourmet British pub.  I had heard Sir Paul McCartney visited when last in town – so should be good enough for us.

I was explaining what a Scotch egg was to Kenny when the waitress burst my bubble by telling me there were none left after the Sunday brunch rush.  Ugh.  However, the hush puppies, trout dip, and fish and chips that we shared were all excellent.  The “turbo” gin and tonic also seemed to be much appreciated.  As the driver, I decided any drink with a “turbo” rating probably wasn’t for me and stuck to my diet coke.

That may be one of the more action packed weeks in a while.

My first book (Mardi Gras recovery days involved a lot of quiet reading) this week was “Tilt” by Emma Pattee.  I enjoyed this read very much, finishing in less than 24 hours.  I didn’t find out until after reading that Pattee is an environmental writer, and that makes a lot of sense now.  Here’s an online summary:

“Last night, you and I were safe. Last night, in another universe, your father and I stood fighting in the kitchen.

Annie is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at IKEA when a massive earthquake hits Portland, Oregon. With no way to reach her husband, no phone or money, and a city left in chaos, there’s nothing to do but walk.

Making her way across the wreckage of Portland, Annie experiences human desperation and kindness: strangers offering help, a riot at a grocery store, and an unlikely friendship with a young mother. As she walks, Annie reflects on her struggling marriage, her disappointing career, and her anxiety about having a baby. If she can just make it home, she’s determined to change her life.

“Shocking and full of heart” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Tilt is a “moving adrenaline rush” (The New York Times Book Review) and “epic odyssey” (NPR) about the disappointments and desires we all carry, and what each of us will do for the people we love.”

My second book was “Wreck” by Catherine Newman.  I enjoyed the style, humour, and characters a lot and look forward to reading other Newman books.  This reminded me a lot of Anne Tyler and a bit of Elizabeth Strout.

An article in the newspaper advertising an upcoming performance of an opera by Terence Blanchard reminded me of this classic post Katrina album:

Something from the great John Mooney:

Two completely different offerings from New Orleans musicians.

I was amazed by the skill and musicality of this bass player:

“Mardi Gras Part 1 – Tim and Dee”

8am pickleball started out Diana’s week as has become customary.  I really love the pre-alarms that go off prior to that.  After that, we headed out to run some errands – return something (maybe a dress) to the UPS store, pay too much to get a duplicate car registration document since the Office of Motor Vehicles hasn’t been able to mail me one in almost a month, go back to the brake inspection garage to get the official tag (good for another two years), and pick up some groceries at the Rouse’s on Freret Street.  A relatively productive outing.

After Rouse’s, we decided to walk across the street and have a coffee at Mojo.  There was another set of three youth behind the counter.  They were all engaged in a conversation about whether they had enough towels and completely ignored me for several minutes.  I turned to walk out and one of the hipster youth finally agreed to take my order.  The coffee at Mojo is very good once you get to order.

Temperatures were warmer on Monday afternoon and so we got some outside Mardi Gras prep done.  I put up the Mardi Gras flag and we practiced erecting our new shade that will save our parade spot.  So much easier and quicker than the old one we’ve been using.

Diana made a Mardi Gras flower at Laurie’s studio on Sunday – isn’t it pretty?  She hung that after we took the shade down.

You can see it in the left hand window above the porch.

You can also see the latest silly blow up thing that Diana was very pleased with and entertained by.  A highland cow ready for Mardi Gras – were do you get this stuff?

A little bit of work on the front door lock – it has been problematic these last few months – and it was time to head back inside.

“Take this Waltz” starring a very young Michele Williams and Seth Rogen was a movie that I enjoyed quite a bit on Monday evening.

Lunch after Tuesday pickleball clinic became difficult.  We came up with three local places and none of them were open on Tuesdays.  Monday used to be the common day to close, but many places are now catering to visitors staying for a long weekend and closing on Tuesday instead.  We finally decided on Rum House – always easy and good.  I walked over from Aidan Gill after my haircut and Diana met me on my walk.  It was a nice day for the walk home.

In the evening, I dropped Diana at Nina’s new apartment.  She took over some flowers and wine and I know Nina was pleased to show off her new place.

Wednesday morning yoga was followed by a drive over to Jefferson hospital for a Diana appointment, and then a stop at Rouse’s to get some last minute supplies for the Harvey visit.  The typical run before yoga didn’t happen as it was raining pretty heavily.

Jefferson hospital medical complex was our destination in the afternoon for a McD appointment.  We followed that with an equally exciting visit to Rouse’s for Mardi Gras visitor supplies.

Diana had pickleball clinic again on Thursday morning.  This week was a tournament and she came in 3rd place with a medal to prove it.

I picked up Tim and Dee at the airport on Thursday afternoon and we enjoyed an early dinner at Tim’s favourite Juan’s Flying Burrito.

Tim and I set up our parade spot at Aunt Suzie’s and then treated ourselves to a frozen Irish coffee at the Red Dog Diner:

Tim thought the Red Dog head looked a lot like his beagle, Buddy.

Our next event on Friday was lunch at Commander’s Palace.  We had a wonderful lunch and everyone loved their food and experience.

Deirdre had a chuckle at the poufy souffle being pierced to pour in the whiskey sauce.

j

Here’s an after lunch picture in the lush courtyard:

The evening brought on the first Mardi Gras parades for our guests.  Tim was raring to go:

I was amazed at how much he got into collecting loot (throws) from the floats.

Including some light up things from Cleopatra:

We had a great Lyft driver, Patricia, who handily got us “out of the box” and into the French Quarter on Saturday lunchtime.  She dropped us at Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop – the oldest operating bar in New Orleans.

We rambled down Bourbon Street from there and arrived at the Peychaud’s patio where we had a nice drink and shared a cheese and charcuterie plate.  Dee enjoyed her Pimm’s cup:

I snapped this picture on Royal Street – a gig for Giancarlo?

We headed back home in time to see the afternoon parades and meet up with the horde that had gathered – Denny, Anne, Thom, Alex, Randy, Amy etc.  I enjoyed the Trombone Shorty float and band.

Kenny and Kara brought some yummy muffulettas from Central Grocery which were quickly inhaled by the horde.

Our guests departed on Sunday morning and we made our leisurely way back around to the afternoon parades, which were running very slowly and very late.  Diana always enjoys the rolling Elvii:

We retired a little early and kinda watched the Superbowl – neither one of us really invested with either team.  I was supporting the Patriots until I saw the pre-game interview with their quarterback.  Turned out he did not perform well at all and Seattle won easily.

That was a busy few days!

My book this week was “The Sense of an Ending” by Julian Barnes.  I’m about half way finished – which I think is respectable given all the distractions.  I am enjoying this one and hoping it picks up a bit in the second half.  Here’s an online summary:

“BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present.

A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes’s oeuvre.

Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.”

The wonderful book “The Correspondent” inspired me to write my first letter in a while.  Poor David’s Pub, south of downtown Dallas, is closing in a couple of months and I decided to write a letter to David Card, owner and operator for the last 45 years.  I told him about my favourite performances at his club over the years and how much it had meant to me.  And, as Virginia Evans says in her book, you are likely to get a reply.  I received this note back from “Poor David, himself:”

I’ll leave you with this interesting song that I heard on the soundtrack to “Honey, Don’t”, a strange and somewhat depressing film.

“Brrr!”

Diana’s week started again with 8am pickleball, and again it was cold and early.  She cooked up the oysters from Frank on Monday afternoon – I had suggested using a muffin pan and Diana found a recipe that was designed for that – lots of garlic, butter, parmesan and a little spinach make most things taste good.  These were delicious.

The Tuesday pickleball clinic happened as usual.  This week I met Diana at Aroma for lunch.  This is a nearby Indian restaurant that I enjoy.  The flavours are so well done.  We shared a couple of appetizers – Gobi Manchurian (Gobi are cauliflower florets and the Manchurian has garlic, ginger, chilies, onions, and peppers) and vegetable pakora (not my favourite version of this), and then a yummy butter chicken and butter garlic naan.  I need to visit this place more often.

I am enjoying this routine of visiting a walking distance restaurant after Tuesday pickleball.  I have a few more ideas queued up.

The Tuesday puzzle made me smile – there was a Topsy Turvy land book that I enjoyed as a kid that I remember well.

A similarly clued answer on Wednesday made me smile as I remembered my turtle attacked by snails joke:

Oops – I skipped ahead with that Wednesday puzzle update.  I did not make it to trivia on Tuesday evening, and the small team still pulled off a win.  Kudos to Kenny for driving to a zero point wager on the final question when he realized the team didn’t know the answer – we have a bad habit of betting the full twenty points when we’re not sure and dropping quickly down the rankings with the lost points.

I drove Diana over to yoga on Wednesday morning and took a lap around the park.  In the afternoon, we made the long (18 minutes of so) drive over to Jefferson hospital for Diana to meet with the orthopedic folks.  Her back is hurting again in a different place.  She’ll have an MRI after Mardi Gras and we’ll take it from there – a frustratingly slow process.

Diana decided on another pickleball session on Thursday morning – it’s chilly outside and this allows her to get some exercise and fun inside.  She met me at the HiVolt coffee shop afterwards and we shared a root veggie bowl – very tasty and filling.  I really like this painting that they have in there:

And I continue to be so thankful for all these independent coffee shops that I can walk to, serving good drinks and food.

After lunch, Diana drove over to her annual eye exam (all good- no new lenses required) and then stopped in to try and pick up the ring that she was having resized.  The ring was too big and then she got trapped in the jeweler parking lot due to a Jaguar with an issue that required a tow -unreliable British cars at the core.

As I was leaving HiVolt for the walk back home, I got a call from Steve Washwell.  I worked with him more than 25 years ago at EDS in Silicon Valley, and we share the same birthday.  I hear from him every few years, and we always have an entertaining  catchup.  Having walked past “Down the Hatch” a few times on my way to HiVolt, I decided to give this divey looking bar a try as a place to relax and catch up with Washwell.   A very relaxing and quiet patio out back was perfect for my catchup.  Steve didn’t know we had moved to New Orleans and was excited to hear the details of that.  He has a bucket list desire to attend the Bacchus Ball and I just might have a contact that could make that happen for him.

I mentioned to Kenny that I enjoyed my visit and saw some good looking burgers that folks were having for lunch.  We should put it on our list.

He took my up on that for Friday lunch.  I walked over to French Truck for my relaxing morning coffee in the morning, while Diana was at pickleball again.  The trio behind the counter were quite annoying – entitled youth cutting up and doing that explosive laughing thing.  Not what I wanted to accompany my relaxing coffee.  I committed to wait five minutes before telling them to sssshh.  Fortunately they got busy and didn’t have time for their nonsense for a little while.  I know Diana would be proud of my restraint.

The burger that I split with Kenny at Down the Hatch was very good, and we had a nice visit.  A new local place to put on our rotation for a casual lunch and drink with a good patio.

Meanwhile, the little monsters were taking part in the Friday protest about ICE and their tactics:

Saturday was our coldest so far, and of course Nina’s move in day.  I suppose cold temperatures are better than brutally hot for moving?  We usually like to watch Krewe de Vieux (the most irreverent of our parades and the most politically hard hitting) in the Marigny on Saturday night – this year it was just too cold for that.

My book this week was “The Life Impossible” by Matt Haig.  I thought the idea of a retired math teacher running around Ibiza sounded entertaining.  I recommend the book, although it quickly becomes necessary to suspend disbelief to enjoy.

“When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life, and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.

Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.”

Here’s a quick overview of how Grace is feeling at the start of the tale:

“And I did feel it. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was something. The truth was that I hadn’t really felt much for years. Just a vague lingering sadness. Anhedonia. Do you know that word? The inability to feel pleasure. An unfeeling. Well, that had been me for some time. I have known depression, and it wasn’t that. It didn’t have the intensity of depression. It was just a lack. I was just existing. Food was just there to fill me up. Music had become nothing more than patterned noise. I was simply, you know, there. You should be able to feel something.”

This Nana Mouskouri reference made me smile.  Hadn’t thought of her since Dad used to play her records.  Could picture her with those big glasses.

“I remember her as a very beautiful and shy young woman, with an air of glamour, which was a rarer quality back in 1979 than it is now. She had a heavy fringe and long dark hair and wore beads. She reminded me of the singer Nana Mouskouri, but without the glasses.”

Grace explains her love for mathematics:

“Maybe that is why I loved mathematics. To properly know mathematics is to know the only thing that can be assuredly known. Politics and sociology and history and psychology have facts you have to interpret. But in mathematics facts are just facts. There is no arguing. There is no left-wing or right-wing algebra. There is no sin in geometry and no guilt in trigonometry. Mathematics is the purity of peace. Except, of course, it is also as mysterious and enigmatic as the whole of life, and expecting it–or anything–to conform to what I wanted it to be was a mistake. And that is the most devastating thing of all. When the logical world we have sought out crumbles to dust in front of our eyes.”

I love the use of Easter Island here:

“I thought he was trying to shock me. So, despite my anxiety in that moment, I kept my face as still and strong as an Easter Island statue and gave him not even a flicker of the prudery he was probably expecting.”

A tour of all the different kinds of folks inhabiting Ibiza:

“There were so many Ibizas, I realised. There was the family holiday go-karting, horse-riding kind of Ibiza. The party Ibiza. The hippy Ibiza. The spa hotel Ibiza. The scuba diving and beachy Ibiza. There was the expensive, yachty, Michelin-starred Ibiza. The Leonardo DiCaprio Ibiza. The nature trail, star-gazing Ibiza. The traditional Ibiza of folk dances and villages and festivals and churches and old customs. And then of course there was the local, lived, contemporary Ibiza I had caught glimpses of in supermarkets and cafés and amid the dog walkers beside the road. There was seemingly an Ibiza for everyone, except lonely grieving widows.”

Another great simile:

“It was a rickety, creaky old wooden dive boat with an even more rickety engine that stopped and started like a dog growling at a mischievous squirrel.”

Venn diagram – a nice maths reference:

“Her accent was strange. Somewhere in the Venn diagram overlap between American and English and Dutch and Spanish and nowhere at all.”

I like this creche and abandoned toddler quote:

“He was quite young. Under forty. But then, everyone was quite young. (When you hit your seventies the whole world is basically one big crèche and everyone in it an abandoned toddler.) It wasn’t the clothes or hair or face or youthfulness that interested me.”

The Barry White of marine mammals:

“But this whale uses a very unusual high frequency to make his calls. Fifty-two hertz. It is the world’s loneliest whale because no other whale understands calls at that frequency. It is a blue whale, and blue whales are much lower. Blue whales are the Barry White of marine mammals. Deep, deep, deep. So the poor high-pitched creature has to swim through the ocean all alone, finding it impossible to make friends and with no one to hear his call.”

A great description of a Cure song:

“‘Listen. It is called “The Last Day Of Summer”. It is by The Cure. I wasn’t really the goth era. I was the Rolling Stones era. I was protest music. Soul and Dylan and Joan Baez and Sam Cooke and Gil Scott-Heron. Imagine me in eyeliner! But I’ve always tried to keep my mind open to later music. It is such a beautiful song. Julia–my wife–she loved The Cure. We saw them at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona. She liked this song a lot too. It is so underrated. It is a bit sad and not my normal thing. But listen. Listen to those guitars, how they create shapes, like a forest. Then his voice comes in and it is as natural as a shadow.’ He paused. ‘This song is exquisite.’”

I’ve spent some time with the Black Keys album “Ohio Players” (a gift from Carolyn) over the last few weeks.  It’s very good – not a bad track on the whole thing.

A trip into “A Case of You” yielded some great finds.  I had been listening to the Joni Mitchell live album “Shadows and Light” and loved the version of this song.  Jaco on bass, Pat Metheny on guitar, the Brecker Brothers on brass – what could go wrong.  Here are a few great versions:

Are you in an open minded and somewhat experimental mood now?  If not, skip the next option.  This is an album that showed up on the 5 favourite albums from Spin magazine – the target this week was Nick Mason, drummer for Pink Floyd.  He had two albums that I enjoy – “Halcyon Days” from Bruce Hornsby and “Jack Johnson” by Miles Davis (a huge boxing fan.)

Sly Dunbar passed this week.  One half of the legendary “Sly and Robbie” rhythm section, I first heard on Black Uhuru records from the 80s.  And then heard everywhere on those records record at Nassau studios – Joe Cocker, the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, Sinead O’Connor etc etc etc.

Remembering Sly Dunbar

“Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus featuring Wonder Women”

Diana started the week with a couple of things she doesn’t care for – early morning starts and cold weather.  It was a bit cold on Monday morning before 8am when she headed out for pickleball.

Slow learner – she had pickleball again on Tuesday morning – this time not until 11am though.  Diana met me for lunch at Juan’s Flying Burrito after pickleball.  We snoozed until the meal was almost over before realizing that this was our official inspection prior to Tim’s visit in a few weeks, hence the almost empty plates and drinks – he really loves Juan’s.

I had walked over to lunch, Diana got dropped off, and so we walked to Aquila Bistro for an after lunch coffee.

We went home for a while, and then were off to “Craft Time” at Kara’s home, in preparation for the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus on Saturday night.  Diana had done a good job on bracelets, and now they were going to make bandoliers.  They used Jenga blocks and decorated them, with Velcro on one side.  Apparently some of the nerdy types that attend this parade, wear Velcro sashes and stick their bandoliers on right away.

We left the ladies to their crafting and went over to Tuesday night trivia.  There were only five of us : the Ogan twins, Kenny, Pepperoni and me.

An early round question was about an early movie star associated with horror movies who also wrote cookbooks.  I flashed back to the Neighborhood Services restaurants in Dallas that played an old horror movie star reading recipes in the restroom.  I was convinced it was Bela Lugosi and convinced the team to submit that answer.  Wrong!  Vincent Price – which I can completely hear now that I know.  Ugh!

In the lead going into the final question, we needed to avoid our typically over confident betting regime.  We all felt good that we were close enough on the 4 questions to get full points for the win.  Here  are the questions and the correct answers:

I had 36 as the correct answer.  Other members of our five-top thought the answer should be a few points higher.  I think we submitted 38.  That was within the band and netted us first place, with a score of 109, I think one of our highest.  Phlat Phil, our nemeses, came in 2 points behind.

You might not know this, but Tuesday was also penguin awareness day.  BE AWARE!

Finn traveled to Honolulu, Hawaii this week.  He and Holly went for a short vacation.  Here are some pictures.  Finn wanted to make sure he could go wherever he wanted, hence the Rubicon Jeep.

Wednesday began with the standard Diana yoga session (inside this time of year, and with no pre-run due to the “frigid conditions.”)  After that Diana had a medical appointment, and so Kenny picked me up for lunch.  He had suggested El Pavo Real.  I had only been once before and enjoyed it.  We both had enchiladas and they were delicious, with plenty of leftovers.  We agreed that hats with “Make America Go Away” were not a good idea for the girls group traveling abroad to Europe over Mardi Gras.  It’s good to feel accomplishment over a lunch.

Diana and I went to see David Torkanowsky (I believe the best living pianist in New Orleans, with Oscar Rossignoli a close second) on Thursday night.  This was part of the weekly “Booker Sessions” at the Maple Leaf.

Such a great left hand:

David knows how to play to the crowd during Carnivale:

Speaking of Carnivale – here’s McD from 2 years ago on Mardi Gras day – one of my all time favourites.

McD had some leggings hemmed at Lulu Lemon (apparently a free service.)  We picked those up and then I had planned to surprise Diana with a quick stop in the 21st Amendment (Repealing Prohibition) for some music and a drink.

Lulu Lemon was a tad too efficient and we were a bit early for the 21st Amendment.  No worries, I see Felix’s Oyster house right ahead, and without a line out the door like Acme across the street.  We had great service and a very nice experience in Felix’s.  I loved my chargrilled half dozen and Diana thought her dozen on the half shell worked out well.

After oysters, the 21st Amendment was a treat.  Big Joe Kennedy and brother entertaining from start to finish.

I had planned to watch Alex Honnold’s free climb of the Taipei 101 on Friday night.  Rain caused this to be delayed until Saturday evening.

That’s a video that we saw well after the fact – it certainly makes me feel woozy.

In between, Frank stopped by with oysters, a jar that he had shucked and a bunch that he was happy to open up for Diana.  She hasn’t had a personal in home oyster shucker before.

The Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus rolled on Saturday evening.  Kenny picked us up with the Ogan twins already loaded.   We enjoyed pizza and drinks at Margot’s before walking over to the route.  Diana always loves being sandwiched between the two young men.

We walked down St Claude to Franklin to find the Wonder Woman troupe.  Mission accomplished:

Here’s a sample of the walking Krewes:

We bought tickets for “You Got Gold”, a movie about John Prine with a Q&A with his widow, Fiona, and got an update on Saturday that Fiona would not be able to make the Sunday show due to a family emergency – I suspect related to the massive winter storm.

This movie was outstanding but will have a limited audience – those that love the music of John Prine.  I thought “Hello in There” and “Storm Windows” were excellent.

We’ve been watching the NFL playoff games and didn’t like any of the results.  I think the SuperBowl will have light viewership this year.  We got the final results after the John Prine movie and gave up…

Both of our teams lost.  Oh well.  On to the Super Bowl.

After the challenges last week, 3 books started and ditched, I found an ok, and I mean just “ok” book.  I read “The Irish Goodbye” this week and enjoyed it all right.  Especially after all those that I started and couldn’t’ finish.  The online plot summary:

“It’s been years since the three Ryan sisters were all together at their beloved family home. Two decades ago, their lives were upended by a fatal accident on their brother Topher’s boat. Now the Ryan women are back and eager to reconnect, but each carries a heavy secret. The eldest, Cait, still holding guilt for the role no one knows she played in the boat accident, rekindles a flame with her high school crush. Middle sister Alice has been thrown a curveball that threatens the career she’s restarting and faces a difficult decision that may doom her marriage. And the youngest, Maggie, is finally taking the risk of bringing the woman she loves home to meet her devoutly Catholic mother.

When Cait invites a guest from their shared past to dinner, old tensions boil over and new truths surface, nearly overpowering the flickering light of their family bond. Far more than a family reunion will be ruined unless the sisters can find a way to forgive one another―and themselves.”

Here’s a nice little treat that I found this week.  So many things to enjoy – the organ riff at the beginning, the brass section, and the New Orleans piano.  All underpinning a great song featuring Anders.  I didn’t check but I’m guessing he produced this album for Kara.

How about this version of John Lennon’s classic “Jealous Guy”?  I heard the Bryan Ferry version recently and went looking for other covers.

This duet between piano and balafon really caught my attention.  The balafon is one of a few diatonic instruments, meaning that it is designed to play notes from a set key or scale (usually a 7 note major or minor scale), rather than all 12 semitones of the chromatic scale available on the piano. Both are considered percussive instruments – notes made by striking a slat or string with a hammer.

Some more about the balafon:  A balafon is a traditional West African percussion instrument similar to a xylophone, featuring wooden keys (slats) arranged over gourd resonators (calabashes) that amplify the sound, often with a buzzing membrane. Played with mallets, it’s an ancient instrument used in Griot traditions for storytelling, ceremonies, and celebrations, with roots in the Malian Empire and variations found across West Africa and beyond, even influencing instruments like the marimba. 

Let’s finish with this enjoyable collaboration between New Orleans Naughty Professor, Jelly Joseph and Marcus King on guitar and backing vocals:

Lemon of the Pink by the Books – Pitchfork review

“I can’t find a book that I want to read”

I completed a ballot for the Golden Globe awards on Sunday night.  I did some research on the likely winners and then adjusted for my preferences.  Diana picked purely based on what she had enjoyed.

I was pleased with my 19 correct of 28 awards, or 68% success.  Just not that many movies that I liked this year.  “Blue Moon” was a real highlight.

The inauguration for our new mayor, Helena Moreno, was televised on Monday morning.  We were pleased to see our New Year’s Eve party guest, River Eckert, kicking off the ceremony with Trombone Shorty.  They did a great job on “Sunny Side of the Street:”

While Kara and family were in Mexico City, Diana had volunteered to help make some bracelets for the upcoming parade.  Kara, Nina, and Debra walk in the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus (IKOC – you can see the letters on the bracelets) which rolls on January 24th.  They walk in the Wonder Woman group – hence the “WW” on the bracelets.  Attempts have been made to recruit Diana and I have advised her that I don’t think she would be able to stand the waiting around for the parade to start and the other delays.  And it could be chilly for a Wonder Woman outfit.

The bracelet factory was running pretty much 24 hours a day and had produced over 50 items by the end of Sunday.

I had my annual eye exam on Tuesday morning, and Diana enjoyed a pickleball clinic – seems the overly competitive and serious folks from last week didn’t attend this week.  We made a trip to Trader Joes in the afternoon and found it pleasantly uncrowded and well stocked.  I’m sad to report that I’ve been to this new store enough times that I feel like I know my way around.

Tuesday evening brought our worst trivia performance in a long time.  We scored 50 points, when the winners are usually scoring 100 or more.  Our second half performance was very poor.  “Is Egypt part of the Middle East?”, “How old do you need to be to serve in Congress?”, and many others stumped us.  The final question was just as tricky:

Kenny knew that Reagan had carried 48 or 49 states.  Some of us thought Spielberg had more than that if you included screenwriting, directing, producing and executive producing.  Jack said he had 24 – very close.  I thought the Stones had 8-10 top ten albums – 38?  Wow!  We all agreed that volcanoes was the smallest value.  Bottom line – we were nowhere close on this question and lost the 20 points that we wagered.

I watched the Colbert show to cleanse my palette from that horrible trivia performance and was amazed (as usual) by Yo Yo Ma’s performance – Bach into Somewhere Over the Rainbow:

If it’s Wednesday, Diana’s doing yoga (too cold for a run this morning pre-yoga.)  I stuck around to let Billy in and out as he mostly finished up the post repair, and brought redfish and trout that he caught recently.

Diana took a volley and “net play” pickleball clinic and seemed to enjoy what she learned.

Thursday started with a pleasant walk along Magazine to Undergrowth coffee where Diana and I shared one of their award winning breakfast burritos.  Then we walked up Napoleon to St Charles and back home.  It was a little chilly but nice for a brisk walk.

In the afternoon we saw the movie “Is This Thing On?” starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern, and directed by Bradley Cooper.  Thom had been raving about this show at trivia.  It was good but seemed a bit slow and predictable.  The Peyton Manning cameo was entertaining.  The Broad is always so pleasantly different than normal big box theaters.

We followed the movie with Happy Hour at Cafe Degas.  Always such an affordable treat.  The guys at the table next to us provided some good entertainment.

Billy finished up the post repair on Friday afternoon.  It’s good to know we’re back to having good structural integrity- I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t noticed or we had been out of town for a while.

We had shopped for the ingredients for a black bean fajita casserole recipe that sounded good to me, and I made that for Friday dinner.  I think it turned out well and I would make it again.  And it’s a plus that it’s a one pan (cast iron skillet) dish.

Saturday brought a couple of divisional NFL playoff games.  The Denver Broncos and the Buffalo Bills played a very close and good game, with Denver ultimately winning by a field goal in overtime.  And then came the bad news, the Broncos quarterback, Bo Nix, broke his ankle at the end of the game and will miss the remainder of the season.  Let’s see what kind of magic Sean Payton can come up with from a backup.

The 49ers did not fare as well.  They lost in a very one-sided game against the Seattle Seahawks.

Kenny and Kara came out to play on Sunday afternoon.  We visited the Michalopoulos exhibit at the Cabildo in the French Quarter.

The exhibit had over 60 of his paintings and they were all of houses and street scenes.  None of his cars or animals – I do like his old car paintings.  Here are some of my favourites from the exhibit:

Vaughan’s lounge where I saw Kermit Ruffins perform with Henry Butler on my first night in New Orleans:

Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith Bar – the oldest bar in New Orleans:

Two house and street scenes:

This was my first time in the Cabildo and it is an impressive old building, well used for exhibit displays.  Here’s a little more on the history of the building:

The Cabildo in New Orleans, built by the Spanish (1795-1799), was the seat of colonial government, the site of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase transfer, and later housed the Louisiana Supreme Court, including for the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case.  Now part of the Louisiana State Museum, this historic building showcases Louisiana’s history, from its French and Spanish colonial past through significant American events, with exhibits covering culture, politics, and even Hurricane Katrina.

• Spanish Government: The building housed the Spanish colonial government and its municipal council (the Illustrious Cabildo) from its completion until 1803.
• Louisiana Purchase: The formal transfer ceremony where France ceded Louisiana to the United States, effectively doubling the size of the young nation, took place in its Sala Capitular (Council Chamber) in December 1803.
• City Hall & Supreme Court: It served as New Orleans’ City Hall until 1853 and then became home to the Louisiana Supreme Court, where major cases like the Slaughterhouse Cases and Plessy v. Ferguson were heard. 

We followed our cultural visit with a stop at Patula for drinks and snacks.  Turkish meatballs, mushroom toast and the Patula sandwich filled us up nicely.

Meanwhile, in Redwood City, Will was busy getting Finn’s car ready for sale.  It looks better than new after all Will’s efforts:

I had the hardest time finding a book to read this week.  I started “Queen Esther” by John Irving, got 50 or more pages in and decided it wasn’t for me.  Irving’s books are never fast paced page turners, but this one was exceptionally plodding and with subject matter that really didn’t capture my interest.

Next, I tried “Marriage at Sea” by  Sophie Elmhirst.  This was a little better but again became really slow in the middle section.  I gave up on this one too.  The critics and President Obama don’t see it the same as I do.

“THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER & ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025″

Maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood for reading.  I don’t remember not finishing two in a row ever.  Onto the third option, “The Vaster Wilds” by Lauren Groff.  One of my favourite writers, I’ve enjoyed everything that I’ve read from Groff.

Not this one – two much fantasy from a little girl lost in the woods.  Again, it seemed to drag on very slowly.  And again, President Obama is wrong.

“ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR, TIME, ESQUIRE, VOGUE, LA TIMES, SLATE, HARPER’S BAZAAR and others.”

Ok, I give up, I’m going with a very safe option, Anne Tyler.  She’s 84 and continues to write at the very highest level.  Her books are typically about relatively mundane family happenings, but with such wonderful insights and empathy.

I chose “Three Days in June”, a story about a mother and her ex-husband during their daughters wedding weekend.  Excellent characters, plenty of humour and the precision of the dialogue and the observations.  Always a good choice.

Here’s hoping that I don’t have such a difficult time selecting my next book.

Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead passed away over the weekend.  I have enjoyed his music with Ratdog and Dead and Company for many years.

I came across this fun app that lets you recreate the MTV shows of the 80s and 90s – Diana and I have enjoyed the 80s channel.

I want my MTV app

“Carnival Time”

I was determined to productively check off some action items on the first Monday of the first full week of January.  I gathered up the documents needed and drove over to the Shell gas station to get a “brake tag.”  This is Louisiana’s version of a state inspection.  They check brakes, lights, windshield washers and the like – takes less than 5 minutes start to finish.  That’s if you have all the right stuff.  I had my license and insurance document but not the registration letter.  “Why would I need that when I have the sticker from the letter on my license plate?”  “I need to get some special numbers from the letter.”  Good grief.  A search at home revealed that I had apparently decided that was a letter that did not need to be saved.  Oh well – I have a 30 day temporary “brake tag” and have ordered a duplicate letter.  The joy of state bureaucracies.

Just around the corner from the Shell gas station is our optical office.   I needed to get a couple of pairs of glasses fixed/adjusted so stopped in and received the same professional and friendly service as always.  My annual exam was scheduled while I was there – will knock that out next week.  One productive visit – check.

There was an interesting little coffee shop next to Bright Eyes Optique.  I decided to venture in and check it out.  Petite Rouge provided me with a robust Americano and a tasty egg on brioche sandwich – another in the collection of excellent locally owned coffee shops all around New Orleans.  Here’s some interesting history – started as a little Citroen truck:

Carnival season kicked off on Tuesday.  Roland and Jules dressed their pups appropriately for the occasion.

I know they seriously don’t look real, but I see them most days and that’s what they look like toddling down Washington Avenue.

I chose to attend trivia rather than watch the Phunny Phorty Phellows roll by on the streetcar, as we have done the last couple of years.  More on trivia in a bit.

Diana attended a pickleball clinic and open play session around lunchtime on Tuesday.  She seemed to have a really good time.  I stayed home to meet Tommy (A/C guy) so that he could troubleshoot why our upstairs power goes off when the heater kicks in at night – possibly fixed but too soon to tell.  Just as Tommy left, the generator guy showed up to double check things – I had heard some startup sputtering during the weekly test.  He made some tweaks and assured me that noise was normal in colder weather.  Before he was finished, Mosquito Joe showed up for our regular spraying.  He had to wait until generator guy was finished.  I was pretty worn out with all the supervision and coordination by the time Diana got home.

We went to see the movie “Song Sung Blue” on Tuesday afternoon.  This is a mostly true story about a Neil Diamond tribute duo that performed in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area in the early 1980s.  It stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson.  Both were absolutely amazing.  They sang the parts and Jackman moved and phrased just like Neil Diamond.  Kate Hudson nailed the Wisconsin accent and sang very impressively.  The chemistry between the two was wonderful.

I didn’t watch that trailer before attending the movie and so was quite impacted by the change in tone that happens about 45 minutes in.  I don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen the movie yet.  Things were flowing along wonderfully – lots of songs and the story of how the duo came together and started to get higher profile gigs.  And then – boom!  A complete switch in tone.

I particularly enjoyed the segment where they open for Pearl Jam – apparently Eddie was a big fan, and the final show where they have a choir and Kate and Hugh continue to one up each other.

My dad was a big Neil Diamond fan.  I can remember borrowing the family car to drive to Ayr for a windsurfing lesson (over 40 years ago) and listening to the Neil Diamond Greatest Hits tape that was in the player.  The music wasn’t “cool” but I really enjoyed it.  Isn’t it funny how a piece of music can relate back to a very specific place and time?

On to trivia.  Where to start?  We had a very good first half and were solidly in the lead.  Then…we started to disagree and make bad choices.

“What animal’s milk is used to make Mozzarella di Bufala?”  Denny said “Water Buffalo!”  The rest of the group said “Cow.”  We went with cow and of course Denny was right.  As Kenny said, “The answer was in the question.”

“What Hemingway book recounts his experiences during the Spanish civil war?”  Several of us said “A Farewell to Arms.”  Thom said “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”  Thom was correct and every team, including us, went with the other choice.  Thom is actually reading the book just now.  We need to listen better.

We did get a question correct in the midst of this meltdown.  We were given three events and asked which year in the 80s they happened.  I only remember the wedding of Charles and Diana as one of the events.  Kenny immediately said “1981.”  I “showed my work” in that I finished high school in 1981, was on holiday in France after that and remember my family gathering in the recreation area to watch the wedding on television.

Some unrelated trivia that I just came across from 1981:  MTV launched in August and these were the first 10 songs:

“Which country has three capital cities?”  Kenny felt strongly that it was South Africa – he had heard it recently.  Thom travels to South Africa regularly and vehemently disagreed.  He wasn’t able to provide an alternative and so South Africa was submitted – and correct.  Kenny was the MVP.

And then we came to the final question.  Here’s the correct answer.  The old folks had worked all of that out.  Thom knew when Castaway was released, I knew when Spotify started, we collaborated on Castro, and Messi was just easy math based on current age.  We told Jack the answer but did not double check his work before it was handed in.

Although the question clearly says start with the “EARLIEST” answer and even expounds on what that means, he still decided to flip them around and have most recent first.  Had he not done that we would have won in fine form and we were not placed as a result of the flop.  Geez!

Don’t be concerned, that’s way more than you can expect to hear from me about trivia going forward.

Wednesday started with Diana’s typical run in the park and yoga morning.  Then I took the car over to Metairie for regularly scheduled maintenance – oil change and tire rotation.  Its amazing how long that can take.  No worries – I had taken my laptop, book, magazine etc and the time passed (2 hours plus) quickly.

In addition to watching the “Homeland” series from the beginning (How did I miss this excellent television the first time around), I watched a movie on Wednesday evening called “The Vanishing of Sidney Hall” that I really enjoyed.

Diana had a pickleball session with Laurie on Thursday morning.  Then Billy came over to help us with a “load bearing” post that had rotated and had me quite concerned that the 2nd and 3rd floors were coming down.  The continued joys of an old home from the 1800s.

Kenny and family were in Mexico City, celebrating his birthday.  I think they all loved the balloon ride.  It looks amazing with all those others floating around.

I watched the first college football playoff semi-final on Thursday night.  It was a close and exciting game, with Miami winning in the last minute.

Billy was over to continue working on the load bearing post on Friday.  He had a helper with him and they hammered away for several hours.  They left us in the evening with the original post back in place and looking pretty square and straight.

I started my Saturday with a haircut, and then walked across the street to pick up a couple of crepes from my favourite place – Deville.

I got the Frenchie (ham, brie, and apple) and I picked the Tuscan for Diana (prosciutto, burrata, roasted red peppers and basil.)  So delicious!

Saturday evening took us back to the Jazz and Blues Market.  They gave us complimentary tickets to the show of our choice since the Curtis Stigers show was cancelled.  Very generous, given that they refunded the original tickets.

The Headhunters – originally founded with Herbie Hancock in the early 70s – were just excellent.  Here’s the blurb from the venue website:

Mum sent me these pictures of the snow at Elspeth and David’s house, “Bonnyview.”  Looks lovely but makes going to work an impossibility.  The joys of living out in the country.

We received this pretty Happy New Year card from Will and Christine.

Will then followed it up with a picture of these three ragamuffins on the Seine years earlier.

I’m currently waiting on it warming up sufficiently much that Diana will approve us going for a walk in the park before the football playoff games.

The second half of “The Correspondents” certainly got heavier than the first, particularly the last few chapters.  I really should have seen them coming, but was still caught by surprise.  Here are a few sections that I highlighted:

“TO: jameswlandy@ gmail.com FROM: sybilvanantwerp@ aol.com DATE: Jan 18, 2013 10: 26 AM SUBJECT: Memorial service”

Even the email addresses tell a clever story – Sybil’s from many years ago with AOL, and James much more recently with gmail.

This made me smile because it is a parallel to Diana’s “I just wanted two more inches – is that too much to ask for?”

“how I loathe my height—and it’s not a miracle I’m asking for! I don’t need to be six feet tall like yourself, but five foot five or six would’ve been nice. Five feet one inch is embarrassing for things like public speaking (which I loathe to begin with) and no self-respecting septuagenarian is going to wear pumps, though I will say I do miss wearing them.”

A passage that really sums up the greatness of this book:

“Imagine, the letters one has sent out into the world, the letters received back in turn, are like the pieces of a magnificent puzzle, or, a better metaphor, if dated, the links of a long chain, and even if those links are never put back together, which they will certainly never be, even if they remain for the rest of time dispersed across the earth like the fragile blown seeds of a dying dandelion, isn’t there something wonderful in that, to think that a story of one’s life is preserved in some way, that this very letter may one day mean something, even if it is a very small thing, to someone?”

Sybil shows her feistiness:

“At seventy-eight years old I have no intention of ever remarrying and I assure you I will conduct my life as I see fit, and if that means I pass some of my days with one man and other days with someone else, that is my choice to make. If it troubles you, then I suggest you reverse and go find somewhere else to park yourself. Mick Watts is a friend of mine, and our lives share a substantial quantity of overlap. Mick is funny and clever, and we have a good time together. I want nothing to do with it if you continue to conduct yourself in a snit.”

Bringing back some lovely Parisienne memories:

“Rosalie—Hello from the City of Lights! I know you loved Paris when you were here in the seventies and I can understand why. Theodore and I are having a lovely time. He has visited Paris a number of times in the past and serves as a wonderful touring companion. We are staying in a very well appointed apartment belonging to a friend of Felix’s with windows ten feet tall just near the Tuileries gardens. Sainte-Chapelle was my favorite. I sat in the pews and wept. Everything is resolved with Stewart and Felix for the moment, thanks in part to Felix’s successful essay in Vogue. I tried the books on tape, but really cannot focus and detest the headphones and bad narrators, so not reading anything anymore, though sometimes I have Theodore read to me aloud. Miss you, sending love—Sybil”

A poignant summary as Sybil looks back on life:

“we are thirty in our hearts, before all the disappointment, all the ways it turned out to be so much more painful than we thought it would be, but then again, it has also been magic.”

I recommend this book for everyone.  There should be something here to resonate with all generations but particularly those of us who are fifty plus.

Here’s a good Wall Street Journal article on how the sales took off slowly:

WSJ Correspondent article

I really enjoyed this new music that I came across this week from Ed Harcourt.  Sounds like a new-agey, modern cross between Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, with a bit of Bill Evans “Peace Piece” in the mix.  I love the entire album – so relaxing and focusing.  I read that Harcourt is heavily influenced by Nick Cave and Tom Waits – so I’ll share some stuff from them also.

The audio book of “Faith, Hope and Carnage” occupied some of my walking time this week.  Sean O’Hagan (Guardian music writer) interviews Nick Cage, famously difficult and acerbic in interviews, about his album “Ghosteen”, the lockdown, the death of his son, and many other topics.  You would need to be a Cage fan to enjoy this.

This instrumental caught my ear while I was doing some puzzles with coffee in Petite Rouge.  I think I’ve shared some of their music in the last few months and my search engine isn’t cooperating for me to validate:

This wonderful Tom Waits song plays over the credits to the new “Knives Out” murder mystery movie:

“Happy New Year”

Alicia arrived on Monday and was excited to head to Superior Seafood for her first stop.  It was sweet of the girls to join at short notice to welcome Alicia.

Monday and Tuesday were busy with New Year’s Eve party planning – grocery and liquor store runs, chopping veggies for salads and a host of other activities.  Alicia was a huge help.  Trivia was a no-go due to finishing up the prep.  Look at this amazing platter that Alicia assembled for us (board courtesy of Will years ago):

The newspaper had an “Only in New Orleans” retrospective article for 2025. It was nice to see Chris Peet and his LOVE flag made the cut:

The party was a big hit.  River was a treat playing the piano and singing.

He has such an amazingly authentic New Orleans repertoire for a 16 year old:

I liked the note that I received from River’s dad the next day:

“Hey Keith!
Thanks so much for having River on NYE!
Y’all were amazing hosts and what a great Krewe of people to celebrate with.
Happy 2026 and hope to see Y’all soon!
Jake”

Thanks to Kenny, Kara, Alicia, Diana and everyone else who helped with clean up.

Denny and Anne hosted oyster fest again on New Year’s Day.  It was sad that Alabama (Mason’s school) had such a disappointing defeat that spoiled his graduation celebration a bit.  Deep fried and chargrilled oysters were delicious, meaning I could avoid the raw ones for the start of a new year.

We dropped Alicia at the airport on Saturday and then swung by the free Creole String Beans show at the Broadside on the way home.  What a treat – some pre-show funny stories from Derek, a gorgeous day, and a good group of folks filling up the Broadside.  They started with the ear worm that Campbell couldn’t dislodge when he visited, “Iko Iko”

These songs with the dual saxophones just make me smile.  It was 11.5 years ago when we first heard them for Anne’s 50th birthday at Chickie Wah Wah:

I’m glad we stopped by for some only in New Orleans time before heading home to relax and regroup from all the recent activity.

We closed out the first week of 2026 with a visit to the Rusty Nail with the Krewe (Kenny, Kara, Denny, Thom, Mason, Lynn, Trey and ultimately Anne.)  The Saints showed well in the final game of their season, ultimately losing in the last few minutes.  The city of New Orleans appears to be closing out the season with much positive hope for next year.

The Cowboys, on the other hand, lost hugely to the beleaguered New York Giants.  It’s time for me to adopt my new home town team and move on.

I started a wonderful book this week – such a pleasant change after the disappointment of my last read.  “The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans is not something that I thought I would enjoy.  I was so wrong.  This is wonderfully constructed and executed.

An online review:

Here’s something great from River’s dad, Jake, on guitar for the New Orleans Suspects:

I just heard that Joe Ely passed earlier in December.  What a huge loss for Texas and Americana music:

Joe Ely Obituary

“The Best Laid Plans – Flexibility is Key”

We were out for a walk down Magazine on Tuesday and I decided to try the coffee roasting shop that it is now selling individual espresso drinks – Diana had alerted me that they finally decided to do this a couple of weeks ago.  Up until then it was just a custom roasting and home roasting training place.  Probably the best macchiato that I’ve had in town and pleasant to enjoy it with the paper on their front porch.

Tuesday was the last day in business for Avo restaurant.  Will gave us a gift certificate there a year or two ago and we had a little bit left and decided to get the last bit of value out of that.  The drinks and meatballs were delicious and got us in the perfect frame of mind for trivia.

Trivia was a whole different experience.  With so many family members home for the holidays, we split into three teams – Dads, Moms, and Kids.  The Moms (or more specifically Anne) held their ground impressively.  The kids have some work to do.  Here was the final question:

The Dads and Moms both got the answer within the allowable tolerance – it’s unusual that we do that.   We had calculated how many points (18) to bet in order to win by one point – we were successful, with the Moms coming in third place.   The kids need to stick with their studies.

Julia and Anne took Diana to Dickie Brennan’s Audubon Clubhouse in the park for a belated birthday lunch on Wednesday.  Doesn’t this crab cheesecake look yummy?  Hope so as we’re having some of that at our New Year’s Eve party.

We agreed not to exchange any big gifts this year and opened our stockings before heading out for a fancy Christmas lunch.  One stuffer that I’ve been particularly enjoying is the “Whomp Whomp trombone”:

It’s the little things that entertain me.

I thought Diana really outdid herself with my card – wooden penguins:

Meanwhile, in Scotland, the Hall clan were all clad in their matching pajamas – even the four dogs – can you find them all?

Hamish enjoyed his new transportation:

We had planned a very fancy lunch at Chemin a la Mer in the Four Seasons hotel as we were staying home for the first time in forever, starting with an oyster and wine pairing with the chef.

This restaurant has a great view out over the Mississippi and should have been well organized and humming with activity.  We quickly realized nothing was going to work – there was no oyster tasting with the chef even set up and folks were waiting in line at the check in station like they were waiting for a bus, and being treated slightly worse than they would when boarding a streetcar.  We talked to a manager who agreed to do an oyster and wine pairing on him in the near future.  Diana will take a friend as I will not be visiting this spot again in this lifetime.

We regrouped and tried the lobby bar.  Beautiful setting, good drinks, and a delicious meat and cheese platter with interesting cheeses and an excellent duck liver mousse.

The couple next to us at the bar were quite entertaining and provided some interesting restaurant and bookstore recommendations.  We were rebounding nicely from the upstairs fiasco.

Then Denny call to say that he and the boys were at the Ben Temps (Magazine Street dive bar) playing pool with Thom (his family left town on Christmas afternoon.)  We’ll be right there.  The typical scenario developed – Diana asking the very accommodating bar tender what kind of white wine she had – the New Zealand stuff that she doesn’t like anymore.  Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a bottle of Veuve Clicquot yellow label (fancy champagne) in one of the wine fridges.  “How much for the Veuve?”  “Let me look it up, I don’t sell much of that.”  She came back with a very reasonable price and we were back in business.

Denny very kindly invited us over for Christmas dinner.  Scattegories with the boys and Thom was good fun.

The guys headed to the horse racing track for their traditional Boxing Day activity.  Diana and I tried a new Peruvian restaurant, Social, and were very pleased.  Good champagne at a good price, the best octopus ceviche and octopus by itself that we have tasted.

Our waiter explained that the pulpo comes from Spain and goes into the fridge and then straight to the pan with no thaw time – apparently that’s what makes it so tender.  A great new restaurant for us to enjoy.

The weekend was spent relaxing and enjoying football.  Another great Saints win and ANOTHER Cowboys weak loss.

I finished “Holy City” by Henry Wise.  This won the Edgar award for best debut novel.  What’s wrong with the Edgar panel?  This dragged slowly after the initial chapters, with confusing and underdeveloped characters (and way too many of them to keep track of) and a completely unbelievable plot line.  Not recommended!

I read of the passing of Chris Rea and was reminded of all those great albums from years ago.  Andy Bull was a huge fan and we listened to a lot of his music in our college flats.  A review of my records shows that I have four albums waiting to be revisited.

Chris Rea BBC obituary

“Birthdays”

We skipped Bookerfest at the Maple Leaf this year and went to trivia instead.  Denny was kind enough to bring a bunch of empanadas from Empanola over to Kenny’s for our Jeopardy warm up session.  There weren’t many teams and so we split up to make two teams – I was on the Bayou Men with Mike, Kenny, and Mason.  Bayou Boyz were Denny, Jack, Thom and Alex.  The Bayou Men got third place whilst Bayou Boys didn’t place, and that’s all that matters.  The final question?  All about Pips, put these in order from highest to lowest:

Number of Pips on a standard dice

Age of Pip at the start of Great Expectations

Number of pips on the highest value domino

Number of members of Gladys Knight and the Pips

We got it all correct except for Pip’s age – Mike and I thought it was between 5 and 12, and the rest of the “men” thought it was between 12 and 21.  Correct answer – 7.

I saw this funny minion on the way to my car from trivia.  Finn enjoyed it when I shared with him.

This was in the Dirty Coast t-shirt shop when I exchanged my Booker shirt:

While we were straining our brains, Diana, Kara and Anne had oysters at Superior Seafood and then retired to the Chloe.

The girls are always so kind to celebrate their milestones.

I had lunch with Kenny, Ian and Mason at Mint to celebrate Kenny’s 60th on Wednesday.  The Ogans plus Kelly and Fred gifted him a Jägermeister chiller and dispenser thing, so we sampled that after lunch:

There was a holiday package from Finn and Holly waiting when we got home.  A fun penguin wearable blanket , beanie and some penguin earing studs:

Looks like I’ll be as warm as a penguin when we get our next dose of cold weather.

Diana started her birthday with some early morning pickleball with Laurie.  I put her to work on a treasure hunt to find her gift when she got home – didn’t take too long.  It’s in the middle.

Mum sent her this pretty bangle:

And she received these pretty peonies:

I took Diana to Evviva (used to be The Franklin) in the Marigny for her birthday dinner.  We started with anchovy toast – delicious and not at all what you would expect it to taste like:

Merry Lee had been planning to surprise Diana after dinner but her flight was delayed and then she was able to catch an earlier one – so she joined us for dinner.  Diana was quite surprised.

We shared some mussels, the girls split the pork special and I enjoyed squid ink pasta which apparently made my lips quite black.

Diana finished up with a special birthday mousse:

I give Evviva two big thumbs up – very casual with great food and service.

Back at the house, the ladies wasted no time getting into the Cristal:

Anne escaped from a Pelicans basketball game and showed up for the end of the bottle.  Here’s something funny from 1997, when I first met Merry Lee:

Who are those characters?

I joined the guys at Bruno’s to watch Tulane and Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon.  I had never been to this bar before, and apparently it’s been the site of a couple of stories for the krewe over the years, and has been in business since 1934.  The place wasn’t too crazily busy since the game was being played in Mississippi and most of the Tulane kids were home for the holidays.

The “redemption” from the early season loss that was hoped for didn’t happen.  Ole Miss had another convincing win.

Diana met me at halftime and we walked over to Friends jewelry store to pick up her Mom’s ring that was resized and had a new band added.  She seems very happy with the result.

Happy Hour at Chais Delachaisse across from Friends was calling us.  We enjoyed the usual half price wines, mussels, frites and sliders, with Merry Lee making another appearance.  She joined us back home where we enjoyed an updated version of “The Miracle on 34th Street.”

How was Sunday football?  Fortunately the Cowboys weren’t broadcast in New Orleans as they had a typical flashes of brilliance amongst horrible plays performance.  The Saints, on the other had, did very well.  Three wins in a row now.  The rookie quarterback, Tyler Shough, had his first very promising game, and several other players (Cam Jordan, Taysom Hill) really stood out.  It’s nice to see the media and the city starting to feel positively about the future for the Saints.

A couple of other interesting things that I came across this week.  A fun JazzFest snow globe:

And a New Yorker cartoon that made me chuckle.  The number of times I find myself in a room and wondering why I went there is definitely increasing:

A busy week resulted in me making hardly any progress on my current book.  Maybe things will slow down in the coming week.

I shared the wonderful live album of Frank Sinatra at the Sands Hotel and Casino with Diana this week.  This is with the Count Basie orchestra and is arranged and led by Quincy Jones.  I love how effortless all of it sounds:

Some of the classic 80s production style that Quincy is known for – that slapping bass sound:

“Chickie Visits”

Diana had some early week accomplishments – Christmas tree up, complete with her angel on top, and streetcar puzzle finished off.  This time she did take time to sleep between puzzling sessions.

Trivia followed the typical routine on Tuesday evening.  We missed the last question (flipped the last two) and fell out of the money.

Wednesday was a pleasant, sunny day and so I was able to walk over to Aidan Gill for my haircut and stop into HiVolt coffee for a snack on the walk back home.

I had read that Joe Krown was going to be on the road with the Kenny Wayne Shepherd band (playing Hammond organ) for most of the first half of 2026, and so we took advantage of the opportunity to listen to him one last time for a while at Dos Jefes on Wednesday evening.  Excellent as always:

Thursday was another pleasant walking day.  We made a lap around and stopped into Feet First to see about some shoes for Diana – nothing fit well enough to warrant a purchase.  I suggested a Cafe Degas Happy Hour in the afternoon – always well received by McD.  We branched out from the usual, trying the shrimp remoulade salad for the first time.  This is always such a yummy, and crazily inexpensive treat.

I had read about something called the Greenway SuperNova close to Cafe Degas.  We navigated over to explore.  I had expected some illuminated art installations along the Lafitte Greenway and that wasn’t really what it was.  It seemed more like an art market with some great food booths and music stages.  The evening was getting chilly and so we had a quick walk through and called it an early night.

Our friend Nick “Chickie” was in town on business for a few days.  Knowing that we had dinner plans, we made sure to get a good walk in the morning.  We met up for dinner on Friday at the wonderful Acamaya in the Marigny.  The food, drinks and service are always excellent.  I loved the smoky Manhattan Negra made with mezcal.

We started with an assortment of tostadas and ceviche.  The scallop tostada was my favourite – interesting flavour.  We chose the arroz negra (I think the best menu item with squid and various seafood treats in the deep black rice) and pork chop (perfectly cooked) with a sweet potato side for our larger dishes.

Coffee came in these funky Mayan looking cups:

Chickie was looking for his favourite digestive – Fernet Branca.  I got lucky on my first call to local watering holes – yes, Markey’s Bar has it and they’re just around the corner.  We had a very nice evening sitting outside at the Markey’s sidewalk tables and enjoying the weather.

We picked Chickie up at the Four Seasons (he was slumming), or I should say we tried to – his massage was running long.  Tough life… We ultimately met up at Elizabeth’s for a yummy brunch.

All the usual hits – crabby eggs benedict, fried oyster benedict, fried pickles, and praline bacon.

Time for a nap after that.  In the evening we watched the new Michelle Pfeiffer movie, “Oh. What. Fun.”  Not really the light hearted holiday movie that one might expect from the marketing.

At some point on Saturday, Mason graduated from Alabama.  I know he worked very hard these last few months and is happy to be finished.

Kenny, Kara and Nina came over on Sunday.  The girls were off on a holiday home tour.  The Preservation Resource Center puts on an annual tour of homes in the Garden District.

They walked to five or six decorated fancy homes:

Kenny and I walked over the Flako’s – a new Mexican restaurant that occupies what was the most recent home of Tracey’s.  The food was “fine” – nothing amazing but perfectly passable.  Service was good.

We watched some football (a nice Saints win) while the girls chatted after their tour.  Diana ordered some Theo’s pizza and salad – a nice conclusion to a lazy and laid back day.

I made a slow start on “Holy City” by Henry Wise.  I’m enjoying it so far – very much in the style of S.A. Crosby, who’s review encouraged me to try it.  Here’s a short summary:

“Holy City is the captivating debut from Henry Wise about a deputy sheriff who must work alongside an unpredictable private detective after he finds himself on the outs from his sheriff’s department over his unwillingness to look the other way when an innocent man is arrested for murder.”

Jazzfest is front page news in New Orleans.  The lineup for 2026 dropped this week, and it’s a very good one:

So many artists that we would like to see – we may have to take a different approach to tickets this year.  I really like the poster as well – just like Diana’s puzzle:

I watched a documentary about the wonderful New Orleans based trumpeter, Leroy Jones.  He was the lead in Harry Connick’s big band: