“A Normal Week”
I’m not sure what a normal week is these days. But this seemed like one.
On Monday, I visited Tony to get my hearing aids cleaned and adjusted. As is typical, we spent the first 30 minutes talking about who we had seen performing at jazzfest and veered off into other musical discussions. The only problem was that my appointment was only for 30 minutes, the poor guy behind me had to wait a while.
I took advantage of being in Metarie (a solid 6 miles away, but seems like a totally different place than New Orleans, and we complain about having to drive that far) to make a Trader Joe’s visit. Diana was quite impressed with the fullness of the fridge on return.
We followed up our trivia win last Tuesday with 2nd place this week. We were quite pleased with ourselves.
Diana arrived home at 1:20am on Wednesday morning. She had delayed flights and had to sprint through DFW airport to catch her flight to New Orleans. I couldn’t sleep until I knew she was home. Thankfully I didn’t have any “important” work to do on Wednesday.
Wednesday was health care day. I had my teeth cleaned – good report of no issues. Then I drove Diana to an appointment over at the Jefferson hospital complex – less than 5 miles away and less than a 15 minute drive, but again it feels like a long way to us these days. We routinely drove 30 minutes to do anything at all in Dallas, but things change when you can walk to most everything you need.
Coming back from the store, we ran into this second line parade on Prytania Avenue. There a lot of weddings in May, and it did seem a bit hot for them to be walking too far in those fancy outfits.
Diana suggested a route around the parade to avoid following it all the way home – good thinking D.
The Prytania movie theater shows a classic movie each week at 10am on Sunday and Wednesday. This week was “Moonstruck” with Cher and Nicholas Cage.
The talks before the movie starts are a very enjoyable part of this experience. The detail and background provided on this occasion was very impressive. I have no idea how the gentleman memorized all that he shared.
My big take away was that I didn’t remember the film being so funny and corny.
After the movie we had lunch at our old standby – Juan’s Flying Burrito.
My book this week was “Wild Dark Shore” by Charlotte McConaghy. This is a murder mystery set on a remote island near Antarctica, but it’s a lot more than that. I learned about emergency seed banks, and lots of nature, including deep details about penguins. A very good read.
“A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore.
Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting herself, starts imagining a future where she could belong to someone again.
But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late―and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.
A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.”
I really enjoy this band – always a little bit different:
Something folky and quiet:
And finally, a song from 1976, back when the music could play for over a minute before the vocals start – not suitable for the attention spans of today:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!
I finished “All Fours” by Miranda July this week. This book did not finish as it started – I was very pleased with the early section last week. The last two thirds of the book were almost unreadable for me, but I slogged on. Slow, vulgar, and with no real point. Like when Philip Roth or John Updike tried to shock you for a paragraph or two but dragged out by July for a hundred or more pages. Not recommended. I asked Kelly (our resident literature guru) what she thought – “HATED IT!” I’m not alone, and we both wonder what’s wrong with all those gushing reviewers.
I needed a palate cleanser after that, and so have made it most of the way through “My Darling Boy” by John Dufresne. I’ll share the online summary now and return with some of my favourite passages next week:
We were in the CBD (Central Business District) for a meeting with our estate lawyer on Wednesday afternoon. Diana commented that she didn’t remember the last time she was in a high rise office building – it’s been a while for both of us. After the meeting, we walked to Peche, a restaurant that we’ve been looking to try for a while. Debra recommended it and her recommendations carry some weight, given her job as manager of Jaques-Imo’s.
I circulated this picture of Diana peeking out of an egg as an Easter “yoke.” It was actually a dinosaur egg as part of an advertisement in a shopping mall in Glasgow.
There is a wonderful new record out this week -“Audience with the Queen” by Galactic and Irma Thomas. Thomas is 84 years old and sounds fantastic on all tracks, especially this one:
Kenny and I attended Danny Barker fest at the Jazz Museum on Thursday. This was a very pleasant festival – outside in the courtyard and not too busy. Would you like to know about Danny Barker? Okay – here’s an overview:
From 1939 to 1946, he frequently recorded with 
Fete Francaise was on Saturday. I always enjoy this small festival put on by the French bilingual school on Magazine Street. They have food tents from local French restaurants and always very good music. Anne suggested lunch at La Petite Grocery (right next to the festival location) as the tents often run out of the most desired food and drinks. Lunch was great – I enjoyed the fusilli pasta with short rib and mushrooms. The portion was just right for lunch on a hot day.
I read “The Futures” by Anna Pitoniak this week. This was a fast and easy read, not living up to the excellent reviews from several well respected sources. It seemed a bit light and fluffy as it covered the 2008 crash. Here’s the online review:
I finished the wonderful “James” by Percival Everett this week. I highly recommend this unique and creative read. You’ll remember it’s a reimagining of Huck Finn, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.
I started “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story” by Bono this week. I’m about half way through just now, and am really enjoying the read. The writing is honest and lacks any of the bombast that you might expect, given his public persona. I’ll share some of my favourite passages next week. Here’s some of the online chatter:
“Born to a boxer and a saint on August 16th, 1970, in Lowell, MA, Randy Leo Frechette – a.k.a Frenchy – has been drawing since he could grip a pencil.
My first book this week was “Walking with Sam: A Father, a Son, and 500 Miles across Spain,” by Andrew McCarthy:
I’m about halfway through my second book, “Martyr” by Kaveh Akbar.
I started “Table for Two” by Amor Towles this week. I’ve had it for over almost a year and have been waiting for a quiet time when I can really savour it. The book consists of six short stories based in New York City and a novella set in Golden Age Hollywood.