Category: Travel

“Asheville”

We flew to Asheville on Monday, via Charlotte.  A long layover there allowed us to enjoy a leisurely lunch before boarding the tiny (meaning I had to bend over almost double to walk down the aisle) plane to Asheville.  It felt like flying inside an MRI tube, which was not good for claustrophobic flyers.

We wondered what caused the over 30 minute delay in leaving Charlotte – of course no updates from the American Airlines pilot.  Diana noticed out the window that a plane landed with a lot of smoke from the wheels and immediate emergency vehicle response.  We assume all traffic was held until that troubled flight landed.

Would you like to know a little bit about the history of Asheville?  If not, skip across the next few paragraphs.

Asheville, North Carolina, sits in the Blue Ridge Mountains and has a long history rooted in the Indigenous peoples of the region, particularly the Cherokee. European-American settlement grew in the late 18th century, and the town was incorporated as Asheville in 1797. Its location along mountain routes helped it develop as a regional center, and the arrival of the railroad in the 1880s accelerated its growth.

I love this picture that was in the lobby of the condominium building – I named it Cherokees meet REO Speedwagon:

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Asheville became known as a health and resort destination, attracting visitors seeking the mountain climate. The city experienced a major building boom, producing landmarks such as the Biltmore Estate, built by George Vanderbilt beginning in 1889. Asheville also developed a distinctive Art Deco architectural legacy, particularly through public buildings constructed during the 1920s and 1930s.

The Great Depression hit Asheville particularly hard, leaving the city with substantial municipal debt. Unlike many cities, Asheville largely avoided demolishing its older downtown buildings to modernize, helping preserve its historic architecture. Beginning in the late 20th century, downtown revitalization, the arts, craft brewing, tourism, and its reputation as a cultural destination fueled renewed growth. Today, Asheville is known for its historic architecture, arts scene, food and craft-beverage culture, and its setting in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Back to our trip.  I watched a somewhat cheesy movie on the flight – Alan Cuming and Brian Cox star in Glenrothan, a movie about two brothers and their fight over a whisky distillery.

After a good hike, we took an Uber downtown to rendezvous with Jeff and Merry Lee.  Dee Dee, MLM’s sister, had very kindly let us stay in one of her two condos in downtown Asheville.  The place was quite luxurious with excellent views of downtown and the mountains.

We enjoyed dinner at the nearby lobster trap.  Jeff and MLM donned lobster bibs, while Diana and I shared steamed clams and mussels – very good.

Jeff and MLM were kind to revisit the Biltmore estate with us on Wednesday.

We made an attempt at brunch at Sunny Point in West Asheville on Thursday morning.  A 45 minute wait seemed a bit too long, and so we took the host’s recommendation and wandered down the street to Biscuit Head.

Here we were introduced to cathead biscuits – extra-large, rustic Southern buttermilk biscuits, named because they are traditionally said to be as big as a cat’s head.  That explained the cat mural on the side of the building.  Diana and I split a cathead biscuit Benedict -yummy.

There was a “jambar” so that we could try some creative berry mixtures with the catheads.

This take on the Dos Equis beer commercials with the most interesting man in the world made me smile:

We walked back through West Asheville, enjoying some of the murals along the way, from Dolly Parton to Grace Jones:

We returned to the River Arts district, completely devastated by Hurricane Helene in September, 2024 – and now recovering nicely.

In case we hadn’t been exposed to enough art, we made a stop at the Marquee – a massive collection of the work of independent artists contained in a large warehouse.

There were some interesting pieces amongst the plethora of art offerings:

After some chill time at the condo, we ventured downstairs to the Sovereign Remedies cocktail bar – almost directly underneath where we were staying.

This was a great stop – good food and superior cocktails.

Then across the street for some hilarity at the dueling piano bar.

It wasn’t really dueling – the two guys took turns, allowing them to do some quick research on the requests that people were tipping them to play.  Both were very talented and kept the good crowd well entertained.  It was just as much fun to watch the other folks in there enjoying the music as it was to enjoy the songs that we requested.

We spent our last couple of Asheville hours enjoying brunch at Chestnut on Friday morning – a higher end affair with very good dishes.  Thanks to MLM and Jeff for delivering us back to the airport for an on time and easy trip home.

I did enjoy a movie, “Tuner”, with Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall.  Leo plays a piano tuner with ultra-sensitive hearing who discovers a talent for cracking safes.

I couldn’t resist the Talking Heads cover band, “Tchoup Making Sense” at Tipitinas on Saturday night.  They were excellent and I wished they had found a way to start before 10:30pm.  The opening song was my favourite – way to win me back after the late start:

Thom, Denny and Greg had happy music faces on:

One more song:

I’m glad I hung in there with the late start.

I’m about a third of the way through “Degas at the Gas Station” by Thomas Beller, and am really enjoying it.  I love the writing style and the somewhat random and interconnected topics.  Here’s an online summary and I’ll have some highlights to share next week:

“In his latest collection, Thomas Beller trains his piercing literary eye on how a single, seismic event indelibly shapes the trajectory of the common and mundane experiences of one’s life. Weaving together a charming set of autobiographical stories, Beller interrogates the randomness and contingencies that separate sadness from joy, death from life. His father escaped the Nazis, only to die in America from cancer when Beller was nine years old. Beller measures how this loss impacted his life as the father of two young children and became both a catalyst for understanding an ever-present sorrow. At the same time, ordinary moments—from retrieving an iPod from the subway tracks to encountering the police at a Kinks concert to observing his young tutued ballerina daughter at a gas station—lead to instances of penetrating insight, self-deprecation, and humor. Degas at the Gas Station presents an endearing and bracingly honest portrait of the author as an ever-curious observer of the mysteries and profundities of everyday life.” 

I also read a bit of Patti Smith’s “Bread of Angels” – didn’t love it and found my attention drifting off – maybe I’ll come back to it again next week.  A little about it:

“The most intimate of Smith’s memoirs, Bread of Angels takes us through her teenage years where the first glimmers of art and romance take hold. Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan emerge as creative role models as she begins to write poetry then lyrics, ultimately merging both into the songs of iconic recordings such as Horses, Wave, and Easter.”

Warren Haynes, a resident of Asheville, released a wonderful live recording with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra this week.  How serendipitous.

“Bay Saint Louis”

We made the short drive (typically just over an hour) to Bay Saint Louis on Monday.  Here’s a map of the drive from New Orleans to the Mississippi coast.

We ran into some torrential rain as we exited on to Highway 90 – the kind where you really can’t see enough to drive.  I pulled off the road for a short while until it abated.

We had planned on lunch at the Barracuda taco stand before checking into our Airbnb at 3pm.  That plan was quickly foiled.  As we pulled in, a guy taking down the menu sign let us know that they were closing up for the season to take care of some required maintenance.  Word on the street was that they had some electrical supply issues.

We rendezvoused with Kenny and Kara and I found Tacos and Beer as an alternative option.  This is a sister restaurant of the place on Saint Charles Avenue that has the long line on Taco Tuesday.  We had never been to either – a mistake as the drinks and food were all very good.  The cucumber and cilantro margaritas were a big hit.

We checked into the house and found it to be very comfortable and exceptionally well appointed, especially the kitchen.  We relaxed by the pool and watched some US Open tennis.

The group (minus sleepy me) played pickleball at the local outdoor court on Wednesday morning.  Then we made the short drive over to Randy and Amy’s home for a highlight of the trip- a boat ride with Captain Randy.

Did you see the fish jumping right at the end of that video?

These guys are always such lovely hosts.  Amy had made chicken salad and turkey mini croissants and cucumber margaritas for the ride.  We anchored up at a quiet “beach” and floated around for a while.  Sandi – there really was no gator risk, at least that’s what they told me.

We met for dinner at Butcher Block, a steak house and butcher shop in the Depot area by the train station.  There was some confusion on the timing of their happy hour.  Kenny and Diana had met the owner, Steve, on a Tuesday morning walk and thought it ran from 5-7pm, apparently actually from 3-5pm.  Oh well.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal – I had a beef tip sandwich which was very good, and cheesy as you can see.  Kenny was really looking forward to the beef tip and mashed potato happy hour special.

After dinner we migrated next door to the Hen House, a fancy craft cocktail bar.  The drinks were very good and somebody remembered to take some pictures.

I forgot to mention that Mason drove down to join us.

Thursday morning brought another storm.  We played board games.  Hitster, a recent gift from Sean, was a big hit.  You get a 30 second clip of a song and have to name the artist and put the card in the right place in your timeline.  Highly recommended if you have a krewe that likes music and has some knowledge of music from the fifties until the present day.  Telestrations, a game where you pass books around and have to draw the phrase that the previous person wrote or guess what the picture is, generated some hilarious results.  The girls finished off a “folk art” style puzzle.  There was a gallery full of this stuff on Main Street.

After the storm passed, we rode the golf cart down to the Blind Tiger on the waterfront.  I really enjoyed my redfish tacos and a couple of sips of Mason’s very sweet bushwhacker.  This place has been around for a while for good reason.

After lunch, we drove along the beach road for a while and then circled back to Butcher Block for Kenny’s beef tips.  I actually can’t remember if he was able to get them on this visit or not.  The girls stopped into the wine shop next door and picked up a bottle of a Luxardo liqueur, the owners recommendation on an equivalent to Mr. Black, our favourite coffee flavoured liqueur.  They also got a recommendation for a good local bar.

The Full Speed recommendation turned out to be a great one.  An excellent bar with great cocktails, a local brewery doing a promotion, a wonderful local musician, and a Jenga game.

The brewery had some fun merch and clever packaging – “Mr. Sippi.”

Brandon Kenyon did an excellent set of music on the Full Speed patio.  He started with “What a Wonderful World” and played trumpet and guitar to accompany a very good voice.  Here’s the Levon Helm classic made popular by the Band of Heathens:

And some Garth Brooks for Diana:

The rest of the evening was passed with games and the US Open ladies semi-finals.

We checked out before 10am and had an easy drive home.

Barrel Proof, directly across the street from Bill and Shainey’s place, was our destination to watch the Saints game on Sunday.  Sandi, Nic and Bill met us there – Nic with a huge trough of gourmet andouille and chicken sliders.  Barrel Proof may be my new favourite bar – happy hour prices whenever there’s a Saints game, meaning $6 for their delicious Old Fashioned.  And how could you not like a place that is fine with you bringing in your own food.  It always helps to have a regular customer (Bill) in the group.

The Saints had a lousy first half and an excellent second half, losing by one point in overtime.  Let’s hope we have a lot more of that second half team going forward.

I made the mistake of staying up to watch the Cowboys embarrassing Sunday night performance against the Giants.  They are such a frustrating team.

My first book this week was “Showdown in Desire” by Orissa Arend, a tennis friend of Kenny’s.  This is a real, physical book that Kenny leant me and so doesn’t work for reading bed.  This is a good description of the book:

“Orissa Arend’s Showdown in Desire is a fascinating story that documents the history of the Black Panther party chapter in New Orleans. The author’s objective, which she accomplishes, is to allow former participants to tell the story of the New Orleans Panthers to provide a more holistic perspective of the party and the issues (racism, police brutality, and poverty) that it combated. In addition, the author tells this story to generate greater awareness of a post-Katrina New Orleans that is still ravaged by the same problems that the Panthers fought forty years ago. One of the standout features of this work is that Arend uses over twenty interviews to help tell the story of the New Orleans Panthers. Arend’s interviews range from former Panthers to high-ranking city officials to police officers (including two who infiltrated the party). Furthermore, the work fills a void in the historiography on the Black Panther party, as very few works examine southern chapters of the party.”
—Journal of American History, March 2010

My second book, this one an eBook that I can read in bed on my iPad, was “How to Kill a Rock Star” by Tiffanie DeBartolo.  I’m not too far into the story and am enjoying it quite a bit.  Here’s an online summary:

“Written in her wonderfully honest, edgy, passionate and often hilarious voice, Tiffanie DeBartolo tells the story of Eliza Caelum, a young music journalist, and Paul Hudson, a talented songwriter and lead singer of the band Bananafish. Eliza’s reverence for rock is equaled only by Paul’s, and the two fall wildly in love.

When Bananafish is signed by a big corporate label, and Paul is on his way to becoming a major rock star, Eliza must make a heartbreaking decision that leads to Paul’s sudden disappearance and a surprise knock-your-socks-off ending.”

More to come on both of these books next week.

Let’s start with something funky and unique from the amazing and ever morphing Herbie Hancock:

An organ jam from Reuben Wilson with some stellar guitar from Grant Green:

And finally, bringing things more current with the soulful Neal Francis.  I promise to make it to Tips the next time he visits:

“Visit to Austin”

On Sunday, after my last post, we watched a couple of interesting things.  This YouTube video of “special places” is amazing – such crazy places where people survive.

Later, Diana had chosen “Project Hail Mary” for us to watch.  I thought this was a serious sci-fi movie, and was surprised at the humour in the first hour or so – Ryan Gosling has such a good comedic sense.  The 2nd and 3rd hours (yes – one of those films that could have used a real editor) got a bit sillier and more sci-fi.  A good movie overall but I would not have wanted to sit through it at the theater.

I’m sure you know by now what a typical Diana Monday looks like.  That’s right – two pickleball sessions.  And then again on Tuesday morning.

We did well at trivia on Tuesday evening, despite ignoring Jack E’s correct answer about the most predominant colour in countries flags – red, not white.

Our first place finish was cemented with a correct answer to the final question:

Add up the answers to these four questions, getting within 5 points of the correct total:

How many Raiders of the Lost Ark etc movies did Harrison Ford appear in?  (5)

How many wives of Henry VIII? (6)

How many 1,000 yard rushing seasons did Derek Henry complete? (7)

How many seasons did Henry Winkler star in Happy Days (11)

The correct answer was 29 and we guessed 30 for the win!  The only meaty debate we add was around the seasons of Happy Days – for some reason I thought it was less, say 5 to 7.  Denny persisted with over 10 and was correct.  Oh, there was a short debate about the wives of Henry VIII – Denny submitted when I shared all of their names.

Wednesday started with a walk/run in the park for both of us, then Diana had yoga and I splintered off to Tartine for coffee and the newspaper.  They had a stuffed baguette advertised that I couldn’t resist.  Stuffed with ham, bacon, onion, mushrooms, fontina and some spicy peppers.  Ridiculously yummy.  It doesn’t look exciting in the photo but I wanted to add it so that I remember to try it again.  This is certainly my favourite breakfast spot.

When I returned to pick up yoga D, this is the sight that greeted me – a bunch of bottoms up in the air.  Apparently that was their final stretch.

We were scheduled to fly to Austin on Thursday afternoon.  Diana managed to work in a morning pickle session before our 2pm airport departure.  Emerging from the Austin airport to hike over for an Uber, we commented on what a change the difference in the level of humidity made.  It was much more pleasant to move around than in New Orleans.

We checked into the lovely Carpenter hotel and made our way to the Odd Duck to meet Tim and Heidi for dinner.  Tim had been fielding investment analyst calls all day and so we were appreciative that he was able to meet.  The Odd Duck is my favourite Austin eatery and it’s particularly fun when you have four adventuresome diners to share dishes.  So many great choices:

We started with the redfish ceviche with the wonderful watermelon aguachile sauce:

and the antelope tataki:

and the pork belly chalupa:

The antelope was the tastiest of the first round for me.

Tim started the second round with orders of the pork chop and fried quail.  I added the seafood and pork sausage papperdelle:

It was harder to choose a round two winner, but I ultimately opted for the fried quail – so perfectly cooked.

Heidi suggested the olive cake for dessert – delicious.

This was a lovely evening – so nice to catch up over a casual and delicious meal.

Diana hit the river trail early on Friday morning and then we shared a breakfast sandwich before making our way to Blair and Lisa’s compound for a “lite lunch.”

I got kitted out in UT gear and we admired the amazing charcuterie platter that Lisa and her friend had assembled.  Have you ever seen one like this?

We passed a very pleasant afternoon in the backyard of the compound enjoying the pool, cornhole, and pickleball experiences.  The net for pickleball was set up for the first time and fancy paddles broken out of their packaging.  Diana enjoyed explaining the basics of the game to her new converts.

We picked up dinner from a local Italian hole in the wall – all very tasty.  Blair had been saving a bottle of Opus One that we gifted him for Christmas several years ago to drink together.  He clearly stored it well as it tasted even better than I was expecting.

Diana started Saturday with a walk through the new neighbourhood, commenting on the difference that hills made to a route.  We had some migas tacos (perfect – thanks Lisa) after that and then prepared for the “Trifecta” of a day.

1.  Boating on Lake Travis
2.  Dinner at Mexican Sugar
3.  Concert with The Romantics/Christopher Cross/Toto

Over four hours on the lake was plenty for me, and I know Diana would have kept going all day.  We cruised around the lake:

Stopped to drop anchor and float around for a while:

and stopped into Stumpy’s for a snack:

The boat docked, we made a quick change at the resort and were picked up by Sami for our ride over to dinner and the concert.  Mexican Sugar was a very large and pretty restaurant and the food and drinks were fine.  The location was perfect to breakup our commute over to the concert.  The amphitheater was located by the Formula 1 racing track on the south side of town.

The concert was considered “Yacht Rock” – a genre that includes bands like Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, and Christopher Cross.  That’s the reason for the yacht captains’ hats in some of the ensuing pictures.  The first band on the bill was The Romantics.  We only knew two of their songs.  Here’s an interesting version of one:

What’s up with Blair’s vintage Earl Campbell Oilers jersey, you ask?  Well…he saw several videos where Christopher Cross was wearing the same shirt, and was hoping to attract his attention.  Our seats were third row, center with perfect views – that’s how Blair rolls.  Christopher Cross sounds great and broke out his biggest hit early in the set:

The last song was the other huge hit:

And then an acoustic reprise of “Sailing” – even better:

After a relatively short stage change over, Toto were ready to go.  I captured their three biggest hits:

It was a treat to have Christopher Cross, his backup singers, and the guitarist from the Romantics join for the last number, Africa.

We found Sami easily and were back at the resort around midnight.  What a fun packed day, we checked all 3 boxes of the “Trifecta.”  A massive thanks to Blair and Lisa for all of their work coordinating, executing, feeding, and planning.

While we participated in all of that excitement on Saturday, the annual football Hall of Fame induction ceremony was taking place in Canton, Ohio.  A couple of very poignant sentences from Drew Brees, quarterback who took the New Orleans Saints to the Superbowl:

“New Orleans … You accepted me. You embraced me. You believed in me. But more importantly, you entrusted me with the soul of the city. And I would have died to protect that calling!”

And in even more poignant news for me, the EDS headquarters building in Plano, TX was imploded.  I worked there off an on for many years, starting shortly after it opened.  It’s hard to believe there wasn’t a continuing use for all that space.

EDS Plano HQ imploded

Sami, having proven himself very reliable on Saturday night, transported us in style back to the Austin airport for our flight home.  I chuckled at this album display in the airport from local artists – that’s Christopher Cross at the top left and that album has both hit songs that I shared earlier.

Jon Cleary, wonderful English born piano player who has resided in New Orleans for 40 years and is an expert on all things funky NOLA style piano, has an album coming soon.  This was recorded from a solo show at the Royal Albert Hall in London.  Hard to believe he sold that out and plays in small venues in his adopted home town.

“I’ve played music to crowds at the Hollywood Bowl, Sydney Opera House and Bertha’s Bon Ton Lounge on Basin Street – all sophisticated, high-class joints. But there’s nothing that gets the spine all atingle and the funk juices bubbling quite like the prospect of getting down at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Fortunately, someone had the good sense to roll tape on that special evening last year, and the result, for your delectation, is a new solo live album that’s coming out on October 2nd!“

A later post from Cleary as he responds to a “badge” from Facebook to congratulate him on being an “emerging” artist:

“It’s not without a degree of curiosity, and even some slight alarm, that I learn today that I’m ‘emerging’.

Just to set the record straight, the last thing you want to do in New Orleans right now – if you have an air-conditioning unit that works – is to ‘emerge’. It’s too bloody hot outside. I will only emerge from the cool comfort of the red room in my house if there’s a life threatening emergency or if my manager Reed calls and invites me to join him for a cold Guinness in the equally cool environs of Markey’s Bar on Royal Street.

Editor’s note: Reed will call.

So, you can imagine my surprise on discovering today that Mark Zuckerberg has announced to the world that:

1) I am apparently a ‘talent’. This is very flattering, Mark. Thank you for the kindly compliment.

2) That I am ‘emerging’. A blatant untruth.

All this, and the further bombshell that Mr Zuckerberg, in his infinite kindness, wisdom and good taste, is awarding me a special ‘badge’. A badge! I do hope that it’s an especially big and shiny one.

I started playing music when I was 5, started playing in public when was 11, started getting paid for gigs when I was 14 and now, at the age, of 63, apparently it’s official, I’m finally emerging.

Mark, I know you’re a clever chap, and I hate to disappoint you, especially after the nice badge and everything, but, honestly, trust me, I’m not emerging, I’m staying indoors as much as possible, here on the couch, where it’s nice and cool. I’m not going anywhere (except perhaps the afore-mentioned Markey’s. Reed?)”

And finally (we’re skipping the Reading portion this week as I have made light progress) Robert Glasper does Radiohead, “Everything in its right place.”

“Montreal Week 2”

On Monday, our first day sans KKs, we made our way back down to Old Town.  We enjoyed lunch on the Terraces Nelligan – a rooftop restaurant with great views atop the Hotel Nelligan.

I tried to order a medium rare burger and was stymied by a Quebec regulation that says any ground beef not ground on the premises has to be cooked well done.  Not fancying that, I opted for a cauliflower steak – yummy.

While I was enjoying that (munched in before realizing I wanted a picture), someone bungee jumped from the crane on the other side of the river – 100% hard No on that activity.

I’ll have a sip of a refreshing beer and try to wash away the memory of the person bouncing around like a rag doll on the end of that elastic band.

Diana enjoyed a very colourful Niçoise salad.

After lunch, we walked around Old Town and took a spin through Notre Dame cathedral.  Not the very famous one, but still quite impressive – particularly the blue lighting.

I always enjoy checking out church organs and this one seemed serious:

This bronze sculpture caught my attention.  It’s called “The English Pug” and is part of a diptych called “The Two Snobs”, created in 2013 by Canadian artist Marc Andre J. Fortier.

Tommy’s Cafe was close by for our after cathedral coffee stop.  And the chair available for “Miss Champagne” seemed appropriate.

Tuesday began with a repeat visit to Chez Greenberg, down the street from the Airbnb.  This time I had a poutine stuffed knish with my macchiato – I recommend this as a good way to try poutine.  Jake Greenberg, presumably the owner, came by to check on the food and we had a good chat.  We told him we were planning on trying Milos for lunch and got positive feedback.  He also recommended Faros – the place we ate at last week with the KKs.  “Best two Greek restaurants in the city.”

We had chatted with two ladies leaving Milos one evening and they raved about the place.  It’s been in operation for many years and has since expanded globally.  We checked with Nick about the one in Miami Beach and he described it as “an institution.”  Okay – let’s see if we can get a seat at the bar and give it a try for lunch.  I started with the house special martini, which came in a fish container.

Our waiter/bartender had been to Miami Beach and to Carbone – still one of our most amazing dining experiences.

Here’s the prix fixe lunch menu:

I started with the tomato (Greek) salad and then had the Dorade Royal (sea bream.)

Diana had the phenomenal octopus, followed by lamb.

Fortunately the desserts were small.

Don’t miss the baklava ice cream.  Here’s a silly picture on the way out.

What a wonderful lunch all around.  We decided to try and make a reservation for dinner later in the week.  I think I heard something like “It’ll be our way to celebrate our last night in Montreal.”

After lunch, we watched the Spain vs France World Cup game.  I had high hopes for an exciting game but France seemed flat and tired, ultimately losing to Spain.

In the evening, we made a pilgrimage to find Leonard Cohen’s grave.  It was quite an uphill trek at the end of the walk to the entrance of the Mont Royal cemetery.  We came across this church on the walk, not Notre Dame but the location of that picture of the girls with the young men in tuxedos.  Or at least that’s the latest cover story – something about they were putting on their ties and getting all ready for a wedding, and offered to take the picture.  Hmm.

Here I am checking out the family plot.  Leonard is buried in a pine box next to his parents,  Nathan and Marsha, as well as his grandparents and great grandparents.

Diana captured some pictures showing how beautifully the cemetery plots are kept.

We heard thunder rolling on our walk back but did not get any heavy rain or “squall” – there were a few “squall warnings” during our stay that seemed to amount to nothing much.

Wednesday took us over to the Botanical Gardens – some of the largest in the world.  Research showed that we should visit the Japanese garden, the Chinese garden,  and the Alpine area – we set off in search of those.

The Japanese area sported some very old bonsais:

The Chinese garden had interesting buildings and water features:

We came across oodles of lovely flowers on our meander through the gardens.  Hydrangeas:

Balloon flowers (platycodon grandiflorus), native to East Asia:

Pom pom or ball dahlias:

We both agreed that our favourite section, not mentioned in my research, was the Lilly and brook garden.  Amazing colours and very extensive.

The Olympic stadium was next to the Botanical gardens – here’s a picture of the tower attached to it.

Some facts about the tower:

In the evening we tried another of our Uber driver recommendations – the Atwater cocktail club.  This was a speakeasy style place in the downtown area known as Atwater.  I had read that entry was by an alley behind the Foiegwa restaurant.  The one alley that I found looked a bit dodgy but closer inspection of the graffitied door revealed the “ACC” sign – must be the place.

We risked it, opened the door and headed inside to the fancy club.

We perused the detailed cocktail menu – most were less than $20 Canadian and made our choices.

The food menu seemed to have all of our favourites at once:

We started with chicken liver mousse, then beef tartare, and finally black truffle spaghetti.  So rich and decadent and all wonderful.

Our waitress, Ashely, gave us a post card with some of her recommendations on places to try.  We did try at least one of them.

What a nice touch from Ashley.

Diana decided to summit Mont Royal by the stairs on Thursday morning.  This took her a little bit higher than the terrace we reached on our first day in Montreal.

Some details on the stairs.  Good job Diana!

I think all that stairclimbing work was worth it:

We wandered the neighbourhood in search of a lunch spot, and ultimately ended up back at Bishop and Bagg for a burger at the bar.  It was interesting to observe their display of over 100 gins.

The evening brought a highlight of the trip for me – a visit to the Upstairs jazz club. Their logo is upside down because the club is actually downstairs from the street level.

There were only a few tickets left when I bought ours and so I opted for bar seating.  That turned out to be a great option – high stools so that Diana could see well and an amazing view of the stage.

We had wonderful service at the bar with great drinks and food.  I had a drink called Le Vieux something (don’t remember the word).  It was Canadian Club whiskey, Drambuie and ginger beer.  Like a slightly modified Rusty Nail and delicious.  We split a salad and a seafood pasta that was excellent.

And then the band!  A very good tribute to the Buena Vista Social Club.  This was an album from 1997 by Cuban legends with Ry Cooder.

Here’s the Upstairs version:

Friday was a busy day.  We visited the Terrasse William Gray, an Ashley recommendation, for brunch.  This was quite similar to the Nelligan terrace with excellent river front views of the Ferris wheel and Cirque du Soleil.

We shared a salad and you’ll be surprised…another tartare.  Both delicious.  Montreal really is an amazing food town.

The boeuf in the description reminded me of the boys in Paris as youngsters and the kick they got out of the McDonalds ads in the Metro – “100% pur boeuf.”

We wandered through Old Town after lunch, making a stop at Wolf and Workman before heading back to the Airbnb.

We had reservations for dinner at Milos in the evening.  Everything was fine, but not up to the amazing experience that we had at lunch.  Diana had a lobster and I enjoyed halibut.  Both were good but not at the outstanding level we had anticipated.

After dinner, another musical treat awaited.  The “Candlelight” performance of Abba and Queen songs.

This is a concert (apparently they have them in New Orleans sometimes) where a string quartet performs the music of Abba and Queen.  Here’s the order of performance:

I thoroughly enjoyed the arrangements:

A very busy and enjoyable day all around.

We were due to pack up and leave on Saturday.  Around 2pm, just before we ordered an Uber to the airport, we received notice that our flight was canceled.  Oops!

Not able to extend the Airbnb or find a room at any others close by, McD came up with a great idea – let’s stay at that really nice Nelligan hotel where we had lunch.  Booking was easy and we were checking in less than an hour later.  This was an old school luxury hotel – they had thought only I was staying and so stalled a bit at check in to make a “profile” for Diana.  I suspect what they were really doing was updating the welcome card on the petit fours.  We were escorted up to the room so that we could be shown the amenities – I don’t think I’ve had that since the Park Hyatt in Sydney many, many years ago.

We had dinner at Mignon across from the hotel and it was another delicious meal, including oysters of course.

Diana was out early on Sunday morning to explore the Old Town area some more.

We took advantage of brunch on the lovely Nelligan terrace.  The bacon Benny was just what I needed before setting of to try and make it home a day late.

I had checked transit time from the Nelligan to Montreal airport (YUL) in the morning – 20 minutes or so.  Our flight was at 5pm and so we ordered an Uber around 2:30pm.  As we departed the hotel, it showed the better part of an hour to the airport – hopefully we had enough wiggle room.  We did – the traffic entering the airport was ludicrous – 2o minutes to go less than a mile, but they had Global Entry and TSA pre at the airport and you actually cleared US customs in Montreal – who knew?

We did have a tiny snafu at airport security.  The bagel spreader souvenirs were not permitted as carry on items – such dangerous weapons.  Diana decided to go back out and check her back – no problem, she made it to the gate in time for boarding.

Our flights to Chicago and then New Orleans were fine – the usual sitting on the tarmac waiting on a gate routines.  We were home a little after midnight – tired and happily reflecting on a great trip.

My book this week was “Who is Maud Dixon” by Alexandra Andrews.  You may remember that I read her “The Fine Art of Lying” a few weeks ago.  All the reviews said that this was a much better read.  I agree with the reviews for once – much deeper characters and better humour.  Here’s an online summary:

“Florence Darrow has always felt she was destined for greatness, but after a disastrous affair with her married boss, she starts to doubt herself. All that changes when she sets off for Morocco with her new boss, the celebrated but reclusive author Maud Dixon. Amidst the colorful streets of Marrakesh and the wind-swept beaches of the coast, Florence begins to feel she’s leading the sort of interesting, cosmopolitan life she deserves.

But when she wakes up in the hospital after a terrible car accident, with no memory of the previous night—and no sign of Maud—a dangerous idea begins to take form. . .”

I enjoyed this article about attempts to create a Scottish Music Hall of Fame.  I’m all for it.

Scottish Music Hall of Fame article

Something Moroccan related for Maud Dixon:

“Montreal – Week 1”

I enjoyed this online story, celebrating a truly amazing individual:

One of Britain’s biggest mazes is celebrating Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday by creating a spectacular design in the shape of a mountain gorilla.

Wistow Maze in Leicestershire, England, came up with the design to pay tribute to the legendary broadcaster who hails from their local county, having grown up near the University of Leicester.

The popular award-winning attraction features a winding labyrinth that stretches for three miles and takes around two hours to walk.

After my posting last Sunday, England beat Mexico 3-2 with Harry Kane scoring 2 goals, all while down to 10 men for much of the game.  It was a very exciting and entertaining match.

We watched the movie “The Choice” on Sunday evening.  This was our third attempt and we were successful in finishing before Diana “fais do do.”

There were more good sporting opportunities on Monday.  The great British hope, Fery, made it through to the Wimbledon quarterfinals in entertaining fashion.  Later in the day, the USMNT was dominated by Belgium from start to finish, ultimately losing 4-1.

I watched “Still of the Night” in the evening – a movie from 1982 with what I thought was a 25 year old Meryl Streep, turns out she was 33, alongside Roy Scheider.  This was very much a noir style mystery with an early eighties feel.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.

We had an early start on Tuesday, 6am in an Uber, to catch the first of our two small (American Eagle) flights to Montreal.  I watched a movie called “The Christophers” on the flight from New Orleans to Chicago.  This starred Ian McKellen and a leonine looking lady (stand by while I look her up..), Michaele Coel, in a story about an aging artist, forgery and the greed of his children.  It was a quiet, “adult” movie that I enjoyed quite a bit.

A long layover in Chicago was eased by the Admirals Club with good coffee, creative food, and excellent WiFi.  We were able to watch Zverev defeat Lehecka, and some of Argentina vs Egypt (Messi missed a penalty.)

Diana had an impressive set up on our next flight (Chicago to Montreal.)

Mimosa, book on iPad, Wimbledon on phone and texting on phone.  Check, check, check, and check.  All taken care of.

All that multi-tasking was stressing me and so I went old school, finishing off my Violent Femmes book from the book store talk several weeks ago.  I enjoyed the read and am looking forward to referring to my marked up sections when I listen to the album next.

It was quite a trek from the arrival gate, through immigration and out to the Uber pickup area in Montreal.  Our Lyft (much shorter wait time than Uber) driver dropped us off in the alley behind our building rather at the front door.  That was pretty disconcerting but he was sure it was the right place and we figured it out after he left, dragging our luggage down the alley, past the famous bagel place, and around to the front door, where we were able to easily gain entrance to the lovely Airbnb.

Next stop – the local stores for some supplies.  There were several small grocery stores very close by and a liquor and wine store right next door.  Easy peasy.

After our pre-dawn start, we opted for a nice early night.

We awoke early on Wednesday morning.  I went back to sleep while Diana explored the neighborhood.  She did report back on a restaurant that she found that ended up being very good (more to come.)

Later in the morning we headed out on an expedition to summit Mont Royal, the mountain/hill that Montreal is named for.  My research showed that Chemin Olmsted was a pleasant and meandering trail with a light gradient, passing Beaver Lake before arriving at the Mount Royal chalet and terrace.  That was all true, however, the weather was not what my research had indicated – hot and humid, and not the cold, crisp respite from the New Orleans swamp that I had hoped for.  Oh well, I took a few breaks to cool off and ultimately summited.

There was an interesting statue as we entered the park.

Diana was not a fan of my “bucket hat” and particularly the orange colour.  I stuck with it all the same, and was delighted to find a tribe of my people on our ascent.

Here we are up on the terrace with a view of downtown Montreal.

Kenny and Kara (henceforth known as the “KKs”) arrived around 5pm and seemed not to much the worse for their day of travel.  We started their first evening with dinner at Molenne, the restaurant that Diana found on her ramble.

This was an excellent dining experience all around – fun and attentive service and wonderful food all around.  Kenny’s raw scallop was a big hit, as was Kara’s clam pasta dish.

I loved my cod in mushroom sauce and McD couldn’t resist the bison tartare.

Kenny found an excellent stop for dessert on the way home.  Some wonderful cakes and after dinner drinks.

The KKs were at it early on Thursday.  They got some bagels from Saint Viateur and then navigated their way down to Old Town and the Riverfront district on foot. We arranged to meet them at Maison  des Eclusiers by the riverfront and enjoyed our first taste of poutine.

What is poutine?  I’m glad you asked – fries, cheese curds, and gravy with various other optional toppings.  I thought it was relatively tasty but didn’t need to order it again on the trip.

Fred texted us that his favourite stop in Montreal was Pub Saint Pierre.  We hoped to camp out there and watch the France vs Morocco World Cup game.  Alas, that was a no go.  They were fully booked with supporters of both teams and so we had to vacate our table before the 4pm kickoff.

There was a decent rain going when we were ejected from the Pub, and so we made our way back to the Airbnb to prepare for dinner.

Dinner was at a lovely Indian place that Kara discovered, Le Taj.  A fancy/cool setting with very good food.  We enjoyed onion bhaji and samosas to start, followed by chicken korma, lamb vindaloo, mixed grill and garlic naan.  Lots of yummy food and plenty of leftovers.  Nice job, Kara!

We headed back downtown on Friday morning.  First stop was the Crew cafe, a coffee shop in a very fancy, old, art deco style Royal Bank of Canada building.  The lines for coffee were too long, but the building was worth the visit.

The World Trade Center building was next door and we gave that a quick visit.  Long enough for Kenny to purchase some cool new shoes, and for me to snap some pictures of a part of the Berlin wall.

We then made a decent hike over to Rue Crescent, a “super cute street with bars and flower boxes.”  The street also sported the first of two Leonard Cohen murals.  I think it’s a very well done representation of the Canadian gentleman.

I first discovered him in my mid teens via the “Greatest Hits” album.

Look at that list of songs!  “The Partisan” and “Suzanne” were my youthful favourites.

We made our way from the mural over to the Boulevard Saint Laurent, which we believed would ultimately take us close to home.  There we found mural number two:

Do you think he might be a bit of a big deal in Montreal?

We stopped at a cafe for a lunch snack of Breton style galettes, sitting outside on the street.

Kara wanted to try the world famous smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz’s deli down the street from Cafe Breizh.  This wasn’t overly appealing to me but tasted good – somewhere between pastrami and corned beef.  This place is very popular – seems to have a constant line out the door.

After that sustenance, we hiked onwards to the Avenue Mont Royal, a pedestrian street (mostly.)  Kara browsed a used record store and we ordered up macchiatos from a coffee window.  We stopped into a little Chilean place to try and watch the World Cup game.  They had it on but didn’t serve any wine or beer.  I ordered an empanada – very good with a delicious sauce.  When I complimented the sauce, the owners told me they brought the recipe from Chile and gave me a little sample to take home.

After a quick freshen up, the girls walked around to the Sparrow, a restaurant/bar with an amazing oyster happy hour – $1 Canadian/oyster – that’s $0.70 US.  Granted, these are the smaller, PEI oysters, but those are usually even more expensive than our local gulf varieties.  I prefer the small, briny ones, but most others like the gulf ones.

I think you can tell from these pictures what the girls thought of the experience:

There was a small music club across from the Airbnb and the girls alerted us to the band playing that evening – Kataklysm.  I listened to a few seconds of a track – do so at your own risk.  There was an interesting Nordic/French band playing later in our stay.

Kenny and I joined the ladies at Sparrow and gave them an excuse to order some more oysters.  The place did make a very good gimlet.

The oysters weren’t enough to sate everyone and an Uber driver had recommended Fugazi pizza – handily just across the street from Sparrow.

That place made a tasty pizza.

I was amazed at the number of pizza, bagel and coffee shops in our neighbourhood.  It was a younger area from a demographic perspective, but still – how much pizza can one eat in a week?

The KKs were excited to try the local ice cream before leaving.  The line wasn’t too long.

Some down memory lane ice cream pictures:

The KKs went off early to summit Mont Royal – successfully completed.  Diana went out for a wander and I walked down the street to Chez Greenberg for breakfast.

Something about Montreal – everybody knows how to make a macchiato.   The special thing at this place was the latke with schmear, smoked salmon, chives, onions and crunchy things.  Different and delicious.

I rendezvoused with my spouse and we went to Bishop and Bagg to watch the Wimbledon ladies final.

It looked like it would be over before the KKs could join us.  Fortunately the match became competitive and needed a third set to decide.

The ladies went out for an extensive walk prior to another Sparrow happy hour, while Kenny and I watched the World Cup game at the apartment.

You’ll have to ask them about the background on this picture.  The one I got seemed quite fishy.

And then back to Sparrow to discuss the cover story.

We tried a well recommended and reviewed neighbourhood Greek place for dinner – Faros.  Again – great service and delicious food.  I tried something new – squid stuffed with cheese and veggies.

Diana had a grilled octopus, Kara lamb, and Kenny steak.

There was an interesting option where you could select a very fresh fish.

The bus boy was helping us with coffee and desert and recommended the yogurt plate.  Great recommendation – we all enjoyed it a lot.

And we were not done at that.  A fruit plate appeared.  We asked questions about one of the melon looking fruits and the owner/chef (for 30 years) came out with an explanation and then reappeared with another exotic melon that he wanted us to try.  What a great experience!

Somehow, on returning to the Airbnb, we got on a favourite show from our childhoods kick.  We watched Lancelot Link and the episode about the “Hong Kong Sneeze” – one of Kenny’s favourites.  Then I shared some Magic Roundabout, The Herbs, and then we finished with the Pink Panther for Kenny and my Dad.

The KKs left us on Sunday.  We sadly moped around and watched some Wimbledon.  In the evening, we couldn’t resist revisiting Molenne for a reprise of that ridiculous raw scallop, bison tartare, and spaghetti clams trifecta.  Just as tasty.

I finished up John of John by Douglas Stuart this week.  Not one of my top reads of the year, but as I said last week, some interesting things about life on the islands.

“Happy Retirement, Tim”

The New York Knicks had a 2-0 lead over the San Antonio Spurs going into game three of the NBA finals on Monday evening.  I loved watching the Spurs come rallying back for a win.

They are a very young team and have the potential to be contenders for many years to come.

Before I was even out of bed on Tuesday, American Airlines had let me know that my flight to visit Tim and Deirdre in Philadelphia was delayed by two and a half hours.  They’re trying to get better about giving reasons for the delays – this one seemed a bit light:

I watched a movie on the plane that I would describe as a psychological thriller – “The Housemaid.”  I was telling Denny about it yesterday and he teased me relentlessly that the movie’s target audience was ladies in the 18 – 25 year old demographic.  Not sure I believe him – but he is now cut off from my movie recommendations.  His loss.

Tim had planned to pick us up at the airport, and we let him off the hook as our flight would now be arriving in rush hour.  We took an Uber and arrived around 7pm for some delicious Tim cooked ribs.  Diana said they were the best she had tasted.  I wonder what’s Tim’s secret?

Tim loves to decorate for all holidays – Christmas, July 4th, Halloween, Autumn, St. Patrick’s Day, and any number of others.  Deirdre keeps him restricted in how soon and late his decorations can stay.  He is in full July 4th mode right now – particularly down in his new basement bar.  There have been many improvements since I visited 15+ years ago – a new deck, a completely refinished basement with bar (beautifully stocked with whiskies and snacks), TV room and gym, and a downstairs patio.

Buddy the Beagle likes to go out early in the morning – around 5am.  He came to visit me and make sure all was good when he came back inside.  It’s been a while since I woke up to a dog in my face.  We took advantage of the early start to go out for a walk on the very well maintained trails through the woods.  It’s already starting to get warm in Pennsylvania early in the morning.

Our main activity for Tuesday was a visit to Peddler’s Village – about a 30 minute drive.  What is that place all about?  Here’s the advertising scoop:

We started with lunch on the patio at the Buttonwood Grill.  The food was good and we did hear something very entertaining as we were deciding on our orders.  “I’m allergic to mushrooms,” said Tim.  “No you’re not,” was the quick rebuttal from Dee.  The theme was revisited many times throughout the day, with Dee ultimately admitting that she had seen Tim eat things that contained mushrooms that he didn’t know about, and he had survived just fine.  “Who are you?  Sneaking mushrooms into my food.”

Walking around the artisanal shops with a drink is encouraged.  There is a local distillery and brewery to choose from.  I get a moonshine margarita slushy – not sweet at all due to the moonshine bite.

Each season seems to bring a different set of exhibits to the village – scarecrows, Christmas trees, and for our visit, sand sculptures.  Titled “Sights in Sand – an American Road Trip,” these very large sculptures were quite impressive.

The big question we all had was, “What holds the sculptures together?”  Apparently they are periodically sprayed with a blend of water and wood glue.  Each sculpture took around 125 hours to complete, and they will be on display through the end of August.

We made a quick stop on the way home to pick up sandwiches for our outing on Wednesday.  Then a quick visit to Wormwood farms brewery before heading home for Tim to grill a tri-tip.  It’s a while since I had this cut of meat – always popular at sporting events in California, and rarely seen in New Orleans.  Grill master Tim did another excellent job – finishing just before the “meat” of a rainstorm arrived.

Caitlin, Tim and Dee’s oldest daughter, visited for dinner – still in scrubs from her occupational therapy job – I believe related to patients suffering with brain trauma.  I would guess that it’s 15 years since I last saw Caitlin.

After dinner, Tim and I watched game 4 of the Spurs and Knicks basketball finals in the basement.  The Spurs had a 29 point lead and so I retired to bed at half time.  The big news in the morning – the Knicks were the first team in history to overcome a 29 point lead, and now lead the series 3-1.  Ugh!

We took our sandwiches to Bishop Estate winery for lunch on Thursday.  We each tried a flight of wines and then voted on which bottle to get for lunch – the Chardonnay won.

Diana picked up a couple of red white and blue wine glasses to go with Tim’s decor.

After the “allergic to mushrooms” theme died down a bit, the complaints about Tim’s birthday falling on father’s day ratcheted up.  So…he got one glass for his birthday and one for father’s day.  Here they are in the bar:

Tim got a night off from cooking, and we enjoyed dinner on the patio at 59 Almshouse.

In the evening Tim opened the retirement gift that Dee had hidden away for us when we had it shipped there.  More “Who are you, sneaking around and hiding things?”

It’s a line art sculpture of a Beagle, and was well received.

Friday was a smooth travel day back to New Orleans.

Kenny, Kara, Nina, Denny, and Anne met us at Merry Lee and Jeff’s pool on Saturday afternoon.  Diana had organized a cabana and so we were able to have a fridge and soccer on TV, and a place to shelter during a brief but heavy rain shower.

I had to oscillate between two sporting events on Saturday evening – Scotland vs Haiti in the World Cup, and Spurs vs Knicks basketball.

Scotland did win but played unimpressively and gave what I would describe as a flat effort.  They did lead their group for a while:

And the Spurs lost, giving the Knicks their first NBA Championship in over 50 years.

My book this week was “The Fine Art of Lying” by Alexandra Andrews.  Denny would probably say that I’m not in the target demographic for this book,  and I don’t care as I enjoyed the read.

Here’s an online summary of the plot:

“From the critically acclaimed author of Who is Maud Dixon? comes a riveting new novel about a young wife and mother thrust into a world of wealth and privilege, whose rash mistake sets off a domino effect of murder and betrayal.

In the beginning, there was art.

It was Clare Bast’s love of art that saved her from a bleak, predictable life in upstate New York, and drew her to the cultured world of Manhattan’s Upper East Side where she met Jed, her doting, affluent husband.

Despite her best efforts—including a half-finished PhD, abandoned when her daughter Sadie was born—Clare secretly can’t help but feel like an imposter in Jed’s one-percent, Park-Avenue life.

When the well-connected wife of Jed’s new boss introduces her to influential friends—a curator here, a gallerist there, an aficionado abroad—Clare feels an essential part of herself coming alive again. And when she discovers that an important work painted by the subject of her unfinished dissertation is hanging in the brownstone of a seductively attractive dealer, she believes fate is leading her where she belongs . . . until she finds herself at the scene of a gruesome murder and a stolen masterpiece. Caught in the perfectly wrong place at the perfectly wrong time, every clue the investigation uncovers points back to her.

Suddenly, Clare is trapped inside a dark and treacherous art world filled with unscrupulous dealers and international criminals. What, exactly, has she gotten herself into . . . and how is she going to get herself, and her family, out?”

This paragraph made me smile – we have the same anniversary and will celebrate later this week.

“She brought it to the living room and sat on the couch. Noodle lifted up his head to look at her before settling back down in his cage. Clare tapped in Jed’s password—0617, their anniversary—and the display opened onto a picture of Sadie and her in the pool in East Hampton. She swiped down and searched”

Have you heard of Erma Franklin?  I had not.  She is the older sister of Aretha and recorded the original version of this song, nominated for a Grammy.

The famous version was recorded by Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company a year later.

The first Rush shows of their much anticipated tour happened in LA this week.  The reviews rave about Anika Niles, the new female drummer, replacing the late Neal Peart.  I watched a video of them performing the entire 2112 suite for the first time in 29 years.

“A Relaxing Week – for the most part”

The week began with the usual early alarms so that Diana could make her 8am pickleball session.  Yeah!

Tuesday began with me joining a retirement financial meeting with Paul and Diana heading off to her pickleball tournament.  I followed that with a swim, steam and sauna at the New Orleans Athletic Club (NOAC) in an attempt to stretch out my back.  Trivia in the evening worked out well for me for the first time in a while.  Here’s Kenny’s scoring and notes sheet.

My contributions:  William the Conqueror, correct first names for Lamborghini and Prada, infra-red waveband, and “Francis” as the F in F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Denny wore his new “Dude” t-shirt that we got for his birthday in San Sebastian.  The design is by the same illustrator who did my Miles Davis cutout wall hanging.

The typical run and yoga in Audubon park sessions kicked off Wednesday for Diana.  Then she spent some time packing up for her trip to California.

She left for the trip to attend Ashley’s wedding on Thursday morning.  There were delays in Dallas due to weather in San Francisco, but nothing too extreme, arriving on Gypsy Hill in the early evening.

I watched the “Accidental Tourist” movie on Thursday night.  This is the 1988 adaptation of Anne Tyler’s wonderful book and stars William Hurt, Geena Davis and Kathleen Turner.  Geena Davis won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.

This is my kind of movie – quiet, understated with deep themes and humour.

I found a recipe for the perfect “Vesper” – the James Bond drink and would have enjoyed one with the movie, but did not have the ingredients.  I’m adding it here so that I know where to find the recipe:

Friday, my first “unsupervised” day, was a busy one.  I spent the morning and early afternoon at Kenny’s rental houses.  We were trying to use my pressure washer to spray “Wet it and forget it” on the bricks and siding of the houses.  A series of unfortunate events prevented us from doing that and I’ve now ordered up what I think will be a much easier approach to accomplishing our goal.

After that frustration, Kenny took me on a tour of the Lakeview area of New Orleans (very nice and upscale) and then we shared a burger at Desi Vegas Burger house – one of the better burgers that I’ve had in a while.

In the evening, we gathered at the Bon Temps dive bar to support our friends who were running in the Barathon – a run of around 3.5 miles that visits 5 bars, where participants have to finish a beer before continuing to the next stops.  There were a surprising number of participants:

Our team:

Katherine, Fred and Brennen did a good job – coming in the top 25% in my estimation – very impressive.  How did the winners complete all of that in around 30 minutes?  Crazy.

While all of that was underway, Diana was making the trip from Pacifica to Gardnerville, Nevada.  Julie was almost on time for the departure and they made reasonable time on the 4+ hour drive.

I met Chris Peet at Casimiro for breakfast on Saturday.  This is a new brunch place from the ladies that operate Acamaya (one of my top 5 New Orleans restaurants.)  Mexican breakfast dishes are one of my favourite food groups.  We started with the Tetela de Hongos al Ajillo (triangles of corn masa stuffed with mushrooms and served with salsa verde and crema – I will be back just for these.  Then I had the chilaquiles with chicken – ridiculously good and enough to eat all day long.

We both tried the Cafe de Olla – coffee with cinnamon, spices and a slight sweetness – I had two and it was not Chris’ thing.

I really enjoyed catching up with Chris – been a while since we got time for a nice chat.

Denny and Anne invited me over for dinner on Saturday evening.  Chef Denny did his usual amazing job – hanger steak, gnocchi with spinach, and carrots on a Greek yogurt base.  It’s nice to have friends that worry about me when Diana is gone.

Here are some pictures from Ashley and Nick’s wedding in Nevada:

It seems that Diana had a good time and is glad she made the effort to attend.

A week after Mother’s Day and Diana’s flowers from Alicia are still going strong.  I’ve been changing out the water and adding ice cubes – apparently the secret to elongated life.

My book this week was “Doxology” by Nell Zink.  The online review says “this novel follows three friends – Pam, Daniel, and Joe – through the 1980s and 90s New York City music scene, exploring their relationships, the impact of 9/11, and the subsequent political landscape through the eyes of their daughter, Flora, as she grows up and becomes an activist. The book is an ambitious, generational saga that contrasts the punk-rock idealism of their youth with the political realities of post-9/11 America, touching on themes of family, fame, and the search for meaning. “

I find this book equally entertaining and clever with the musical references, and at the same time overly New York Times hipsterish and trying too hard.  I’m about 30% complete and will try to stick with it and have more to report next week.

I did find an interesting reference to Jane Birkin and the role she played in creating the Hermes Birkin bag.  This was a trivia clue that I knew because we sold so many of those ridiculously expensive bags in our stores.

Spotify shared some data this week – the first song that I listened to on the platform and how many since:

Let’s see – 31,500 songs over 12 years = 2,625 songs/year.  That’s a little over 200 songs/month and 7 songs/day – sounds about right.

I read an article about the albums that most influenced Tom Waits:

Some very good ones in that list.

“University Reunion”

Diana’s week started out with a long walk and after that she was ready for a nice lunch at the Laird’s table outside Fenwick.  This is the restaurant with views out onto a fly-fishing lake.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch with all three of us trying different seafood dishes.  Here’s a picture Diana took after lunch:

After lunch we made a trip to the Marks and Spencer’s Food store in the Newton Mearns mall.  This is a wonderful store, quite unlike anything we find in the US.  So many pre-packaged meals, cheeses, meats, and everything else you could hope for.  We picked out some lunch and dinner treats.  After that, we made a short side trip to B&Q home store to look for a new magnetic shower door strip.  That was a no-go – only available online.

Diana ventured out into the Scottish countryside again for a long run and walk on Tuesday morning.  Then we drove Mum’s car through to Edinburgh to meet up with my university friends for our 41st graduation anniversary get together.

We walked across to the Beehive pub ahead of our scheduled 7pm meeting time.  I was in line to order a drink when I received a WhatsApp message from Euan.  Thankfully that included a picture and a description of where he was sitting and the colour of shirt he was wearing.  I went across and introduced myself.  Bobby and Kirsty showed up a short while later and then Fiona and Patrick.  We made our way across the street to the restaurant at the Apex hotel.  The hotel is a remodel of the Heriot-Watt Mountbatten building where we studied Electrical Engineering all those 41 years ago.  The ramp that we walked up to enter the building is still there – now the handicapped entrance.  We walked up and noticed the red wall where our results were posted outside Dr. Davidson’s (head of electrical engineering department) office.

Left to right – Fiona, Bobby, and Euan.

Dinner was very enjoyable, the restaurant occupying what was one of two large lecture theaters in the building.

We reminisced about a “presentation skills” class we had taken in that theater all those years ago.  Euan talked about his experiences digging graves as a summer job, I shared how sound wavelengths operate in brass instruments (with live tuba and trombone demonstrations), Bobby discussed a new album that his country dancing band had released, and Fiona talked about gemstones with foils from a local museum.

All of the group are retired now (quite an achievement given we average 62) with Euan doing some occasional consulting with early-stage high tech startups.

This was a lovely evening from start to finish.  We’ll have to get together sooner if it’s going to happen again in these lifetimes.

We had a workout on Wednesday morning, followed by a “healthy” breakfast at a place called Hula in the Grassmarket.  I had a falafel bowl that was huge and delicious and brought a good bit of it home for later.  The drive back to Mum’s was smooth and easy, with a quick stop into Marks and Spencer for some special cookies and other snacks.  We chuckled at the alternatives to easter eggs:

We visited the Dunlops (Jeanette and Robert) on Thursday afternoon.  These are good friends of Mum’s who live one street away.  I babysat their children at least once many years ago.  We had a very enjoyable chat, with an “online shop” showing up during our visit.  This was included:

Prosecco without the alcohol.  Diana was horrified.  It’s also “suitable for vegans” according to the label.

Mum made beef olives for dinner on Thursday.  Ever heard of them?  Care to guess what they look like?

They are a Scottish dish of thin beef steaks wrapped around sausage meat, stuffing or even haggis.

Why the “olive” in the name?  There are no olives in the recipe.  It’s not clear to me – some online postings talk about the stuffed beef wrap looking like an olive – I’m not sure I see that.  Despite all of that, these made for a delicious dinner.

Julie and Robin invited us over to dinner on Friday evening.  We were joined by Lorna and Russell.

Dinner was a team effort – chicken tikka masala and naan bread by Julie, fancy rice with cinnamon sticks from Robin, and a raspberry meringue roulade from Lorna – all wonderful.

Lots of fun stories were shared.  It’s really such a lovely group.  The “Morgan” was mentioned several times during the evening, and Diana was confused about what that might be.  Any car enthusiasts reading that know?  Robin demonstrated as we were getting bundled up to leave – “Oh, It’s a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” said Diana.

Morgans are really unique.  They are still built using ash wood for the frame and are largely built by hand in the Malvern, England factory – the same one has been used for over 100 years.  Only a few hundred are built each year and the wait time can last up to 10 years.

We walked home a little after midnight (brrr!) and apparently missed the “clues” that were left to indicate that we were expecting a visit from Heather, Michael, and Hamish.

Meanwhile, back in New Orleans, Kara and Chris Peet, along with Nina, Ian and Hannah, were all running in the Crescent City Classic 10K.  There were over 20,000 runners involved.

Kara came across Chris and ran with the Love flag for a while.

We enjoyed a visit from Hamish, Heather and Michael on Saturday morning.  Diana was out for a run before major storm “Dave” arrived in the afternoon.  She returned in time to enjoy some Hamish time, including learning a new song about winding up a bobbin and pointing to the ceiling, floor, window and door.

Sunday was a long travel day.  Our regular taxi driver shared the audio of this Tom Jones performance as we were talking to him about Jazzfest experiences.

We were a bit nervous on seeing very limited visibility and sleet/snow from the airport lounge.

As we’ve learned, no reason to get too concerned as the weather will change in a few minutes.  True to form, the sun was out in ten minutes.

I’m always amazed at the quality of the service on the short flight from Glasgow to London.  We were presented with a food and drink menu and some delicious food.  Even a special Easter dessert.  The transatlantic folks could learn a lot from the folks working these flights.

We did not need to go through additional security or change terminals in London.  That meant more time in the lounge, Diana enjoying the selection of champagnes.

The menu on the transatlantic flight included a chicken tikka pie (reprising Julie’s dinner) and a carrot and ginger soup (Mum made this too).  I enjoyed them both.

I was trying to make some progress on Fred’s World War II book on the flight.  I was entertained to read of some characters trying to escape Spain via a ship from Bilbao with a stop at Saint-Jean-de-Luz – neither of which I would have known about prior to our holiday.

Clearing immigration in New Orleans couldn’t have been any easier – probably a much better option than going through Dublin.  After a short Uber ride we were finally home.  All seemed in order with our house.

I read in the newspaper that Easter Sunday has become a big day in the French Quarter – it certainly seems that way from the pictures.

Being in Edinburgh brough me back to Ian Rankin and his John Rebus books.  I don’t think I ever read the original in the series, “Knots and Crosses.”

Second week in San Sebastian

I took advantage of all the mirrors to capture a silly selfie:

Lunch was yet another gastronomic delight.  We started with truffled egg and mushrooms – amazing.  Do you know how they make a truffled egg?  I just learned on this trip – they sit truffles on top of the eggs for several days and the flavour of the truffle seeps into the eggs.

Missing New Orleans, and particularly the omnipresent live music, I reread “Groove Interrupted – Loss, Renewal, and the Music of New Orleans” by Keith Spera.  He covers music for the local newspaper and I really love his writing.  Here’s an online summary before I dive into some of the quotes from the chapters about how local musicians were impacted by Hurricane Katrina:

“First Week in San Sebastian”

Now that we’ve landed in the Basque region, you might be wondering where that is exactly and what the history of that region involves.  Here’s a map of the region – a small portion of what is now northeastern Spain and southwestern France:

Here’s an online summary of the extensive history of the region that helps one understand why these people have been pushing for recognition and independence for so long:

Monday lunch was at Rekondo.  This was a fancy restaurant (one tier below the very fancy Michelin star places) that was recommended to Denny by a shopkeeper in Old Town on Sunday.  The wine cellar is reported to be the best in Europe.  We had a tour after lunch, and it was extremely impressive.

They did not encourage photos and so I wasn’t able to get the fancy entry part.

The wine list that we were presented was at least an inch thick and very intimidating.  Thankfully, they had a list of about six recommendations on the food menu.  The champagne was $26 which we assumed was for a fancy glass, and were pleased to find was for a bottle.

I had the black pudding ravioli with truffle to start and then the suckling pig with the fancy pineapple crisp.  Both wonderful.

Here we are outside the restaurant and fully sated:

We had heard that the shops and restaurants would be mostly closed on Tuesday for a “protest strike.”  Denny decided to rent a car and drive to Biarritz in France for the day.  This was a short and relatively easy drive, and we arrived at the fancy beach in the late morning.

Biarritz appeared to be a combination of a very fancy, elegant town and a surf destination.  The breaks were very impressive all the way up and down the coast from the town.

There was a travel poster from La Baule in our apartment, and this and discussion of the waves at Biarritz reminded Mum of a day that Dad and I had spent enjoying the waves at the La Baule beach – much to the concern of Mum and Elspeth as we disappeared in the swells.

I had lunch at a cafe on a square in the center of Biarritz – a tasty veggie galette.

This bar window in Biarritz reminded us that we were still in Basque country:

After that snack, Denny drove us down the coast to Saint Jean de Luz.  We had lunch at a small restaurant recommended by AI – we would never have found it (hidden on a back street) without help.

Returning to San Sebastian, we were entertained to find the beach in front of our apartment very busy with folks enjoying the sun.

Diana made her way to a store to purchase a San Sebastian beach towel so that she could join the sun worshippers.  The following days were not quite as hot but she gave it a good try.

Denny and Anne left for the airport on Wednesday morning.  They were flying to London, spending the night, and then on to New Orleans on Thursday.  We were sorry to see them go and the apartment seemed quiet.

A ride on the funicular was highly recommended by Denny before he left.  We gave that a shot on Wednesday afternoon but caught it during siesta nap time.  Lunch seemed like a good alternative plan, and we shared a couple of salads at the nearby Wimbledon tennis club.

We ate at El Bistro Ondaretta on Friday night.  Ondaretta is the area of town where our apartment is located and so this was less than a five-minute walk.  The restaurant is small and is run by a husband-and-wife couple.

Saturday was a busy walking day again, covering more than five miles in the morning.  I had committed to giving hiking up to the statue of Jesus a try.  On the way we noticed a bunch of football pitches (8) on the beach.  What a nice setting for the kids.

Here’s some information on the statue:

The Jesus statue, known as the Sacred Heart of Jesus or Cristo de Urgull,

stands atop Monte Urgull, overlooking San Sebastián and La Concha Bay.

The statue, created in the 1950s, depicts Jesus Christ with his hand on his 

heart and is a prominent landmark in San Sebastián. The sculpture itself 

measures over 12 meters in height, and when combined with its base, which houses a chapel, the entire monument reaches more than 24 meters, making it visible from miles around. It was 

commissioned by the city council in 1943 and has been a symbol of faith and civic pride since its installation in 1950.

I made it and we were able to take some pictures up top to celebrate the accomplishment and capture the views.

It seemed more than 400 feet up there.

My first book this week was “The Future Saints” by Ashley Winstead.  The reviews made this sound quite appealing, but I gave up early on.  It was like a bubblegum pop book and nothing close to what I was hoping for and expecting.  The comparisons to “Daisy Jones and the Six” should have tipped me off – I really didn’t enjoy that book either.

I switched over to “The Rest of Our Lives” by Ben Markovits.  This was much more my speed.  I realized a little into the read that I had previously read “Christmas in Austin” by Markovits and really enjoyed it.