“All About the Kitchen”
Monday in New Orleans began with a bunch of hammering and banging outside the cottage. Denny is having the back patio and fence area redone, and the workers were taking off the forms for the cement base of the fence. The design for a cantilevered pergola covering the back patio is very different and cool. We’re having a competition to see if our kitchen remodel or the patio re-do is finished first. My money is on the kitchen given the speed at which projects progress in New Orleans.
Our flight and travel back home on Monday afternoon were all smooth and hassle free.
Tuesday was a busy catch up day at work with nothing else exciting happening.
We watched a really interesting documentary on Wednesday evening. “The Year the Earth Changed” is about the climate changes that have happened during our year of lockdown, and the impact these have had on nature. Sir David Attenborough narrates, taking me back to all those nature shows of my youth.
The scene were folks in Northern India go up to their rooftops to view the majestic Himalayas for the first time in their lives is quite poignant. Whales using entirely new communication systems now that they can hear above ship noise was amazing. And then there’s the scene where a leopard becomes the king of a safari compound, becoming almost human in personality. Well worth a watch. See the good things that have occurred as a result of the pandemic.
On Thursday I watched the Oscar nominated film “Nomadland”, starring Frances McDormand. I really enjoyed this quiet and thoughtful movie.
The movie is ostensibly about folks who live in vans and move nomadically around the country to find work depending on the season. McDormand’s character works in Amazon fulfillment centers and various other low paying jobs as she moves from Arizona to California, North Dakota and other western states. I think the deeper message is about loss of a spouse and rejection of the “normal” way of life, where we live in one place. My favourite scene occurs when McDormand’s character is visiting a friend she met on the road and observes him playing a piano tune with his son. Nothing is said but the sense of loss on her face says it all perfectly. She quickly packs up and hits the solo road again. I’m expecting some kind of award for this film on Sunday night at the Oscars.
The New York Times crossword on Thursday made me think of David, with the 007 theme. Very cleverly executed. A lot of comments in the blogs about omitting Roger Moore from the puzzle, while including Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig. Particularly when you consider the “00” in his last name. Such a travesty.
The kitchen packing began in earnest on Thursday afternoon and I gingerly transported glasses and bottles from the butler pantry to their temporary homes. Diana’s activity really hit a peak on Friday as she was determined to make a big dent in emptying things out. She created a small kitchen/pantry area in the master bedroom and has taken to calling it our “studio apartment.” I moved the microwave out next to the outside grill and we have a temporary cooking area all ready to go there.
We had a nice walk through the neighborhoods on Saturday morning and then drove to downtown Dallas for lunch with John – in town for a conference at the Anatole hotel. We took him over to Standard Pour on McKinney Avenue and enjoyed a delicious brunch and catch up chat. A highlight was the musician/DJ’s performance of “Nessun dorma” – certainly got Diana’s attention as she headed into the main dining room to listen.
Sunday started with another stroll around the streets of McKinney. We drove down into Dallas again on Sunday evening to sample an event my boss was hosting at his home. It’s a competition that lasts all day between about 40 guys – some of whom he’s known since elementary school. They had foosball, shuffleboard, ping-pong, basketball, putting, pool boat races, hockey shot and several other events set up around the yard, a taco truck in the alley, and a great musician playing a wide variety of music. All very well organized and setup but not a huge amount of fun if you weren’t engaged in the competition. We stayed an hour or so and enjoyed the tacos and a drink. Maybe I’ll compete next year.
In Bend, Oregon, Finn was getting some great use out of his new hiking boots. He was out at an area called Smith Rock and decided it was a good idea to hike something called “Misery Ridge”, despite all the warning signs about it being a black diamond/expert route. It sounds like he got quite an awakening up on the top of the ridge, but completed the challenge successfully. Here are some really lovely pictures that he took along the way. It’s such a good time to be outdoors there.
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We watched some of the Oscar awards ceremony on Sunday night – and what do you know? – Nomadland won a number of the big awards. If we’d filled out a ballot I would have picked Frances McDormand for best actress and the film for best picture. Easy for me to claim after the fact.
I enjoyed my first real library book in years this week. “A Hologram for the King” is a quick and light read on the surface, while carrying some deeper messages about our place in an aging, global workforce.
I didn’t realize this was also a movie starring Tom Hanks. I watched it over the weekend and found it very faithful to the book, with most of the dialogue word for word. It definitely worked better as a book than a film.
Here’s a summary review : “A Hologram for the King takes us around the world to show how one man fights to hold himself and his splintering family together in the face of the global economy’s gale-force winds. In a rising Saudi Arabian city, far from weary, recession-scarred America, a struggling businessman pursues a last-ditch attempt to stave off foreclosure, pay his daughter’s college tuition, and finally do something great. This taut, richly layered, and elegiac novel is a powerful evocation of our contemporary moment — and a moving story of how we got here.”
I enjoyed relaying the jokes that Alan, the main character, tells to Diana. They were of the ilk that really tickles my funny bone and makes McD groan.
The latest Tipitina’s record club release was waiting for me when we returned from New Orleans – how fitting given that it’s a live recording of The Radiators at Tipitina’s in 1997. We’ve enjoyed so many memorable concerts at this venerable New Orleans music club. I don’t love the music on this album, but the live sound and musicianship are very good, and we’re supporting the venue by belonging to the club. Here’s a song by The Radiators that I do enjoy:
We watched the Curtis Stigers livestream on Wednesday night and he played a cover by Jeffrey Martin that was excellent. I hadn’t heard of this outstanding singer songwriter and have been enjoying exploring his catalog of work.
While participating in “Jazzfesting in Place” on the back patio, I heard this great cover of one of my top three favourite songs. What a treat. Also inspired me to download the sheet music and learn the song on the piano.
Stay patient, calm, and kind to everyone out there!
tacos when that was over. I was close to the library and so, having mostly run out of storage space for books at home, decided to stop in to renew my library card and see if they had anything on my reading list. Success – library card renewal took less than a minute, and I found two books on my list. Diana found some different ducks and little ones on her run.
I had signed up for a hybrid cloud webinar in the afternoon, only because it came with a wine and chocolate sampling agenda item. They shipped two very nice bottles of wine and some ultra fancy chocolates ahead of the meeting. The winemaker and chocolatier joined on video from their vineyard and shop, and gave fascinating talks about their products.
A nicely orchestrated birthday surprise! One of Denny’s birthday gifts was this personalized mermaid bottle opener that we picked up at a coffee shop in Bend, Oregon.
After lunch, we drove over to the tennis center to watch the action. We laughed to find Fire Chief Kenny umpiring the games in his uniform. Upon investigation, he informed us that he was “in his district, and ready to respond.” As we relaxed on the porch after the game, Kenny got a call and replied, “I’ll be right there.” We asked if it was something important – “dinner bell.” Ha! What do you think of Denny’s 1970s tennis hair extensions?
Dinner at MoPho Vietnamese (delicious after a very slow service start) and then back home to enjoy our last evening in New Orleans. I snapped this picture of a crescent moon, beside a crescent cloud, in the crescent city.
I enjoyed another Anne Tyler novel on the trip. Here’s the Amazon summary of “Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant”:
I found this mug to send to Finn. I was searching for a funny penguin mug like the one he used when he was staying with us, and this one is perfect.
I loved the time I spent with “The Train in the Night – A Story of Music and Loss” by Nick Coleman this week. What a great read. Coleman spent his life as a music journalist until going completely deaf in one ear in his late 40s:
COVID shot in the afternoon at the Allen football stadium. Can you believe that is a high school stadium? The local Fire Department was in charge of this site and they were extremely efficient – 2 minutes from entering the parking lot until shot in the arm. We pulled Penelope into a parking spot to wait the requisite 15 minutes before leaving. Then things almost immediately took a bad turn. Finn said he was feeling faint, went pure white, leaned back in his seat, eyes rolling back and body shaking. Good grief – time for some help! The paramedic showed up quickly and hooked Finn up to an EKG, pulse, and blood pressure machine. Both pulse and blood pressure had dropped to very low levels. As he regained consciousness, Finn was not at all pleased to hear the paramedic say that he wanted to check his blood sugar level – “I don’t recommend poking me with any needles just now” – the paramedic nodded along, stuck him before he noticed, and reported blood sugar just fine. After about 10 minutes some color started creeping back into his face and we rejected the strong advice of the fire department ambulance workers that had arrived on the scene to go with them to the nearest hospital. Another 30 minutes or so and Finn was on his couch resting. Diana and I took turns checking on him. He claims that he “died and came back to life” and that “there’s not a bright light to guide you”. I think he’s a good story teller.
We stopped into Nerdvana coffee on the way home from the doctor visit. Finn was entertained by all the role playing games they sold and was particularly tickled by what he described as the “Episode of the Big Bang Theory” taking place at the table next to us. A group of geeky folks were going deep into what makes a good cup of coffee – way deep.
I absolutely love this penguin art that he created for me with a note that I’ll treasure on the back.
Apparently John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn stayed at the hotel during filming.
worked wonders with simple ingredients. My favourite was the fried cauliflower – tremendous flavour. The lamb meatballs and hummus with elk meat were also excellent. Diana proclaimed the chopped salad the best she had tasted in ages. Finn finished off with his favourite dessert – baclava, and had some leftover to go with the lemon bars that D had snuck into his back-pack. All three of us are still raving about this place and can’t wait to visit Bend again so that we can go back. An early night was called for after all the travel and excitement of the day.
Suitably coffeed, we made the 20 minute drive to explore Tumalo falls. I had read that you could hike a somewhat robust 2.5 miles to the falls or drive right up to them and park. The road in was closed off and I couldn’t understand why, so we parked and investigated. None of us had the proper shoes for a 2.5 mile hike up a rocky path but decided to at least have a short wander. We quickly realized that the snow on the road was the reason for it being close off. I don’t think we went much over half a mile up the path, but did get some good photos. Can you tell Finn is feeling a wee bit cold?
The exploration continued with a drive on down the road to the Mount Bachelor ski resort – in full swing on a sunny day and not too busy. Finn liked the half-pipe and snowboard jumps. Hopefully he gets to partake before Spring skiing ends. The mountain is less than 30 minutes from his house.
We arrived back in downtown Bend in time for Diana and Finn to enjoy a yummy brunch at the Lemon Tree – they weren’t hungry when I had breakfast earlier at the Scoutpost. I got to sample their delicacies. Diana was quite adventurous and ordered the Shakshuka – a Tunisian dish with a sauce of tomatoes, chile peppers and onions simmered with North African spices, and served with poached eggs and grilled Stirato – delicious combination of flavours. Diana described the Lemon Tree experience as “great food, lousy service.” She was not wrong. The only poor service we experienced all weekend – the overall vibe was very much friendly and welcoming.
We had a wander around downtown and then headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner at 900 Wall (right next door to Joolz). This was a fancier restaurant that didn’t disappoint at all. We started with a charcuterie board and tempura fried green beans (a big hit), and then Finn surprised us by insisting on the duck confit (even after I tried to steer him to a few other things) – it ended up being delicious and he finished every bite on the plate. Diana had the teres major. Anybody heard of that? We certainly hadn’t. Turns out it’s the second most tender steak from a cow but only a very small piece (0.5%) of the total beef from the cow. Diana enjoyed it very much and had plenty of leftovers. I tried the much lauded burger and loved it. Can you tell we enjoyed our meals in this picture?
Easter Sunday started relatively early with a 9am brunch at McKay’s cottage restaurant. This place was almost next door to the hotel and was just perfect. Coffee and drinks while you waited for your table, excellent food and very good service. They even had laminated menus just for Easter Sunday and you can see eggs hidden around for kids to hunt (see – in the flowers?) I highly recommend this brunch if you ever make it to Bend. On the subject of eggs – check out the decorating skills of Damon’s artsy family after the breakfast pictures.
We had intended to end our hike with a visit to the Pine Tavern on the river bank. That was closed and so we ended up back at 900 Wall with a lovely table in the sun and some more of those delicious green beans.
I finished “Breathing Lessons” by Anne Tyler and I did enjoy the remainder much more than the first third – maybe I was just in the right frame of mind. I always like it when the first paragraph of a book sets the scene of what lies ahead so concisely:
I saw a report on TV about “Leave Out the Tragic Parts” by Dave Kindred and decided to torture myself by reading it this week – hoping to learn some more on the topic of addiction. Kindred is a sportswriter who has won numerous awards and covered most of the major sporting events over the last 30 years. He lost his grandson to alcohol addiction in 2014.