“Happy Almost Birthday, Diana
I had a haircut at Aidan Gill on Tuesday morning. I always like to pop next door to Juan’s Flying Burrito for lunch afterwards. I asked Diana if she’d like to join me, and she walked over. I forgot to mention that Aidan Gill’s was about a fifteen minute walk for me. It’s so nice to be able to walk to so many things. Juan’s is Timmy’s favourite place to eat and so we tortured him with pictures of our food and drinks.
I talked Denny and Greg into joining us at Dos Jefes on Tuesday evening to listen to Joe Krown. He recognized Denny as “the carwash guy.” And as usual, Denny didn’t have any coupons with him to share. Joe never disappoints – just an excellent pianist, even on a somewhat out of tune old upright.
It seems Santa was a bit “sleepy” at the Dos Jefes bar:
We flew to Dallas on Wednesday to have dinner with H0lly and Finn. We chose Rick’s Chophouse because we were able to stay in the hotel upstairs, and because I believe they have the best shrimp and grits to be found – still better than any I’ve had in New Orleans. Everyone enjoyed their dinners and we exchanged some fun gifts.
It was chilly outside, but we managed to snap a few pictures of the kids with the holiday decorations:
Travel home on Thursday was smooth, and we rested up on Friday.
We had been looking forward to trying Dakar NOLA for dinner on Saturday night. This West African and Senegalese restaurant serves a seven course tasting menu in one seating per night at 7pm. The chef and restaurant have won many awards over the last year or so:
We enjoyed this experience tremendously – it was an excellent early birthday dinner for Diana. Here are an early seafood dish and the pecan pie like dessert:
And here’s the full menu:
The wonderful evening concluded with a group picture in front of the wall of West African masks:
Longtime Cowboys fans knew that the very impressive winning streak couldn’t last. And on Sunday, it all came crashing down, with a pitiful loss to the Buffalo Bills. We’ll see where things go from here. Maybe they got it out of their systems.
Sunday was Kenny’s (The Chief) birthday. We celebrated by attending James Booker fest at the Maple Leaf. What a great group of New Orleans piano players paying tribute to the legendary guy who, along with Professor Longhair, started it all.
Some pretty flowers have emerged on the side of our house. Not sure what kind they are.
This was an excellent week of reading. “The Guncle” by Steven Rowley is one of my favourites in a long, long time. Alternating between laugh out loud humour and tear jerking sadness from one paragraph to the next, this is a writer at the very top of his game. I loved this book. I didn’t carry the hardback with me and so don’t have the quotations that I wanted to share. Here’s the online summary:
“Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is, honestly, overwhelmed.
So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick’s brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of “Guncle Rules” ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled acting career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting–even if temporary–isn’t solved with treats and jokes, Patrick’s eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you’re unfailingly human.
With the humor and heart we’ve come to expect from bestselling author Steven Rowley, The Guncle is a moving tribute to the power of love, patience, and family in even the most trying of times.”
Here’s my annual list from Spotify of most listened songs:
I even got a short video from Jeff Tweedy thanking me for listening to so much Wilco. I remember I couldn’t get enough of “Take Me as I Am” after the Tedeschi Trucks performance at Jazzfest.
A good version of the Nick Lowe classic that I ran across this week:
I’ve been assembling a New Year’s Eve playlist as we’re hosting this year. This is a good one:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!