“Happy Anniversary to Us, Happy Birthday to Finn, Happy Father’s Day”
Five hours. That’s how much pickleball McD played on Monday. Two hours starting at 8am and three hours finishing at 9pm. Do we think she might have a wee problem?
Dee introduced us to these snacks that are surprisingly good and addictive – just like the sport for Diana:
I was out doing some anniversary preparation on Tuesday and stopped into Magasin for lunch. This is a Vietnamese place on Magazine Street near Theo’s pizza and Shaya, that I’ve been wanting to try for a while. It’s a small place with classical piano music playing – very relaxing and not what I was expecting. I started with crab Rangoon and followed that with shrimp garlic thick noodles (including a fried egg nestled on top). Both were delicious and provided lots of leftovers.
The majority of our trivia team was overseas on vacation – Alex in Iceland with Jack and Aidan, Thom in Crete with his Jack, Denny in Boulder, and Pepperoni in Cincinnati. Couple that with the constant rain all day and I wasn’t heart broken when Kenny suggested that we take a week off – seemed like it was just going to be the two of us and there are a lot of topics that aren’t our strong suit – anything to do with games, comics, Marvel movies and the like.
I enjoyed a couple of World Cup games on Tuesday afternoon and evening. MBappe started things off with two amazing goals for France.
That was followed by an even more impressive hat-trick for Messi and Argentina – his first goal was just amazing.
The US media have been quite interested in the exploits of the “Tartan Army” (Scottish World Cup fans.) Here’s a report on them drinking Boston out of beer – consuming three times as much as is drunk on St. Patrick’s day.
Here’s a segment from the Today show featuring fans from different countries and their reactions to US culture. I love the Norwegian fans playing Viking rowers on the escalator:
Today show segment on World Cup fans
Finn celebrated his birthday on Wednesday and shared this picture of some of his cards on his fridge. Can you spot the one that came from New Orleans?
Here he is with his birthday dessert:
We celebrated our 9th anniversary on Wednesday with a lovely lunch at Commander’s Palace. Very stormy weather was forecast and it held off until we could make the 600 foot walk back home.
Yes – for the second or third time this year, I put a suit on. Diana wore her very pretty pink dress that I’ve eclipsed in this picture, and got compliments on it from the staff at Commander’s.
Our meal was great – I started with the trio of demitasse sized soups, and followed that with the cochon de lait tostada (why would spellcheck not know cochon, it has clearly never been to New Orleans) – the most tender and flavourful pork.
Diana also started with the trio of soups and followed those with the grilled fish (drum). And then she decided on the chocolate tart – so decadent. The chocolate is from the Piety and Desire chocolate and coffee shop next to Aidan Gill (where I get my hair cut.) I often have a macchiato in there after my trim.
And of course the 25 cent martinis:
We exchanged gifts and cards after lunch. Look at this frame with San Sebastian city map around my favourite picture of McD from that trip – nicely done, Diana.
Here’s a fun game. Remember those things as a kid where you had to find a number of differences between two similar pictures? Well, what’s different about these? (answer at the end of this post)
Diana is getting very fancy with her cards. Apparently the theme for nine years of marriage is pottery.
Denny shared one of his favourite pictures from our wedding day.
I asked him what Dad and I were looking at. He thinks it was the storm brewing in the distance, as we wondered if we had to move the reception under cover. He has no idea what Mum and Diana were in such a serious conversation about.
We “enjoyed” some severe weather on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. The first named storm of the season, Arthur, sat on us for a while and was very loud. We didn’t have any real flooding or impacts, but other areas a few miles from us had major damage and some tornadoes with roofs gone.
We made our first trip to our new, closer Trader Joe’s on Thursday. The parking was much better than I expected and the store was very quiet and calm. It was a pleasant shopping experience overall. I enjoyed the murals they have above the shelves that are locally focused.
Mason sent this video in support of the Scotland vs Morocco game on Friday afternoon – very funny:
We met Kenny to watch the USMNT World Cup game at the Tchoup Yard – one of the collection of breweries that are situated along Tchoupatoulis Street, an industrial area by the river that provides large spaces at much lower cost than other areas. We were looking forward to lunch – they advertised a crunch wrap take off on my Taco Bell favourite, and Kenny wanted to try the chicken sandwich that Pepperoni raved about on a prior visit. We didn’t love the food – decent but way too salty, I suppose that’s supposed to make you drink more beer?
This was my first visit to the brewery and I was impressed with the variety of seating areas – inside with A/C, outside in the humidity, and with various different seating options. It got very busy and loud inside as the match proceeded. As is typical with events like this in New Orleans, everyone says they’re “going to watch the game” and then nobody does – they form in circles and chat and catch up. The same thing happens at music festivals and concerts.
The USMNT won handily and we made our way back to our home to watch Scotland and Morocco. Kenny and Kara joined, with a brief appearance by Mason and his buddy, Evan. Alas, Scotland lost 0-1. The positive news is that they played quite well in the second half and have a good chance of making into the round of 32 for the first time in their 8 appearances.
I enlisted Kenny to sing along with our anthem, “Flower of Scotland”, and I got confused when the crowd didn’t sing the second verse, only the first and third. Apparently this is standard and it shows how much attention that I’ve been playing. The second verse about the aftermath of the Battle of Bannockburn, is actually one of my favourites. What’s that? You’d like to know a wee bit more about the Battle. Okay then:
The Battle of Bannockburn (June 23–24, 1314) was a decisive Scottish victory during the First War of Scottish Independence. King Robert the Bruce led a smaller Scottish army to rout a much larger English force commanded by King Edward II, securing Scottish sovereignty and confirming Bruce’s reign.
I got a text from my neighbour, Tony, “Go Tartan Army!” I was concerned that he had heard us singing and that was the reason for the text. Thankfully they are in Florida for a few days.
I offered to watch a rom-com with Diana on Friday evening but she was too tired for a full movie and so we watched an episode of “I Will Find You”, the latest series from a Harlen Coben novel on Netflix. She was very gracious in reminding me about the large cast of characters that I struggled to recall from previous episodes.
Saturday was a relatively lazy day – Diana went for a long walk, then had her “pool time” interrupted by the typical afternoon thunderstorm. I watched some of the Netherlands beating up on Sweden (5-1), read for a while, and watched some of the US Open golf.
Sunday was Father’s Day. Kenny, Kara and Nina kindly invited us to crash their plans for the afternoon in the French Quarter. First stop was The Historic New Orleans Collection, a free museum with various exhibits celebrating the history of our city. They had a special exhibition to celebrate the American Revolution. Here’s how they described it:
“American Revolution: The Augmented Exhibition
Immerse yourself in America’s fight for independence in this new exhibition experience designed and produced by French technology firm Histovery.”
You were issued a tablet on entry and had to scan in 14 different stations to read the history, find treasures, and travel around the various scenes. This became tiresome for Kenny and me pretty quickly – seemed like an overuse of technology and it was annoying to have to spin around in circles holding the tablet aloft to see everything. That being said there was a plethora of interesting information presented in an engaging way. We beat a relatively quick retreat to some comfy seats and waited a while for the ladies who had started and were determined to finish.
Kenny and I wandered upstairs to check out the Aeolian residential player pipe organ.
Apparently these player organs were very popular in the houses of the rich in the 1800s. We listened to a couple of songs from downstairs when they gave the 3pm demonstration – sounded great.
We were all hungry for lunch at Acme oyster house.
I enjoyed some of the delicious chargrilled oysters and a cup of crab and corn soup. The others had po-boys, and raw and chargrilled oysters.
Kenny and Kara met a friend they had worked with at the Hard Rock Cafe years ago, now working at Acme, and he treated us to some desserts. That deconstructed pecan pie martini looking thing in front of Kenny was the best.
In the evening, the group minus Nina watched the movie “Greg Allman: The Music of My Soul” at the Broad. This movie only had two showings in the New Orleans area. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and I would highly recommend it to any music lover.
I enjoyed this Father’s Day article from Keith Spera, music writer for the local paper, about his father’s love for music:
My first book this week was “The Midnight Train” by Matt Haig. I have read a few of his books and was looking forward to this one. I had a bit of a hard time not feeling that the premise was a bit trite and formulaic. The story was great and engaging once I decided to put that aside. It was just a little too close to “The Midnight Library” for me not to feel like Haig is riding too much of a good thing. Here’s an online summary of the plot:
“The Midnight Train is a 2026 novel by Matt Haig, set in the same universe as The Midnight Library, about a recently deceased man named Wilbur who boards a magical train to revisit key moments in his life, particularly his regrets and lost love with Maggie. The story follows his journey through his past, exploring themes of regret, redemption, and the importance of appreciating the life you have, even with its flaws. It’s a magical, time-traveling love story that serves as a companion to The Midnight Library, focusing on a more active exploration of past choices. “
A couple of paragraphs that set up the main premise:
“It’s like that Kierkegaard quote. “Life can only be understood backward; but it must be lived forward.” And this train offers a solution. Life relived forward.”
“”As I have told you,” she said, “eternity is a moveable concept. it is what you make it. to get the most out of it, you need to know yourself. And that is what these windows are for.” She looked a little sad for a moment. But then put on a brisk and professional smile. “I’ll leave you to it. Toodle-pip.””
Wilbur’s first entry into bookshop work:
“Sometimes the biggest moments in a lifetime are also the smallest, pondered the Ghost.
And sometimes people don’t quite know they are the biggest moments until you are able to step out of the train and look back at them.
Like getting a holiday job in a bookshop back in 1961, during the school summer holidays.”
I read this passage and had to look up “contrapposto.”
“Wilbur had been in a strange twisted position as he wrestled for control of the car. And this awkward contrapposto, with his leg trying to reach the brake pedal, meant that he was lower in his seat.”
Here’s what I found:
“Contrapposto (Italian for “counterpose”) is an artistic technique where a standing human figure shifts most of their weight onto one foot. This causes the hips and shoulders to tilt in opposite directions, creating a natural, relaxed, and asymmetrical posture.”
And then things got strange. I was looking through the library of books that I had on my iPad from the local library to choose a new one to read in bed. And there was “Contrapposto” from the wonderful Dave Eggers.
“Contrapposto is a 2026 novel by Dave Eggers about the lifelong friendship and artistic journey of two characters, Cricket and Olympia, as they navigate the art world from their youth into old age, exploring themes of love, meaning, and the pursuit of authentic art. The story spans decades and continents, following their complex relationship as they try to create their own art movement while dealing with the commercialism of the art world. The title refers to a classical art pose, reflecting the book’s focus on art and its meaning. “
South African born pianist Abdullah Ibrahim died this week. He was a loud voice against apartheid and lived most of his life in exile in New York. I think his touch and laid back phrasing are amazing:
Here’s an NPR article about Ibrahim:
I watched a very interesting documentary about the Kinks – the biggest band in the UK in the 60s behind the Beatles and the Stones. Here’s a fun song of theirs:
A song from the Bob Dylan birthday show many years ago that popped up on my list:
Morgan Freeman has an album coming out, “Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience.” Here’s the initial track featuring
Here’s the answer to the question about the two pictures of Diana in San Sebastian: Her pocket is inside out in the second picture. She had Alicia “fix” that for the first one.