“Love Flags”
We met Kris and Cat at Patula, one of our favourite hidden courtyard restaurant gems in the French Quarter on Monday. Kris was not a fan of any of it, but the rest of us enjoyed our food and drinks.
Tuesday trivia did not go well. We were in last place of the four teams that showed up. I was pleased with my ability to pull up the answer to “What’s the name of the song that has the lyrics – I get knocked down, but I get up again?” After a minute or so “Bathtub” came to me. And then a bit later “Tubthumping” – weird how the brain stores away this useless information from years ago.
The final question was one of those put in order from most to least things:
- How many relief pitchers have won the Cy Young award? (9)
- How many Oscar nominations for Martin Scorsese? (16)
- Height of the original GI Joe in inches? (11.5)
- How many Presidents were born west of the Mississippi? (8)
We had to wager 20 points for any chance and didn’t get anywhere close to the right order.
Chris Peet spent some time on the porch with me on Wednesday morning while Diana was pickling. Here he is with his Love flag:
He left to do a home inspection and then swung by later with his drone to film the flag and our house.
He was a bit tentative with the drone, having recently broken one. A guy walking down the street seemed to sense that. “I’m a professional drone videographer.” He stopped for a while to give Chris some hints. And then talked to one of Tony’s friends sitting on the patio next door – who also is a drone professional. Sometimes things just happen like that.
Diana secured one of Chris’ Love flags for Rhonda, our stellar mail carrier.
We took Kris and Cat to Superior Seafood for the oyster happy hour on Wednesday – not the original plan but we were flexible and it worked out fine. As we were finishing up, Mason arrived with his buddies Enzo and Drew. Drew bravely consumed his first raw oyster and appears to have liked it.
Mason invited himself over for mimosas on Thursday morning. He works 7x 12 hour days and then has 7 days off, and gets bored on those days off when everybody else is working.
After that, we had lunch at Commander’s Palace with Kris and Cat. I loved the trio of soups and my cochon de lait (suckling pig) tostada.
Kris didn’t enjoy her food again and we did get her to force out a smile when they brought the birthday hat (belated from the week before.)
Kris and Kat left for the airport shortly after lunch and we regrouped with Mason, Denny, and Mason’s buddy Rob at Barrel Proof – Rob ultimately joining us at Bill and Shanie’s “cucumber” house for the late night discussion group.
Jack and Mason helped me move some patio furniture over to Nic and Sandi’s on Friday – we’re clearing out the yard for the pool guys to start work soon. The stairs were tough to navigate and Mason was a trooper.
I bought them thank you pizzas afterwards at Midway on Freret, where Thom and Denny were able to join. We retired from there to the patio at Dos Jefes for a short while and called it a night.
Saturday started relatively early with Javier and his crew replacing some weathered and warped siding on our home. They did a great job as you can’t even tell what’s old and what’s new.
Denny and Greg went on an early fishing trip (4am) on Saturday and invited a large group over to the Ogan patio to enjoy the spoils of their adventure. Delicious as always with those two at the helm of the grill.
On Sunday afternoon I oscillated between the Saints and Cowboys games, with the Saints eking out a win in an exciting fourth quarter and the Cowboys losing a large lead pathetically in their fourth quarter.
We had talked about attending the Oak Street Po’ Boy festival but Diana had eaten brunch with the tennis girls after their early Sunday session and we were both too tired to fight the crowds. Here are a couple of pictures of our friend River and the Pollo Asada band from the fest:
The Lower Garden District Krewe were enjoying the suite at the Saints game and invited us over afterwards for a typical Nic feast. A nice way to round out the week.
I’m skipping the book and music sections again because I’ve fallen behind again and want to get on to capturing all the excitement ahead.