Keith Robertson

“The Beatnik, Ocean Springs – Happy 60th Anne!”

I treated Diana to Happy Hour oysters at Superior Seafood on Tuesday.  We sat at the bar and first saw Fred enter with a guy who was assessing him for his psychiatry accreditation (we didn’t blow it for him), and then our neighbors Britney, Tony and little Auggie, Britney telling Diana that she and Tony met at Superior years ago – she was his waitress.  Me thinks a bit more investigation of that story is needed.

I attended Dat Dog trivia after oysters and we had a mediocre fifth place win – my contribution was also mediocre.  We need to pick up our game!  Anne and Kara joined for the second half and might have been a bit of a disruptive distraction, depending on one’s point of view.

Anne’s sixtieth birthday was a couple of months ago, and Denny had presented her with a certificate for a beach getaway.  We picked up Kenny and Kara, made the ninety minute drive to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and rendezvoused with Fred and Kelly to surprise Anne at the Beatnik.

This is a motel with four units, a pool, firepit and nice seating areas.  Denny rented out the whole shebang for Thursday and Friday night.  The ladies put together a beautiful array of charcuterie, dips and fruits, and I think Anne was genuinely surprised on arrival – she thought it was just going to be her and Denny.  Smart idea from Kelly to move our cars over to the dive bar across the street so as not to blow the surprise.

Here’s a map to orient you on Ocean Springs location:

We walked across the street to Sweets Lounge in the evening and had good fun playing various different pool games.

I had Diana challenge the amount of the bill when we left – “It can’t possibly be that inexpensive.”  The bartender explained that drinks were reduced when a Saints game was showing – even before that they were prices from 15 years ago.

 

I walked across the street to the Lazy Oak for breakfast on Friday morning.  McD joined me after her run around town and ate the fruit that I had pushed to the side of the plate.  Then we had a nice time hanging out in the pool for a couple of hours.

We wandered around downtown Ocean Springs in the afternoon.  What a nice and eclectic little town.

Glory Bound provided us with a yummy Greek dinner.

We hung out around the firepit in the evening, with Kenny participating in a pool tournament at Sweets, and as is typical, making friends with a number of the locals.

We drove back via the coastal road on Saturday, meeting up with Kenny’s long time friend, Chris, for lunch at a marina side taco joint in Bay St. Louis.

Diana had texted Amy, also a resident of Bay St. Louis, to see what the chances of swinging by for a boat ride looked like.  The timing worked out well and we drove to Captain Randy and Amy’s place after lunch.  We were soon out on the water and enjoying the Jourdan river trail.

I had planned on watching the Cowboys and 49ers game on Sunday night – wrong weekend – the Cowboys are on a bye week and that’s next week.  Probably good for the Boys to rest up before that challenging game.

My book this week was “The Radleys” by Matt Haig.  I had enjoyed another of his books, “The Midnight Library”, and this one sounded good, except that I totally missed it was a story about vampires trying for abstinence from vampire activities.  Here’s an online review:

“Just about everyone knows a family like the Radleys. Many of us grew up next door to one. They are a modern family, averagely content, averagely dysfunctional, living in a staid and quiet suburban English town. Peter is an overworked doctor whose wife, Helen, has become increasingly remote and uncommunicative. Rowan, their teenage son, is being bullied at school, and their anemic daughter, Clara, has recently become a vegan. They are typical, that is, save for one devastating exception: Peter and Helen are vampires and have—for seventeen years—been abstaining by choice from a life of chasing blood in the hope that their children could live normal lives.”

Given the silly subject matter, I did still find this tale well written and entertaining.  I’m sure it’s not for everyone.

A very good cover:

And an even better cover – I love this one a lot:

And finally, some great 70s feel:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all!

 

 

“Return to Roatan”

It was a very early start on Monday – in an Uber to the airport at 4:30am.  We caught a 6am flight to Miami, “enjoyed” a couple of hours layover, and then took the next short flight to Roatan, Honduras.  A very bumpy thirty minute ride over an often washed out road and we arrived at the Kimpton Grand Roatan Resort.  The resort was purchased by Kimpton since we visited two years ago, and they have made many improvements, upgrades, and expansions.  While quite luxurious, with new restaurants and amenities, we missed some of the character of the old set up.

Here’s a map that shows the location of Roatan island:

After some lengthy negotiations, we secured a beach front condo with a wonderful view.

The trip is to honour the top performing employees from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – there were about forty of them in attendance.  We had a reception for them on Monday night, and the girls enjoyed dinner on their own – a wonderful paella topped with lobster.

Tuesday was a full day of presentations and discussions.  I participated in a panel discussion on “mindset” that seemed to be well received.  My very favourite segment was a presentation by Andrea Cardona, the first Latin American woman to summit Everest.  This was the best business talk that I’ve heard – beautifully linked back to the topic of the day, and presented with a complete lack of ego.  The answers that Andrea gave to the audience questions were excellent.

Andrea has asthma and it was fascinating to hear all the approaches that she deployed to counteract the impacts at the highest elevations.

Here’s a video of a short segment of Andrea’s presentation:

She said that she had a whole special speech planned for the summit, but just couldn’t get enough air to do it:

Meanwhile, the girls were enjoying some quality beach time.  The weather was not perfect – quite windy – but they made the best of it.

They did pick up an extra member of  the “girls” group – Lee, Belinda’s husband:

There was a fancy reception with dinner and dancing on Tuesday night, starting with a group picture on the beach:

Here’s the leadership team subset:

The dinner was good, and the fun really began with the dancing.

Unlike two years ago, when Lisa and Diana had to get the party started, the group was raring to get the dance floor up and going.  Of course Diana took full advantage of the opportunity to show her moves:

It wouldn’t be a real party without a conga line:

There were meetings again on Wednesday afternoon, and then free time in the afternoon.  The group enjoyed the ocean and sunset pictures.

That’s Diana, Jorge, and Sofie waving to me.

A small group of us enjoyed dinner in the Mediterranean restaurant on Wednesday evening, and then Blair arranged for the very talented guitar player in the restaurant to give us a private outdoor concert :

 

 

 

Some dancers joined in:

The guitar player went in to get a capo, so Jorge took over – is there no limit to this man’s talents?

Most of the group left on Thursday morning, and so Diana and I enjoyed some quiet time by the pool, followed by a relaxing meal in the Mediterranean restaurant.  Diana had some more of the excellent octopus, while I enjoyed some more of the squid ink linguini with shrimp, mussels and clams.  We had shared those with the table the previous night, and were happy to repeat the highlights.

We did take advantage of the “social hour” on the upstairs restaurant balcony before dinner – what an amazing view:

We snapped a quick selfie and then took a shuttle to the airport for our long day of travel back home.  The four hour layover in Miami really was a bit too long, getting us home shortly before midnight.

 

The Kingpin had a band called “The Been Around Band” on Saturday afternoon.  Most of the Krewe (minus Denny and Anne – in Alabama) assembled and enjoyed the music – quite a different kind of band than normal.

The Blues and BBQ festival is an annual event put on by the Jazz and Heritage Festival folks – so the sound and timing are always impeccable.  Here’s the lineup for Sunday:

We arrived in time to see Billy Iuso at noon.  The event was very quiet due to the Saints game at the same time.

We humoured a Jazz and Heritage employee who was taking pictures and videos with signs:

Iuso played a great set of covers and originals.

That was followed by Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88s, with John Fohl on guitar – he really can play any style of music.  Here’s the song I hear every morning as Diana’s alarm clock:

We finished up with a wonderful sounding Eric Lindell band:

What a wonderful free day of music!

We headed back home to watch the Cowboys game and should have stayed at the festival – a pathetic performance all around.

 

I finished up “Tell Me Everything” by the amazing Elizabeth Strout.  What an excellent book – weaving together the characters from all her previous novels into a new set of tales.

 

The characters are some of my favourites in all of my reading.   Highly recommended.

 

Some of that great 70s feel from Candi Staton:

A great sounding song from the Allman Bros offspring:

And finally, a deep cut from Tom Petty:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

“A Quick Austin Visit”

We flew to Austin on Monday afternoon, arriving in time to check into the Carpenter hotel, and then for me to attend a reception in downtown for successors to the Executive Committee members with our Board of Directors.  The reception was very nicely done and thankfully didn’t last too long.

We had our three year strategic plan presentation with the Board on Tuesday morning.  That went well and our budget was approved.  We retired to the Soho House (a private club that our CEO, Lachie, belongs to) for lunch.  I had been there once before and while the space is beautiful, was not impressed with the service.  The food was very good, and again the service was slow and spotty.  Such a shame they can’t get it all together at such a fancy place.

Meanwhile, Lisa and Diana relaxed at the Carpenter pool.  They always have such a good time hanging out.

We had planned to be finished with the afternoon event and Blair and I were going to meet Diana and Lisa at the Odd Duck for dinner.  The best plans!  The group was still going strong at the time of our dinner reservation.  Lots of frustrating back and forth ensued on what to do.  The Odd Duck didn’t have room for our extras, so Lisa and Diana enjoyed a very yummy dinner there, while the rest of us visited the crazy Tiki bar across the street.

Odd Duck is one of my very favourite Austin spots – so creative and different.  Here are some of the pictures that the girls taunted us with as they worked through the menu:

We had some snacks and crazy Tiki drinks:

We met Damon at June’s All Day, our typical last stop in Austin on the way to the airport, for lunch and were home early Wednesday evening.

My excitement on Thursday was getting my teeth cleaned – all looks good – whew!  Patience is required for a full set of x-rays.

Diana joined the Krewe for Happy Hour and tacos on Friday night.  I was worn out from the Austin trip and took a pass for an early night.

Saturday was a relatively busy day.  We started with a visit to NOAC – I had a pleasant swim (timing after the aqua aerobic ladies) and an even more pleasant visit to the steam room.

Diana picked our after workout brunch spot – Paladar 511 in the Marigny.  She was pleasantly surprised that I quickly agreed with her first pick.  It’s close to eight years since we last ate here, and it’s still very good.  Diana had a crab and corn Benedict – the corn cake base was phenomenal, the corn very fresh and the sauce delicious – a wonderful brunch.  I had the huevos rancheros – also delicious.  I’m going to have to think about my choice for the next place – Paladar will be hard to beat.

After lunch we got our COVID and flu shots.  Diana was going to get the shingles shot as well, but they were out of stock – probably a good thing as I had a bad reaction to it and she was looking forward to Greg and Colleen’s pool party on Sunday.

We enjoyed watching the Saints game on Greg’s new outdoor TV by his pool.  He cooked burgers and a sweet potato dish – always a very good chef and host.  Trey, Lynn, Danny, Chris Peet and Tyler, Claire and Ollie (Greg and Colleen’s one year old grandson) were additions to the normal krewe.  Unfortunately both the Saints and Cowboys lost this week.  But it’s not about winning – it’s about spending time with friends!

I started Ann Patchett’s “The Patron Saint of Liars” this week.  Kindle says I’m only 22% complete – busy week of travel and meetings.  This was Patchett’s first novel and I’m enjoying it so far.  She will be visiting the Garden District Book Store, across the street, next week.  Maybe I’ll pop over and meet her.  Here’s the online summary:

“Acclaimed author Ann Patchett’s debut novel, hailed as “beautifully written . . . a first novel that second- and third-time novelists would envy for its grace, insight, and compassion” (Boston Herald)

St. Elizabeth’s, a home for unwed mothers in Habit, Kentucky, usually harbors its residents for only a little while. Not so Rose Clinton, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed, and stays. She plans to give up her child, thinking she cannot be the mother it needs. But when Cecilia is born, Rose makes a place for herself and her daughter amid St. Elizabeth’s extended family of nuns and an ever-changing collection of pregnant teenage girls. Rose’s past won’t be kept away, though, even by St. Elizabeth’s; she cannot remain untouched by what she has left behind, even as she cannot change who she has become in the leaving.”

Such a great funky feel:

A deep discovery that I love:

I saw Jesse Malin on a morning show this weekend and found this collaboration with the Boss:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

“Mermaid Parade”

We flew home from San Diego on Monday afternoon.  I could tell Diana was uncomfortable for most all of the almost four hour flight.  Walking through New Orleans airport, I asked her how miserable the flight was for her on a scale of 1 to 10.  “About a 12.”  We’ve got to get our backs healthy again soon.

The “Gentlemen Out At Lunch” club met at Origen Venezuelan Bistro on Tuesday.  Denny wasn’t able to join but the rest of the group assembled at the restaurant on St. Claude avenue in the Bywater.  Origen was Denny’s suggestion and he insisted that we go ahead without him.

This was another great experience – a new place for all of us, recently opened, with great service and a creative menu.  We shared ceviche and arepas appetizers and then I chose the mahi mahi for my main.  All delicious.

Here’s an article with more information about this hidden gem:

https://nola.eater.com/2024/4/22/24135036/origen-venezuelan-new-restaurant-open-new-orleans-bywater-brunch-julio-machado

We followed lunch with a visit to BJ’s lounge – just down the street.  Oops – getting ahead of myself again.  Kenny gave me a quick driving tour on the way.  The house he group up in with his eight siblings was three houses down from the restaurant – I got a drive by of that as well as the local schools, including the one where his Dad taught mathematics and French.  The tour was really enjoyable.  Kenny really has missed his calling.  I need to revisit getting him certified to give walking tours of the Garden District.

We had a fun pool tournament, with Kenny and I winning 3-2 over Thom and Alex.  But who was keeping score?

We didn’t decide on the September luncheon location.  I suspect Kenny’s repeat recommendation of the “Messina’s Runway Cafe” inside the restored art deco building at the Lakefront airport may win.

Our next entertainment came on Saturday, after a couple of quiet days.  Thom suggested we meet at Cooter Brown’s for lunch and college football.  Diana joined us, as well as Fred and Kenny, and later Peggy.  I take pictures of the “Hey Dude” shoes that Campbell gave me from random locations.  Here they are from Cooter’s:

Kenny and Kara picked us up in the evening, drove us to the Firehouse for parking, and then the 2nd annual Mermaid Parade.

MermaiD was anxious to join in on the action.  She can enter next year!

The parade was short and fun, with some excellent throws:

It was still early and Kara suggested Bouligny Tavern for a snack.  Who’s going to argue with the driver.  We enjoyed some delicious snacks and drinks.

I tried something new this week – picking up “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover.  This is a romance style novel that Diana had on the kitchen counter to finish.  Goodness – I hope all her romances aren’t this dark.  The topics are marital and emotional abuse – apparently based on Hoover’s childhood.  The writing and characters are so good that I had to finish the book.  Certainly not for everyone, although it appears to have topped bestseller lists for several years, and is now a movie.

Two new albums were released this week by artists that I enjoy.  First, Uncle Lucius with a great sounding live album:

Next, Nick Cave:

And finally, something I came across that reminded me of an amazing Lucky Peterson concert in Dallas:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

“Flying around – Austin and San Diego”

My travel experience to Austin early on Monday morning was surprisingly quiet and easy.  No wait at the security checkpoint and lots of open seats on the flight.  The walk to the Uber line in Austin is always annoying in 105 degree heat.  It must be at least a half mile hike.

The Carpenter Hotel was accommodating and let me check in at 10:30am.  Very helpful.  I was able drop my bag, get some medications from the wonderful Thom’s Market (they have some of everything you need) for my sore back, and meet Neffie for lunch downtown.

Neffie chose the Peacock Mediterranean Grill for our lunch meeting – prep for a large group session on Tuesday.  The Mezze plate with falafel, hummus, baba, and pita was right up my alley, along with a side of latkes with smoked trout roe and dill labneh.  I could eat this stuff several times a week.

Neffie offered to drop me in the office for my afternoon meetings.  Seemed like a good plan until I tried to get into her little BMW.  I got in and then my sore back would not permit me to lean out and close the door.  Good grief.

After a long afternoon of work, I was not in any mood to go out for sushi with the guys.  Instead I chose an early dinner by myself at the Carpenter Hall.

I only do Yelp reviews when things are either really good or really bad.  You can see from the above review that I had a very nice experience at the Carpenter Hall.  And it allowed me to be in bed early.

After a long and frustrating day of meetings, dinner on Tuesday night was hosted by our applications development partners at Perry’s steakhouse.  The seafood tower appetizer was full of yummy things, and that was followed with a well-cooked sea bass with creamy corn and a red pepper coulis.

My martini was served with a side of accoutrements – an oyster, a lemon twist and blue cheese stuffed olives.  What a choice.

The dinner went on for several hours, I enjoyed the discussion and was back in my hotel room in time to watch some of Michele Obama’s speech.  Her husband had a hard time following her.

My flight back to New Orleans was smooth and I was able to plop into my spot for a relaxing evening.

Meanwhile, the Ogans and Kirsches had rendezvoused in New York to watch some of the US Open tennis tournament.  Here they are at brunch:

And then taking in a Bansky exhibit:

The last one is a post Katrina mural from New Orleans.  I like the Ziggy Stardust Queen one.

There was a special memorial show for Nick Daniels III (Dumpstaphunk bass player) at Tipitina’s on Thursday evening.  Trombone Shorty and members of Galactic joined the band.  Advertised start time was 7pm.  I showed up at 7:30 and planned to stay for an hour or so – yeah right!  The music started at 9pm and was very good for the short while I lasted.  I did have some interesting conversations while we waited – Logan the molecular biologist was one of the more engaging characters.

They had a special light show that you can see in these videos – first time I’ve seen anything that fancy at this venue.

Friday had me back on a plane – this time to San Diego to meet up with Diana’s “California girlfriends” and spouses.  We were celebrating Donna’s 60th birthday.  I met up with Diana at the San Diego airport (she arrived a bit before me from San Francisco), we rode the long shuttle to the rental car facility, and then the relatively short drive to Encinitas and the Airbnb.  After settling in, the group made a very short drive to Kris and Cat’s home.

We shouldn’t forget Idris, the cat.  This is the one that Molly babysat when Kris and Cat came to visit.  He loves catching lizards and trying to take them inside the house.

We finished the night back at the Airbnb around the firepit.

Jeff and I enjoyed empanadas for breakfast at Bump Coffee on the main strip, after dropping Diana for a run along the beach road.

Then it was back over to Kris and Cat’s for a birthday pool party and dinner.

Sunday began with a casual breakfast at Nectarine Grove.  The food and outside seating were very good.  After that, things started to get a bit “over engineered” as they can with a large group – let’s do the art walk, then park at the beach and listen to the concert, and maybe get some lunch in there somewhere, then back to the house to change for dinner at 7pm.  I could tell that was too much and was going to get frustrating, so hung out at the house, played the piano, read my book, and watched some TV – a much more relaxing afternoon than Diana reported.

I joined up with the group again for dinner at Le Papagayo.  They had pleasant live music, good drinks and yummy food.  Very enjoyable.

My book this week was “Go as a River” by Shelley Read.  I hadn’t planned on this book and just grabbed it from the kitchen counter as I was leaving for my Austin flight.  While this is definitely more of a McD type plot, I really enjoyed the outdoor descriptions and understanding the tragedy of destroying the village.

Victoria had a very challenging life and it is very well described throughout the book.  I was happy for the resolution in the last few pages, otherwise things would have been very depressing.

Here’s an online summary:

“Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado—the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moon is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land and determined to live as he chooses.

Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner, a meeting that profoundly alters both of their young lives, igniting as much passion as danger. When tragedy strikes, Victoria leaves the only life she has ever known, fleeing into the surrounding mountains, where she struggles to survive in the wilderness with no clear notion of what her future will bring. As the seasons change, she also charts the changes in herself, finding in the beautiful but harsh landscape the meaning and strength to move forward and rebuild all that she has lost, even as the Gunnison River threatens to submerge her homeland—its ranches, farms, and the beloved peach orchard that has been in her family for generations.

Inspired by true events surrounding the destruction of the town of Iola in the 1960s, Go as a River is a story of deeply held love in the face of hardship and loss, but also of finding courage, resilience, friendship, and, finally, home—where least expected. This stunning debut explores what it means to lead your life as if it were a river—gathering and flowing, finding a way forward even when a river is dammed.”

Here’s a lovely mellow tune that was playing in the Carpenter restaurant when I enjoyed dinner.  I found out later that this was played through a vintage McIntosh amplifier with four tubes – no wonder it sounded so good.

An interesting song from a collection by Gilles Peterson, “Gilles Peterson Digs America”:

There’s a lot of interesting and deep variety on this collection.

One of my favourite moments from the Democratic convention was Bill Clinton comparing his party’s “We the people” to the opposition’s “Me Myself and I.”

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!