Week in Review – March 24th, 2024

“Vampyres and Fete Francaise”

I took cousin Colin to the French Quarter on Monday, while Diana had an appointment around lunchtime.  He really wanted to try the Vampyre Apothecary and so we stopped there to check it out.  I didn’t believe they were selling a dozen oysters for $6 during Happy Hour – but it is legit.

Colin was in search of Vampyre souvenirs for friends back in Greenville.  So we visited the store so he could pick up t-shirts and blood bags.

We rambled through the quarter a bit, down Bourbon with a stop at Jean Lafitte’s blacksmith shop, back over to Royal, stopped into a gastro pub for a light snack, and decided on where to meet Diana for lunch.

We did make a quick stop into the Dirty Coast t-shirt store:

I chose Saint John and Diana met us there.  They were actually serving a brunch menu – unusual for a Monday.  Diana was able to talk them into giving her the steak tartare from the dinner menu, and Colin enjoyed a breakfast po-boy.

We tried to visit the “Almost Rock ‘n Roll Gallery” that Steve, Andy and Jude’s friend, runs just down from the restaurant.  Alas – a sign in the window saying they are closing and everything is 50% off.  We do have a few weeks to make a purchase if we find something we like.

An Uber home to rest up a bit, and then off to Dos Jefes in the evening for John Fohl.

Here’s John performing “Bet you didn’t see it coming:”

I think Colin really enjoyed the casual Dos Jefes vibe.

We dropped him at the airport early on Tuesday morning and then really “enjoyed” the rush hour traffic back into downtown.  Diana enjoyed Happy Hour with the girls at Wine on Oak in the evening.

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty mellow work days.  We did watch the new movie “Irish Wish.”  This was a corny and predictable Lindsay Lohan vehicle that I found strangely funny and enjoyable.  Must have been in the right mood.

On Friday, we decided on Elizabeth Street café at the Saint Vincent hotel for Happy Hour.  This is the sister restaurant of the Vietnamese place of the same name on First Street in Austin.  I always loved their banh-mi sandwiches.

Happy Hour here is a good deal, $5 off cocktails and half off all food. We enjoyed French negronis and chili oil dumplings.  The garden outside seating is very relaxed and pleasant.  It’s about a mile stroll from our home – just right.  On the walk, we noticed “Molly’s House.”  I texted a picture to my future daughter in law.

Reply:

“You bought me a house.”

“I knew I was your favorite.”

Funny Molly!

Next on our agenda was Wild South.  This is a brand new tasting menu restaurant that has been open less than three weeks.  I read a rave review from the newspaper food critic.  You can reserve bar seating and order from an a la carte menu, if not prepared to commit to the full tasting.  It was a bit of work to find the place, which does not have a sign.  We persevered and were welcomed in by Brian with a complimentary cider that he has been enjoying lately.  The tasting menu was very inviting.  Diana tried to convince me, but we would not have been able to do it justice after our earlier snack.  See what you think:

The a la carte menu includes a couple of the lighter dishes from the tasting one.  We enjoyed tuna nduja, shrimp salsa, and fish pieces.  All excellent.  We’ll certainly have the full menu next time.  Alex was a lovely bartender – very patient and knowledgeable as Diana selected a white wine.

It’s always pleasant when a place that is delivering such high quality is also casual, relaxed and welcoming.

On our hike back home, I pointed out District coffee, one of my places for a yummy breakfast biscuit.  They had an ice cream banner out front, and so..

The ice cream was really good.  Just as well, as we think it’s been over a decade since Diana had any – would be a shame to break that record for something average.  We walked home up Philip Street – so many pretty, historical houses lit up at night.  We’ll call our Friday afternoon and evening activity a “Lower Garden District ramble.”  Our first of many.

Saturday began with a couple of laps around Audubon park.  Then we parked the BBB at the Kingpin and walked over to Fete Francaise, the annual fundraiser for the local bilingual French school.  Most of the krewe met us there, and we enjoyed some moules frites and a set by local heroes, Galactic:

Galactic were followed by a very interesting group called RAM de Haiti.  Thom has seen them a couple of times at an old hotel in Port du Prince in Haiti.  They are based here just now due to all the trouble in their homeland.  Polyrhythms, punk guitar, big horns like the annoying things at soccer matches, and a saxophone – quite the entertainment.

Here are the horns:

Next up – a short walk back to the Kingpin for the free Saturday afternoon show featuring John Papa Gros.  I really enjoyed his solo piano set:

What a lovely day of excellent free music.  Time to relax on the couch and enjoy the NCAA basketball tournament – Texas versus Tennessee.  I did manage to walk over seven miles on Saturday.

Diana decided to play tennis with the girls on Sunday morning.  In a weak moment, I volunteered to drive her over – for an 8 am start.  I picked her up around 10am at Kenny and Kara’s home, and then we did a run through the grocery store.  Now I’m watching Purdue versus Utah State – I have Purdue to win the entire tournament in my pool.  They seem to be pulling ahead nicely.

Finn shared this picture of Holly’s Iranian New Year table setting.  New Year was on Wednesday and it is traditional to set a table with little things that symbolize good fortune for the year ahead.

Nothing much to report on the reading front this week.  I did add a lot of exciting upcoming new releases to my list.  I’m also going to revisit the Graham Greene book that features the hotel where RAM de Haiti played for Thom.

The Black Crowes are back with their first album in fifteen years:

I haven’t listened to much of it yet, but this one sounds good.

Some old and great stuff from the same band:

And finally, from a band co-founded by John Fohl:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week in Review – March 17th, 2024

“Watch out for cabbages”

We made a fun trip to City Hall on Monday afternoon.  In order to get a homestead exemption for property taxes, both homeowners need to show up with driver license and an electric bill (water bill doesn’t work.)  A lot more work than in Texas.  We entered the building via a side door and chuckled when walking past all the metal detectors and security at the main door – typical New Orleans.  Once we sat down, the whole process took less than five minutes.

I had my teeth cleaned at the new dentist we found through Kelly on Wednesday.  I was pleased with the thorough job.  Kenny met me for lunch afterwards.  We tried Mint on Freret (Vietnamese) and I was very happy with my lemongrass chicken banh mi.  The French bread was wonderful.  Cooper Manning was having lunch there – making it two sightings of him in a week.

I finally dropped off the four bags of Mardi Gras throws that have been in the trunk for a while at Whole Foods for recycling.

I watched the Netflix series “The Gentlemen” by Guy Richie over a couple of days – didn’t love it but it was entertaining.

We picked cousin Colin up at the airport on Thursday evening and fed him jambalaya to welcome him back to New Orleans.

I worked on Friday morning and then we took Colin for the Commanders Palace lunch experience – including the 25 cent martinis.  They had a corned beef special for St. Patrick’s day – served on brioche bread with a poached egg on top.  Colin wasn’t able to pass that up and really enjoyed it.  I had my usual turtle soup, stuffed quail, and bread pudding soufflé.

In the afternoon, Diana and I worked on preparations for our St. Patrick’s parade watching party.  Three full trays of cottage pie, haggis, dips, etc.

We had a great turnout on Saturday afternoon for the Irish Channel parade.  There must have been thirty or forty folks through the house.

They still drop cabbages from the floats:

Some of the silly boys thought they would entertain Diana with hats decorated with silverware – reminding her that they swapped the drawers around on their last visit, and causing a squeak.  Kenny appears to have fixed the squeak for now.

 

It has been very rainy so far today, so we just gave Colin a quick driving tour.  Very few people out at the Tracey’s and Parasols block party so far.

I started a collection of Flannery O’Connor short stories this week.  The first one is “The Geranium”, a pretty controversial story due to the racist views held by Old Dudley who moves from the South to stay with his daughter in New York.  I ready strong articles for and against the story.  It was originally published in 1946 and was part of O’ Connors’ Masters thesis.

 

 

Let’s start with the Irish classic:

Charles Lloyd released an excellent new album this week, at the age of 86.  He has such a massive discography.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

 

Week in Review – March 10th, 2024

“Super human Marco!”

Julie posted a note and videos about Marco’s participation in the “Tri for Marco” mini-triathlon at St. Francis school.  The competition was renamed when Marco was battling cancer.

Look at what this super-human is doing eighteen months after all that surgery.  So inspirational.  Marco is so beloved at his school.  He still thinks he’s running an Olympic distance triathlon in Hawaii in April, and I am not foolish enough to bet against him.

Here he is completing the final running portion.  Notice all the lacrosse players stopping practice to applaud him:

Swimming away from the field easily:

We had some heavy rain earlier this week, which naturally led to street flooding across the city.  Our friend, Lynn, was trying to move her neighbor’s car when she was splashed by a rude driver.  Her neighbor captured the moment perfectly:

Lynn reports that she was saying “Hello!”  Sure you were, Lynn.

I had training and fitting for my new hearing aids on Wednesday.  I really like the gentleman that tested me, fitted me, and trained me up on operation.  We have great music discussions at my appointments – he had made a visit to a used record store last weekend.  The devices are pretty sophisticated, with ability to choose different situations – I’m looking forward to trying out the “Noisy Environment” and “Reverberant Room” settings.  Loud restaurants and bars are where I have difficulty hearing everyone.

The directional tuning might be helpful in meeting rooms – we’ll see.

I certainly noticed an improvement in the full spectrum sound when listening to music.  I’ve really been missing out on a lot of high frequency information.  On the drive home, the low thud from the turn indicators changed to a much more traditional clicking noise.

We watched an episode from the new season of  “Somebody Feed Phil” on Wednesday evening.  This one was from Dubai and had my mouth watering at every stop.  The mix of cultures in that city has led to some fantastic food options.

The positive energy and enthusiasm that Phil exudes is really second to none.

The NOLA Gold rugby match last weekend had me doing a bit of research.  I was trying to remember the name “Andy Irvine” (star of so many Scottish international games that I attended at Murrayfield in Edinburgh) – it finally came out of my old brain.  He was such an amazing player.

During the NOLA Gold match, I commented several times that #15, the right winger, was the best player on the field.  I found out who he is and, of course, he’s from Edinburgh.  He had great speed and vision of the field – naturally given the amount of time he’s spent playing sevens.

Diana and I had a “Zoo Date” on Friday.  I dropped off and picked up McD from her hair appointment and we headed to the zoo afterwards.  Rain was forecast and we thought we could enjoy the zoo in between downpours.  Right as we arrived, the heavens opened, and all the school buses loaded up and left.  We traded in our library card for “free” tickets and entered into the zoo.   We encountered maybe eight folks during our tour of the zoo.  The first area we came across was the flamingos.  They are hilarious with the extending necks.  Clearly, the flamingo with the longest neck is the king of the jungle.

We went to the primate area from there.

The orangutan and gorilla were quite entertaining – the gorilla was really making a mess of his area.

 

The gorilla was really making a mess of his area:

We both thought the black and white Colobus was lovely –

After the monkeys, our next stop was the Red River Hogs.  They were quite lively in coming to see us, and we were amazed by their wispy ears:

Next were the rhinos – such massive beasts lumbering around in the rain:

Next were the leopards – very sleepy.

The elephants were mostly hanging out by their inside area, so no good photos.

We found ourselves over by Monkey Hill, the highest land in New Orleans, and the name of one of our favorite bars, just behind the zoo.

We were lucky to end up in the “Wings across the World” exhibit as the heavens opened again.  We had the entire area to ourselves.  Some of the birds were free range in the area, and others in enclosures.  I loved the Toucans:

This guy is an aracari, but he looks a lot like a toucan:

I think my favorite bird was the hyacinth macaw – such a beautiful colour and quite feisty:

 

One of the free range birds was the Argus pheasants – a very interesting bird:

Our next shelter from the downpour was the reptile house.  Neither of us were excited about entering, but the challenge of finding the snakes, frogs etc, hiding in their environments was fun.

The green anaconda wasn’t hard to find:

Here’s the reason we had trepidation about entering the reptile exhibit.  The black and white rattlesnake:

The last thing I’ll give you from our zoo date is the Komodo dragon – very sleepy:

As we left the zoo, I captured these pictures of the Audubon that these places are named after:

Our date continued at the Parkview Inn and the Gilded Perch bar.   Callie took great care of us – hard to imagine a 22 year old carrying on a better conversation with us than she did.  The Inn is very lucky to have her.  Here are some pictures of the peacock above the bar and the related Muses shoes::

We met Anne at Chaise Delachaise for Happy Hour – and what a great deal it is – mussels, sliders and frites half off, as well as all wines.

I loved our happy hour.  Diana got the octopus, which was delicious.  We’ll be back here soon.

We started Saturday with a run around Audubon park with Laura “the gazelle.”  I chose to do my run/walk , while Diana did her best to keep up with Laura “you’re setting the pace,” Diana.

In the afternoon, we went to the Kingpin for the Panorama jazz band – they sounded like something you would hear from a French café – clarinet lead and singing.  Here’s a video with local celebrity, Cooper Manning, and the band:

Sunday began with a very long walk down the streetcar tracks to the Ogans on Webster.  Diana got in trouble on the way back.  One of the streetcar drivers misunderstood her hand signals and whistled and wagged a finger at her.  Hilarious.  I’m still laughing.

Now, we’re settled in and watching the Oscars. Here’s my ballot.  How did you do?

 

We’ll see how all the ballots tabulate in the morning.

I watched “The Holdovers” several times this week until getting to the end.  I love this movie, and am picking Paul Giamatti as the Best Actor – a bit of an upset, I know.

I loved this quote from the movie, “We cannot sacrifice our integrity on the altars of their entitlement.”

I finished “Come and Get it” by Kiley Reid.  This was a very good book with excellent dialog – I loved the “Ohmygoodness” and “Ah didn’t know that Ah thought that way”.  Very much recommended.

 

 

 

Speaking of the Oscars, here’s a wonderful film score:

Some local, New Orleans music:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

Week in Review – March 3rd, 2024

“Miami Beach Strategery”

We flew to Miami on Monday afternoon, checked into the Lifehouse hotel, and met up with Chickie (our majority shareholder’s  son) for Happy Hour at the South Pointe tavern.

This is what the hotel website says about the history of the hotel:

“In the 1920s, Miami Beach’s first commercial strip, Española Way, became an artists’ colony. Creative types seeking life by the sea moved to the city in droves, including an artist who discovered a unique Tudor home in the South of the Fifth neighborhood. We transformed their eclectic beach cottage, now a landmark, into a House that’s only steps from the ocean, yet far enough away from the noise of South Beach tourists.”

We had been skeptical about the hotel and our “Writer’s Suite”, but everything worked out very well.

After Happy Hour, Chickie had us booked in for an impossible table at Carbone.  Probably one of the best Italian meals that I’ve ever enjoyed.  Wonderful, old school service and every single dish an amazing treat.

Tuna tartare, beef carpaccio, various salads, amazing pastas, steaks, and on and on.  Just a wonderful meal and experience all around.  I would love to do it again.  We are so spoiled at these company events.

Tuesday began with breakfast at the Patio at the Continuum, our majority shareholder, Phil’s, residence community.  Everything was delicious, as always.

We migrated form there to Phil’s condo and began our strategic discussions.  Those lasted a few hours, and then it was time for lunch, back at the Patio.  Everything went very well with the strategery, which led to a lot of fun at lunch and dinner.

The fig and prosciutto sourdough pizza that we shared was ridiculous.  As was the truffle carpaccio.

Meanwhile, a little further up the beach, Lisa and Diana were enjoying their pool and beach time.

I’m very pleased that they had so much time together while we pretended to work a bit.

The girls joined us for drinks before dinner on Phil and Maria’s fourth floor terrace.  It’s entertaining to view the size of the cruise ships that roll past the terrace.  Oh, and I do enjoy a work environment where shorts and flip flops are perfectly acceptable.

Blair called an audible for dinner on Tuesday night – he really wanted to sit on the waterfront at Smith and Wollensky.  This is a very popular place and so Chickie was deployed to negotiate a last minute prime table.    Of course he was successful as you can see below:

The views out onto the water and over to the lights of downtown Miami were quite something.  I enjoyed the custom martini glass:

How many senior executives does it take to order wine, and how long will they ponder?  At least two and what seemed like ten minutes or more:

We slept in on Wednesday morning and opted for a walk along the beach front road rather than breakfast.  I enjoy the art deco style hotels and the vintage cars parked in front of them.  Kenny got a kick out of the old “Fire Dept” vehicle.

We had a coffee and then found a Cuban restaurant (they seem to be on every corner) for lunch.  I chose this one based on the positive reviews of their octopus dish.

The octopus did not disappoint – completely fresh and delicious.  We really couldn’t face another heavy meal, passing on the Cubano sandwich that I would typically have ordered.

Travel home to New Orleans on Wednesday evening was smooth.  I knew Diana was tired and not at all hungry on Thursday evening when she passed up an invitation for oysters with Anne.

We had planned on an outdoor concert at the Broadside on Friday evening but the weather was a bit bleak and dreary and we were still tired from our travels.  I was sorry to miss the event and there will be plenty more in the near future as the weather warms up.

I convinced Diana to attend the NOLA Gold rugby match on Saturday afternoon.  I had made the mistake of having her watch some of the Six Nations series on Netflix.  “It’s a very violent sport, not something I’m sure I want to go and watch.”

 

McD reported enjoying the event a lot more than she expected to.  The entertainment around the game was well done – kind of like attending a minor league baseball game.  Big Sam’s Funky Nation performed before the game and at halftime.  He marched up and down the roof of the baseball dugout (the field used to be the home of the local baseball team.)

There were a lot of kids in attendance and they enjoyed interacting with King Creole.

We had great seats and they were quite affordable – $25 for two.  The first half was pretty boring, and things picked up in the second with two tries from NOLA Gold to win.

I forgot to mention that the opposition was Old Glory from Washington, DC. Here’s the upcoming schedule.  This was the kickoff game for the season.

Our neighbor, Hugh, is an investor in NOLA Gold, and had told me that the commentator would briefly explain the reasons for penalties and other rules, so that folks unfamiliar with rugby could learn and follow along better.  The overall goal being to encourage return customers.  The commentator did a good job of that, while not talking over the play.

This was a good afternoon of entertainment and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

We watched a good film on Saturday night, “Dreamin’ Wild” is based on the true story of Donnie and Joe Emerson, who released an album when they were 16 and 17 years old.  It didn’t generate much interest at the time, and then was found 30 years later by a company that finds hidden gems and re-releases them.

Donnie wrote the music, played the majority of the instruments, and produced the record, all in a small shack that his father built on his farm.  The real album is available on Spotify:

Casey Affleck plays the older Donnie, and gives a typically nuanced performance.  I recommend this movie to any music lovers.

We’re just back from a walk and run in Audubon park – the weather is so nice today.  It is not forecast to be so pleasant over the next couple of days – rain storms coming.

Most of the guys from the local krewe are skiing and snowboarding in Colorado today.  I’m waiting for video of Thom taking his first snowboarding lesson.  I would have liked to join them, but it would have been too much on the heels of the Miami trip.

I started “Come and Get It” by Kiley Reid on the short flights to Miami and back.  I loved “Such a Fun Age” and am enjoying this one so far.  I haven’t reached the key part of the story yet.  Here’s the online summary:

“From the celebrated New York Times bestselling author of Such a Fun Age comes a fresh and provocative story about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with a professor and three unruly students.

It’s 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. But Millie’s starry-eyed hustle becomes jeopardized by odd new friends, vengeful dorm pranks, and illicit intrigue.

A fresh and intimate portrait of desire, consumption, and reckless abandon, Come and Get It is a tension-filled story about money, indiscretion, and bad behavior—and the highly anticipated new novel by acclaimed and award-winning author Kiley Reid.”

Here’s a song from the large band that we missed on Friday night:

Something from the excellent new Julian Lage album:

Something from our local hero:

And finally some 70s cool (12 minutes of it):

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – February 25th, 2024

“Willow wins State!”

Campbell sent me these pictures from an engagement party he put together in San Diego for Molly last weekend.  They look so happy!

We’re so happy that we were part of the proposal and celebration in New Orleans.

Denny and Anne had me over for dinner on Wednesday – they always take care of me when Diana’s out of town.  Denny’s hanger steak with chimichurri sauce was delicious as always.

As a thank you, I drove Denny, Anne and Thom over to Hammond for the state soccer final on Thursday night.  Jack is an assistant coach for the Willow school – he and Mason won the state championship a few years ago at that school (called Lusher at the time.)

It was about an hour drive, and we stopped at Middendorf’s for dinner on the way.  This is a place that has been around forever, and has recovered from several hurricanes and floods.  Denny talked about it being a destination when he was a kid – his parents would drive him out there for Sunday lunch.  Here’s some history from the menu:

I chuckled at the wine list, and was glad Diana wasn’t there to critique – Kung Fu white wine would not be atop her preferred list.

Middendorf’s specialty is “thin catfish” and it was really good:

The game was a lot of fun – the Willow team was incredibly well coached – the passing and vision so good it was hard to believe this was a high school team.  They dominated the midfield, but just couldn’t get at the goal.  That finally happened at 70 minutes, with Trent’s son scoring the first goal.  They ultimately won 2-0, winning 3 of the last 4 state championships.  That’s a heck of a coaching accomplishment.

I didn’t get home until almost midnight, but really enjoyed the evening.  It’s been a while since I watched some really good soccer live.

We went to the Broadside concert venue on Friday night.  This is just across from the Broad movie theater.  I loved the venue – outside and with all kinds of seating options.  Tinsley Ellis started the show.  According to Billboard magazine, “nobody has released more consistently excellent blues albums than Atlanta’s Tinsley Ellis.”  I enjoyed his songs and his stories.  Here’s a recording and some live music:

Marcia Ball was next – always one of my favourites.  She had a number of ballads mixed in with her boogie woogie piano hits.  Here’s “Saint Gabriel”, such a good song:

And one of her boogie woogie numbers, with the foot kicking in time:

There is a food truck embedded in the venue – Cochon BBQ – I loved the food they offered and the stickers on their window – “Music the Healer.”

Saturday was a gorgeous day – 74 degrees and no humidity.  Perfect for the kickoff of the Kingpin bar Saturday music series.  This is a local bar that showcases music out front and encourages folks to bring chairs to set up in the small park out front.  This week was the Bessarabia brass band:

Diana flew back to New Orleans during the show – “Would it be ok if you Ubered over to the Kingpin instead of me coming to pick you up?”  She was a trooper and did exactly that.  She did get to meet up with the extensive krewe out enjoying the show – including rare Libby and Laura sightings.  I’m looking forward to the next few Saturday afternoon shows before it gets oppressively hot.

It’s nice to have my wife back home.  Off to Miami Beach tomorrow.

We’re skipping the book and music sections again until I catch up on the few weeks I missed.  I do have a few hours on airplanes and so should get some reading done this week.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

Week in Review – February 18th, 2024

“Happy Mardi Gras”

Will and Christine left for home on Monday morning.  We took Campbell and Molly to celebrate their engagement at Lundi Gras brunch at Commander’s Palace.  This is a hard reservation to get and always a lot of fun.  We were seated at the “Reagan Table” – the one where Ronnie and Nancy always sat.  It does have a nice view of the entire room.

For the first time, I got the blue ribbon across the table to indicate “regular patrons.”  The roaming jazz band was very good and took a lot of requests.  Here’s a video:

 

The food was excellent, as always, right through to the soufflé with whisky cream sauce.

We caught some of the last parades on Monday night and then had an early night, in anticipation of Mardi Gras day.

It was out the door shortly after 6am to start the Mardi Gras adventure.  Chris Pete woke up the street with his tricycle and boombox.

Diana had a warm version of her Mardi Gras outfit ready to go:

Greg and Dave worked on bringing Buttercup, the rolling chicken, out from behind Hugh’s staircase.  Greg, stopping to make sure he had his yellow webbed feet in place.

We hustled over to Jackson and St. Charles and the start of the parade route.  We needed to get going before the Zulu parade started.  I pushed, D rode on the float, Dave steered, Greg and Colleen took turns with the big heads on, and everyone alternated turns on the boombox bicycle.  Diana had a huge amount of fun throwing beads and treats to the early crowd.

I told you she had a blast.  Here are some more pictures of the krewe making their way through the French Quarter.

Looking like a kid on Christmas morning!

We parked Buttercup outside Jean Lafitte’s – oldest bar in New Orleans – for a short break.

From there, we continued on down into the Marigny to enjoy some of the crazy costumes.  I particularly enjoyed Chris parting the sea of humanity so that I could push Buttercup across the intersection.

We met up with some other friends outside Harry’s Corner bar.  Amy (ladybug), Randy (toadstool), Larry (not sure) and John were all very entertainingly clad.

Then a little dance party broke out.  Greg is foghorn leghorn and Lily is the other bird.

Diana and I were getting very tired around 1pm, so we finally found an Uber that could be convinced there was a way to get us close to home around the parade route.  We had to walk across the Rex parade to make it all the way home.  That was easy due to the parade being stalled for an extended period of time – Boeuf Gras was right at our intersection, spouting smoke from his nostrils.

We were glad to get home and be able to relax after so many parades, entertaining the kids, the excitement of the engagement, and on and on.

Here’s a fun picture of Buttercup from ten years ago, with Greg and Colleen’s girls riding inside.

A week or two ago, it seemed like a good idea to make a reservation at a local restaurant for Valentine’s dinner.  We stuck to it and enjoyed an early meal at Beggar’s Banquet – just down the street on Prytania.  The mushroom toast was amazing, and the rest of the offerings were “fine.”  That’ll teach me to be an amateur and go out to eat on the actual Valentine’s day.

 

I walked over to Aidan Gill for a haircut on Thursday, passing Molly’s Rise and Shine, where Campbell took Molly for brunch before the proposal.  It doesn’t look much when closed, but there is a consistent line out the door when open.

Diana left for San Francisco on Friday afternoon – travels were all smooth.  She did encounter some very windy weather that had her a bit nervous on the hill.  She enjoyed the jazz band playing in the airport:

I walked down to District for breakfast on Saturday morning – they have really excellent breakfast biscuits – not sure if I prefer them to Gracious bakery or not.  The ambience is a lot nicer.

In the afternoon, I met the gang (Alex, Fred, Brennen,  Jack and Denny ) at Ale on Oak for a drink before watching the Willow soccer team (Jack is a coach) in the state semi-final game.  It was very cold and so we just stayed through the first half.  Kids just don’t feel the cold:

Willow ended up with a 1-0 victory, and will travel to Hammond on Thursday for the state final.  Denny and I will likely make the drive.

Kenny and Kara joined me for brunch at Mister Mao’s on Sunday.  Diana thinks the food there is too spicy, and so I decided to give it a try while she was out of town.  The food was very good, the San Francisco garlic noodles were my favourite, and nothing was overly spicy this time.

After brunch, we picked up Denny and headed to the Broad Theater to see the new Bob Marley documentary movie.

The reviews from the group were consistent – good but not great.  The Broad does have an excellent sound system, and so the music was very enjoyable.

Quite an interesting week, filled with all the things we moved here for – unique experiences, great friends, good food and music.

I’m way behind on these postings, and so will forgo the music and book sections until I get caught up a bit – hopefully next Sunday.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

 

 

Weeks in Review – February 11th, 2024

“Parades, parades, and more parades – and an engagement”

Okay – I’m finally catching up to those missing Mardi Gras weeks.  Our house is so close to the parade route, that it was hard to pass up an evening of parades.

This will mostly be a pictorial blog, as I didn’t capture the specific parades and floats for many of them, and don’t remember now for sure.  Let’s start with some of the amazing floats:

I always love to see the Budweiser Clydesdales and wagon.  Such majestic beasts:

The flambeau walkers are a rarer sight in parades these days:

The kids arrived for the second weekend, and of course Will had some appropriate shirts and outfits:

Nyx and Muses are two of my favourite parades.  The girls caught the fancy hand decorated purses from Nyx, and Molly caught a Muses shoe from the second to last float:

It was funny to see our local weather forecaster, Margaret Orr, in the Head of Muses shoe:

Here are some shots of the groups, including Campbell’s purple wig:

We worked hard to catch camo rain hats for everyone.  Good throws as it rained heavily that night.

Buttercup made her first appearance on the parade route, preparing for the full parade route on Mardi Gras day:

Friday, February 9th, was a very special day.  Campbell and Molly got engaged by the Tree of Life in Audubon park.  It was a bit of work for Campbell to get away from the group and take Molly for a walk by the tree.  He passed up on the first attempt – a couple were getting married by the tree.  Shortly after, we received this lovely picture and were ready to appear from our hidden vehicle with a champagne toast.  Denny and Anne showed up shortly after.

The group enjoyed a celebratory drink and snack at the Columns, continuing our Friday Happy Hour tradition:

Here’s the proud future father-in-law with his awesome future daughter-in-law:

Here’s a picture from their early dating days:

Diana and I met Gary, one of our Board members, at Commanders Palace briefly on the engagement evening.  They invited us to join for dinner, but there’s only so many times in a short period that you can eat there, and we had all the parade excitement to return to.

Wow – I’m committing to myself again to never get this far behind with updates.

Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!

 

 

 

Week in Review – January 21st, 2024

“Cigar Box Guitars”

On Tuesday evening, we drove over to visit Merry Lee and Jeff at their condominium in the Warehouse District.  It’s very modern and comes with lots of nice amenities – pool, bike room, gym, game room etc.  The Superdome is just a couple of hundred yards away.

It’s quite the opposite of a Garden District home built in 1860.  It’s nice that we’re just a five minute drive apart.

We had planned to eat at Tito’s on St. Charles, but with the bitter cold, decided on something very close to the condo.  Merry Lee organized Maypop.  This is how they describe their food:

“Our dishes are inspired by the vibrant, diverse culture of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, creating unique flavors and bringing a contemporary, locally-sourced twist to classic Southern-Asian dishes.”

The food was different,  interesting, and very tasty.  We tried the satsuma octopus and tuna appetizers.  I had the spaghetti with crab – absolutely delicious with great broth to sop up with the Roti bread.  Here are the appetizer and dinner menus:

The restaurant was quite modern and almost industrial looking:

It was well below freezing on Tuesday night and so we had all the taps dripping overnight.  No damage so far. Phew!  The New Orleanians never lack for humour – here’s the Mardi Gras beads being utilized as snow chains:

The next couple of days were cold, but not as cold, and so we stayed inside for the most part.  Things warmed up on Thursday and I suggested that we go for an afternoon walk.  We wandered down the street car line on St. Charles – enjoying watching folks setting up their front yard viewing platforms for the parades.  They go to quite a bit of work to make sure they are appropriately decorated.  Next week I’ll share a picture of the Mardi Gras flag and decorations that we have on the front of the house.  Right when we arrived at Jefferson Ave., about 1.5 miles from home, the heavens opened.  I had just a t-shirt and jeans on and got completely drenched very quickly.  We ducked under the library porch and waited for the heaviest rain to pass.  I was hoping to jump a streetcar back to Washington Ave., but none came.  Oh well, let’s make the 1.5 mile trek home in the drizzle and light rain.  I did check the forecast and radar minutes before our walk – how can a huge downpour be missed like that?

Diana met up with Merry Lee on Friday.  They walked from our home down to Magazine for a sushi lunch at Sake Café.  The Chihuly glass sculptures coming down form the ceiling caught McD’s attention.  We did a walking tour of those at the Dallas Arboretum that was really something.

They wandered through several shops after lunch but didn’t purchase too much.  Not knowing the weather for Mardi Gras makes it tough to decide.

We were double booked on Saturday – we had tickets to the New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar festival and the Chewbacchus parade was happening – with Kara, Nina, and Debra all walking as Wonder Women.  I’ll talk about the Cigar Box event first.

This was a three day festival with cigar box guitar nerds from around the world exchanging tunes and tips.  Argentina, France, and all over the United States were represented.  It was nice to observe the close knit community they have developed over the years.  The event ran from 3pm until 6pm, an hour for dinner, and then 7pm until 10pm.  Here’s one of the early set performers – he was working really hard.

We walked a few blocks to Manolito, a tiny Cuban restaurant for dinner.  Here’s what they say about themselves and their name:

Our dinner and drinks were excellent as always from this little, delicious place.  Kenny thinks their banana daiquiri is the best he’s had.  His brother owns several daiquiri shops on Bourbon St. – quite a different drink!

The second cigar box set was excellent – starting out with the New Orleans based Cigar Box Serenaders.  Sounds like something you might here in the Spotted Cat Music Club on Frenchman Street – but precisely executed:

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That was a dresser drawer bass and a drum kit of pails and coffee cans.  Very  clever.

After this set, we braved the cold wind to watch a bit of the parade.  No sign of Kara and the Wonder Women amongst the 3,000 walking participants:

Kenny and I returned to the inside and warmth pretty quickly, while Diana did her best to wait for the Wonder Women.  After 45 minutes, she was back inside for this treat:

Memphis Lightning had huge energy and amazing guitar skills, capped off by his demonstration of being able to play guitar with both his right and left hands on this crazy double neck cigar box guitar.

We stayed for a couple of songs of the final act, Erin Coburn.  A pretty lady who took us by surprise with a very heavy and noisy set to finish out the night.  We left after a couple of songs.  What an eclectic and somewhat typical NOLA day.

During the week, Billy (handyman), dropped off some delicious gumbo for us.  Would a handyman in McKinney ever do that – no way.  That’s on top of the fresh crabs and sauce he dropped off last week.  I showed him my diagnosis on one of the faucet leaks – needs a new O-ring here:

We figured out the other leak as well.  Kohler provides lifetime free replacement parts – so this should be with me for installation next week.  We’ll see how I do.  Better than a very expensive replacement faucet if I can make it work reliably.  The service from Kohler was amazing (a total contrast from Thermador) – I would recommend them to anyone that plans to have their products for a few years – free replacement parts and instructions.

I’ve just watched the NFC Divisional game between Detroit and Atlanta – a really competitive game that the Lions won.  Just when I’ve almost put the Cowboys disappointment behind me, another online joke picture comes along:

I was reading some New Orleans history – particularly about some of the great writers who have lived here.  Most notably, Tennessee Williams, who wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” while living here and remained until his death.  And of course, Anne Rice and her vampire novels, written in a house just around the corner from us.  I was taken with an explanation of where the title, “A Confederacy of Dunces” , came from.  This is the title of a well known New Orleans based book by John Kennedy Toole.  The book’s title comes from Jonathan Swift’s essay “Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting”: When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.

I really didn’t love “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.”  I tried, given so many number one best of the year reviews.  Way too many insignificant and underdeveloped characters – I almost had to make a chart to keep up with them all.  The main characters in a story like this need to be more fully developed.  I almost felt like McBride was trying to appeal to every ethnic and religious group.  Did any of you really enjoy this book?

 

I sampled a decent amount of “Let Us Descend” by Jesmyn Ward.  Really not my scene at all.

All the rave reviews:

“OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • Instant New York Times Bestseller • Shortlisted for the 2024 Carnegie Medal for Excellence

From Jesmyn Ward—the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow—comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.

“‘Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world.’” —Inferno, Dante Alighieri
 
Let Us Descend is a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.”

This was just too harsh for me to bear.  I know it’s historically accurate, but not what I need to spend my free time reading about.

This is the first time in a long time that I’ve returned two books to the library unfinished.  I infer that I need to stop following the “best of” reviews.

Let’s start with a fantastic song from the Kinks.

“You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood BoulevardSome that you recognize, some that you’ve hardly even heard ofPeople who worked and suffered and struggled for fameSome who succeeded and some who suffered in vain”

To honour the passing of Shane McGowan.  We loved seeing him at Tipitinas last year:

And finally, something from the king of “laid back.”  Found it on a Spotify J.J. Cale radio station:

Coexist peacefully, with patience and compassion for all!

 

 

Week in Review – January 14th, 2024

“Resting Up”

When I left you, I was settling in to watch the Cowboys game.  It was a good one, and they won the division.  On to the playoffs!  Thanks to Diana for signing me up for NFL Sunday Ticket so that I could watch the “out of market” game.  I could even watch four games at once:

We did not make it to the Joe Krown show at the Maple Leaf.  The girls were worn out from their afternoon in the French Quarter.

The middle part of the week was pretty quiet – recovering from all the New Year excitement and resting up for Mardi Gras.

We did make a trip to the nearest Home Depot to pick up pipe insulation and spigot covers for the upcoming below freezing temperatures.  Diana remarked on the barbed wire around the top of the wall around Home Depot.  I pointed out that it was actually razor wire – they really don’t want anyone climbing over that wall.  Interestingly, there was a wall all the way around the parking lot and only one entry/exit point.  We didn’t think we were in that bad of a neighborhood.  Anne filled us in – that was put up right after Katrina when the store was constantly looted.

I decided to check a few things off my Diana To Do list.  They were mostly outside of my skillset, or things I just didn’t fancy tackling.  It seems like everything I take on with this house ends up being much more difficult than anticipated.  I asked Tommy, our air conditioning guy, if he knew a handyman.  “Sure, my brother will do it.”  Billy showed up later in the day to check things out.  And, yes, he’s as much of a character as Tommy.  Just a great fellow.  He just stopped by to drop off a bunch of fresh crabs and sauce for Diana – left over from his weekend feast.

Billy fixed a “broken” outlet, put a new outlet in the upstairs closet for the Dyson to charge, and ran power and mounted a new ceiling fan in the third floor area.  Replacing the kitchen faucet and finishing the ceiling repairs are on deck for later this week.  “Broken” is in quotes because there was really nothing wrong with the outlet – it had worked for a while and then stopped.  Diana had mentioned to Billy that she’d like to figure out what the fourth switch on the kitchen wall went to.  After checking all the fuse boxes and testing the outlet, Billy was at a loss.  Then it occurred to him – the fourth switch.  Ha!

I walked over to Aidan Gill’s for a haircut on Friday, and followed that by stopping in to try the Latin American restaurant across the street.  Maya’s is a small place that I see each time I’m down on that part of Magazine, but had never tried.  Their empanadas were good, and the large plates that other folks were having looked great.

 

 

Anne called on Friday afternoon and invited us to Happy Hour at Pizza Domenica.  Another great place on Magazine street.  Wine and pizza were half off between 3 and 5pm.  What a deal!  We had a pleasant visit and won’t see Anne again for a few weeks – she was off to visit her Mom in Florida, and then meeting up with Denny in Boulder.

I took Diana to a new place on Saturday afternoon – the Broad Theater is a very cool cinema in an interesting part of Mid City.  It has so much more character than the massive AMC cineplexes.  Diana was quite chuffed that a refill of wine and her large popcorn bucket was all of $5.  We saw “American Fiction”, starring Jeffrey Wright.

The movie was very enjoyable – a humorous send up of “woke” culture and the clamoring around African American literature.  McD enjoyed it as well – I wasn’t sure that she would.

I did battle with the Kamado Joe smoker on Sunday morning.  My intent was to make a rack of baby back ribs to accompany the Cowboys playoff game.  The plan was to cook at 220 degrees for 3 hours.  The Kamado wanted to be hotter than that, and when I closed the vents sufficiently to get down to 220, it stayed for about an hour and then it seemed like the fire went out.  The ribs were finished off on the regular grill and tasted good but not as great as they would have if cooked slower.  My new bluetooth thermometer (Christmas from Diana) was very helpful in letting me know what was going on in the smoker.

And then there was the Cowboys playoff game against the Green Bay Packers.  What a disaster from start to finish.  A huge disappointment from the team that has the number one offense in football.  I’m contemplating becoming a Saints fan next year.  There have just been so many years like this – a great regular season and then a complete choke in the first playoff game.

While I was yelling at the TV – I gave up when it became apparent that the Cowboys had no chance, Diana was staying out of the way with her new birthday puzzle that Mum sent.  She really enjoyed it – with the “whimsy” pieces:

And of course she wasn’t walking away from the table until it was completed:

I’m working my way through “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride.  It topped a number of “Best of 2023” lists.  I’m not sure I like it that much yet, but I have quite a bit left to go, so I’ll let you know.  Here’s an online synopsis.

“In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.

Bringing his masterly storytelling skills and his deep faith in humanity to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride has written a novel as compassionate as Deacon King Kong and as inventive as The Good Lord Bird.”

I may have shared this Duane Allman classic before.  Either way, it’s worth repeating:

A very pleasant Jimmy Buffet cover:

And finally, a fun new sound that I came across:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!

Week in Review – January 7th, 2024

“Carnival Time”

The clean up from our New Year’s Eve party didn’t take too long, and then we were off to Oyster Fest at Denny and Anne’s home.  This is one of my favourite events of the year.  Very casual, with all kinds of friends coming and going on the back patio and enjoying oysters prepared in so many ways.  Denny had promised to simplify the number of offerings this year, but I didn’t see very much evidence of that.  The hardest part is shucking all the oysters to start.  Denny and Greg are experts:

Thom took a turn at charbroiled oysters – all good until he poured on too much sauce and caused some very high flames.

This was the first year that all five of Kelly and Fred’s kids were in attendance.  What a great group:

Thanks for another great year, Denny!

The return to work on Tuesday felt a bit harsh, but I struggled through.

Jack and Mason’s 21st birthdays were celebrated at Commander’s Palace on Thursday.  It’s so nice that this is just 600 feet from our new home.  It’s tradition that we accompany them on this birthday lunch.  The old school service never ceases to make me smile.  All dishes put in front of everyone at the same time – so much coordination needed.  And I’ve never seen the wrong dish in front of the wrong person.

Of course birthdays get balloons on the table and chef toques:

That’s the ridiculous bread pudding soufflé with whiskey sauce in front of Jack.  Mom and Dad look very proud:

The lunch was so leisurely (over 2 hours) that I had to walk back home to take a 2pm meeting.  Poor planning on my part.  I won’t need to worry about that next year.

Alicia arrived on Thursday evening.  Diana took her for a ramble along Magazine street on Friday morning – stopping for an Empanola empanada and then lunch at Tito’s ceviche.  I met them there and shared some of the excellent ceviche and quinoa salad.

It was an early start for Alicia and Diana on Saturday.  They had committed to outdoor yoga in the sculpture garden with Kenny, Kara, and Nina.  It rained on Friday and was pretty cold.  They sucked it up and seemed to enjoy the yoga, and the coffee and beignets afterwards at Café du Monde.

Alicia was getting restless on Saturday afternoon, and so Diana took her for a walk to Superior Seafood.  She tried an oyster and ended up liking them.  Maybe not quite as much as the frozen French 75.

While the girls were out, I took a final stab at fixing the freezer door ice dispenser.  I had called out a high end appliance repair guy on Friday and he was zero help.  Couldn’t even find the parts diagram that I had up on my computer.  I rebuilt the entire mechanism from scratch and made one washer position adjustment.  Success!  That was a lot of work.

Carnival/Mardi Gras season started on Saturday evening (Twelfth Night.)  The first event is the Phunny Phorty Phellows and the Funky Uptown Crew riding streetcars and celebrating.  We walked the 100 feet down to St. Charles and enjoyed the revelry.  Some neighbors had hired a brass band to celebrate with the Krewes.  Here are some videos.

Alicia enjoyed the festivities and meeting our neighbours, Roeland and Jules, and their dog, Lumi.

I’m watching the Saints game as I write this.  They are not off to a great start.  Shortly, I’ll be dropping the girls plus Kara in the French Quarter for lunch, and coming back to watch the final Cowboys game.  They win the division if they win today, besting the Eagles.

If we’re still up for it, there is a good show with Joe Krown and Papa Mali at the Maple Leaf tonight.  We’ll see.

I’m almost finished with “Wellness.”  Here are some passages that I enjoyed so far.  This is funny because Diana has some different features in each ear:

“She insists that one of her earlobes is slightly larger than the other, and he doesn’t believe her at first, not until they get our the ruler and measure.”

An entertaining simile:

“Agatha looks at her with red, wet, puffy eyes and a balled up chin.  “Nooooo,” she says.  “It’s not youuuuuuu.”  Her words are coming out with a kind of musical fall to them, like bagpipes deflating.”

A very good description of what I witness often at gatherings in California:

“The presence of new people in the house seemed to serve as a kind of trigger for children to get aggressively and sometimes violently attention-seeking, and the parents, perhaps on their best behavior and not wanting to discipline their children harshly in the presence of friends, would just let it all kind of happen, and the kids, testing their delicious newfound freedom, would start acting up and shouting and roughhousing, whereby the parents would become even more frustrated, and the whole spiraling thing made Elizabeth feel guilty for being there at all.”

The reason for the title:

“What they did at Wellness was test claims made by specious health-related products to see if the products achieved results any better than a placebo.  Basically they were a watchdog group, a subcontractor to the FCA and FTC, sniffing out bullshit.  In 2008, some of the more well-known products that had come through the lab included:  the SlimSkirt, a miniskirt made of some tight, rubbery, tensile material that felt like a big rubber band around your legs.”

Elizabeth makes a fortune pitching this idea to United Airlines:

“This was the solution!  Make the seats even narrower, the lines even longer, the competition for overhead space even more cutthroat – make it all famously bad and then tell people they can avoid it all and have a more or less normally below-average experience for a modest fee.  Thus, if they knew beforehand that the experience would be dreadful but they didn’t pay the fee to avoid it, they would be less unhappy about the dreadful experience because, ultimately, they chose to have it.  They did it to themselves.

It was her eureka moment, the moment that changed everything, the moment that led to her pitching the idea to United Airlines and collecting their fee, a fee so substantial that she and Jack could finally afford to make a down payment on a home – their forever home, out in the suburbs.”

I have a few more passages that I highlighted, but that’s enough for now.  This is a very unique and enjoyable read.

 

A very pleasant and laidback track:

And something from the excellent Shuggie Otis album:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all!