Week in Review – August 31st, 2025

I shopped for and cooked Sunday dinner – look at me go in retirement.  The black  bean enchilada skillet dish was very well received by my wife.  I did ask her later what dish I had bought the plain yogurt for.  The one last night – “Remember I suggested that you substitute if for sour cream and added it to your shopping list?”  Ahh – I do remember now and we can use it on the leftovers.

A link to the recipe if you’re interested in giving it a whirl, don’t forget the sour cream:

Recipe – black bean enchilada skillet

Another “culture pass” from the library took us to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art on Monday.  The first thing we saw was this “Universal, Cosmic Mule” on the way up the stairs:

Something about this guy really appealed to me.

We started on the fifth floor and worked our way down.  The views from the fifth floor terrace were impressive.  Here’s the World War II museum and Crescent City Connection (CCC) bridge:

And a good view of the “wing” cover over the terrace of the World War II museum:

An interesting seahorse on the patio:

There is an annual competition for local artists to have their work displayed at the Ogden and that was our favourite part of our visit.  Such creativity in pieces created over the last year or two by folks living in the area.

This is a collection of 50 paintings of Vietnamese folks to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war:

This level of detailed information really made this fifth floor exhibit for me.  This one was called “Hurricane Proof House” and was painted “en plain air” shortly after Katrina:

The next floors had some older Southern art.  I enjoyed these two paintings:

The one directly above had a real 3D feel to it.

This is one of the more well known paintings in the collection – French Quarter  rooftops by  Knute Helder from 1923   :

You might be getting bored with my tour of the Ogden by now.  I’ll conclude with one final painting from the “20 years after Katrina section:”

The Ogden is a beautiful building – I remembered watching the HBO Tremé series character, Annie, playing the violin there for an event along with Joe Krown.  I tried hard, even using AI, to find a clip to share – none out there.  I guess HBO is just as effective as Bryan Adams at policing pirate copies of their videos.  There’s the episode info if you would like to watch on HBO:

Episode Season 3, Episode 5 — “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say”
Performance Setting Ogden Museum of Southern Art
Music Played “O Ma Charmante, Épargnez‑Moi!” (Gottschalk) & “All That & Then Some” (Joe Krown)
YouTube Availability Not currently found via public search

And after all that, I don’t think this is the episode I’m looking for.  I’ll have to watch the whole series again.

I gave McD a choice of two places for lunch after the exhibit – Peche or Cochon Butcher.  I knew which she would choose, and I was fine with either one.  We started with tuna crudo and followed that with Jimmy Nardello peppers over whipped tuna – the waiter sold it to us and I’m glad he did.  Those peppers were smoky and sweet.  I’m ready for some more right now.

 

This is some research on the Jimmy Nardello pepper that I had never heard of before:

“This fine Italian pepper was grown each year by Giuseppe and Angella Nardello at their garden in the village of Ruoti, in Southern Italy. In 1887 they set sail with their one-year-old daughter Anna for a new life in the U.S. When they reached these shores, they settled and gardened in Naugatuck, Connecticut, and grew this same pepper that was named for their fourth son, Jimmy. This long, thin-skinned frying pepper dries easily and has such a rich flavor that this variety has been placed in “The Ark of Taste” by the Slow Food organization. It ripens to a deep red, is very prolific, and does well in most areas.”

We finished lunch with the crab capellini pasta – such fresh pasta and tasty sauce.

We were chatting about how unique these dishes at Peche are compared to other New Orleans restaurants, the combinations of ingredients and flavours reminding us of the wonderful Odd Duck in Austin.

I watched the movie “She Came to Me” on Monday night.  Peter Dinklage is an opera composer, Anne Hathaway his wife and psychiatrist, and Marisa Tomei is a tugboat captain.  Very quirky and well done.

Tuesday began with a walk in Audubon park.  It was a tiny bit less humid and I didn’t feel totally sweated out after a couple of laps.  After the park, we made our way over to the Batture farmer’s market.  This happens every Tuesday and the Batture is the part of land that is on the Mississippi river side of the levee – grandfathered in through some weird law.  If you want to learn more, check out “River Rats” by Macon Fry:

They Call us River Rats by Macon Fry

I spent an interesting day at Macon’s Batture house and will be happy to share some stories the next time we talk…

The farmer’s market was small but very well done.  Great looking peppers, exotic mushrooms, tomatoes, honey,  and smoothies.  We bought a crawfish and mushroom risotto that a fun lady was selling, and I couldn’t resist buying a pupusa from a lovely gentleman named Mike.  It was huge and very filling – Diana and I nibbled on it for several hours.  Certainly the best pupusa I’ve experienced – stuffed with delicious cheese and topped with a fried egg, pickled onion and crema.  I highly encourage my New Orleans friends to check this guy out – he does the City Park market on Sundays as well.  Additionally, he is opening a 70s cocktail bar and Tokyo style jazz club on Freret Street opposite the Gasa Gasa club.  Should be open in a couple of months – permitting delays have delayed the anticipated dates – imagine that in this city.

The Batture will reopen with food trucks and other popup restaurants this weekend for the fall and winter seasons.  We will certainly check that out.

We made our way home, McD did a quick change and pack, and then I dropped her off at Merry Lee’s pool for the afternoon.

My next agenda item was to see about my cyst surgery – this time in the right week.  I told the doctor that I had previously had a one inch cyst removed and now a much smaller version had grown back.  “You mean 2.5 centimeters, based on your accent?”  It’s not usually picked up that quickly.  Apparently his daughter his studying linguistics at Trinity college in Dublin – he might know a bit about accents.  The poor doctor tried really hard to arrange my surgery while I was there and was unsuccessful.

How did we do in Tuesday evening trivia?  We took second place by a very small margin.  I think Kenny was our MVP this week.

I always enjoy the mashup questions – “What would you call an Abba song about the longest reining UK monarch?”

Dancing Queen Elizabeth – I got that one.   Dad would be disappointed if  I  didn’t.

In other trivia news – Glasgow featured ab0ut cloning and Dolly:

Lastly, here’s our team captain turning in our answer that Kenny got right away.  “Joan of Arc.”  MVP for Kenny?

As we were leaving trivia Alex asked if anyone wanted to go and see the band at the Ponchatrain hotel.  Sure, I’ll do that.  At the very least it’ll get me closer to home.  I can walk from there.

Turns out Alex has been taking drumming lessons from Stanton for a few weeks and he invited him to come and watch the show:

Alex was impressed that I knew Oscar Rossingoli- by a week from research following the John Boutte show last week.

We attended the funeral service for the lovely Alicia Cole on Wednesday.  The last time I talked to her she was feeling great and enjoying life – that changed quickly.  Such a lovely lady with a massively kind heart.

 

 

 

Kenny suggested Mandina’s for lunch after the service.  This is a classic old school Italian seafood place with a Cajun twist, reminding us of Original Joe’s in San Jose (not the Cajun part).

We had a delightful lunch with great food and company.  I made the mistake of texting Denny that I had enjoyed my first visit to Mandino’s.  “You have been.  1st NOLA boys trip.  Followed by a stop down the street for Rebirth at Chickie Wah Wah.”  He is so correct – and I had a feeling when I wrote the text that he was going to say that.  Mandino’s had a lot of Hurricane Katrina (more on that coming) damage and had just reopened when we visited the first time.  And the Rebirth gave us a great show – almost too big for the newly opened Chickie Wah Wah.

Diana had a loaded salad and Kenny and I split the “burger on French” – I still couldn’t finish my half.

Mandino’s reminded me a lot of Tony Moran’s – the very first place I ate in New Orleans.  I came in to check up on a team that supported State Farm insurance from New Orleans.  They were still recovering from Katrina. I met Denny and Anne downstairs in the bar and we had desert together with the group upstairs.  Then they took us to Geno Delafonse at the original Rock ‘N Bowl and the amazing Kermit Ruffins with Henry Butler on keyboards at Vaughans lounge.  Why don’t I live in this city?  Took me a decade plus to make it happen

Then, it was finally time for my surgery.  Took about 10 minutes and was completely successful.  The surgeon is very confident that I will not have another cyst in that location.

 

 

 

We had planned on going t see Mia Borders at the Banks Street bar, but I wasn’t really feeling up for it.  Sorry Diana – two weeks from now?

Thursday had a very exciting start – checking out the newly opened Trader Joe’s.  I’m not sure how to describe this store – here’s what AI has to tell me:

” known for its unique, private-label products, affordable prices, and a welcoming shopping experience. The stores offer a wide range of products, including unique snacks, international foods, dietary options, wine, and beer, with a focus on quality and value rather than traditional branded items. The company has a cult-like following, in part due to its discovery-driven model, friendly staff, and often limited-run products. “

I think that’s a great summary.  We got a lot of interesting and varied food at a good price.  It seemed like they had listened to all of my complaints about other locations – nowhere near enough  parking, such skinny aisles that y0u can’t even pass someone coming at you,  crowding by the salad and dip section right by the front door.  All resolved at the new Tulane avenue location.

We had our first quarterly financial review on Thursday afternoon.  Doing well so far.  Thanks Uncle Pauline.

The paper had some “Then and Now” pictures today -part of the many 20 year anniversary of Katrina reporting..  The same location then and now.  I’ll share a couple of examples:

Then:

Now:

Continuing on the Katrina theme, Chris Rose wrote this.  Very well written (as always) and my friends will be upset with me for giving this ******* airtime:

“Dear New Orleans: Have you heard? The exhibitions, exclamations, exhortations and excoriations — in memorium, et ceterum, ad nauseam? Triggered yet? All these sad songs they keep playing, they’re so damn … sad. As Dr. John might put it, New Orleans is being traumaticalized, all over again. Deja Vieux Carre.

It’s been 20 years since I wrote a letter like this. That one was addressed to America, introducing our beleaguered friends and neighbors who were fleeing the floodwaters — unknowns bound for elsewhere. Our Exodus. So what is this thing that is happening right now, this … reckoning? An anniversary? Accurate, but that term always seems to fail this auspicious occasion. A commemoration? A remembrance? That one’s got a touch of proper gravitas.

An apotheosis, perhaps — a collective acknowledgment that Katrina still lords over our lives two decades later? The head spins. Who can even think straight with all this 8/29/05, 24/7, somebody please pass the 4/20.

Dear New Orleans. Here’s what it looks like from a distance — of time and geography, of memory and progress, of laughter and forgetting. I have come from the mountaintops, literally — and I’ve got Katrina cred with me. I was “the voice of the tortured city,” said The Washington Post. A truth teller, Oprah called me. (Or her people, anyway.) The McClatchy News Service crowned me “the literary avenging angel of the 504.” That was my favorite.

Folks even said I saved lives, that the stories I wrote in the aftermath were righteous balm for Katrina fatigue. Just last week, an old New Orleans acquaintance of mine showed up at the state park where I am living in the mountains of western Maryland just to cry on me. That’s happened a lot over the past 20 years. People see me, they cry. That’s some heavy right there.

What did I do to deserve all this? A city lay in ruin, 1,600 dead, homes and businesses destroyed, a vital culture drowning in its own filthy water. Somebody had to tell the jokes. Me and the refrigerators.

But I’m no hero, that’s understood. What became of me was, I drank myself to death just like everybody said I would. Caused a lot of pain to family and friends. In the fall of 2021, I was diagnosed with end-stage cirrhosis. These past 20 years of active, sometimes relentless drinking have turned my liver to stone. There is no treatment and there is no cure. I’m a dead man walking.

A recent article in this newspaper told my story in grim, vivid detail — a story of my death foretold — a story so convincing that my brother in Florida received several texts from friends expressing condolences at the news of my passing. But, like my dear City of New Orleans 20 years ago — reports of our death were greatly exaggerated. The writing may be on the wall, but I’ve still got some ink left in my pen.

It is said: The longer you live in New Orleans, the more unfit you become to live anywhere else. OK, I said that — 20 years ago. And I am proof. After my diagnosis, my vicissitudes of fortune rendered me unwilling, unable — yes, unfit — to live in New Orleans anymore. After 35 years of residence, if there’s anything left in this city that I’ve never done before — I probably shouldn’t do it. So I retreated to the woods, off the grid, into the solitude of the outdoors where the nightmares of my own past dissolve in each day’s new dawn; I fall asleep to the sound of waterfalls, wake each morning to campsmoke and songbirds. I have found my own peace.

But I raise a (nonalcoholic) toast to you who remain on this occasion, my dear New Orleans, for having stayed put longer than me, kept it together, stayed strong, stayed true. For having survived. Perhaps you’re tired of hearing about your resilience, equanimity, determination, fortitude and triumph of the human spirit — clichés all — but they’re still damn true.

Another cliché goes that living in New Orleans after the flood was like staying in an abusive relationship. For all her glaring faults, her vulgarity, her violence, she loves back like no other. Nobody puts the funk in dysfunction like the Maid of Orleans. A taste of her wicked, jasmine lips changes you forever. That’s why I still come back. I’m still smitten. New Orleans and I may be divorced now, but I guess you could say we’re still friends with benefits.

The last time I was in New Orleans was Jan. 21, 2025. If you’re looking for a balm for Katrina fatigue now, mark that date on your calendar. That was the day the people of New Orleans came out together like the folks in Whoville on Christmas morning when the Grinch brought all the presents back to the children. The day it snowed in New Orleans. Another weather event that crippled the city, blanketed streets and rooftops, canceled events and services, shut down roads and bridges. Only this time, when the snow melted and all that water soaked back into the ground, there was no bathtub ring left behind to remind us. Just some frozen toes and fantastic photographs.

But there won’t likely be any streaming documentaries about that day. Hell, it doesn’t even have a name. No books written about it, unless maybe a children’s book. No church services, obituaries, memorials, nor weeks and weeks of insufferable media coverage to keep reminding us over and over about how terrible was that Whole. Damn. Thing.

Funny though — there is a song that comes to mind. It’s called “Crescent City Sneaux.” Here’s a snippet:

Hold all our memories in one hand

So tight that you won’t let ‘em go

And in the other hand we pray

That the wind and the panic and the rain

Would all turn to a soft and quiet snow

New Orleans singer-songwriter Susan Cowsill wrote that song — 20 years ago — not about Jan. 21, but about Aug. 29. And yes, it’s so damn sad. At first.

Then it does this weird New Orleans thing. The song starts as a melancholy lament, an elegy for the landscape, “just paper and sticks and tattered sheets.” But then something happens, a slow parade snare creeps out of the dirge, Cowsill’s voice rises then soars, the coda drops a Cajun beat, then a second-line rhumba, and then inexorably, inexplicably, inimitably — and of course — a Who Dat cheer and the Saints go marching in.

It’s mournful, beautiful, inspiring, puzzling, convincing. It makes me cry, it makes no sense, just like my city — that mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma — still here, still strong, still heart-breaking, love-making, wash away my sins and tears, my dear, dear New Orleans.”

Another article about Sean Payton (Superbowl winning coach of the New Orleans Saints) after the recent pre-season match between the Saints and Denver Broncos:

  • Sean Payton, Denver Broncos pay their respects to Fats Domino
The floral arrangement from the Denver Broncos at Fats Domino’s gravesite at Mount Olivet Cemetery in New Orleans.

See how Sean Payton honored a New Orleans ‘icon’ after the Broncos win against the Saints

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton didn’t celebrate his team’s preseason win against the New Orleans Saints on Saturday.

Instead, he took the time after the 28-19 victory against his former team to celebrate one of New Orleans’ favorite sons.

On the way to the airport after leaving the Superdome, Payton took the Broncos’ entire six-bus, 180-person travel party to Mount Olivet Cemetery in Gentilly to recognize Fats Domino and pay respects to the musical legend, who died in 2017 at age 89.

Broncos players and coaches visited Domino’s tomb on the first floor of the historic mausoleum and displayed a floral arrangement, highlighted with flowers in the team’s orange and navy-blue colors.

The visit was the offshoot of a Broncos’ game-week tradition. To set the tone for the week ahead, the Broncos play music representative of the city of the Broncos’ upcoming opponent. At the meeting, Payton played two of Domino’s biggest hits, “Ain’t That a Shame” and “Blueberry Hill,” and asked his players and coaches how many of them had heard of the legendary pianist, who was born and raised in the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood of New Orleans. Only a handful of people in the room raised their hand, spurring Payton to schedule the visit for the Broncos’ trip to New Orleans.

“It hit me, but it also upset me, relative to this icon, who was born in this city,” Payton said to the players and coaches at the cemetery in a video of the visit posted on his social media account. “We should know who Fats Domino is.”

The visit was originally scheduled to occur on the day before the game, but it was delayed until Saturday afternoon after the team’s charter flight to New Orleans on Friday afternoon arrived later than expected.

Domino is one of several notable New Orleanians buried at Mount Olivet, among them: pianist Henry Roeland “Professor Longhair” Byrd; saxophonist Herbert Hardesty; hip-hop artist Soulja Slim; and baseball player Walter Wright.

Payton is in his third year as the head coach of the Broncos. He coached the Saints from 2006 to 2020, leading the club to its only Super Bowl championship in 2009.

Friday began with a walk in the park.  Then we met most of the krewe for Happy Hour at the new Milan lounge (underneath the Library bar) on Prytania.  Diana is a big fan of the food that Andrew and team create to serve both locations.  She was clearly hungry, ordering the whole fish tacos.

 

We met the same krewe for the kickoff of the college football season on Saturday afternoon.

Texas vs Ohio State was first, with local interest in the Texas quarterback, Arch Manning (3rd generation in the dynasty.)  Texas lost – not the result that I was looking for.  Next up Alabama vs Florida State.  We didn’t stay for the end, but Alabama disappointed all those folks with red hats and shirts on.  Not disappointed – the champagne girl:

She didn’t actually drink any of those, but they call Miller High Life “the champagne of beers” and so we thought this picture worked.

Where is that fun looking patio.  That’s the Rusty Nail – a great place to watch football.  I hadn’t been in many years and enjoyed the return visit.

 

 

 

I had started watching the new “Thursday Murder Club” on Netflix earlier in the week and just couldn’t get into it.  I must have been in a more open mood on Saturday evening and enjoyed finishing this movie with such an excellent cast.

Kenny invited us to join them at the Southern Decadence parade in the Quarter on Sunday afternoon.  I just wanted to chill at home, but Diana jumped on the offer and had a very good time watching all the crazy walking groups.

Meanwhile, I put together a white bean salad with feta and lemon-garlic vinaigrette.  Tasted very healthy and filling.

 

My first book this week was “A Family Matter” by Claire Lynch.  I’m not sure what possessed me to add this to the reading list – certainly not typical of my selections.  Nonetheless, having rejected my prior read, I felt compelled to persevere with this one.  While the subject matter didn’t appeal a lot, the humour and style certainly did.

An online summary:

 

“A young wife following her heart. A husband with the law on his side. Their daughter, caught in the middle. Forty years later, a family secret changes everything in this “quietly heart-scorching” (Barbara Kingsolver) debut novel.

1982. Dawn is a young mother, still adjusting to life with her husband, when Hazel lights up her world like a torch in the dark. Theirs is the kind of connection that’s impossible to resist, and suddenly life is more complicated, and more joyful, than Dawn ever expected. But she has responsibilities and commitments. She has a daughter.

2022. Heron has just received news from his doctor that turns everything upside down. He’s an older man, stuck in the habits of a quiet existence. Telling Maggie, his only child—the person around whom his life has revolved—seems impossible. Heron can’t tell her about his diagnosis, just as he can’t reveal all the other secrets he’s been keeping from her for so many years.

A Family Matter is an “intricately layered and infinitely nuanced” (Oprah Daily) exploration of love and loss, intimacy and injustice, custody and care, and whether it is possible to heal from the wounds of the past in the changed world of today.”

This is a quick and easy read.  I think I particularly enjoyed the references to UK based things that I hadn’t thought of in decades.

From a section about a jumble sale:
“Everybody knew that the best clothes would go first. Older women pulling tartan trolleys outmaneuvered young women leaning on prams.”
The old biddies with the tartan trolleys are not something you see in the US – maybe because few people walk to the stores.
Here’s one of those references from decades ago – “Rupert the Bear:”
“She runs her hand over some children’s clothes, a pair of worn-in jeans, a mustard-yellow jacket with Rupert the Bear embroidered on the chest pocket.”
“Butterfly cake” – another one from many years ago – I can picture it so well:
“Nobody is expecting her home for at least an hour, so Dawn finds the refreshments table and splurges on a cup of tea and a butterfly cake.”
“Flailing arm” – I’ve been accused of that a few times:
“Maggie sleeps with her arms thrown above her head like the laziest of ballerinas. She knows this because she wakes in this pose most mornings, with pins and needles in her hands and a pain between her shoulders. She knows it because Conor frequently complains about being hit in the face by a flailing arm in the middle of the night. When the alarm on her phone goes off, she reaches a hand down.”
“Wallpaper covers” made me smile.  I think mine were more typically brown wrapping paper:
“There is work to finish before she can leave the school. Spelling tests waiting for her red ticks, the stack of project books with their wide lines and wallpaper covers.”
I love “like some metal creature settling down to sleep”:
“Perfect timing,” he says, as Maggie locks her car with a click of the key fob, the wing mirrors folding in like some metal creature settling down to sleep. He will pack away the ladder and she can stick the kettle on.”
Another UK reference that I haven’t considered in decades – “Subbuteo players”:
“She unrolls a whole-school photo from 1991. Rows and rows of girls, shrunk to the size of Subbuteo players.”
One final UK reference that made me smile – “laminated in Sellotape”:
“Her gift is so well wrapped it is virtually laminated in Sellotape, but Maggie manages to tear at one corner and open it.”
I lied – one more reference – “Matey bubble bath”:
“Bathtime and her daughter is perfection, the curve of her back, every limb and inch of her. For a treat, they pour in extra bubbles. Dawn makes the Matey bottle tip his hat, then they sing, as they always do”
There’s a new Jon Batiste album out last week, and it’s superb.  This gentleman has limitless talent:
From the “Beethoven Blues” album from last year:
And his collaboration with the wonderful Randy Newman from the new album:
Here’s one other excellent song I heard  this week.  A cover of “Little Wing” by Devon Allman.  Hoping he plays this at their Blues and BBQ appearance in early October:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all.

Week in Review – August 24th, 2025

“Pickleball, Trivia, Music”

Our pickleball set arrived on Monday and Diana organized a court for us at The Exchange (indoor with air conditioning) for Tuesday.  I chuckled at a sheet of stickers in the package – stick on the bottom of the paddle handle and then you can use it to pick up the whiffle ball without bending all the way over – they know the target demographic for the game.

Kenny was kind enough to come along and give us some pointers.  It’s the common sense things – “Angle your paddle up unless you’re hitting it really hard”, “get down lower before you swing at ground balls” – that really help.  I had a good time and think Diana and I might make this a regular part of our week.

I might be most comfortable with the backhand – that was the same at table tennis.

On Tuesday afternoon I had scheduled an appointment to have the sebaceous cyst on my back looked at.  I had this several (3 or more) years ago and ultimately had to have it cut out as it got large and painful.  They warned me that it may come back.  Well, now it’s back and still very small.  After consultation with McD, I decided it was a good idea to get it cut out before we switch to a new benefits year (October 1st) and a new deductible kicks in.

Diana dropped me at Baptist on Napoleon and went on to drop some shoe returns off at the UPS store.  I made my way up to the 6th floor and was confused when the room it told me to check in at had a “Women’s wellness and menopause center” sign on the door.  Oh well, apparently that’s where the general surgery patients check in as well.   The lady behind the desk couldn’t find my appointment.  “Don’t worry – I’ll look it up n my phone.  I’m sorry I got the wrong week.  My appointment is next week.”  As if that wasn’t enough embarrassment, I’m leaving the menopause office and run into Julia – “What are you doing here?”   Ah geez!  I explained my situation and gave her a laugh.  She’s recovering from shoulder surgery and probably needed the laugh.

Returning home, I watched a new Cowboys Netflix documentary – “America’s Team, the Gambler and his Cowboys.”  I thought the episodes that I watched were very well done, and that even non-Cowboys fans might enjoy them.  I should have known better than to voice that opinion at trivia with a bunch of diehard Saints fans.  Aikman, Irvin, and Emmitt Smith were amazing – surviving the 1-15 season before all the Superbowls.

On to trivia.  We had a good session on Tuesday evening.  For the first time, I captured some pictures of the questions along the way.  We were behind at half time – all these peppy Tulane and Loyola students back in town and ready to play.  I’ll take you on a bit of a play by play from there:

The half time question – 3 points for every correct answer, up to 4 guesses:

We maxed out with 12 points – Cowboys (they didn’t want to write it down), 49ers, Steelers, and Patriots.  We are often a second half team:

I enjoy the “mashup questions”:

We were looking at the gasses and several of us triggered on “Noble Gasses” – must be “Barnes and Noble Gasses.”  Correct!

The group had settled on “Jailhouse Rock” and then I started trying to process on 1956 and a female blues singer – “Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog” popped into my head.  That was it.

I don’t know “Don Quixote” well, but had some brain flash on this horse name.  Again, we lucked into being correct.  We’re now on a big second half roll.

I should be the right guy to answer this.  I flashed back to a dinner at Tim’s house.  His son, Tegan, was playing “Trouble” with me.  I told him it was called “Sorry” in the UK.  He was very strongly opposed to that concept.  “No, it’s Trouble.”  I told the gang that “Sorry” was the correct answer.  Tom, quiz master, said the correct answer was “Frustration.”  I objected and he came up with an alternative question, that we nailed.  I did some Googling and found that “Frustration” is the current name for the game, and apparently they recently changed it from “Sorry.”  I don’t feel badly for objecting.

For some weird reason, I knew the answer to this.  Not sure how.  Maybe because I watched the series on TV about Uber and remembered the years.  I don’t know.  I’ll take the points.   I was positive on 2012 versus 2013 though.  Thom was thinking 2013 initially.

We were in first place with 101 points going into the final round.  The competitors had 93.  For the last question, one can wager up to 20 points.  Given our standing, we wagered 13 points.  Unfortunately we lost to “Phlat Phil” who got the last question right – we were somewhat close, but no cigar.  Second place and $25 of Dat Dog food and drink.

That’s a lot more trivia detail than I plan to share in the future.  It’s been a hot and slow week so far here.

On returning home, glowing in the second place aura, I watched a Netflix documentary on the band Devo.  Alex mentioned at trivia, and then I learned in the film, that Devo stands for “de-evolution”.  The members of the band attended Kent State university during the Vietnam protest incident – “Four dead in Ohio.”  They decided that mankind had “de-evolved” – “beginning to regress as demonstrated by the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society.”  I think they might have been onto something about the present day.

Open in Spotify

We used our “culture pass” from the library to attend the World War Two (WWII) museum on Wednesday.  This is advertised as the “#1 attraction” in New Orleans.  I had heard very positive reviews of this museum from everyone who had attended, and am happy to report that my experience was way better than I expected, even after all those reviews.  Such beautiful, professional, and carefully created exhibits.

The main entry hall was very impressive, with a huge bomber lurking overhead.  I often found that there were massive things overhead that I hadn’t noticed.

Our first exhibit was about the Aleutian islands – fascinating knowledge of these islands that are such a bridge between Alaska and Russia.  Did you know that Russia sold the US Alaska in 1865?

We migrated from there to a D-Day exhibit.  It’s hard to imagine the scale of this endeavor these days, and the commitment of the individuals involved.  This exhibit tried to convey some of the magnitude:

Did you know that a large number of the personnel involved in D-Day were dropped in via gliders?  I had never heard that.  Apparently towed across the Channel by boats and then released to glide into the zone.

My favourite exhibit on my first pass through this wonderful museum was about the war in the Pacific.  We were down in the bowels of a warship and then in a jungle.  The settings, videos and artifacts were amazing:

Of course all this ends up with the Enola Gay on August 6th, 1945.  Followed up with another atomic bomb on August 9th, 1945.   Reading the flight log from the Enola Gay was chilling.  “God, what have we done?”

Open in Spotify

Our final stop was at the Boeing airplane  exhibit.  I’m astounded by how they got all these massive objects inside this exhibit hall – I’d love to see a video about that (haven’t checked YouTube yet).  The 3rd floor viewing gallery had me marginally dizzy (thanks Dad!), and so I rejected Diana’s request to check out the 4th floor gallery.  Look at all these suspended and amazing planes:

Diana wanted to capture my dizzy self with all the massive planes above me:

On exiting the museum I suggested that we visit Taqueria La Lucha – this is a place owned by Kenny’s friend Ryan.  He makes wonderful tacos and an amazing hibiscus margarita.  We had a nice visit with him.  He started off with how difficult it is to run a restaurant in New Orleans in the height of summer – no doubt, and finished with stories about parade rides that his Dad helped him make.  Ryan’s hibiscus margaritas are the best that I have tasted, ever:

Here’s the taco menu that we need to take advantage of soon, when the weather cools off:

We got home just in time to meet Tristan who was going to service our generator.  He changed the oil, filter and spark plug so that we’re ready for the remainder of hurricane season.

Some interesting facts about what happened on August 20th:

In 1882, Tchaikovsky debuted his 1812 overture.  I can remember playing this at the Interlachen casino in Switzerland – such an amazing tour and very difficult bass part. The casino did not reverberate like the mountain churches we had played in the previous few days.   One of the highlights of my brass band career.  Second only to my Albert Hall experiences.  Walking the stairs that Eric Clapton walked in the start of the Cream reunion .

There’s a lot of excitement in Austin and in New Orleans about Arch Manning starting as quarterback for the University of Texas.  Here’s an interesting article in the paper about his bond with his grandfather, Archie:

Arch Manning Time Picayune article

On Thursday morning, I watched the Jennifer Lawrence movie “Causeway.”  This is one of my very favourite movies – understated with huge emotional connections and set in New Orleans.  Unlike some other movies, this could only be New Orleans – almost every scene.

I visited Aidan Gill and Derek for a haircut later on Thursday morning – always a good blether.  Then it was over to Rouse’s to do some shopping for an enchilada casserole that I planned on making.  I ultimately got too tired to mess with that and just popped a “Sicilian” pizza in the oven.  It seemed to be well received by my half Sicilian friend.

We had an amazing musical experience on Friday night.  John Boutte was playing in the indoor pavilion at the Broadside.  We’ve seen him before as a guest of Jon Cleary, but not with his own band and show.  I was happy when the second song in his set was Louisiana by Randy Newman:

And what an excellent guitar solo:

Who is that genius on the guitar?  It took a bit of work, and I identified him as Caleb Tokarska.  Here’s an Offbeat article about him:

Caleb Tokarska bio

After a while, Boutte started taking requests.  Caleb requested this one, “Blowin’ in the Wind”:

In addition to Caleb on the guitar, Oscar Rossignoli on the piano was a wonderful surprise.  As Diana said, “He could play anything.”  Indeed he could – a complete virtuoso who played all over the map for 2 hours without any music.

I enjoyed Boutte’s story about meeting Paul Simon and this cover of “American Tune”:

And this Cyndi Lauper cover:

Finishing with the song that made him all that HBO money from Treme:

I read this interesting article about living in and leaving New Orleans:

New Yorker New Orleans article

The Krewe of OAK rolled on Saturday night.  This is a walking parade on Oak Street and Carrollton midway between Mardi Gras celebrations.  We met Anne and Jack for dinner before the parade.  Chais Delachaise was close to the parade route.  We found out that Fred, Kelly and Richard had the same idea when we arrived.  Here are a couple of the walking groups:

Meanwhile, on the Mississippi coast, the boys were watching the Marshall Tucker Band, or rather, the one surviving member of the original band.  Apparently they found him after the show:

Open in Spotify

I read “Hell of a Book” by Jason Mott this week.  It wasn’t a long read and one that I should perhaps have abandoned midway through.  I found this a strange book, not totally devoid of great writing and promise, and just not cohesive at all – different writing techniques and approaches that don’t come together, if at all, until the last few pages.

Here’s the AI summary of Amazon reader reviews:

“Customers find the book heartbreakingly poignant and eloquently written, with great insight into the complexities of race and humor throughout. The storytelling receives mixed reactions – while some praise its astounding narrative, others find it confusing at times. The authenticity and pacing also get mixed reviews, with some finding it true and timely, while others question its reliability and find it challenging to follow.”

I can get behind that summary.  It’s always interesting when I don’t love a book that gets universally hugely positive reviews from so many sources, e.g.  from The Sunday Times:

“Brilliant and inventive. What is most surprising, however, is how funny the novel is. Jason Mott, an already successful American novelist, has dared to bring anarchic farce, vertiginous layers of irony, and often riotous hilarity to the Black Lives Matter movement. Striking . . . intelligent . . . ingenious.”

There were certainly some funny passages, but I would not describe the overall novel as “funny” by any stretch of the imagination.

Some passages that I enjoyed:

“The eighth-graders in the back all migrated up to the center of the bus, all of them sitting and leaning in a semicircle around Soot and Tyrone, pulled by the persistent gravity of cruelty.”
“The persistent gravity of cruelty” is a wonderful phrase.
The main character, speaking of his new book:
“It’s in brick & mortar stores. It’s online. It’s been Kindled and Kobo’d, iPadded and Audible’d. It’s been optioned so that it can be movie’d—Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Donald Glover are both said to be interested. We’re even in talks to have it comic book’d. My publisher is happy. My editor is happy. The company I pay my student loans to is happy. My agent and publicist is . . . well . . . she’s involved, and I think that’s as close to happy as publicists get.”
I like the verbing of nouns – “iPadded”
“and the fact that I’ve already nearly cleaned out Renny’s minibar did nothing to help make Daedalus’s maze any more navigable.”
I saved this so that I could learn more about Daedalus’s maze, guessing that could be a future trivia question:
“In Greek mythology, the Daedalus maze, also known as the Labyrinth, is a complex structure designed by the legendary architect Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. It was built to house the Minotaur, a creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man, who was eventually killed by the hero Theseus. The Labyrinth was so intricate that Daedalus himself struggled to escape it after its completion. “
“Thanks,” I say, trembling as the handshake persists. He squeezes tight enough that I think that, when this greeting finally ends, I might find a raw diamond where my hand once was.”
Tight enough to create a raw diamond – clever.
“So I pull over and let her out in the middle of the block. The cars behind me in traffic don’t honk their horns because this isn’t the type of town where people do that type of thing. This is a good place filled with good people who know that they’ll get wherever they’re going when the time is right. It’s a philosophical city. She steps out and shuts the door.”
Oh to live in a city with these driving habits, as contrasted with universal red light running, shooting out of side streets, and the like.
““The next what?” “You think this is over?” he asked, opening his eyes again. He looked around his seat as he spoke, searching for something. “This is just book one. Just an introduction.” “An introduction to who?” “To whom,” he corrected, finally finding what he was looking for: a blanket. Then he leaned back in his chair again and shut his eyes and before I could even ask another question, he was already asleep. Deep and instant slumber, like somebody had just closed the lid on the universe’s laptop.”
Closing the lid on the universe’s laptop – very clever imagery.
“Laugh all you want, but I think learning to love yourself in a country where you’re told that you’re a plague on the economy, that you’re nothing but a prisoner in the making, that your life can be taken away from you at any moment and there’s nothing you can do about it—learning to love yourself in the middle of all that? Hell, that’s a goddamn miracle.”
This was almost a closing, summary paragraph.

Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols on “5 Albums I Can’t Live Without”, discussing Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” album.   His list also included Rod Stewart, Roxy Music and Steely Dan.  That last one just makes me smile.  Steve Jones loves the precision and musicianship of Steely Dan.

“I know he had a few albums before that when he had curly hair and wearing dresses. I knew a couple of the songs, but that whole look, the glam look, I was sold hook, line, and sinker when that came out. I saw him a few times. I love Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey is a fantastic drummer, and Trevor Bolder. They were just a great band. I know it was basically David Bowie’s thing, and then he left them after two albums. Pretty much all of them anyway. Mick Ronson went on a bit longer to play with him on Pin Ups. That album was definitely one of my favorite albums. Very inspirational to me. Steered me in the direction. I loved all that glam, to be honest with you. T. Rex, Mott the Hoople. Good glam. There was a lot of cheesy glam, which I don’t mind now, but at the time, I was a bit particular. They had to look a certain way. Slade and The Sweet and bands like that, they seemed a bit more just manufactured and Top of the Pops friendly. I liked a bit more avant-garde with Bowie, and the next album, I’m going to say, as well. If you want me to still talk about the rise and fall, I will, or are we done now?”

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

Week in Review – August 18th, 2025

“Pickleball?”

I finally had enough of putting air in a tire with a slow leak, and I know Diana certainly was tired of it as well.  Time to get it fixed.  Paul had recommended Al and Al’s shop and what a wonderful experience that was.  Not a place I would ever have considered using from a curb appeal perspective, but I was in and out in 15 minutes with two patches in place.  I would recommend Al senior and junior to anyone with tire woes.

The rest of Monday was boring administrative work – bills and other paperwork.

A hearing aid check up on Tuesday took me over to Metarie.  I typically swing by Taco Bell for a snack while over there.  My drink cup usually gets my secret visit busted by McD.  I’m going to have to be stealthier.

Kelly organized a girls Happy Hour for Anne’s birthday at the Columns in the evening.  Seems like they had a good time for three or more hours…

Diana had a busy girls day on Wednesday.  Running with Lori in the morning, followed by yoga.  I found out that Lori refers to her as “Coach D” while she’s pushing her to run further.  In the afternoon, Anne and Kara joined Diana at Merry Lee’s pool for the afternoon.  The brightly coloured bracelets that Diana had manufactured for Anne’s gift were well received.

Of course, the big fish were landed after Kenny and I left Grand Isle.  Thom looks quite pleased with himself and apparently that’s a cobia that Jack has:

Jack was kind enough to drop off some trout fillets for us when he got home.

A text from Diana at the pool asked me if I had interest in seeing the new Jeff Buckley documentary at the Broad theater on Thursday.  I had noticed this on their email an hour earlier and was waiting to ask if Diana would like to go when she got home.  Nice when things work out like that.  We both enjoyed the movie a lot.  Here’s an interview with the director, Amy Berg:

Spin interview with Jeff Buckley documentary director

After the movie we stopped into the Whole Foods on Broad (not one we’d ever been in before) to get ingredients for making a lemon butter sauce for the trout.  The store was small but very pleasant, and the sauce turned out well.
The roasted carrots were also yummy.
Diana and Lori had another run on Friday morning. I walked over to French Truck for a coffee while they were running.  The sidewalks and walls of the cemetery are always “interesting.”
Then I made a trip over to the bank to renew our safety deposit box.  Diana correctly pointed out that it should be overdue – apparently the notice was still going to McKinney and the mail forwarding stopped a year ago.  Oopsy.
We had read that the Milan lounge had reopened in the bottom floor of the Library bar on Prytania and decided to give it a try for Friday Happy Hour.  The door was open but the bar was deserted.  I saw some guys in the kitchen at the back and went to check with them.  Apparently the bar tender had an issue with their roof at home, so no go on the Milan and Jeopardy.  No worries – let’s try the Library upstairs.  This was a very pleasant experience with good drinks at a good price and delicious dim sum treats from those guys in the kitchen downstairs.  Connor the bar tender and Andrew in the kitchen were both very pleasant.
Some interesting things from August 15th in history:
1057 – Macbeth, King of the Scots, was killed in battle by Malcolm, eldest son of King Duncan, whom Macbeth had slain
1969  – first day of the Woodstock music festival
1939   -The Wizard of Oz was first released
1914    – The Panama Canal opened
Kenny invited us to join the krewe at Pickleball in City Park on Saturday afternoon.  Diana was talked into joining several doubles games, and I think I would have tried as well had I not decided to wear my usual flip flops.  I enjoyed chatting with the guys in the shade.
We had a group dinner at Taqueria Guerrero on the way home.  This was a casual and delicious spot near City Park and next door to Angelo Brocato’s (home of the famous gelato and cannoli’s.)  Another good Denny recommendation.
We made a trip over the Mississippi to Algiers on Sunday for brunch at the new Saint Claire restaurant.   This is a large house on some beautiful grounds that once were part of some kind of Naval base.   Chef Melissa Martin of the Mosquito Supper Club (close to our home) is in charge of the menu at Saint Claire.
Brunch was very good.  Delicious biscuits, niçoise salad for Diana and lamb meatballs and grits for me.
After brunch we made a visit to the nearby Crown and Anchor “English Pub.”  The entry is through an old Tardis like police box as seen in Doctor Who.
When we entered the bar tender was leading a debate on which musicians were better – “Joan Jett or Pat Benatar?” – obviously Joan Jett.   “Elton John or Billy Joel?” – that’s a more complicated choice.  This was a very pleasant stop on the way home.
From the only in New Orleans files, this was the headline this week – our Mayor indicted on 18 counts.  Thankfully she only has a few months left in office.
My book this week was “Culpability” by Bruce Hoslinger.  Here’s an online summary:

“When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret, implicating them all in the tragic accident.

During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash. Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future. Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive. And Lorelei’s odd behavior tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident—suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal. When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenaged daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.

Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.”

This was a thought provoking, entertaining and relatively quick read.  I give it a strong recommendation.

An interesting paragraph that defines “anthropomorphic projection”:
“These systems are designed to respond in recognizably human ways. We give them names like Siri and Alexa. We speak to them as if they share our worldview, or care about our feelings and futures. This behavior is known as anthropomorphic projection. We want our helpful machines to be like us, and so we tend to project onto them our ways of understanding the world.”
A section that gets to the heart of the book – culpability of AI systems:
“Artificial Intelligence confronts us with the problem of distributed culpability. Human morality, historically, centers around agency and intentionality. We blame the drunk driver, not the car; we credit the artist, not the brush. AI systems muddy these waters. AIs are not mere tools; their learning algorithms endow them with agency. They make “decisions” based on data, albeit without consciousness or intent. A strict division between human and machine culpability is quickly becoming untenable, creating a landscape where ethical norms strain under unfamiliar weights. In this context, both legal and ethical frameworks must evolve to address this novel, intricate web of agency and accountability. Failure to adapt our frameworks risks ethical disarray, misassigned blame, and ultimately a kind of moral haziness that is already having a corrosive effect on our society. We must always take responsibility for our own mistakes. Yet in this new age of intelligent machines, we must also take responsibility for theirs.”
One of the scarier elements of AI, in my opinion, the “black box” decision making:
“The phrase “black box” refers to AI systems whose internal workings and computational processes are neither transparent to nor easily comprehended by humans. While deep learning and other AI models may produce accurate results and generate correct predictions, the means through which they arrive at these outputs is a mystery even to their most knowledgeable programmers. Nearly all of these systems’ decision-making processes, including how exactly they process ethical constraints, remain opaque. The black box thus embodies the inscrutability of AI in many of its current incarnations. In this sense, the black box is a harbinger of a potentially terrifying future of unknowability. In a black box, we are all flying blind.”
The ethical and moral issue at the core of the discussion of AI in the book:
“When humans do something wrong, they generally face consequences. Even when our wrongdoing goes undetected by another—a parent, a spouse, an institution, law enforcement—we tend to experience guilt, shame, or regret. Only a psychopath lives life free of remorse. Algorithms face no such consequences for their misbehavior, either societal or emotional. Punishment, guilt, culpability are alien to them. There are no moral qualms in an algorithm. Yet without acknowledgment of wrongdoing, how can there be regret? Without self-consciousness of guilt, how can there be remorse? And without regret and remorse, how can there be moral growth?”
Pavlov’s dog was mentioned in the book.  My mind mapped to this song that I hadn’t heard in decades:
I think the lead singer, David Surkamp, sounds like a blend of Geddy Lee from Rush and Fergal Sharkey of the Undertones:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

Week in Review – August 10, 2025

“Keith’s turn at the beach”
I would like to start this week with a quote from the late, great Anthony Bourdain, courtesy of the wonderful Bastion restaurant in Nashville:
A lot of great advice in there.
Diana made it home from Julia’s beach house, trapping a mouse in a closet for John to deal with when he arrived after their departure.  We enjoyed a late “welcome home” lunch at the Columns on Tuesday, sharing the delicious burger (best in NOLA?) and their new chopped salad.
I didn’t make it to trivia.  Apparently the most interesting question was about naming 4 of the 5 classic French cooking “mother” sauces.  Denny got Hollandaise and Bechamel.  I would have added Tomato if I had been there but would not have remembered the remaining two – Velouté and Espagnole.
We participated in our classic retiree activity on Wednesday morning – the classic 10am movie at the Prytania.  This week was “Roman Holiday” – the 1953 movie with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
I’d forgotten how many quiet scenes there were in this one – relying on the facial expressions from Hepburn in particular.  The very last scene being an excellent example.  We both enjoyed this one very much.
We’ve been working on our wills, medical and financial powers of attorney, living wills etc. for many months now.  These were finalized on Thursday on the 25th floor of the Regions Bank building downtown.  It’s always entertaining for us to enter the type of building that we worked in for so many years and haven’t been in for many years since.  Paul met us there and acted as the second witness for the document signing.
We celebrated this milestone with a Happy Hour at Saint John.  This is another great value offering (not quite as good as Cafe Degas, but close.)
The moules frites and crudo with creme fraiche were both very good, and the highlight for me was the muffuletta bruschetta.
Kenny drove us to Grand Isle on Friday.  Where is that?  Well, it’s the last barrier between New Orleans and the Gulf.  Way down there (about a two and a half hour drive.)
I always learn something when driving with Kenny.  Two takeaways from this trip:
1.  There are three billionaires in Louisiana.   Trey’s employer is one of them, and he hails from Lockport, a small town we drove through.
2.  Port Fourchon, right on the tip before you turn for Grand Isle, once delivered 17% of the US energy supply.  Amazing to contemplate from such a small town.
We arrived a bit before check in time and so enjoyed a burger and yummy onion rings at the Starlite diner.
The “fishing camp”, really a big house on stilts, that Denny chose for us was excellent.  Big, manly living area, huge upper deck, queen size bunkbeds, massive downstairs cooktop, and a huge dining table.  Denny always does such a good job of researching and finding places for us.
We met Denny and Mason at the marina and then Kenny made everyone jambalaya back at the house.
Grand Isle was in sync with New Orleans – hosting a red dress run on Saturday morning.  This is a silly charity event where men and women all dress up in red dresses and participate in a short run.  We made our way down to the marina to check out the post run festivities.  The red dresses piled into their golf carts and started to leave shortly after our arrival.  They were off to Cisco’s bar.  Why not join?
This was a classic dive bar.  The guys played a complicated three ball pool game and we enjoyed the ambience.
Thom ended up winning the pool pot and doing an entertaining happy dance.
Later in the afternoon we headed out on the boats.  I was assigned to Preston’s boat with first mate Jack and Kenny.
Neither boat had good luck with catching any fish.  The water was choppy and that led to a pretty bumpy ride back and forth from the fishing spots.  I was amazed by the selection of extremely expensive reels that Preston’s friend had in his closet after we docked and enjoyed the sunset.
Back at the fishing camp, Denny cooked up a feast (no fish on the grill) while the guys relaxed.  Denny works hard on these trips to keep everything going.
Meanwhile, in the Quarter, the girls were enjoying “Dirty Linen Night”.  This follows “White Linen Night” which happened the week earlier.  This is a fundraising event on Royal Street and most of the galleries and shops participate.  You buy a wrist band and get drinks at all the galleries.
The funds go to pre-college education for kids hoping to go to college that might not typically have the right preparation.  Last year, 100% of students made it to college.  Seems the girls had a great time, finishing with dinner and drinks at Manolito (Cuban restaurant.)
Kenny did a great job of driving us home through serious storms on Sunday morning.  Then we took Anne for dinner at Basin Seafood to start her “birthday week.”  They had an interesting coolinary menu (the August special menus that restaurants have to try and bring more locals in during the quiet season.)  Diana had the crawfish pupusa.  I sampled and it was perfect.
Anne started with the corn bisque.  Great presentation on both dishes:
Both of them opted for the soft shell crab entree, while I rejected the coolinary menu (not that hungry) and opted for the beet and crab ravigote salad (highly recommended.)
My book this week was “So Far Gone” by Jess Walter.  I really enjoyed this – the first half quite a bit more than the second.  First half was more character driven, with a lot of dramatic action in the second.  This is not as great as Walter’s “Beautiful Ruins”, but worth the read.  Here’s the online summary of the plot:

“A few weeks after the 2016 election, at Thanksgiving with his daughter’s family, Rhys Kinnick snapped. After an escalating fight about politics, he hauled off and punched his conspiracy theorist son-in-law. Horrified by what he’d done, by the state of the country and by his own spiraling mental health, Rhys chucked his smartphone out a car window and fled for a cabin in the woods, off the grid and with no one around—except a pack of hungry raccoons.

Now, seven years later, Kinnick’s old life is about to land right back on his crumbling doorstep. Can this failed husband and father, a man with no phone, no computer, and a car that barely runs, reemerge into a broken world to track down his missing daughter and save his sweet, precocious grandchildren from the members of a dangerous militia?

With the help of his caustic ex-girlfriend, a bipolar retired detective, and his only friend (who happens to be furious with him), Kinnick heads off on a madcap journey through cultural lunacy and the rubble of a life he thought he’d left behind. So Far Gone is a rollicking, razor-sharp, and ultimately moving road trip through a fractured nation, from a writer who has been called “a genius of the modern American moment””

I take issue with the “caustic ex-girlfriend” – that’s not how I read her.

Some passages that I enjoyed:

An entertaining metaphor:

“Rhys sat helplessly between the dim husbands of daughter and ex-wife, quietly nursing his fourth beer. He was a terrible nurse. This patient wasn’t likely to make it, either.”
Emphasizing my hatred of the younger set inserting “like” everywhere it doesn’t belong:
” She was, of course, neither nun nor teenager, but a twenty-four-year-old recent college graduate, still able to conjure a bit of high school indignation on her face when it suited her. “Um,” Allison said, “I’m, like, working on it?” She held her phone up with a flopped wrist. On the screen: a photo of crime scene tape around a light pole. She was, like, posting it! If someone would just, like, leave her alone!”
Getting a little deeper:
“All cruelty springs from weakness. Seneca said that, along with: Ignorance is the cause of fear. Kinnick had always believed these adages to be true, but now, bleeding on the ground, watching Dean Burris stand over his dead son-in-law, Rhys wondered if Seneca might have been a little silly to believe in the causal roots of evil.”
An interesting take on the surface level journalism that we are served:
“Pestered by Lucy the day he left the hospital, Rhys had allowed himself to be interviewed by a young reporter named Allison. When the story ran, Kinnick was deflated. She’d gotten his quotes right and the details certainly seemed accurate, but reading about the whole thing in the newspaper somehow shrunk Shane’s murder, as if it had been nothing more than a seedy domestic squabble between a flaky wife, her religious husband, and his gun-toting militia friends. Rhys even started to wonder if that’s all it was. He had to remind himself of the limits of daily journalism, which was better at posing questions than answering them. Still, he wondered: Where was the story about how fear had infected so many people, how it had killed his poor son-in-law? How a sociopath like Dean Burris had burrowed his way into the Church of the Blessed Fire? How these insane things kept happening, these eruptions of senseless violence, of anger and ignorance and greed and mendacity, like ancient fissures bubbling up under the surface, and what—we were just supposed to go on with our lives? Wake up the next day like nothing happened, like we hadn’t lost our minds? Just turn the page, to the baseball scores or the horoscopes or celebrity birthdays? (Nothing to see here, just America.)”
We watched a documentary on Billy Joel that we agreed was very well done.  What a huge talent.
And then I watched a few episodes of the CNN documentary about Liveaid.  This took place the day before I started working, and I remember watching it with my new boss, Howard Dunn, at his home.  40 years ago!
One of the interesting scenes is Paul McCartney’s microphone not working during “Let it Be.”  The logistics of doing something like this in 1985 are astounding, and this was the only blip that I’m aware of.  David Bowie, Pete Townsend and Bob Geldof came out to sing and help with the issue.  And then the crowd took over.
Finally, I remembered a crazy good album that I got as a Christmas gift from Mum and Dad one year.  It was called “The Hitmakers” and had a ridiculously good set of tracks:
Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits
Oh Yeah by Roxy Music
Games Without Frontiers by Peter Gabriel
Dark End of the Street by Van Morrison
You Wear it Well by Rod Stewart
What an amazing year in music.
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

Week in Review – August 3rd, 2025

“Diana makes it to the beach”

We kicked off the week with an early morning walk in the park.  It is hard to drink enough water when it’s so hot outside.  Anne and Diana took advantage of the pool at Merry Lee and Jeff’s condo on Monday afternoon.

For Tuesday trivia there were a lot of teams and thankfully it was a  few degrees cooler than last week.  We were doing well going into the final round (1st place if I remember correctly.)  There were some easy questions like this one:

And then there was “What is a German Shepherd dog called in Britain?”  That was an easy one for me and I suspect not for many of the other teams.

The final question involved putting these events in chronological order:

The first episode of Charlie Rose

Pete Rose banned from baseball

Kiss for a Rose on the chart

Kate Winslet won Oscar for Rose

We got the first two in the wrong order – Charlie Rose was more recent than we suspected.  I think we finished in 4th place.

I promised Diana that we would try the Happy Hour at Cafe Degas on Thursday.  This is an excellent value – full sized martini for $5 (and not drowned in vermouth), Diana approved sparkling wine for $5, escargots for $6, and pate and cheese board for $12 (a really good selection and portion.)

The food and drink seem to taste better when you know you’re getting a really good value.

I got a NOLA.com alert at Cafe Degas about a man running down Bourbon street with a “Love” flag.  This could only be our buddy, Chris Peet.  Here’s the article – really well written with some good pictures:

 

Chris Peet Love Flag on Bourbon St

I treated myself to a delicious breakfast sandwich from Gracious bakery on Friday.  I haven’t decided if I prefer this to the one from District or the one from Chicory – so many great options in walking radius.  I picked up a lemon bar treat for McD while I was there – well received.  I enjoy reading the “On this day in history” column in the paper.  Some highlights from August 1st:

Baden Powell hosted a camp at Brownsea island in Southern England, marking the first Boy Scout camp.

In 1981, MTV took to the airwaves with the first video played being “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles – a good trivia question:

Diana made it to the beach, courtesy of Julia’s beach house, and Anne’s transportation.  I chuckled at her little packing station on the counter:

This was her location:

Ok – I didn’t do a very good job with that screenshot – she was between Mobile and Pensacola on the south (Gulf) coast.

The beach looked very pleasant and came with some interesting wildlife:

The heron has a name, and I don’t remember it now.

Denny organized a get together for the male members of the krewe while the ladies were at the beach.  We met at Gris Gris and enjoyed their Happy Hour snacks – mini meat pies for me, wings for Good Lord Alex etc.

We relaxed a bit at our home after that:

I finished “King of Ashes” by S.A. Crosby this week.  My summary – very dark content, great characters, sad story.  Off to find something a bit lighter.

 

 

Here’s a recent poem by Giancarlo (Diana’s brother).  I tried to get the line spacing closer and gave up after 30 minutes of putzing around in WordPress.

*Love Poems to Gaza (Songs to Gaza) 

 I come to you from my speck on the planet

10,000 miles of proximity 

I am eager to know you 

Even in my speckled English 

My own lost language hovers in the atmosphere 

Just out of reach 

I have drunk the poison known as empire 

And in my veins the antidote still lives 

It works diligently day and night 

To salvage my flesh housing my soul 

I say this to you now even in my shock 

My sorrow wants to embrace yours 

This desire riddled with the grapples 

Of my nation’s self-pleading 

I must pass through a climate of indifference 

To reach your shores 

I suspect you know the old lines 

The betrayers announce themselves 

Before they charge 

I too have to calm myself before the thieves 

Overtake me 

I tell you with my voice only a shrivel of meaning 

No act stifles your life 

No cruelty disappears your heritage 

You are not lost to me 

 

Please, I do not want to burden you 

I want to lift the yoke of your hurt 

My eyes burn and my heart clenches 

My hand is near just outside the flames 

Where I embrace your brethren 

Still living amidst the explosions 

In my proximity there is a gulf of fire 

But the winds blow cold 

Parting the flames momentarily 

I reach in and lift you out 

Hold you as if you were my own 

 

Your planet as mine joined by a blaze 

Our planets merge into one 

Inseparable as we’ve always been 

To know you again to know your strength 

Inseparable as we’ve always been 

Believing our climate traces a proof 

The skies push back smoke 

We look together to the skies 

A silence we begin to remember 

 

Where was I the last time 

The waters overdrew my feet 

I looked out at the sea’s 

Tangled white crests 

Watching for any signs of you 

I looked beyond the swells 

Past the imaginary line of horizon 

My bare feet grasp the sand, 

Inextricable 

I feel you from here 

Water tumbling like cries 

Waves spreading a burdened life before me 

Shell eyes, driftwood limbs 

I reach down to pick up a stone 

Chiseled and smooth by innumerable fingers 

And toss it through the spray 

To reach you 

 

I love the funky side of John Scofield:

And on a completely different musical track, just a masterclass in songwriting:

And finally, a similar style from another great singer songwriter:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

 

Week in Review – July 27th, 2025

“Eclaircissement”

Monday was what I call an “administrative” day – taking care of a variety of things on the phone and the computer.  I booked tickets to see Marc Cohn in Kansas City (he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 5 years ago and won’t be able to perform much longer), plus hotel and flights.  And then did some research on restaurants in what is known as the “Power and Light” area of downtown Kansas City.  Then on to buying tickets to see Curtis Stigers at a new to us venue in New Orleans.  Next was the really fun stuff – transferring billing for my phone from my old work to a personal account.  That took two separate 45 min phone calls.  Finally, I worked on seeing when our COBRA health care coverage would kick in – hopefully next week.  All of that took the best part of the day and left me feeling like I was back at work.  Oh, almost forgot catching up on close to a month of blogs – I have no idea how I got so far behind.  I suppose I’ll blame it on travel.  And I also forgot about troubleshooting 401K contributions after I had transferred everything out – the joy of automatic contributions and being paid for unused vacation.  Hopefully that’s all the admin stuff for a week or more.

While I was doing all that nonsense, Diana met Julia for a walk in the park.  As hot and humid as it is, that would have been preferrable.

Diana asked me, “have you noticed the random trash on the side of the house?”  I had not.  “Well I finally found out where it’s coming from.  The crows pick stuff off the street, take it up to the roof and then drop it, like fast food sauce packets.”   I know – it’s the silly little things that entertain me.

A swim at the New Orleans Athletic Club (NOAC) started my Tuesday.  The steam room wasn’t working, so I had to settle for a pleasant sauna after the swim.

In the afternoon, we enjoyed $6 Tuesdays at the Broad theater and the new “Superman” movie.  Diana had fun picking out all the cameos – Bradley Cooper and the guy who was the star of Castle.  The movie was better than either of us was expecting.  The director was the same guy who did the “Guardians of the Galaxy” series and he brought the same sense of fun and humour to this movie.  Krypto the dog was also a fun addition, and showed up as a trivia question later in the day.

The New Yorker had an interesting review of the movie:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/21/superman-movie-review

I joined the krewe for trivia in the evening.  Ozzy had died earlier in the day, and Tom (quiz master) was clearly saddened by the news.  He played several of his songs and told us that he had been on the road with him many years ago.  I had started studying up on Greek mythology in the afternoon but we didn’t get any questions about that.  We did get one ridiculously arcane question.  “What’s a word beginning with “E”  that means “the clearing up of something obscure” and was “the final word in the Scripps spelling bee this year.”  “Eclaircissement ” was the answer.  No surprise that none of the teams knew that.

We were in 1st place going into the final question, the only one where you can wager (and lose) up to 20 points.  This was the correct answer:

“Light years in a parsec.”  Really?  After that “E” word.  Tom was really pushing it this week.  Interestingly Alex guessed 3 as the answer, and Nina knew that the Weekend song had been number one for the better part of a year.  If we had only listened and wagered a bit.  Instead we wagered zero and ended in 4th place.

Relaxing after the stress of that trivia experience, I watched the Saturday Night Live episode with Harry Styles as the musical guest.  I remember being very impressed with his performance when seeing the original airing of this episode.  Here he is flying around the Isle of Skye:

I made the mistake of reading this New Yorker magazine article on Wednesday morning.  Made me angry for quite a while.  Kids playing baseball?  Where does it end?

ICE agents invade little league field – New Yorker

The guys arrived to restore the marble counters in the kitchen.  They were so much quieter than I expected, and did a great job.  All the rings and stains are gone and the marble is sealed up.  We’ll see how long it lasts.  Diana called the set up to protect against dust blowing around their “playpen”.

Thursday was time for another swim at the NOAC.  This time the steam room was fully functional.  The bar was also open – seems to be a new feature as we haven’t seen it open before.  I had a coffee and a frittata for a very reasonable price.  Nice!

We saw three “DiMarco plumbing” trucks on the drive home from the NOAC.  This is the name that Adamo gave to the combined entity of Diana and Marco when we were planning Clorinda’s funeral and services.  The two of them were quite something.

In New Orleans you don’t “go to the grocery store”, you “make groceries.”  We “made groceries” on Friday afternoon.  Diana complemented me on being a much better grocery shopper than in the past.  Must be a positive feature of retirement.  I’ll take the compliment and see if I can keep it up.

We met Anne, Denny and their plus one (Jack) for Happy Hour at the Red Dog Diner.  This is next door to and owned by the same folks who run the Rum House, one of our favourite quick and easy restaurants.  We’ve passed it hundreds of times and always thought it was some greasy spoon divey place.  Not at all – when you go in the back you find a lovely place with very good food, drinks and service.  Why am I just finding out about this now?

Diana decided to try a Moose’s Magnificent Mimosa.  It’s like an Orange Julius with Strawberry jam vodka.  I know – it sounds way too sweet, but was remarkably good.

I got a kick out of Denny ordering snacks.  He did not take any input from the girls and ordered up exactly what he thought everyone needed.  Easy for me and I’m not sure how he gets away with a lot of his behaviors – I would have been in all kinds of trouble for not asking for input.

The bar manager and another guy were working in the corner to decide on a wine pairing dinner that they will host in August.  They gave Anne and Diana a bottle each of what they had been sampling.  Such a nice place that we’ve avoided for so long.

I watched a movie called “The Penguin Lessons” on Friday night.

This movie stars Steve Coogan.  Sometimes I think he’s really good and other times I don’t care for his performances at all.  This was a good movie and he did well.  His penguin costar did even better.

I had a final swim for the week on Sunday morning.  We followed that with a delicious brunch at Paladar 511, just a short drive from the NOAC.  Anne texted Diana during brunch to invite her to meet up with the girls and Mary on her way back to San Diego.  I thought I would meet up with Denny and Thom while the girls were doing their thing.  Both of them replied that they were planning on taking naps after a very hot tennis session.  I decided to join the girls.  Guess where they were going.  Red Dog Diner.  I haven’t been there in all the years I’ve been coming to New Orleans, and then went twice in the same week.  May was late leaving Navarre and wasn’t able to join us before she needed to go to the airport.

I started “King of Ashes” by S. A. Crosby this week.  I really enjoyed his last few books and have been waiting for this one to become available.  I got a few pages in and decided I was in the mood for something different.  It’s probably the nightmare of the book that Kelly recommended last week, coming back to haunt me.

 

I  decided to try a book by Mick Herron.  I’ve loved the “Slow Horses” series starring Gary Oldman and decided to check out the original books.   Wow – I should have done this a long time ago.  It’s like a Le Carre book but with better descriptions and language.  Right up my alley.

 

I enjoy  Chris Hillock’s guitar playing.  I think he learned a lot from Mark Knopfler:

Some great rhythmic entertainment.  I need to listen to some more of their stuff:

The great Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy, and I suspect Gary Moore on guitar but haven’t looked it up yet:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

Week in Review – July 20th, 2025

“Visit to the Florida panhandle”

Our travel back from San Francisco on Monday was smooth.  We had an exit row and nobody in the middle seat – so plenty of room to spread out.  On entry to our home, I heard a smoke detector beeping to let us know the battery inside was low.  Just what I wanted after a 4 hour flight, but I got up on the six step and disconnected it.

We drove from New Orleans to Navarre Beach on Wednesday, covering 4 states enroute – Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.  It was about a 3.5 hour drive and Kenny, Kara, and Nina rode with us.  We were on our way to a funeral service for Anne’s mum, Carolyn, and a celebration of life for Carolyn and her husband, Jack.  We broke up the journey with a lunch stop at the Original Oyster House.  I remembered it from our last trip to Navarre with Denny and Anne, and it was still very good.

We arrived at Saint Peter church in Mary Ester (just beyond Navarre) in time to have a coffee before the service began.  The service seemed to follow a  traditional Catholic approach, although apparently the response words have changed since Diana last attended one.  We laughed that they do that every decade or so to see when folks were last in church.

Here’s a link to Carolyn’s obituary, she was my blues music buddy:

https://www.daviswatkins.com/obituary/Carolyn-Bauer

After the services we checked into the condo that we had rented.  The door code was 10 digits long, and I couldn’t get it to be accepted.  At least 5 attempts before I gained access.  The girls were happy to point out that they always got it on the first try.

I’m sure Anne was touched that everyone from her friend group made the trip:  Alex and Laura, Thom and Libby, Kelly and Fred, Greg and Colleen, Julia, and Jancy, and then all of her local Florida girlfriends, Courtney, Bob,  Tammy, and Sue.  I enjoyed “facilitating” a conversation between Courtney and Fred.

There was a reception at Juana’s – the divey bar complex next to Carolyn and Jack’s condo.  Carolyn had apparently picked out the menu of snacks to be served.  Once the reception time ended, the pool tables were placed back in position and everyone enjoyed them.  It might not seem appropriate for a celebration of life, but Carolyn would have wanted it that way.

I treated the group to my mini quiches on Thursday morning.  They really are a bit of work to complete, but I enjoyed it.

Double red flags were flying at the beach on Thursday, signifying nobody allowed in the water for any reason due to currents and rip tides.  It was also pretty windy at the beach.  We opted to set up on the “Sound” side behind the condo.  It has a beach, you can swim, and it’s nicely sheltered.  Jack set up the blue awning and we were all able to avoid too much sun.

After a day in the sun and water, pizza and salad sounded like the perfect dinner.  We all ate together at Carolyn and Jack’s condo.

Friday was very much a repeat of Thursday.  The girls did spend some time on the beautiful beach – still no swimming.  About time to leave to pack up and drive home, Diana suggested staying another night.  I called the rental company and we were booked for an extra night.  What a weak moment I had.  We joined the group at Dewey Destin’s for dinner.  We all enjoyed very fresh seafood – excellent shrimp and scallops, and another good Denny recommendation.

We got a decently early start on Saturday for our drive back to New Orleans, deciding to stop for breakfast after clearing the thrombosis that is the Mobile, Alabama tunnel.  Diana’s research showed the Breakfast Spot as a good option.  We parked, after passing a street pole vaulting competition, but the place was too busy and we didn’t want to wait very long.  We had passed Bob’s on the way and remarked on the brass band playing outside – let’s walk over there.  We sat outside and enjoyed a yummy breakfast and some great traditional New Orleans music.  The band had an eclectic makeup – all ages and ethnicities represented, including an older lady on the tuba (don’t see that often).

The drive was uneventful – the usual slow downs as trucks pass each other, or sit beside each other occupying both lanes and going at almost the same speed, and some very heavy rain for a few minutes on the approach to New Orleans.

We enjoyed a walk/run in Audubon park to stretch out our legs before it got too hot on Sunday.

Our friend Dr. Thom, professor of infectious diseases at Tulane, had this article published this week.  It tells a bit of a heartbreaking story about all the years he has spent eradicating malaria around the world, and how funding cuts are impacting that.

https://tulane.edu/research/malaria-control?utm_source=tt&utm_medium=content

I watched an interesting movie this week – “The Way We Speak”.

The movie tells the story of a writer who refuses to cancel a debate with his friend who has died of a heart attack.  Instead, he insists on going ahead with a replacement opponent.  And then everything starts to come apart…

My read this week was “River is Waiting” by Wally Lamb.  Kelly recommended it with this text, “Just finished this book.  Absolutely gutted.  Dark content but really good book.”  She summarized things well.  The last paragraph of the first chapter was almost too much for me.  And the writing and characters are very good.  Not sure I recommend this unless you are ready for some very dark material.

Wally was listening to Irma Thomas when writing and realized that her song, “River is Waiting”, from the wonderful “Simply Grand” album had just inspired his title.

I read about a third of “Letters to John” by Joan Didion as what I hoped would be a bit of a palette cleanser.  These are letters to her husband relaying what happened in her weekly therapy sessions.  I have a hard time relating to someone who puts this much thought into their thoughts and then rehashes them in written form for her husband.  And I have been a huge Didion fan for many years.  “The Year of Magical Thinking” is in my top 10.

The annual literature edition of the New Yorker magazine is always a treat.  I particularly enjoyed an article on the impact of AI on learning.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/07/the-end-of-the-english-paper

A couple of paragraphs that caught my attention:

“One study, published last year, found that fifty-eight percent of students at two Midwestern universities had so much trouble interpreting the opening paragraphs of “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens that “they would not be able to read the novel on their own.”  And these were English majors.”

“The London cabdrivers rigorously trained in “the knowledge” famously developed abnormally large posterior hippocampi, the part of the brain crucial for long term memory and spatial awareness.  And yet, in the end, most people would probably rather have swifter travel than sharper memories.”

Interestingly, the next story in the magazine had this:

“The taxi-drivers of London, my parents told me, knew every street and lane, every address by heart.”

It’s so strange how things that you haven’t thought about in years come up repeatedly within minutes of each other.

Here’s that Irma song that gave Wally Lamb his title:

This album is wonderful from start to finish.  Each track has a different pianist – Norah Jones, Dr. John etc..  It’s fun to try and pick out who is on each track.  Who do you think this is?

Such an excellent Randy Newman song.

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.

 

Week in Review – July 13th, 2025

“Back to California”

It’s been years since I visited the New Orleans aquarium, and I had heard the remodel is very nice.  We got culture passes from the library for Tuesday – they offer free admission to many of the main museums and attractions for up to five people.  This is a very nice perk of being a library member.

We started on the aquarium side and then looped back for the insectarium.  The very first exhibit, upside down jellyfish, was quite striking.

The penguins were pretty mellow on our first visit, a bit more animated and looking for attention at the side of their tank on our second.

Diana was not excited by the huge alligator.

The lionfish looks interesting, and is not so nice – it has venomous spines and eats almost anything, making it a threat to coral reef ecosystems.

The insectarium was a fun exhibit – we spent most of our time trying to find the well camouflaged insects.  Once you find one, all the rest suddenly come into view.  The millipede (elongated centipede) was a highlight.

I think the highlight of the entire visit for both of us was the butterfly enclosure.  You walked through a kind of airlock to prevent the butterflies exiting, and then were amongst thousands of beautiful butterflies.  I could have sat in there looking for quite a while.

Our flight to San Francisco on Wednesday evening was delayed a couple of hours due to not having pilots.  They eventually rounded a couple up and we enjoyed the non-stop flight for a change.  We would have missed any connections with the delay.  It was after 11pm when we finally arrived and went in search of an Uber.

Jeff was due to arrive around the same time and as it approached 1pm we were starting to get concerned, given that we knew he had landed at 11:30pm.  I guessed correctly that all food options in the airport were closed, and Jeff had gone off in search of some fast food.  Sure enough, when he arrived he had a bag from In-N-Out burger in his hand.  Silly boy.

It was an early start on Thursday to drive down to Saratoga for the funeral of Julie’s dad, Ken.  Here’s a link to his obituary:

https://www.darlingfischer.com/obituaries/Kenneth-Wayne-Davis-Jr?obId=43159041

Julie’s brother, Scott, did a wonderful eulogy – lots of dry, deadpan humour, and very comfortable speaking once he got going.  Marco led off the section where anyone could speak with his usual beautifully constructed and delivered speech.

There was a very nice reception following the funeral service, albeit quite hot outside in a suit and tie.  It’s easy to forget the extremes of the Bay Area microclimates – highs in the 60s in San Francisco/Pacifica and in the 90s in Saratoga.

I did have a new experience on this trip – figuring out how to charge Adamo’s tiny mouse car.  We make fun of it and are very thankful that we didn’t have to rent a car on each of our many trips this year.  After downloading an app and figuring a few things out, the process was fairly simple.

 

 

Another new experience awaited me on Sunday when visiting Amy and Adamo’s home.  Francesca wanted to paint somebody’s face and I volunteered.  Thankfully that’s watercolour paint.  She was very attentive to the pattern she wanted to duplicate, apparently something unicorn related.

Here’s a good trivia question.  “What country has the unicorn as a national animal?”  Answer after this video:

 

Did you know the answer?  Can you believe it’s Scotland?  I can tell that you are suspicious – a quick Google search will confirm.

We had a good time getting together with Andy, Jude, Marco (who rode his fancy triathlon bike from Redwood City), and Julie on Sunday evening.

I finished “Mad Honey” this week and would give it a strong recommendation.  I certainly didn’t see the final twist coming, thinking I had solved the murder much earlier in the book.

 

 

 

I have often read how John Cheever’s short stories are very well written, and so decided to try a few.  I read “The Swimmer” (supposedly his best and my least favourite of the three I read), “The Enormous Radio” (my favourite), and “Goodbye, My Brother” (second place).  I would say these are well written and evocative of the time period when they were written (late 40s to early 60s).

Something from the master of guitar tones:

A cover of Led Zeppelin by one of the great rock voices:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all.

 

 

Week in Review – July 6th, 2025

“Last Work Day”

Monday was my final work day.  The technicians helped me reimage my laptop and phone to take away most traces of EZCORP.  All of my important personal messages and pictures were carefully saved off to a portable SSD (Solid State Drive).

Tuesday was very much an administrative day.  Figuring out how to sign up for COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) took a while.  You would never know what this is from the name or acronym.  It’s the ability for retirees and other folks with employment events to continue their employers sponsored (and much less expensive) healthcare for 18 months after departure.  Getting Windows 11 to work the way I wanted with some applications also took a bit of work.

Later in the day on Tuesday, we met with Paul, our financial advisor, to make sure we really had enough money to retire.  I know – great timing indeed.  The good news is I don’t have to (at least in the near term) look for another job.

Kenny came over on Wednesday morning and helped change out the air conditioning filter – in way too tricky a spot for me to trust myself not to fall on that hutch with all the crystal glasses.  We had intended to replace the can lights going up the stairwell, but our ladder is too wide and hangs over the nifty tool that Diana found for using ladders on stairs.  That will have to wait until we can borrow a regular ladder.

 

A late lunch on Wednesday took us to La Petite Grocery.  They had advertised a rhubarb pavlova (two of my favourites in one) for the summer and we were excited to try it.

You can imagine our disappointment when the waitress told us the pavlova had been replaced.  “But that’s the main reason we came.”  “Let me see what I can do.”  We knew there was no way they were whipping up a pavlova just for us.  Our main dishes were wonderful – I had fusilli pasta with mushrooms and peas, Diana a shrimp yozu sauce thing and an heirloom tomato salad.  Then came a surprise – the manager brought us some limoncello cheesecake ice cream on top of a rhubarb and strawberry jam they had made with the last of the rhubarb.  Apparently it was a very short season this year and the chef wasn’t happy with the most recent product.  No charge for dessert and we were very happy with the extra effort to make us happy.  Such a local gem of a restaurant.

We visited the Broadside on Thursday evening for a performance by Valerie Sassyfrass, followed by a showing of her documentary.  Kenny, Kara, Thom, Denny and Jack joined.  Most all agreed that we’ve maxed out on Valerie for a while.

I suggested to Diana that we celebrate July 4th (my 4th day of independence from the working life) with a burger.  I suggested three options and she chose Toups Meatery.  We hadn’t been there in years and so it seemed like a great idea.  They run a summer program to feed kids that typically rely on school meals for nutrition – another good reason to support the restaurant.

We were very pleased with the burger – the pickles really made it.  A crab salad added something marginally healthy to the mix.

In the evening we joined the rest of the Krewe for swimming and celebration at Greg and Colleen’s home.

Saturday was the 10th anniversary celebration for the Dirty Coast t-shirt company.  I own a number of their shirts and they were donating the proceeds from a silent auction and ticket sales to guess who?  The Toups Family Meal organization.  The first band was a movie and TV themes cover band – very entertaining.

Those folks were followed by Where Y’acht – a “Yacht Rock” band.  Here are a couple of samples.

Do you like McD’s yacht captain hat?

I started but did not finish “Mad Honey” by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan this week.

I just got far enough to read the first big bombshell of the book – not going to spoil it for anyone planning to give this book a try.  I recommend doing that – at a minimum you’ll learn a ton about beekeeping.  And hopefully even more about tolerance of differences.

If you do read this book, see if you can figure out which chapters the authors swapped on.  Jodi writes all of Olivia and Jennifer all of Lily, but they swapped for one chapter.

Here’s the online summary:

“Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising their beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined that she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in and taking over her father’s beekeeping business.
 
Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start. 
 
And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet she wonders if she can trust him completely.”

Lily is a talented musician.  I smiled at this paragraph – not many people know that the first section of “Money” by Pink Floyd is in 7/4 time:

“I hate this song,” I mutter. He glances at me. “You want me to change the station?” I shake my head. “It’s in seven-four. It’s a weird time signature.” Asher doesn’t say anything right away. “So the time signature is what upset you?” I don’t want to go into it. “You know what else is in seven-four? ‘All You Need Is Love.’ The Beatles. And Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass.’ Soundgarden’s ‘Spoonman.’ ” Asher smiles. “I can’t believe the stuff you remember,” he says.”

An example of the interesting bee information to be found in the “Olivia” chapters:

“One of the bees starts moving in a figure eight, a crazy little rumba meant to tell the others where her food source is. Using the sun as a compass, her moves are a code: the direction of the dance is the route toward the food; the length of the dance is a measure of total distance. Several other bees watch, too, and then fly away, armed with GPS choreography.”

“This waggle dance is also used when a colony swarms. Some foragers will come back and waggle-dance to describe a new location they’ve found. The jazziest dances get the biggest response. If more bees are impressed, they join in the waggling. There may be several factions competing in this dance-off, each advocating for a different home, but once one of those groups has convinced about fifteen bees, democracy wins.”

Revealing the inspiration for the title:

“THERE IS ONE type of honey you should avoid at all costs. Mad honey comes from bees that forage on rhododendrons and mountain laurel, and it’s full of poisonous grayanotoxins. It causes dizziness, nausea and vomiting, convulsions, cardiac disorders, and more. Symptoms last for twenty-four hours, and although rarely, if left untreated, can be fatal.”

How Asher feels after acquittal:

“You cannot ever really go back to normal. You can approximate the axis of what your life used to be like, but as with an asymptote, all you’ll ever really do is get close and never intersect the sweet spot. It is true that the way the legal system works, once you are acquitted you are free to go home, but there’s a cognitive dissonance in the realization that the world has spun away without you. Even innocent, you will still be the boy who was involved in that murder trial. You are blameless, but stained.”

I love this cover of the Elliot Smith classic by Brad  Mehldau – I believe him to be the best pianist working today:

Open in Spotify

Another great cover by the most inventive guitar player I’ve ever seen:

Open in Spotify

And let’s finish with something very mellow and somewhat calming:

Open in Spotify

The guys from Laurel Street music porch concerts posted this great video of the last show we saw:

Coexist peacefully, with kindness and compassion for all.

Week in Review – June 29th, 2025

“One Day to Go”

I have one more day of work to go – EVER!  As of July 1st, I will be fully retired.  I was very touched by this company wide note from our CEO.  Diana came down from her office/gym to tell me that farewell notes don’t get much better than this:

From: EZCORP Internal Communications <EZCORPInternalCommunications@ezcorp.com>
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2025 11:36 AM
Subject:  Thank You, Keith – Farewell to a True Original

Imagen, Picture

On June 30, we say a fond farewell to Keith Robertson, who will be leaving the company after nearly seven incredible years of leadership and impact.

Keith joined us in October 2018 as CIO and quickly became the steady hand behind some of our most ambitious and complex digital transformations. From major system upgrades to new tech rollouts, Keith led with vision, pragmatism, and calm confidence.

He built and strengthened an IT organization that today is faster, more resilient, and better aligned to the business than ever before. He championed simplicity, clarity, and teamwork, and brought a refreshing approach that made even the most complex tech discussions engaging.

After stepping into the CIO Emeritus role in January, Keith has continued to guide the transition and support of the team behind the scenes. But now, he’s officially signing off, for real this time.

Keith, thank you for your leadership, your humor, and your lasting contributions to this company. You leave a strong legacy and a grateful team behind.

Wishing you all the best.  May your next chapter be free of escalations, outage bridges, surprise updates, and full of fast Wi-Fi and bottomless cloud storage.

With deep appreciation,
Lachie

I’ll share one other note.  This was from our head of HR, replying to a note that I sent:

Reading your message meant so much…  You’ve made a lasting impact here, not just through your work, but in the deep friendships you’ve built.

The word “legacy” really is the right one. You’ve set a standard that reminds the rest of me what great leadership looks like.

It’s been an absolute privilege to work alongside you. You will be missed!

Wishing you nothing but great things ahead.

I will certainly miss these kind and generous colleagues.

We had a belated anniversary dinner at Gautreaux’s on Wednesday night.  This is a classic New Orleans neighborhood restaurant – tucked in just behind Julia’s house.  The menu is a mix of French and Creole.

We started with scallops (absolutely delicious and perfectly cooked) and foie gras (came with an interesting side that was almost like a desert.

Then Diana had the redfish and I enjoyed the trout with sauce Provençal.  Both dishes were very good.

We decided to have a Happy Hour on Sunday to celebrate the coming last day of work.  Diana chose Chais Delachaise which has wonderful food, wine and Happy Hour special prices.  We had our usual moules frites.  It was nice to see that the road construction around the restaurant was finally finished.

I always enjoy new stories from David Sedaris and thought I’d share this one from the New Yorker magazine:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/06/30/your-hip-surgery-my-headache

My book this week was “Careless People” by Sarah Wynn-Williams.  Sarah was a high level executive at Facebook during the massive growth of the company in the 2010s.  I sum this book up in one word – horrifying.  If only 10% of what is reported is fully true, and I believe the majority of it, then we should all stop using anything from the Meta/Facebook empire.  Here are some examples:

Discussing a bad review because people could hear her new baby in the background during evening calls:

“The fact that people can hear her in the background on calls—mostly because West Coast time means I’m often taking the calls on the East Coast in the evening, at home, where my baby lives. Travel is more complicated. I’d relocated to New York, and that meant I now had to travel to Washington, DC, regularly. Where I’m from it’s more usual for a baby to be with its mother or family for the first six months of life if not longer. My family is trying to come up with creative ways to make that happen with my mother, grandmother, and sister all traveling to New York to help. A few weeks after the review, Marne and I are at Facebook’s headquarters when Sheryl pulls me aside. “Marne told me about your childcare situation,” she says breezily. I’m mortified this is something that has been discussed with the COO. But I understand this is her way of caring. She’s trying to be nice. She’s saying this because she likes me. “Hire a nanny,” she instructs. “Be smart and hire a Filipina nanny.” She mistakes my look of horror for skepticism. “Sarah, I’m telling you, they’re English speaking, sunny disposition, and service orientated.” Marne echoes this sentiment. Both have at least one Filipina nanny in their retinue of staff.”

“I guess this is the real Lean In. The stuff Sheryl really believes about work and womanhood but doesn’t put in the book.”
Being chastised for telling a story about a traumatic baby incident when her nanny is locked out of the apartment:
“I forget about it, until my next performance review when Marne raises it: “You shouldn’t tell stories like that, about your baby and nanny.” My heart sinks. She wasn’t even in Mexico. “It wasn’t a story. My baby was trapped by herself and the fire department was called. We didn’t know if something terrible had happened.””
“That’s not the point. These are personal issues. I’m trying to help. To give you honest feedback. When you’re with the most senior members on the team, Mark, Elliot, Javi, you need to be professional and focused on them.” Seriously? My baby’s alone in an apartment with emergency services breaking in through the roof and I’m not supposed to mention it because it’s personal? And they all discussed this situation afterward and found me lacking?
Zuckerberg refuses to work before noon, even if that’s the only slot during which he can address the United Nations:
“the next day, Saturday, September 26, Mark addresses the United Nations, hoping to rouse excitement for Internet.org. As always, I try to get him the most high-profile speaking slot possible. At the UN that means the morning. The earlier you are, the more important you are. I manage to book him between the president of Argentina and the prime minister of the UK, and then Mark’s assistant Andrea nixes it. The United Nations isn’t important enough for Mark to do an event before noon. He still doesn’t like getting out of bed early. We compromise with a later slot.”
From the crazy lives of the rich and famous files:
“We live in the same neighborhood in San Francisco and commute to and from the office together. Weirdly, Mark has his San Francisco house not too far from ours. When I ask him why we never see him in the neighborhood, he explains it’s because he can’t get planning permission for a place to park his helicopter so he rarely uses the house. We might live in similar places, but we are living completely different lives.”
And finally, one of many areas I highlighted that discuss Facebook’s role in Trump’s first victory:
“The way I understand it, Trump’s campaign had amassed a database, named Project Alamo, with profiles of over 220 million people in America. It charted all sorts of online and offline behavior, including gun registration, voter registration, credit card and shopping histories, what websites they visit, what car they drive, where they live, and the last time they voted. The campaign used Facebook’s “Custom Audiences from Custom Lists” to match people in that database with their Facebook profiles. Then Facebook’s “Lookalike Audiences” algorithm found people on Facebook with “common qualities” that “look like” those of known Trump supporters. So if Trump supporters liked, for example, a certain kind of pickup truck, the tool would find other people who liked pickup trucks but were not yet committed voters to show the ads to. Then they’d pair their targeting strategy with data from their message testing. People likely to respond to “build a wall” got that sort of message. Moms worried about childcare got ads explaining that Trump wanted “100% Tax Deductible Childcare.” Then there was a whole operation to constantly tweak the copy and the images and the color of the buttons that say “donate,” since slightly different messages resonate.”
I have many more and perhaps increasingly disturbing highlight, but you’ll have to go and borrow the book for those.

 

Mick Ralphs died last week at the age of 81.  Here’s a Wikipedia summary:
“Michael Geoffrey Ralphs was an English guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He was a founding member of English rock bands Mott the Hoople and Bad Company. Despite not being a constant member, he appeared on every studio album released by both bands.”
I have enjoyed both bands a lot over the years:
Coexist peacefully, with kindness and patience for all.