June 22, 2024 – Keith Robertson

“Climb the New Orleans Mountain”

It’s getting sufficiently humid that our walks and runs have to start by 7am at the latest – so we got some early starts to the day this week.

Diana and I decided to try the Happy Hour at Plates restaurant in the Warehouse District on Friday. A very positive review by Ian McNulty in the newspaper put this place on our radar. Kenny texted to see if anyone was interested in Happy Hour, so I picked him up and we made our way. Kelly and Fred joined, and then Kara directly from work. A partial Krewe together – it’s been a few weeks.

The drinks were solid – Kenny and I particularly enjoying our Spanish Gin and Tonics, and the appetizers were all quite yummy. We all think Diana really suits Kenny’s cap:

Either Kenny or Fred, it’s been over a week now, suggested Pete’s Out in the Cold bar for a stop on the way home. This place is 0.7 miles from our house and we’d never heard of it – shame on these friends. It was a fun stop with frozen Pimm’s cups and games like Jenga.

A very pleasant neighborhood bar in easy walking distance of our home. Nice!

Saturday morning yoga at the City Park sculpture garden occupied Diana and Kara while Kenny and I explored the Couturie forest. I was just as skeptical as you are – a forest in New Orleans and inside City Park? Kenny assured me it was real and also contained the highest point in New Orleans. “Wait a minute, I’ve always told people that Monkey Hill in the zoo is the highest point.” Kenny: “Don’t worry, everybody knew you were a foreigner and didn’t believe you anyway.” Nice – thanks Kenny! Here’s an entertaining piece on the “mountain” from the Couturie Forest website:

“The Forest is made up of eight distinct ecosystems and is home to New Orleans’ highest point of elevation: Laborde Mountain. Measuring a daunting 27 feet above sea level, oxygen and sherpas are available upon request. Couturie Forest was named New Orleans’ top bird-watching destination. It is common for birders to see 40 species or more in a single outing.

The forest is a beautiful place to wander with your kids, family and friends. An afternoon along the trails is more than just exciting—it’s an easy way to work in some exercise and learn a thing or two about the Park’s rich, natural landscape. Expect to see countless varieties of trees, fish and birds along the trails and beautiful waterways.”

Here are a couple of pictures from the forest walk:

The rest of the week was relatively low key – a pretty quiet week for a change. Nothing wrong with that. We did watch a couple of movies and series. “Lance”, a documentary about Lance Armstrong was interesting.

He seemed completely unrepentant about doping and then lying about it thousands of times to all kinds of people, almost in a psychopathic manner, a la Trump. Certainly massively egocentric and not learning anything from experience. It’s hard to believe how admired and revered he once was – if only people had known the real Lance – which he seemed quite happy to share in this documentary.

“How to Rob a Bank” was an interesting documentary series. It details the life and approach of Scott Scurlock, the mastermind behind at least 19 bank robberies in Seattle between 1992 and 1996, netting more than $2.6 million. As is typical in these stories, he had to execute “just one last robbery” and then he was finished, and of course that’s the one where he was caught.

Scurlock lived in a treehouse outside Seattle, and led a very quirky existence.

I started “Natchez Burning” by Greg Iles this week, and honestly haven’t made it very far into the lengthy book. I have “Southern Man”, the latest from Iles, on hold at the library, and decided to try this one out while I wait.

Here’s the online recap:

“From #1 New York Times bestselling author Greg Iles comes the first novel in his Natchez Burning trilogy—which also includes The Bone Tree and the upcoming Mississippi Blood—an epic trilogy that interweaves crimes, lies, and secrets past and present in a mesmerizing thriller featuring Southern lawyer and former prosecutor Penn Cage.

Raised in the southern splendor of Natchez, Mississippi, Penn Cage learned all he knows of duty from his father, Dr. Tom Cage. But now the beloved family doctor has been accused of murdering the African American nurse with whom he worked in the dark days of the 1960s. Once a crusading prosecutor, Penn is determined to save his father, but Tom, stubbornly invoking doctor-patient privilege, refuses even to speak in his own defense.

Penn’s quest for the truth sends him deep into his father’s past, where a sexually charged secret lies. More chilling, this long-buried sin is only one thread in a conspiracy of greed and murder involving the vicious Double Eagles, an offshoot of the KKK controlled by some of the most powerful men in the state. Aided by a dedicated reporter privy to Natchez’s oldest secrets and by his fiancée, Caitlin Masters, Penn uncovers a trail of corruption and brutality that places his family squarely in the Double Eagles’ crosshairs.

With every step costing blood and faith, Penn is forced to confront the most wrenching dilemma of his life: Does a man of honor choose his father or the truth?”