This was a relatively calm week after all the activity in Scotland last week.
A trip to Austin on Tuesday brought my first visit to the office in a while. Really wanting to accomplish this in a day trip, I left the house early and arrived home very late – an overnight hotel might have been a better idea. I enjoyed my favourite breakfast taco from Taco Deli on arrival in Austin airport, and then a negroni and snack from Juliet Italian restaurant on the way to the airport in the evening. Lunch wasn’t such a successful endeavour – something just didn’t sit right in my tummy.
Overdue for a haircut, I made a visit to Aidan Gill on Wednesday. Aidan’s wife is back at work after suffering a stroke. We made a drive over to Angelo Brocato’s to pickup some of her favourite treats – cannolis. I think I made a friend for life on delivering those.
Trey invited us to meet his new “hound”, Scout, on Wednesday night at Picnic restaurant. This was a new experience for us, having driven past many times. Trey’s friend, Nina, provided some lovely musical accompaniment. Picnic has a very reasonable Happy Hour and also some more healthy snacks than their well known fried chicken.
The clubhouse at the golf course in Audubon park was recently acquired by the Brennan restaurant group, and we had been talking about trying it. Happy Hour on Friday seemed like a good opportunity. The krewe was quickly assembled – Thom, Kenny, Fred and Kelly. Unfortunately the kitchen closed early on Fridays and the bar was only open until 5pm – poor research on our part. No problem – it was a short drive to the wonderful Happy Hour at Chaise Delachaise. Our table was only available for a short while, so we met Kara and Nina at the Kirsch home and had an enjoyable visit.
Diana joined Kara for yoga in the City Park sculpture garden on Saturday morning, while Kenny and I had a walk around. There’s always something to be learned when you go on a walk with Kenny – he retains so much historical information. McD was a bit disturbed to notice this gator swimming under a bridge they used in the garden.
A treat was earned after the “gator fright” and so we visited Leo’s bakery – new to us and tucked off where we would never have found it. That’s one of the beautiful things about New Orleans – all these little gems hidden away in neighbourhoods. The croissants were amazing.
We shopped for food and drinks for our Sunday dinner party in the afternoon. Diana remarked that I was the most patient ever as we were struggling to find things in Whole Foods – must be part of the aging process.
Fred and Kelly joined us for dinner on Sunday. Chef D prepared her delicious Chilean sea bass and mini stuffed peppers. The first in our planned dinner party series was a big success – thanks Diana!
I continued my slow read through “Southern Man” by Greg Iles – I really need to stay focused and finish this one up.
More time was spent on the short essays in Ann Patchett’s “These Precious Days.” Last week, I found the essays of mixed enjoyment and this week I’ve enjoyed every one that I read quite a bit – maybe I’m just in a better mood? I recommend this collection a lot.
I heard this on WWOZ radio and really enjoyed it:
A pleasant guitar sound from Al Stewart in a really deep track:
And finally, a fun cover of a J.J. Cale classic:
Coexist peacefully, with patience and kindness for all!