“Birthday Wrap”
We both started off the week with some good exercise. I went for a swim and Diana took this picture of a lot of ducklings in tight formation when out for a walk. I count 14 ducklings – how about you?
We were both very tired on Monday evening, for no good reason. We watched this great battle round on The Voice and then called it a night.
Tuesday started with a trip to the doctor to get my blood drawn. I had been fasting overnight and so made a quick trip to Duino for coffee and breakfast 
tacos when that was over. I was close to the library and so, having mostly run out of storage space for books at home, decided to stop in to renew my library card and see if they had anything on my reading list. Success – library card renewal took less than a minute, and I found two books on my list. Diana found some different ducks and little ones on her run.
I had signed up for a hybrid cloud webinar in the afternoon, only because it came with a wine and chocolate sampling agenda item. They shipped two very nice bottles of wine and some ultra fancy chocolates ahead of the meeting. The winemaker and chocolatier joined on video from their vineyard and shop, and gave fascinating talks about their products.
I’ve been saving the Whisky Pecan bonbon on the lower right for a special occasion. The complexity of flavours and care taken to source the ingredients of the bonbons were amazing. We only opened one of the wines and it was very, very good. Quite a fun session overall. And I did order up some fancy chocolate covered pistachios for Finn.
On Tuesday evening, we joined the 52nd and last livestream by the Band of Heathens. Hard to believe they managed a full year of these great shows. We’ll miss joining the guys at 7:30pm for music and education.
I was texting with Sean and he sent me this video that his daughter made. It won a University of California prize with money to make a longer version. Kalen hand made all the things that you see in the video, and I think it’s very creative.
Both Denny and Cat had birthdays on Wednesday and we made our typical piano and vocals videos for them.
Unknown to Denny, we had an in person appearance planned for later in the week. We caught a flight to New Orleans on Friday afternoon and were able to experience the new airport for the first time. A big upgrade, but the close to 30 minute ride to the rental car facility at the old airport terminal is less than ideal. That and the long wait for a car – apparently folks are making more on unemployment than they would working at driving cars for the rental car company. We finally made it to Monkey Hill (a bar down the street from Denny and Anne’s home), where we were to hide until Denny left with the guys for his birthday Happy Hour. We narrowly missed being spotted – Kenny, driving Denny, noticed us walking into Monkey Hill. After the coast was clear, we went over to see Anne at the house – and found Mr. Good Lord Alex and his helpers busy decorating Denny’s entire office with birthday wrapping paper. That’s a lot of paper.
We all rendezvoused with Denny and the crew at St. Joe’s and then enjoyed dinner at Pizza Delmonica down the street. It was really nice to catch up with everybody.
After a delicious dinner, everyone headed back to Denny and Anne’s for the after party.
Denny enjoyed showing everyone his “decorated” office.
A nicely orchestrated birthday surprise! One of Denny’s birthday gifts was this personalized mermaid bottle opener that we picked up at a coffee shop in Bend, Oregon.
The four of us enjoyed a lovely dinner at Sylvain in the French Quarter on Saturday afternoon – Denny’s favourite casual lunch spot. The beets were excellent and very unusual. After lunch Denny and I enjoyed a cigar at Cuban Creations. The peacefulness of that was broken when Good Lord Alex and Tommy Bear arrived. We walked to Mona Lita’s Cuban restaurant for a final drink and some yummy snacks and then retired back home.
Laura collected Diana for a run in Audubon park very early on Sunday morning. McD was very impressive – recording her fastest ever 3 mile time. In the afternoon we tried to attend a brass band and Mardi Gras Indian show at “The Broadside” but it was sold out by the time we arrived. No worries, I drove around the corner to Vessel and we enjoyed a nice cocktail in the converted chapel. Anne joined us there and then we had a very pleasant lunch at Trep’s while Denny played tennis with the guys. Diana was able to get her fill of oysters for the trip.
After lunch, we drove over to the tennis center to watch the action. We laughed to find Fire Chief Kenny umpiring the games in his uniform. Upon investigation, he informed us that he was “in his district, and ready to respond.” As we relaxed on the porch after the game, Kenny got a call and replied, “I’ll be right there.” We asked if it was something important – “dinner bell.” Ha! What do you think of Denny’s 1970s tennis hair extensions?
Dinner at MoPho Vietnamese (delicious after a very slow service start) and then back home to enjoy our last evening in New Orleans. I snapped this picture of a crescent moon, beside a crescent cloud, in the crescent city.
I enjoyed another Anne Tyler novel on the trip. Here’s the Amazon summary of “Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant”:
“Abandoned by her wanderlusting husband, stoic Pearl raised her three children on her own. Now grown, the siblings are inextricably linked by their memories—some painful—which hold them together despite their differences.
Hardened by life’s disappointments, wealthy, charismatic Cody has turned cruel and envious. Thrice-married Jenny is errant and passionate. And Ezra, the flawed saint of the family, who stayed at home to look after his mother, runs a restaurant where he cooks what other people are homesick for, stubbornly yearning for the perfect family he never had.
Now gathered during a time of loss, they will reluctantly unlock the shared secrets of their past and discover if what binds them together is stronger than what tears them apart.”
“[In Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant Tyler] has arrived at a new level of power.” —John Updike, The New Yorker
I’m always interested to find when the relevance of the title of a book is revealed. In this case, it was on page 353 of 371 – kept me waiting. Here’s the quote:
“‘Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant! Everyone in the family! Just a cozy family gathering’ – and he’d rub his hands together in that annoying way he had. He no doubt had his staff at work even this moment, preparing the…what were they called? The funeral baked meats. Cody sighed. But he suspected they would have to attend.”
And then the big reveal at the dinner:
“It shouldn’t have taken him so long. There were clues he should have picked up at once: that fan-shaped pompadour, still thick and sharply crimped; the brilliant blue of his eyes; the gangsterish air of his pinstriped, ill-fitting navy blue suit.
‘Yes’, the old man said, with a triumphant nod. ‘It’s your father speaking, Cody.'”
I discovered a new band this week that I really love – Stuff is a jazz/funk supergroup including Steve Gadd on drums and Eric Gale on guitar – two amazing session musicians. These super groups often disappoint and this one does not. I’m looking forward to working my way through all four of their albums.
Ben Harper recorded a very quiet solo album during quarantine. Just his lap steel guitar – I really enjoyed the entire album:
And finally, something from Bachman-Turner Overdrive that doesn’t sound like them at all:
Stay patient and kind with everyone!