“Happy New Year!, and Happy Birthday Jack and Mason”
Boxing Day afternoon was spent hosting Andy and Jude at Clorinda’s house. It’s always so nice to visit with the best neighbours ever. We had a very entertaining time and even had Clorinda telling some old stories to much hilarity. We have some good videos of the stories, but are still working on getting them in the right format to be able to share with you here.
Earlier in the day, Diana participated in a virtual Secret Santa with Alicia and John and Joey’s families. Bonna was D’s Santa and she put together a lovely champagne themed basket. Diana was really delighted with the detail and with everything in the basket, and she had the perfect hoodie to complement it.
We flew home on Monday and were subject to the delays that thousands of other travelers experienced. Our flight was delayed with a 3:30am arrival, and fortunately we were able to change to an earlier flight, making it home just before midnight. Not too bad considering all the cancellations.
We were able to get out for walks and runs during the week, after no exercise in California last week due to the cold, rainy weather. The weather in Texas was great this week with highs in the 70s – just like pleasant Spring days.
Wednesday was Finn’s day off and so I took him for a walk and then to Trader Joe’s to pick up some nice meals for the weekend, while we’re gone to New Orleans. The rest of the day was catching up on some admin tasks that had been ignored over the break – expense reports and health care claims all filed now. I know – very exciting stuff, but it feels good to have everything caught up and organized for the New Year.
“Emily in Paris” has a new season on Netflix and we’ve been enjoying that in the evenings. It’s way too long since we’ve been able to visit Paris.
We flew to New Orleans on Friday morning for the fourth annual celebration of Jack and Mason’s birthday on January 2nd. We spent the afternoon enjoying the new Ogan patio, and exchanged some gifts. Anne loved her “champagne clutch” and Diana her tennis skirt (in preparation for taking up tennis during our NOLA residency.)
After enjoying the lovely weather on the patio, we got changed for New Year’s Eve dinner at Costera.
Costera was an excellent choice for dinner (thanks Denny) with multiple courses of Spanish tapas. The menu was fixed and included a plethora of delicious courses – beef shank Bombas, scallops, and an amazing seafood paella were the standouts. We were joined at dinner by the Kirshes, Krieks, and Eisles – what a fun group.
There was a bit of a wild party in progress when we returned to Webster street after dinner (and a few minutes after midnight.) Things quietened down quickly and we were able to get a decent sleep. Apparently a good enough sleep for McD to pop right up on New Year’s Day and head out for a run in Audubon park with Laura and Kara. She particularly enjoyed the band playing at the park entrance. Great job of starting out on the right foot Diana!
Denny and Anne hosted an open house on New Year’s Day afternoon, with oysters served 7 or so ways. Frank and Macon showed up early to help shuck several hundred oysters – quite a special skill that Frank certainly has mastered.
Denny is an excellent chef, creating all kinds of delicious sauces for the oysters. My favourite is the grilled version, and I’m glad Fire Chief Kenny was on hand to supervise the process.
Merry Lee, Jeff, Donna, and Steve (our friends from California) were able to secure an invite to oyster fest. Merry Lee and Jeff have a condo in New Orleans now. They seemed to enjoy meeting everyone and sampling the various types of oysters.
Chef Denny was finally able to relax with old friends and enjoy the evening with a cigar. What amazing weather we had for both days.
The weather changed on Sunday as we planned to celebrate Jack and Mason’s 19th birthdays. Can you get a better birthdate than 01/02/03? We bundled up and headed to Cafe Sbisa in the French Quarter for brunch. Other than an overly loud but very talented jazz trio, the lunch was perfect. The boys invited some friends and seemed to really enjoy their lunch. We had a brief ramble in the Quarter after brunch, and then retreated to Webster Street to watch the Saints game – they still have a shot at making the playoffs.
Have you read a book by Stuart Woods? Apparently a lot of folks have. He’s written over 70 books, and occupied almost an entire shelf at my local library. I was looking for something light and easy to enjoy on the New Orleans trip, and decided to give him a try.
“Bombshell” is part of the series featuring ex-CIA agent and Hollywood producer, Terry Fay, and is co-written with Parnell Hall. This is certainly easy reading, with each chapter 3 or 4 pages long. You can tell that Woods has a formula that he deploys to crank out these books. I don’t have any quotes as the writing is quite basic and used to drive the action forward, rather than set the scene or develop the characters. I’m not sure I would select another Woods book, except maybe for some mindless poolside or beach reading.
Diana and I were chatting with Derek Huston, New Orleans saxophone player extraordinaire, at Oyster Fest, and D asked him who was his favourite musician. After some thought, Derek gave an eloquent explanation of why that was Charlie Parker. Here’s one of the more mellow and accessible Parker pieces:
Here’s a calm and relaxing guitar piece from an album that I love, Julian Lage’s “World’s Fair”:
And finally, the ultimate calming piece for me, Bill Evan’s “Peace Piece” – this is right up there with “Kind of Blue” as music that I can listen to every day and not tire of:
Please stay safe and be kind in 2022!