Thursday, September 23, 2010

NOLA With the Inlaws

On our last day in New Orleans, Carolyn, Rodney, and Michael came to hang out with us in the city. I realized later that I took a really random assortment of photographs. But here they are anyway!

We walked around the tourist areas and of course all took the required shots of St. Louis and Andrew Jackson.


















Then we went to the Monteleone for drinks in the Carousel bar. For some reason I didn't photograph the bar itself, but this is the ceiling of the lobby and portraits of the hotel founders.























And for lunch we went to Margaritaville.

Caroline's Art Show

Caroline's art show opening was August 28 and luckily our trip coincided. She showed with two of her friends at a small new gallery uptown.























We got there before it opened and ended up standing around for a bit. 



Finally Caroline and the owners showed up and things got started.



































Caroline's art





The other girls' artwork


















The crowd


















Grandma flirting with a much younger man.























Afterwards we went to a nearby neighborhood bar called Snakes and Jakes Christmas Club Lounge. The Christmas lights cast the whole place in a dark room red glow.




















It just happened to be a stopping place for the Midsummer Mardi Gras going on that night. Instant party!








Eating Our Way Through Baton Rouge

For a week in August, Dan and I flew down to Louisiana to spend time with friends and family. And to get our fix of Louisiana food.

Behold our meal at Chimes. Clockwise from top: fried alligator, duck and sausage gumbo, sautéed crab claws, and crawfish etouffee.




 Crawfish Etouffee












Sautéed Crab Claws in a lake of garlic butter.












And for dessert we went to a snowball stand. Mmm nectar. Next time I'll get one with cream. Why hasn't the rest of the country caught on to how awesome these are??



Kittens!

Mom and Randolph adopted two very adorable kittens named Fanny and Teddy. When we weren't stuffing our  faces, driving to Texas and NOLA, or hanging out with friends we were playing with them.

Kitten time!









































Monday, August 16, 2010

House sitting

Over the weekend Wythe, Rebecca, Dan and I went up to Dunstable to house sit while my uncle and aunt were visiting their sons. We drove up Friday night and were greeted by the cats and a very happy dog. That first night we relaxed in the hot tub as we watched a meteor shower. The next morning we got up at a reasonable hour and after a fresh egg omelet, Rebecca and I headed out to the garden to do some weeding and harvesting.
































Really, Rebecca did most of the weeding. But she was the happiest I've ever seen a person weeding.
































This was the collection from the first day of harvest. Sunday we realized that there were tons of incredibly ripe tomatoes just falling off the vines. We picked as many as we could carry back with us and split them. Sunday night I made two pots of spaghetti sauce and I still have tomatoes left over in my fridge.

















Lifetime Chickie was running free after Aunt Kap rescued her from a life of abuse and rooster rape. She has at least three nests around the lawn and barn. Broken tomatoes and wormy corn were thrown her way to her great delight. She'll probably double in size by the time they return.



















The horses were happily (and blindly) grazing away.


















And Lily got in as much head scratching and tummy rubbing time as she could.


















Meanwhile, the boys avoided all manual labor and gorged themselves on comic books.


















Other than a brief power outing, the trip was blissfully uneventful. It was hard to go back to work Monday morning. But at least I have a fridge full of farm fresh corn, squash, and tomatoes.