Month: January 2026

Loiusiana, Day Five

This was it, the Main Event! Adele’s birthday was actually yesterday, but the party was scheduled for a Saturday so more of the family could attend. There were a couple dozen attendees in person, from longtime friends to all three kids, with some of their kids and their kids’ kids, AKA great grandkids. There was also a FaceTime call with the missing grandkid in Alaska and a niece with the new grandniece in Wisconsin, and someone else in Hawaii.

It was at the house of Sally’s older sister and her husband, and they went all out on the 99 stuff. She got the shirt, and the banner behind her had “99 & Fabulous” on it. She is also sporting a sash with that same sentiment and a tiara with 99 in the middle. They also got a 99th birthday card and one of those trivia pamphlets all about 1927.

Food was potluck, with every guest bringing something to nosh on. Someone brought the large birthday cake, and because it is Mardi Gras season, the hosts bought 2 King Cakes from 2 different local bakeries. There was also champagne. The party wound down after about 4 hours, but not because of the birthday girl; she was still kickin’ and it was the generation below with tired eyes that wanted to head out…

Loiusiana, Day Four

Disclaimer: The events depicted below actually occurred on Day Two.

 
Birthday girl Adele used to work at a church-run thrift store (since gone out of business); she was the point woman for getting jewelry items that had been donated evaluated to ensure they wouldn’t be worth millions unknown to the donater.

Well, with the price of silver being so high, Adelle was going to cash in a bunch of silver spoons that had been in the family for years that were stuffed in a closet. So she asked Sally, “Why don’t you bring all those pieces of silver from the defunct wedding that are lying around and bring them down and sell them to my favorite pawnbroker too?” When I heard this, I said, “I’ll bring a bunch of stuff that I have too.”

Wednesday, we headed over to Bayoupawn & Jewelry to cash in. Adele went first and managed to get a few hundred dollars for her cache. Sally went next; after going over about 15 bowls, platters, and whatnot, he told her the bad news: it was practically all silver plated. She also had her high school class ring and the gold wedding rings from that same defunct betrothal and ended up with a couple hundred more than Mom got.

I had brought a pair of old cufflinks, an antique shaving set in its plastic box, a pocket watch from my grandfather, Donna’s class ring, her engagement ring, my wedding ring (Donna lost hers; story here) and a second set of matching wedding rings we purchased after that incident. The cuff links and shaving kit were brass, and the pocket watch would have been worth a few hundred if it ran, but to fix it, it would cost more than it’s worth. But because of more gold, I ended up the big winner; my total was larger than their two combined.

Loiusiana, Day Three

Other than meals, we spent the bulk of today with the birthday girl shoe shopping. She likes a nice woman’s sneaker from Reebok, so we started at Academy Sports, which was listed as carrying that brand. We managed to find one from them, but they didn’t fit like her current pair. She did try on a few pairs from Nike; two were too wide, and she liked one but couldn’t buy them because her feet are slightly different sizes, and the 9 1/2 was okay for the right, but it took a 10 to work with her left foot. I offered to buy the second pair for her birthday, but she would not have any of that.

Next stop was Hibbett Sports, which had a whopping 2 pairs of Reeboks on the sales rack that were too small and none in the back at all. Right next door to Hibbett’s was a Foot Locker, so we ducked in there. That store looked more like a clothing fashion store with some sneakers along the wall. They had exactly one pair of Reeboks in a women’s size 3 1/2.

Mom said she used to get them at JC Penney, so we drove over there. We sent Sally into the store to see if it still even had shoes. She returned a few minutes later with a report that they had very little in the way of women’s sneakers or any shoes in general, plus everything was haphazardly arranged. We returned home empty-handed.

I did not take a single photo, so my 140 Instagram followers will just have to deal with it.

Loiusiana, Day Two

Really exciting day. Upon awakening, I went into Hammond to get my usual caramel latte. I went to a 7Brew drive-thru. I gave my order, and when I got to the place to pick it up, they handed me an iced version. Totally forgot where I was; these guys default to iced drinks. I took it and drove off. Not as good as the hot one, but it wasn’t half bad.

After breakfast Sally headed into NOLA to get her State Department ID squared away while I lazed around the VRBO. When she got back from the big city, we headed over to B & J Seafood in Hammond for fish poboys. Craw for her, Cat for me. Then for a quick visit with the birthday gal before settling in for the evening. Try and contain yourself.

Loiusiana, Day One

While taking a walk in a park near the VRBO, Sally heard a faint motor sound. Turned out it was a powered paraglider in a field east of the park. There was a nice pink and orange glow to the clouds in the southwest sky, so I was hoping it would come our way so I could take a photo of the paraglider with that sky as a background. He seemed to be staying over where he was, so I forgot about it. Suddenly the motor sounded like it was getting closer. I quickly opened the camera app and followed its progress. It was coming our way. Sadly, he came closer on the wrong vector to get the really good sky…

On The Road To Loiusiana, Day Three

Today’s drive consisted of 160 miles in Texas and 200 miles in Louisiana. Except for the city of Baton Rouge and the next 20 or so miles, it was pretty easy driving. Dinner was at the home of Sally’s mom, AKA The Birthday Girl, and now we are settled into our VRBO. Tonight’s entertainment is watching the college football championship game with the sound muted and Radio Paradise playing on a portable speaker. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have something more exciting to write about.

P.S. My GTI is internet famous; the folks that wrapped it featured it in their Instagram post for today.

On The Road To Loiusiana, Day Two

Now out of the panhandle of Texas, there were no Quanah Parker Arrows to stumble on. And actually we spent a whole lot of time on 2-lane Texas state routes. When we blew through San Angelo, 90 miles and an hour and a half from the start, we didn’t expect to have to wait another 2 3/4 hours before we got to the next spot for a snack and nature break. There was no emergency, but both of us were happy to find a place to relieve ourselves indoors.

Also, Sally has this internal worry that some car-related failure would leave us stranded in literally the middle of nowhere and would prefer to be on mostly major roads. I, of course, never worry about it, and maybe I should, if at least for her sake. The result of this is instead of my ideal 3-day, no-interstate drive, I think next time I’m going to bite the bullet and do this Santa Fe-Hammond-Santa Fe adventure in two days of mostly Interstate travel.

Tonight’s stop is the town of Crockett, TX, which is named for Davy Crockett because he camped here on his way to the massacre at the Alamo, where he perished. This is totally different from the town of Bowie, home of the world’s largest Bowie knife, which is named for another Alamo casualty, in that Jim Bowie never got anywhere near that town.