Who dat? It's me, on Super Sunday!

My partially homemade Saints' hat! After adding the signs to my favorite maribou feather headband, I had achieved my jubilant desire. Then I boosted the golden-ness of it on Picnick so that you could feel the aura it creates atop my head.

The statue of Jesus behind St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter

Found on the Internet: While Hurricane Katrina did not affect the French Quarter as profoundly as other parts of New Orleans, the high winds managed to displace two large oak trees in St. Anthony's Garden behind the Cathedral. The trees dislodged thirty feet of ornamental gate, while the nearby marble statue of Jesus Christ lost only a forefinger and a thumb. Locals have already declared that the statue of Jesus sacrificed two fingers while flicking the storm away from the city and saving it from total destruction. (Hurricane Katrina was downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 3 before landfall, when it made a turn to the north just before striking the Louisiana coast.)


As part of the coverage of the NFC Championship today, I heard the archbishop on ESPN this morning, talking about the statue while I saw a video of it. I immediately looked for my photo to see if I managed to get a decent enough one to share with you. This is a close-up of the one I took on Oct. 21, 2009, while we walked from Place D'Armes to the Acme Oyster House. I figured it would be a good photo to speak to the strength of those who live in and love New Orleans, those of us who love New Orleans from afar, and those of us who now will follow the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl on Feb. 7!

Whooee!! We been busy today, the Saints and me!! Whooee!!

Yippee!! Wow!! I'm tickled all gold and black and white!! Y'all Saints' fans know just what I'm talkin' about!!!!

Today I've been busy--see below after the two updates.

Mama's doing OK, not great but OK. She doesn't seem to be getting enough oxygen at the setting she's on, so we're calling tomorrow to see if we can increase it.

Duncan's at the vet to have his teeth cleaned and his semi-annual check. He needed one molar pulled, had an elevated kidney level which meant he had to have IV fluids before he could get knocked out for the teeth cleaning. He also had an elevated calcium level which could mean cancer--they called to get the OK to do an additional calcium test that might give us an answer. He's had 16+ really good years, so as emotional as it will be to lose him, we hope that we can remember that as time goes on. Maybe he's OK. I will find out more when I go to get him at 5:30 p.m.

I've made three batches of brownies today, in foil cupcake pans with paper cups to keep them from sticking (for tomorrow's building-wide pot luck), washed, dried, folded and put away two load of clothes, mopped the hardwood floors, shopped for two hours for three kids whose names I got from our Transitional School Christmas wreath at work, at Fred Meyer near Duncan's vet (I did very well, I think, getting all of each list pretty closely matched and spending only $112--Freddie's discounts and the coupons I got in the mail because I use my FM card every time I shop--hooray), helped Mama with her bath, wrapped and bagged all of the gifts, uploaded more vacation photos to my friend Kay's Walgreens' account (she and her husband are the ones who took me to Talladega). I'm tired but pleased.

Gotta go get the brownies figured out--how to get them to work safely.

She's home! And finally, I got to see the New Orleans Saints play on TV!

I took this photo at the Grand Central Bowl last March.

Monday we knew about 11 a.m. or so that she could go home, but it took until about 2:30 p.m. to get outta there! Not that they didn't do a great job taking care of her, but y'all know how just plain tired it makes everyone when someone is hospitalized. We were so ready to go that we completely forgot a couple of things. Leland's going there tomorrow to get them. He and Lamont are coming over to the apartment around 2 p.m. to check on her and to vacuum the rugs and run the Swiffer over the floor--I'll be at work.

Mama's on home oxygen when exerting herself which right now will be pretty much all of the time that she's awake--her oxygen saturation level needs the home oxygen to be at a good level for her. She's got an appointment in a month with both the cardiologist and the lung doctor. Before those two she has an appointment with her regular doctor and the eye doctor. Thank goodness Lamont and Leland can help out with those.

Once again, thanks to everyone for your good wishes and prayers!

I'll go back to the vacation fun soon as I get rested up a bit.

Who dat beat the stew out of New England?

All I got to see was the 4th quarter--too much going on around here, fixing supper, walking to Walgreen's to pick up the prescriptions, listening to the home oxygen instructions, washing the dishes.

Y'all notice Mama's got on her Mississippi State sweatshirt--that's in honor of their Egg Bowl victory. I know I already mentioned it, but I can't help myself, I'm still so tickled about that score, 41-27!

Vacation, Day 1, 10/21/2009, Part 4

My favorite neon of the night--at the Acme Oyster House--for the team, not the beer. I'm not much of a beer drinker.


Kay, Mama and I thought we'd be walking a little over six blocks from the Place D'Armes Hotel to the Acme Oyster House. We'd made that estimate after looking at a paper place mat sized French Quarter map. What we didn't know was that we'd be covering half a mile--I just got the Google walking directions which actually matched our route. Thank goodness Mama had her walker because when she felt like a rest, she'd whip that little thing around, set the hand brakes and take a seat. Kay and I would stand beside her, looking here, looking there, all three of us talking and watching people. Naturally, I took photos.

We walked up St. Anne to Royal, where we turned left. Naghi's, Jewelry, Judaica and Antiques, is on the corner. Would that the sky had been blue that late afternoon. I really like this view of the wrought iron and the balcony.


We walked by the back of St. Louis Cathedral. From their Web site: The Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France is the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States. Be sure to remember this photo when you see another one that I took on our walk back to the hotel.


Right across Royal is the Rodrigue Studio. From its Web site: Featuring the artwork of Cajun artist George Rodrigue, most famous for the "Blue Dog" series of paintings.


Looking along the side of the cathedral, towards the Mississippi River. How would you like to encounter pirates down this alley, by the dark of night? We did, naturally. It's Pirate Alley, y'all! There's a cafe about half way down--that's where we came across folks in pirate garb, talking like pirates, too. They loved Mama!


What in inviting spot, even on a humid evening. Can anyone explain that window at the top of the photo?


This didn't just catch my eye, it grabbed it. For seven and a half years back in the early to mid 1950's, my family moved every three months or less--Daddy's job building water cooling towers for industrial purposes led to that situation. We lived in various trailers, none more than seven feet wide, in 26 states. As a result, maps fascinate me. I asked permission to take this photo.


Here's the sign for the store, Road Trip on Royal.


We saw several of these. I like all the layers of paint.


One of the more well-known eateries we passed on our way to our destination.


Mama's stepping out. Kay's grinning at the metal cutie in the shop doorway.


Makes you wonder who would answer any one of those five buzzers, doesn't it?


Fleur de Paris, custom milliners, on Royal.


I found this online, about French Quarter architecture: Outside doors are tall and surmounted by arched and barred transoms. Above them one should note the narrow second-floor balcony, just two or three feet deep and supported by scrolling brackets of hand-wrought iron from the forge. The cast-iron "gallery" of later vintage is different--wide and supported on columns, all cast from molds in commercial foundries, not from mom-and-pop blacksmith shops. These were frequently added in the 1850s to houses first built with balconies in the 1830s.

So I'm wondering if the one with the posts in this photo is a gallery. It doesn't look wider than two or three feet to me, but it might be.


I'm thinking these two are balconies--they look narrower than the ones in the previous photo, don't they? See the person on the lower one? I doubt I could have ever been comfortable in that position, even in my younger years.


Wait a minute. This might be the one that shows both of them side-by-side, the balcony on the right, the gallery on the left. I can't explain to y'all why I'm so curious about this distinction, I just am.


My smiling Mama in the French Quarter!


Looking back the way we came, down Royal, past a great big tree that stands beside the building that houses the Louisiana State Court of Appeal Fourth Circuit and the Supreme Court of Louisiana.


Isn't this a beautiful building? It's the New Orleans Police 8th District--seems like I've seen it in TV shows and/or movies.


Mama's resting in front of the police precinct. I wonder what Kay said to make her laugh?


Y'all know I love neon.


Here's the hotel itself--huge, ornate and so white.




We're almost there. Watch out, we're all hungry!


I had my assignment.


More great neon.


Food orders placed, my Acme Sunset arrived at the table--love that plastic cup! Fruity hard liquor is relaxing, ya'll. Honest.


My fried shrimp platter, before I ate it all right up! To tell you the truth, I started eating without giving a thought to taking a photo. Those Ritz Bits and Kraft Caramels were so long gone. Thank goodness it dawned on me to take a photo. Mama got a fried oyster po'boy, Kay got a fried shrimp one. Both cleaned their plates, just like I did--I shared fries with Mama.


Another neat neon sign in the back room of the Acme--we were seated back there which was just fine with us because the air conditioning was holding its own, not like in the front room where the opening door let in warm, humid air every few minutes.


Here's the front room, shot from that door just before I stepped out onto the sidewalk for our walk back.


We made stops by two praline shops, Royal Pralines and New Orleans Praline, to get Mama a sweet tidbit at both stores. She'd said no to the bread pudding at the Acme Oyster House but couldn't turn down the thoughts of sugar and pecans. No photos of that, though.

Saw these looking in store windows on the walk back to the hotel.








Guess where we planned to go the next morning!




Here's the photo that I wanted you to see, in relation to the day time one I put earlier in this post.


Back at the hotel after some fine time together, walking along Royal mostly, enjoying being with each other and with Kay. All of us looked forward to a good night's rest.