== == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ==
3. ON A PERSONAL NOTE:
== == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ==
This was Mardi Gras madness month. First event for us was my luncheon at Galatoire's on the Friday before Mardi Gras. To gain a table downstairs on this day, one needed to hire someone to hold your place in line for two days. Cost about that of a Super Bowl ticket. But we had the same food upstairs for our luncheon. We were nestled between the nubile Ladies of Hermes and the ladies of Iris in a jam-packed room where somehow the shrimp remoulade and trout almandine got served to everyone eventually. One of the ladies of Hermes asked my name and I discovered that Kathy Hornsby, a friend from Del's Northwestern Mutual days, was a member of the krewe. Look for a photo of us wrapped in her purple, green, and gold feather boa.
Galatoire's was the first of several parties for me that Friday. The second was the pre-party at a friend's on Broadway where everyone meets before our krewe heads to the streetcar barn. This year, thanks to a generous offer from Doris Richards, Del’s mom, we drove to the Ball in a stretch limousine, first picking up Ann and Cordell. After the pre-party our limo took the royal court to the next party at the streetcar barn from which we embarked on the Royal Streetcar to the Winter Palace. We marched the last two blocks led by bagpipers and flambeaux carriers. At the Ball Arthur met his Guinevere and general gala and merriment proceeded to the music and singing of the New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot orchestra till midnight at which time we proceeded back to Broadway for the post-party before heading for home.
After a couple of days rest, it was time for Mardi Gras day itself. The weather cleared up after a rainy few days and we decided to head downtown New Orleans via the ferry as is our wont. We walked through the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, then down to Jackson Square and took in all the sights, before heading for a spot on Canal Street to catch the entire Rex parade. The sights that I recorded for the day can be seen, with some discreet editing, at:
http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAN27RmzbuWrGug
We had our good friends Renee and Burt Lattimore over for some seafood gumbo one night. The side dishes were shrimp potato salad, baked yams, and brussels sprouts. From the leftover sprouts, I made some soup later in the week. See recipe for doing this in an upcoming recipe in the Good Mountain Digest pages. 
Another big event happened on Saturday after a few more days rest: the Superintendent’s Conference which was led by our oldest daughter, Maureen Bayhi, for the Jefferson Parish School System. Over 130 principals, assistant principals, and staff were present for a day-long adventure in Resilience. Maureen had organized for them a day of totem-making, motto & banner construction, and scavenger hunt with prizes for the best teams. The room stayed abuzz with activity from the seven teams all day. The tribes of the Aka Aka, the Maka Hana, the Ike Papulua, the Ohana, the Hano Hano, the Ku’oko’a, and the Kahana were each gaily decorated with their colored bandanas and each represented one of the seven aspects of Resilience, but each had to learn all seven aspects in order to make it through the day. Perhaps no greater challenge came for them than the Scavenger Hunt which required each tribe to solve riddles, take photos of the answers, and add the photos into a PowerPoint presentation slide show.
On a Sunday morning I noticed that Del had organized all the Warranty & Instruction Sheets for the House that had been jammed into one big expanding file that was overflowing. She put it into a plastic hanging file box with labeled files by categories. I had to sort through some to throw away trash – stuff we don’t have anymore and thus we could discard any written material about. I found instructions for replacing our Delta faucet washers and decided to go immediately to see if I had re-installed my lavatory faucets correctly,according to the instruction sheet, and to determine if it would make a difference. I unbolted the faucet and lifted off the stem and a huge stream of water shot up! I had forgotten to turn off the water to the faucet! Quickly I jammed it back into the slot and held it with my left hand as I turned off the shutoff valve below the sink. Whew! My glasses were all soaked, as were the front of my clothes and the blue Instruction Sheet I was holding.
I quickly looked at the top of the Sheet, and there was
Step 1. TURN OFF THE WATER TO THE FAUCETS.
Of course, I knew that was the correct procedure. I'm being replacing washers in faucets since I was twenty years old and over 45 years of doing so, I had never forgotten to turn off the water first, up until now!
I walked as I was immediately to where Del was standing in her bathroom which is on the other side of the wall from my bath, but requires a walk down the hallway. I handed her the soaking wet blue Instruction Sheet and asked her to read Step 1 aloud. She read it dutifully: “Turn off the water to the faucets.” Then and only then did she really notice me standing there all soaking wet and she started laughing. I left to go back to my bath to dry myself off and when I arrived there I could her voice laughing through the wall. “Alright!” I yelled, “that’s enough!” And by later reports I learned that when she heard me yell at her, she laughed even more, albeit more quietly.
This unexpected turn of events required me to immediately clear off the lavatory top to locate the spring which holds the vital rubber gasket against the turning faucet base. I found the cylindrical gasket quickly, but had to completely move everything away to locate the tiny spring, to no avail. With my lavatory top clear, I began to Bon Ami the marble top to remove 15 years of stains from daily use by me. I noted the vertical piece on the left edge had come unglued from the wall and made a note to buy some glue to reseal it before I put everything back together. I was able to re-use a spring from my earlier replacement of the washers, which I had luckily saved, and after buying some adhesive caulking compound and new caulking gun (which doesn't ooze when you stop pressing on the lever — neat!) I re-caulked the lavatory and bathtubs and it looks really nice.
One of the gifts I received for assisting my daughter with her Supt's Conference was a Starbuck's Gift Card. On the Monday after the conference, I drove to Barnes & Noble to use my Starbucks gift card in the Starbucks coffeeshop there. With impeccable logic, the clerk informed me with disdain — “We’re Barnes & Noble, not Starbucks.” I apologized for my presumption for thinking that I could use a Starbucks Gift Card in a coffee shop with signs saying Starbucks everywhere. I left and drove down to my favorite PJs and got me the double latte and cranberry muffin, I would have ordered at Starbucks, if it had been a real Starbucks. A few days later, Del reminded me of a Starbucks alongside Verizon on Manhattan. Can it be that I will actually get to use this Gift Card yet? I wondered.
My hopes for a successful utilization of the Starbucks Gift Card were dashed by an extraordinary series of events which sent me back to PJs once more. I went sheepishly up to the counter and asked, "Do you take this Starbucks Gift Card?" The clerk looked at me with disdain for asking such a foolish question and said, "Yes, of course." So I boldly ordered a double latte and a cranberry muffin and I hit my first ominous snag, "We don't have a cranberry muffin, only a cranberry-orange muffin." Okay, I thought, how bad can that be, so I said, "I'll take it." I paid with my card and she rang up $5.60 (60 cents more than at PJs)and I gave her an extra dollar and said, "Keep the change."
Can anyone tell me why it is that whenever I give someone a tip in advance of them providing me a service, they fall flat on their face and I want my tip back. Now, I've never asked for a tip back during those frequent circumstances, but I was sorely tempted on this day, which was not over yet, believe me. Starbucks had a plan for me.
I received my cranberry muffin with the superfluous orange flavoring in it and asked the Robo-Clerk, "Where is your microwave to heat my muffin?" She looked at me with that disdainful look again which surely they must teach her in a Starbucks training class, and said almost joyfully, "We don't have a microwave oven." As she wandered away from my dazed look at the counter, I muttered, “I suppose I could always eat it cold, or maybe drive down to PJs to heat it in their microwave.”” I doubt she was interested enough in me as a customer or a person to have bothered to listen to my words, so I took my adulterated cranberry muffin and gnoshed on it at a table where I could watch the other SB-clerk prepare my latte. There was at the time only one other customer in the place and three people working there, so far as I saw while I waited for the order I had already paid for and tipped for to become ready. I ate slowly and awaited whatever surprise the Sons of Starbucks had in store for me.
About halfway through my orange-mush muffin, I noticed that the clerk was having a nice long conversation with the one customer in front of her counter as she, hidden from my sight, was perhaps fixing some coffee concoction behind the counter. Meanwhile I noticed Robo-clerk walk past behind the counter to the backroom. And another employee walk out of the backroom. Still no latte materialized. With trepidation, I began, even more slowly to nibble at the second half of my insipid muffin. I was nearly on the last bite when one paper cup of Starbucks beverage appeared from behind the counter and was set on the top. Hooray, I thought, prematurely, my latte will be next.
My hopes were dashed as the conversation continued in earnest and apparently the clerk behind the counter was doing something with her hands. Another beverage, perhaps, mine? I thought. But the customer didn’t leave, and their conversation resumed where they left. By this time, I was wishing I had sat close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation to while away the time. Suddenly Robo-clerk appeared from the bowels of the back room and I caught her eye and asked, “Is she fixing my latte?” Once more the look of disdain accompanied a tone of don’t-bother-me, and she answered with a complete sentence, “Yes.”
I watched as a second beverage appeared from behind the mysterious counter and the one customer who had consumed the time of all of the active employees of this Starbucks for some 15 minutes walked away from the counter. I looked and waited. No sounds from the behind the counter. No “Your latte is coming up, Sir.” Dead silence. Not a creature was stirring. Not even the mousy Robo-clerk.
I made an executive decision. I walked out of the store. I walked past the counter from behind where the clerk was perhaps doing something with her hands. I walked past the now abandoned cash register which contained my Starbucks Gift Card for $5 and my 40 cents tip. I walked past the Starbucks Beans in the kiosks. I opened the door — and just at that moment, the clerk says something in a weak voice that I could scarcely hear, “Your latte is ready.” The door closed behind. I walked to my car. I got into my car. I drove to PJs for a latte.
Only nice thing about this whole experience is knowing that the more Starbucks Gift Cards that people give away, the more business PJs Coffeeshops will receive.
On February 17th I gave my lecture on the Two Jesus Children at a local club I belong to which has a 100-year tradition of providing lectures by prominent professors and others. This was a subject which most of the people in the room were unfamiliar with, so I needed them to begin "thinking outside of the box" right away.
My approach was to warm up the crowd with a couple of Sufi stories. Since most wouldn't know who Sufis are, I brought along a brass statuette of Nasruddin on his back-to-front donkey, and told them the story:
Nasruddin was invited to go horseback riding at a fancy riding club. When he
arrived, all the club members were sitting on fine Arabian stallions and all
that was left was a small donkey. Nasruddin quickly hopped on the donkey facing
its rear end and holding its tail, ready to ride. One of the members came over,
looked down on Naruddin and said,
"Perhaps you are unaccustomed to the riding habits of gentlemen?"
Nasruddin looked up with his enigmatic smile and said, "Perhaps you thought I
wouldn't notice that you stuck me with a back-to-front donkey?"
Then this one:
Nasruddin was named Judge for a Day, an honor that brought with it the chance to
hear real cases. When the first case was brought before him, the prosecutor
detailed the crimes of the defendant eloquently and when he was done Nasruddin
proclaimed, "I do believe you are right!"
The bailiff leaned over and whispered into Nasruddin's ear, "But Judge you
haven't heard the defense's side of the case." So Nasruddin called the defense
to the bar. The defense attorney pleaded the innocence of his client in the
matter with equal eloquence and when he was done, Nasruddin proclaimed, "I do
believe you are right!"
The bailiff said, "But Judge, they can't BOTH be right!"
Nasruddin looked at the bailiff and said, "I do believe you are right!"
[To me, the bailiff sounds like the theologians of today who don't understand how it is that both Christmas stories are right.]
Next I told the famous one about the lost key which Nasruddin is under the
streetlight searching for. His friend comes to help him and finally asks,
"Nasruddin, exactly where did you drop the key?"
"In the house," Nasruddin replies and keeps looking around on the ground.
"If you lost it in the house, why are we
looking out in the street?" his friend asks incredulously.
"Because there is more light out here," Nasruddin replies.
So, to find the key to this "obscure tradition of two Jesus children," we are
going to have to go into the darkness of the house and bring some light into the
obscurity.
That was my start. From there I read the Matthew and Luke version of the Christmas stories, a passage from clip from Steiner's Gospel of St. Luke, and the Ovason review with its art history images comprising the PowerPoint
slide show. See blurb on review of Ovason's book below.
The next night we went to the German American Cultural Center on Huey P. Long Avenue in Gretna, a few miles down the road from us, and watched "Good Bye, Lenin". Del thought Lenin was spelled with two n's, but I said, "No, this is the Commie from Russia spelled Lenin, not the one from Britain spelled Lennon." See my movie blurb further down in this Digest. We also met a young German film maker from Berlin, Julia Dorn-Buckler, who has recently settled in New Orleans. Her short filmm, East by East-West documents interviews of people in Berlin after the Wall came down. Her DVD wouldn't work on the DVD player due to some "Area-Limitation" because it was made on her German laptop and needs some kind of translation of format to play on US DVD players. We hope to see it later during the next German film in the series.
And the next night we were back at the GACC because Ellen C. Merrill was discussing the very book my daughter Maureen had given me for Christmas this year, "Germans of Louisiana", and which I had begun reading a short while ago. Look for a review of it in coming months.
The last weekend of the month was a busy one also. Friday night was my occasional poker night with the guys preceded by an excellent dinner. On Saturday we were invited to a Day at the Races by friends Jim and Gail Webb and we had a great time. Took photos of us with the Rolls-Royces parked near entrance. It was the Delta RR Club day at the Fairgrounds Race Track. I bet on Jaguar Girl to win the Rolls-Royce race and she paid 13.20 on a $2 bet — that enabled to me to break even for the day at the window while coming out far ahead in the fun and companionship. Mike and Wendy Jamison joined us there and the six of us had a great time. On Sunday we went to a crawfish boil, first of the season, at Fil and Sandra Tranchina’s. Great crawfish and great folks there, including an old schoolmate from Westwego High School, Tony Zimmerman, and his wife, Joan.
A short month long on activities and fun — that’s New Orleans in February. My newly planted Lombardy Poplars are sprouting, our bromeliads are flowering, our azaleas blooming, signs of redbud flowers are showing and we can’t wait to get into our garden. The mulch mound will be plowed under in a few weeks and the round garden will be replaced by an elongated garden across the back yard with a small water pond in the middle. Till next month, may your month of March be merry and the luck of the Irish be with you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Shall We Dance?” (1995, 2004) Two wonderful movies which came in from Netflix.com on the same night. Which one shall we dance with first? I had no idea that these two were identical movies: the 1995 one made in Japan with subtitles, and the 2004 in Hollywood with Richard Gere, now no longer an officer, but always a gentleman. The hero of these twin movies is a gentle man who is embarrassed by his new found love of ballroom dancing (dancing together touching each other is considered weird to Japanese) triggered by a pensive female standing in the window of a dancing studio each night as the staid accountant takes the commuter train home from his unexciting desk job. We chose the Japanese one to view first and it will always remain a hauntingly beautiful look at a man’s recovery of his anima through the medium of dance. If you look at these two in quick succession, you will be able to experience the deep differences between Japanese and American culture — it comes in a wordless way — things spoken about in the US version remain tacit in the Japan version. These are both hits – your choice comes in which one to view first. 
“Tortilla Soup” (2001) is a palette pleaser at every gustatory and sensory level imaginable. Hold your shiny crystal glasses high, ding them together, give a rousing cheer, smell the fragrance of the wine in the glass, and drink deep draughts of this movie till the last drop — it will hold its delicious flavor. Do NOT watch this movie on an empty stomach — every scene is full of culinary delights that will moisten your taste buds with anticipation. The story of the fifteen year widowed Latino Chef and his three daughters he’s raised is a bunch of energy, verve, and maturation at all levels. Even a clownish imitation of a grown woman by Rachal Welch cannot taint in the least the bounty of this marvelous movie. [
“The Notebook” (2004) A tour de force for James Garner and Gena Rowlands. Garner visits a lady in a nursing home who has lost all her memories and reads her stories each day. Actually one long story that we discover is being read from a notebook. We watch as this love story unfolds and memory begins to gleam in her eyes as the story seems familiar. Will she remember who she is with the aid of the story? Will she remember her husband and her children? Will she be reunited with her husband at the end of the story? You might very well think so, but I’d rather let you find out by enjoying this marvelous movie. 
“Bon Voyage” (2003) A marvelous look behind the scenes of the French abdication of Paris for Bordeaux and points South during WWII through the eyes of a young man who was a childhood sweetheart of a famous French actress. Mix in a physicist who has large jars of the world’s only heavy water necessary to make an atom bomb which must be kept out of the German’s hands, a German spy masquerading as a newspaperman (Peter Coyote), and a French minister (George Depardieu) infatuated with the actress and you get a high-energy film which will hold you to the end. 
Mushroom-Leeks Soup
A friend wrote me this month about the Kyoto Accord and I must say that I was totally in accord with his opinion that the USA should stay out of the Kyoto Accord. Thank God, we have a president who agrees with that position. Here's correspondance excerpted from our emails.
— wouln't you say? So, how did they strive to redeem themselves for their grossly bad
behavior to Velikovsky? Did they invite him to the AAAS meeting to say "We're sorry"?
No, the AASES invited him and kept him till last on the podium after a long series of
establishment scientists BLASTED Velikovsky and his theories and then and only then
they let the frail, aging scientist on the podium — note this: ALL the media covering the
AAAS had long left the premises! So only words in the press about the event were
negative to Velikovsky. What a shabby treatment from the AASES! And yet, get this: EVERY ONE of
Velikovsky's 26 predictions made in "Worlds in Collision" has since been proven true!
Radio emissions from Jupiter. Noble gases in the surface of the Moon. are two I recall
offhand in addition to the temperature and atmospheric makeup of Venus.
which ran in an elliptical orbit which came in near collisions with Earth every 50 years
or so till the time of Exodus when it came close enough to fill Earth's atmosphere with
its hydrocarbonic gaseous and block out the Sun for 40 years. Plasma discharges
between Venus and the Earth caused the "pillars of fire" in the desert. The huge hydrocarbonic clouds which winded sinuously across the Earth's atmosphere seemed to be chasing the bright orb of Venus like a dragon with a pearl in its mouth. Mana came from
microbes in the Earth's atmosphere who thrived in the Sunlight upper atmosphere and
converted the hydrocarbons into carbohydrates which fed the otherwise starving
populace of the people below.
