Best Beans EVAH!

I've always liked the Louisiana tradition of serving beans on a Monday, a throwback to the days when the Monday was washday, and there was little time to fuss over dinner preparations. (Sounds like a plan to me!) Even though everyday is washday around here, I like having a standard fare on the first night of the workweek (school week), a night when Kevin's homework could be a little heavy. There's not much thought involved with beans...just pick up pickled pork, sausage, and either red or white (great northern) beans and throw it all in the pot of water with onion, Tony Chachere's, garlic powder, and a few bay leaves. It couldn't be easier.

But tonight's beans were special! Brendan offered to grill the sausage, and once those smoky links were added, the aroma from the pot was heavenly. I think he's got a new job on Monday afternoons.

Craigslist

I sold my first item on the New Orleans Craigslist a few weeks ago. Since then, these items are no longer in my house and yard:





The really fun part was getting rid of the wooden gym set. One guy called and asked, "Let me get this right. I am going to come and haul off your old gym set and you want ME to pay YOU $75 to do it?!" "Yep."

It DID come with a brand new never-used plastic wave slide! Anyway, I graciously reduced the price to $60, as the fellow who came to take it off had to completely disassemble it to get it out of the yard through the gate. He was a pro and had it done in mere minutes. (And all I could think about was how many weekends it took for us to put the thing together!)

Hmmm...if you sit still too long at my house, I might snap a photo and list your butt. That's a warning!

The Circus

I had never been to the circus! So, when a big top sprung up during the night in the Zephyr's stadium parking lot, and Kevin asked about it on his way to school, I thought it might be a good idea.

WRONG! What was I thinking?! We had a high of 96 and the circus tent was not air conditioned. It was soooooo freaking HOT. Can you just imagine how nice the camels, elephants, and ponies smelled...never mind Julie, Kevin and I! And it is such a racket! At the ticket booth, the Russian lady who took our money, and later performed a gymnastic balancing act, asked if we wanted the regular, reserved, or VIP seats.

"What's the difference?"

"Chairs or bleachers."

"Bleachers sound fine. Two adults and one child please."

We enter the tent with our regular priced tickets to find a tiny set of bleachers set back in one sweltering corner of the big top. The rest of the huge tent were reserved and VIP seating! Immediately we pay for "upgrades" and make our way to the reserved section. Then it got really funny. It was around 4:00 on a Friday afternoon and the place was practically empty. But we couldn't just sit anywhere in the reserved section. Oh no. We had to sit in our numbered seats...right next to another sweating family of four, with hundreds of empty seats all around us. "Good grief, I need air!"

We settled into our seats with icy drinks bought from the concession trailer outside the tent. (Aha! It was starting to make sense that the place wasn't air-conditioned.) Then, a few minutes before showtime, they trotted the ponies and camel out of the ring where they had been selling rides, and it began. Well, let me tell you, Kevin enjoyed it all...all the animals, all the stunts. He was intrigued by everything. There were crazy motorcycles racing around a metal sphere, an "educated" mule, puppies that did tricks, an amazing high-wire troupe (whose youngest member was only 10 years old!), a juggling act, clowns, camels, gymnastic and balancing acts, and three cute old circus elephants. The expression on Kevin's face, when the guy shot out of the cannon in the finale, was priceless.

At least I can say I've been to the circus now. And that excuses me from ever having to go again!

T. D. V. F. D.

This is amazing. Seems like it was only a few years ago that we were taking two little boys to ride the fire trucks on the 4th of July...and this was one of them! Now he is going to be riding the fire truck as a district volunteer, hopefully readying for a career on the NOFD!

Every Independence Day, the 3rd District offers fire truck rides in the neighborhood, and every year the lines get longer. Thank goodness for the boy scouts who hand out complimentary snoballs to the melting masses!

Beachy Keen

Whew! It's exhausting playing at the beach and in the pool ALL DAY FOR A WEEK! LOL!

The kids went nonstop, savoring every minute of playtime, taking time out only to eat. Kevin takes a short break and dries off before lunch.



Then it's back out to play. Two of the "three musketeers" pose on the steps leading up to our porch.



Many of the kids learned to SURF and it looked like so much FUN!



Ahhh...I'm missing the place already.

Save Money, Live Better

Brendan got a job...at WalMart! He had us in stitches telling us about it. It's a brand new store (opening end of June) and I can just imagine the application pool in these parts, so when they saw a well-spoken graduate of an area private school, they jumped all over him. He was interviewed by one person, who called in another person, who called in the store manager, and he was offered the job as assistant grocery department manager! He has since declined the management position, but will take another position in the store while waiting for the next NOFD recruit class.

He decided on the New Orleans fire department because they will work around school schedules. He can get an associates degree in fire science at the community college. THEN, after 3 years on NOFD, they will pay 70% of his tuition to Tulane. Then who knows...maybe fire chief! LOL!

He's the real schemer in this family. Always a plan. He joined the volunteer fire department down the street for the experience and the possibility that he could land one of the paying positions as a second job sometime in the future! His mind never stops. It wears me out trying to keep up with what he's got going!

Nassau, Bahamas

Paradise! In fact, our hotel was located on Paradise Island! Palm trees, white sand beaches, and the turquoise blue Caribbean. Our room looked down on one of over a dozen pools.

The view from our balcony:



The grounds were impeccably landscaped with water features holding plants and creatures (sharks, stingrays, etc.)! The water lilies were gorgeous:



We toured the city area and I saw it all through the lens of my camera and the tinted window of a bouncing bus. It appears that there are no speed limits, simply " suggestions"! Any photos captured are considered lagniappe!

Conch fritters and conch salad are two of the island's regional specialties. See the shells on the table behind this vendor? They give us the main ingredient for those dishes. :)



A church with attached grave yard:



The original church building of St. Francis Cathedral...I think?



I spotted this derelict building on the way in from the airport and had to seek it out to photograph. Love all the tropical color and, of course, the character of its worn exterior.



Just a shuttered window on a cement building...



I'm going to miss this place!