Sunday, November 13th

Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've gotten up at 5AM, left the hotel at 6:15 and driven to a parking lot where you boarded a bus with 37 women, two children and you, and drove for 3 1/2 hours to the Tennessee state fairgrounds in Nashville to attend a merchant fair (kind of like a craft fair, but less crafty). The only other guy was the driver. Six hours later you reboard the bus and head back to Memphis, with a stop along the way for dinner at a Cracker Barrel restaurant, returning to the hotel at 10:30PM. Just to make the woman you love happy.

Next comes the Covington Craft Fair. I guess I'll be going to that one, too, if it's still on. It's an annual craft show at the fair grounds in Covington, LA on the North shore of Lake Pontchartrain. It's held the first weekend in December every year, so we kind of go for Linda's birthday. I know she wants to go this year, and our daughter is looking forward to going also.

Our friend Gerald was supposed to go home to NOLA for the wedding of the daughter of a friend. Well around 3AM he loaded up his car with all his belongings, including his computer and dirty laundry and went back to his room to rest for a few minutes. He fell asleep and when he got up he discovered that his car, along with two others had been broken into and everything had been taken, including the laundry! He didn't make it back to NOLA this weekend.

Spoke with Fr. John today. He wanted to know when I'll be back, for good. I had to disappoint him and say we still don't know, although March is the target still. I did promise to do the preaching Thanksgiving weekend before returning back to Memphis. One more reason to want to get back home is the Holy Name of Mary family. Linda and I would like to be there to help them rebuild.

Weather the last couple of days has been really nice again. Lows in upper 50s and the highs in mid to upper 70s. Sunny. The next couple of days predict 40 - 50% chance of rain. Still it's nice weather is anyone is inclined to visit. Hint.. Hint.. Hint. I mean, it's not like we don't have enough rooms for anyone and everyone. We're living in a HOTEL for heaven's sake.

We went to a place called Cozymel's for dinner today. It's a Mexican chain restaurant. Large portions, pretty good menu, but bottom line... the margaritas were Excellente!! If we'd been in NOLA we would most certainly have gotten two more in a go-cup! Here, we had to satisfy ourselves with the one with dinner. Heavy sigh.

That's one thing you may not realize has become such a part of life. The go-cup. Wandering from place to place with whatever beverage of choice in hand. That's definitely not normal here. We had ordered a bottle of wine with dinner at an Olive Garden one day. When we couldn't finish it, we had to ask the waiter what to do with it. He said we could take it with us as long as the restaurant re-corked it and put it into a closed box which they had for such "emergencies". So that's what we did. Not exactly the Big Easy.

As I sign off tonight, I wish you all the best. Take care and God bless!

Dean