THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

It was quite a week, all around.

Monday Gerald, AKA RB (Rat Bastard) retired.

Tuesday Mr. Tom and Keith and Chris stopped by after attending Mr. Brain's wake. We sat and talked for several hours over pizza. It was a nice, relaxing evening. And great to see such good friends again.

Then Wednesday was Brian's funeral. After a rough start I did finish the homily, but I had to read it. It's a good thing I had written it out instead of using an outline like I usually do.

Thursday was Big J's last day. He, too, has accepted the gold watch, so to speak.

Friday evening, after struggling for about 10 hours over a 3-hour take home exam I emailed that in. Friday evening the family all came over and had a cook-out, with hamburgers and hot dogs. Hat tip and many thanks to Major Dad for doing the cooking while I worked on that exam. Friday evening also, H1/DIL1 arrived from Houston. YAY!!!

Saturday was GG (Ghetto Grandma (that's another story)) and my 39th anniversary. H2/H2GF had to work, but H1/DIL1, GG and I took a ride out to Pontachatoula. We started with a late breakfast at Common Ground (a coffee shop/restaurant) in Gretna. We went West on River Road out to the 310 bridge then crossed over the Mississippi to Airline Highway and continued West past La Place, St. Rose and other little towns to Sonoma where Airline connected with Hwy 22. Taking Hwy 22 East, we meandered along a little river back through Maurepaus, Tickfaw and some other towns until we got to Ponchatoula where we met KenEllie at Paul's Cafe for a late lunch, capped off with some outSTANDING strawberry daquiris!! The proprietor of Paul's (that would be Paul) gave us a bottle of New Orleans Rum as an (unexpected) anniversary gift. After a short bit of shopping in Ponchatoula, it was back home again. Then the whole family except for Major Dad and Molly got together for dinner at Eastern.

Sunday Major Dad gave us our anniversary present. It was the BEST! He cut down the neighbor's tree branches that have been growing over our fence and laying on the roof of our shed and dangling over the pool. What a great present!!! H1/DIL1 had to go back to Houston, so we sent them off with lunch, once again at Common Ground, along with DLG, Ian, BB and Molly. The evening was capped off, we thought, with Mass at Christ the King, then we met Major Dad and family at Coldstone Creamery for ice cream. After that it was home to rest, relax, watch a tv show and get ready for work. Whew!! But wait! What's that on H2GF's finger? It looks like H2 has "marked his spot"!! "It's a start", he said, "a 'PROMISE' ring". So the commitment process has begun. Stay tuned for round two.

Love to all. Take care and God bless!!!