On the first day of the month, we got our two Dish Network receivers and dish installed at Timberlane by two young men from Gonzales who work as a contractor for Dish Network. Very competent at installing. They should have called me for instructions instead of using Mapquest directions which got them completely lost. Mapquest provides this service to us at no extra charge. The installers were able to put the dish right outside the Timberlane Screening Room and run it directly to the distribution panel inside. For a few extra dollars a month we now have a backup for Cox Cable if their land lines go down in a thunderstorm.
Del and I took Buster and Emily with us to the 2005 CODOFIL Déjeuner de Noël organized by
President JB Borel of the Les Amis de CODOFIL, Rive Ouest. The Friends of CODOFIL, West Bank also held their Christmas Party at the Four Columns in Harvey. CODOFIL is the Council-of-Development-of-French-speaking-in-Louisiana, and Barbara Turner gave an eloquent talk about the contributions of Cajuns to Louisiana life and culture over the centuries. She quoted one Cajun man as saying after Hurricane Katrina,"All we want is the government to leave us alone to rebuild our lives." This has been the attitude for most Cajuns who, even in their original home in Acadia, only wanted to live in peace. After 
250 years of living in South Louisiana, the Cajuns are thriving in the lowlands and marshes and ignore those who would have them live on higher land or away from their beloved coast-lands. Anyone who wishes to see the photos I took of the event can click here and request to view a slideshow or order prints of the photos: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Abt2jNm3ctWUY
We played cards at Timberlane with JB Borel, Daddy, Emily, Paul, and Joyce. Del fed us with DiMartino’s Po Boys and Shrimp Potato Salad. After the game was over, I relaxed for awhile and then watched the LSU-Georgia game. Texas and USC had both won big, so there was no more mountain to climb and the Tigers were flat, as flat as we’ve seen them this year. Russell got injured and knocked out of the game. Russell looked sloppy and out of control all day. He sat out the fourth quarter. Should have sat out the whole game and we might have won the game instead of losing ignominiously. Matt Flynn came in and scored a TD. He looked all the world like Matt Mauch when he came in to replace Marcus Randall in the Georgia game and never gave up the controls from the rest of his career.
On Sunday we usually watch Hour of Power before heading to High Mass at St. Joseph’s Church. This Sunday it was the younger Robert A. Schuller talking about Dick Parker who flew P-47s during WWII, 101 missions over Germany. Last time he visited him, as he was leaving, Dick said, “Bombs Away, Robert!” Robert sensed a deeper meaning in the expression and Dick explained what it meant. On a bombing run, the pilot is in control until they approach the target at which time the controls are passed to the bombardier, who controls the altitude, speed, and position to line up to drop the bombs on the target. As soon “Bombs Away” is sounded, the bombs are released, and control is passed back to the pilot, who turns the plane and heads for home. 
Our lives are like that. We are the bombardier taken to our target by our Pilot (our Soul Captain), given control of the plane to accomplish our mission, and then we give controls back to our Pilot, who takes us home. Beautiful metaphor and an excellent application of it in Robert A. Schuller’s homily.
We met JB Borel at St. Joseph’s and afterward, I drove him in his car to PJs where I bought him a latte and shared my cranberry muffin with him. Then we drove to WV to meet Del and Doris, Stoney, Sue, and Sam for lunch. Well, the kitchen staff had dropped the ball and we had to drive to Bennigan’s Restaurant nearby on De Gaulle which had just opened. Got a table for seven –Stoney stood in line for us then called us. Del and I had our French onion soup and Caesars’ Salad. Doris and JB had the Monte Cristo Sandwich and ended up taking half of it home. We came home and hung up our Christmas lights outside, taking advantage of the sultry weather to do so. Web lights over the Indian Hawthorne and string lights wound around the four columns. Later that evening we drove to our club for hamburgers and a movie. I managed a grill cheese sandwich and some mushrooms for my dinner. The movie was a classic Capra film, “You Can’t Take It With You” (1938). (I marveled at how easy it was to set up a DVD projector these days and how silent it was compared to the old 16 mm Projectors of the last century. Truthfully, the days of the silent movies were very noisy.)
Three times during the course of the past two months I had to spend a day at our Hagan fourplex with plumbers and cleaners. Each day was the coldest day of the year to date. The second time came early in December and the temperature was in the low 50s with a brisk wind blowing down the driveway where a lot of the plumbing work had to be done. Also got a couple of ladies to clean the downstairs apartments 
on the same day. By the end of the day we were ready for the gas to be turned on. When I left Hagan in the afternoon, I passed by Terranova’s Supermarket which was due to re-open this month. Karen Terranova was behind the cash register and told me this was their Grand Re-Opening Day! I missed the champagne and mimosas , but some cookies were left. I noticed Jack’s Cookies is now making Stage Planks again. She gave me one. I then bought a half gallon of milk and a full box of Stage Planks. Wanted the milk to drink with my stage plank and some fresh ones for my duck hunting buddies in Alexandria, Wes and Oday.
Karen told me, “Jennifer was behind the counter during the TV taping. Watch WDSU tonight for the coverage.” Anthony and his grandfather Anthony were behind the meat display case in the butcher area in the back of the store. I said Hi to them. Karen thought at first that I was Jennifer’s uncle instead of her Grandpa. It was a joy to listen to the folks in line expressing their gratitude that Terrranova’s was open again in the Fauborg St. John. That night we watched WDSU news and saw the coverage including glimpses of Jennifer. Before the month is over, Jennifer would become engaged to be married to Anthony Terranova, the newest generation in the Terranova clan to work in the supermarket which has been around for over 70 years. The engagement proposal will take place in front of three generations of Terranovas and me and Del right over the supermarket.
We met our good friends Mark Parker, Ruth Ryan, and Ted Graham at the re-opened Marigny Brasserie on Frenchmen and Royal for Sunday Brunch and we were serenaded by the Pfister Sisters as we told tales of our Katrina Odysseys and Aftermath. We got a laugh from Ruth and Ted's Xmas card, which was taken as they tore out walls from their inundated house near the lakefront. (See above.)
We got out over a hundred Christmas cards this year (See Snow Oranges Card). Figured it was our way to remind people that Christ is the Reason for the Season we send Greeting outs during. We ensured that all our cards contained the greeting, “Merry Christmas”. Note: Xmas is a valid name for Christmas as the X is the letter "Chi" from the first letter of Christ in Greek. Del had some problem printing out labels for the envelopes using our contact manager data base called ACT2000. The email she sent me is full of double meanings which I hope you will also enjoy. I laughed out loud when I read it.
To my Computer Specialist and Best Friend-
Attached are the instructions telling us how to ACT with regard to
Labels. Generally I prefer not to be labeled, but I've never had
instructions on how to act when that occurs, up until now.
Love, Deli
We bought our Christmas Tree, a Frazer Fir as usual, but not without some searching — stocks of select trees were scarce and at a premium price this year. We found one the right height for $70 that Del liked and so did I. We put it in the stand and added the lights the first night. We had it all decorated by the time the 17th arrived with Kim, John, Stoney, and Maureen coming over with families for our Christmas present exchange and party.
Before that party, I had another frigid day at Hagan to supervise the installation of four hot water heaters. Then began the dance to get some actual gas to the fourplex from the street. I called Entergy and they sent a man out — no gas to building from the main. My neighbor on one side has gas, on the other side, none, but next to him everyone else down the block had gas. Apparently he and I were at the end of a gas line which was the low spot and filled with water. Several calls and trips to Hagan with no result were followed by a call from our one upstairs tenant to say they had heat! I drove over to view their gas heater glowing away! It had been difficult for me to enjoy a hot shower at Timberlane knowing that our tenants were unable to have hot water in their shower. Luckily they have been working most of the time in Grand Isle on a ship until after Jan. 1, 2006. 
This month Del began studying with an RCIA group and asked me to come along. At the completion of our studies she will receive the sacrament of Confirmation in the Catholic Church, something that has been delayed some 45 years due to her father’s leaving the Church after she was baptized but before she was confirmed. Vera Macalusa leads the group and is doing a fine job covering the tenets of the Catholic church while offering points to ponder and asking for input from the group.
On December 17 we had our offspring and their children over to exchange gifts for our family Christmas party. Maureen, Steve, and Gabe came followed by Stoney and Sue, then Sam with the Gralapps, John, then Denise and the nephew, Randy, with their two children Brandon and Brook. A cute little boy and girl who loved the 38 Roadster pedal car and played with it a lot. Kyle also got in it and drove it around. I was glad I had recently reconstructed the broken plastic steering with metal braces.
As soon as Kim arrived, she and Del went to pick up Doris at WV. Needed the step chair to get her into the Yukon. I took Wes outside to pick a navel orange he chose. It wasn’t the easiest one, but I finally got it down with my pole with the slanted nail on it. As we opened the presents, I took Wes into the bathroom to show him how to use a shaving brush with the soap mug we gave him. His brush didn’t come in, but I told him I’d bring it up on Jan 5 and 6 when we go duck hunting in Alexandria. His duck report said everyone got their limit on the day after the split of the season. Cold weather must be driving the ducks down South to us. Could be a banner year for duck hunters.
The kids went outside to play Bocce Ball. Gabe asked me for the Bocce set. I looked at him and reminded him of how it took me a year to find the large red ball he lost in the yard the last time I let him play with the set. I made him promise me to be personally responsible for picking up the set, counting all the balls, and replacing the set where it is stored. Later, after they had all gone, I was able confirm that Gabe followed his promise to me to the letter. Sam and Weslee, our two teenage boys, played football outside until the drizzle started. When it started to rain, the kids came back inside and amused themselves in the hallway. Was great to have them all here. As they get bigger, the house and yard seems to get smaller. A great time was had by all.
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One night we went to a Christmas party and Joan and Tony Zimmerman's home. It included an outdoor fire for marshmallows, carol singing, and our good friends, Sandra and Fil Tranchina and their daughter Tiffany. 
Worked on completing my review of “The Genius of Language” one morning. Gave it to Del to copy edit and drove to Hagan because the NO Entergy Gas men were there. The first one I saw was wearing a Santa’s cap. “Ho, ho, ho” I cried out when I saw him. “Are you bringing me a bag of coal or, I hope, some natural gas? If so, you’re answering my Christmas wish.” I told him what I wanted done, then recorded the meter no. for one apartment and delivered the bottle of wine and the replacement keys to another. We had attached an old fishing cork to the new keys since the old ones had been dropped into the water offshore where our tenants have been working recently. Got to meet Mark from Pennsylvania who is working with Trevor and Hilary on Grand Isle. Hilary said, “Meet Mark, the one who dropped the keys in the water.” They had a good laugh as they saw the cork on the keys. Mark had actually fished out the old keys from the water later. By the end of the day, the gas was connected and I drove back over to see the gas heater pouring out heat in Hilary’s apartment. She reported that the new gas hot water heater had fired up just fine, and she was waiting for the hot water to warm up so she could take her first hot shower since Katrina. One more step in our return to NOrmalcy. Later we got dressed and went to Arthur Lawson’s party. He’s the new Police Chief of Gretna. Got to talk to Ronnie Harris for a few minutes. The food was great. Told Del how ironic it was that we live in a city where the only person in the administration we know is the Mayor!
Christmas Eve was a busy day for us. First we took Del’s mom, Doris, with us to Bennigan’s for lunch. While we were eating I noticed that the New Orleans Saints football team was playing on TV. When we got back home, I watched the last quarter of the game which they heroically lost in the last moments on the strength of their famous
and dependable “field-goal-offense”, 13 to 12. Got a call from our friend JB Borel who told me he had just gotten home from Meadowcrest Hospital where he spent a week as they removed fluid from his lungs. He was recuperating and didn’t want any visitors for awhile, but several days after Christmas I took him some seafood gumbo. He had called to ask us to pick him up for Sunday mass on New Year’s Day as he was taking medication and unable to drive for a couple of weeks. My brother Kevin returned my phone call to inquire about his plans for Christmas Eve. He was having a quiet at-home celebration with his new lady, Vickie, and her daughter, Tessa, and son, Travis. We drove by his house for a visit before heading to Daddy and Emily’s for our Matherne Christmas gathering. Things were a bit unsettling with Emily upset at Kevin and Debbie’s separation just a week or so before Christmas. Things brightened when I began taking photos of the four sisters-in-law who are now all 60 years old. Hard to believe it’s been ten years since we had our famous serial birthday dinners for the four Golden Girls as I call them. We band of brothers, Bobby, Paul, Steve, and David, ended up married to four women whose birthdays are all within 6 months of each other, Del, Joyce, Janice, and Barbara. This was the first time all four gals had been together since they all turned 60, so far as I can recall, so it was photograph time! We left there to attend Midnight Mass at St. Joseph’s Church in Gretna, and arrived home to hit the sack about 2 AM — an unusually late night for me and Del — but a fitting cap for a very enjoyable day.
If the Eve of Christmas was busy for us, it was outdone by the Day of Christmas. We opened our presents in the early morning hours, just the two of us, and then drove to Del’s mom’s place to spend some time with her as she opened some last minute gifts. Then we drove to Maureen’s house on Marcie for a short visit which got elongated by an unexpected boon. Jennifer was there with her cute Shitzu puppy given her by her boyfriend, Anthony. She left for his house for their family Christmas. As we began to leave to drive to Baton Rouge, Maureen invited us to come with them to the Terranova’s house because it was rumored that Anthony was going to spring a surprise engagement proposal and ring on Jennifer there around noon. The surprise was complicated by the fact that he’d placed a large ad in the Times-Picayune Classifieds and people were calling Jennifer on her cell phone which Anthony had taken away from her.
We drove Maureen, Steve, and his mom, Jane to Terranova’s Supermarket. Anthony came down to lead us upstairs to the residence. Anthony gave Jenny another gift and when she opened it, she said, “This is just hand cream. I had to wait in line to buy it, used my own money, and ending up buying my own gift!” Anthony told Jennifer that she needed to read the newspaper to find her next present, but wouldn’t give her a hint as to which section to read. He had been asking her questions and she had been saying “yes” and then she caught sight of the ad with the big heart, saying, “Jennifer, Will you marry me? Anthony” she screamed “YES!” We had a great time with the Terranovas, meeting Anthony’s grandparents, Uncle Blue, Aimee, and others. Aimee made some great crawfish pistolettes which rival those of Steamboat Bill’s in Lake Charles.
Click Here to see the photos I took of this event. You also view a slide show or order prints of the photos: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Abt2jNm3ctWVN
From there we drove to Baton Rouge to son John’s house to visit with his family. Kyle and Collin showed us their Christmas toys which included a curious robot Raptor which has a sensor which detects when a person approaches and makes some raptor-like movements of smelling and teeth-baring. Spooky device. From there we drove home to rest a bit before the last event of the long day, an evening wedding for Tiffany and her John. In an amazing synchronicity, Maureen’s two daughters ended up one getting engaged and one getting married all on the same day, Christmas Day, 2005.
Tiffany’s wedding plans had kept getting delayed for one thing and another, so Maureen told Tiffany, “Go get your marriage license and I’ll call Dad to do the marriage on Christmas Day when everybody’s here anyway.” So, with only a couple of days planning, the wedding got moved to John’s mom’s house. When Del and I arrived at Teva’s around 7 PM, Maureen had baked and iced a wedding cake earlier in the day and they were inserting roses around the base of the cake. No one seemed to be in charge of the wedding, so I began asking for volunteers. Finally Chris’s girl-friend, Carrie, took charge of being Wedding Planner. Suddenly Tiffany’s son, Ben — the ring
bearer — was dressed in the suit that his friend Tyler loaned him. The line up of who went first was complete, the area around the lighted archway at the end of the stepping stone pathway in the garden was cleared, the Tiki torches lit, and the wedding proceeded. The wedding came off with only one hitch: Tiffany and John got hitched. Overall the whole wedding went as smoothly as any I’ve participated in thanks to the quick actions of Carrie. Thanks, Carrie! Thanks also due to Teva for providing her home, and all the other family members who participated in getting the food, the table, the wedding cake, the bouquet, and all the other intricate details together for the celebration of Tiffany and John’s wedding. It was tired and proud Grandparents, Bobby and Del, who drove home Christmas night from a Christmas Day we will long and fondly remember.
Click Here to see the photos I took of this event. You also view a slide show or order prints of the photos: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Abt2jNm3ctWU6
The day after Christmas I cooked a big seafood gumbo with crabs, crawfish, shrimp, and oysters. I had held off cooking till Monday because Del’s brother, Dan, and his wife, Karen, were driving in from Charlotte, NC, for a Christmas visit with us, Doris, and Randy and Cherie, his two children who live locally. The next night we
convened at the Beef Connection, Doris’s favorite restaurant, and dined together on Dick’s birthday. No one mentioned it to Doris, but we were thinking of the head of the Richards’s clan who had died about two years earlier as we enjoyed sumptuous repast
together: Doris, Del and I, Dan and Karen, Cherie, Frank, and Heather. Stoney and Sue had been invited, but Stoney had come down with a bad cold and they were unable to come. Heather is very grown-up ten year old and was a delight to have around. After dinner we came over to Timberlane where my in-laws exchanged gifts with each other and we all enjoyed coffee and cheesecake and visited on the last of our multiple Christmas celebrations of family.
What are you doing New Year’s Eve? We’ll be with some friends wishing everyone of you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2005 was a year of changes and may we all build a new world out of the changes and challenges of 2005 as we move through 2006. May the Christ spirit enter your hearts and fill you and yours will with Love and Wisdom in the New Year.
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Pour whipping cream into mixing bowl and set speed on high. Cover with towel to catch splatter at first. Slowing sprinkle in the confectioners sugar. (Powdered sugar doesn't have cornstarch, so do not use it for best results.)
Monitor consistency of whipped cream by stopping mixer and lifting mixing blades. When cream has a slight peak, it's ready. (If you over-whip, it will turn to butter, so monitor carefully after it begins to thicken slightly. The pre-chilling of the bowl helps prevent this also. )
If the above canned emails don't work on your system, you can send a Subscribe/Unsubscribe request to the address found on this page: http://www.doyletics.com/bobby.htm Please include your first and last name when Subscribing.
The best source at the best price is to order your copies on-line is from the publisher Random House/Xlibris's website above.
“A Box of Moonlight” (1997) John Turturro goes middle-age crazy when he searches for a lake from his childhood and runs into Sam Rockwell who “lives off the grid” and gridlock of John’s up-tight life and who unlocks a “box of moonlight” which holds the key to releasing John from his chains. A DON’T MISS HIT
“Head On” (2004) is a drive head on into a brick wall for the guy and a wrist-slicing for the gal of a couple who find each other in a psycho-ward and she says, by way of introduction of herself, “Marry me.” Knowing he was a Turkish man in Germany was enough to qualify him to be her husband. It was her trip out of the clutches of her family into the arms of other men for sex, other men meaning other than her husband. This is a torturous and tortuous courtship and marriage, but ends individuation for both.
“Two Sisters” (2002) about twin sisters who were separated at five years old when their mother died. The sick one was sent to live in Holland with a rich family and the other one was sent to a farm. A poignant look at how WWII alienated two sisters growing up in war-time Germany and Holland a few hundred miles away from each other. 
Kitchen-Aid Mixer with metal mixing bowl
Those sons of beaches
Our favorite NO radio station, WWOZ, is back in New Orleans in a new studio at the corner of Peters and Decatur overlooking the French Quarter. Sure is good to have them return from the temporary off-site location in Baton Rouge and physically back in New Orleans. Also great to have the DJs looking out on the streets of the French Quarter near the French Market. This is a community-supported radio station which is devoted to the Music of New Orleans and still has Disc Jockeys who select and play their favorite music. A new generation of disc jockeys have replaced my long-time favorites: The Fat Man, Big Mama, and Moose, but the music is evergreen and as good as ever. You can hear Old-time NO Jazz, Funky Blues, Zydeco, Cajun, Swing, Blue Grass, gospel, Brazilian, Caribbean, Irish, International Music (Cousin Dimitri), Brass Bands, Mardi Gras music, Jazz from the Park, 1950s Rhythm and Blues, Records from the Crypt, or whatever kind of NO music your heart desires played by a live DJ whom you can contact by email or phone to request a piece of music which you can listen to anywhere in the world. That's WWOZ, 90.7 FM or Live on the World-Wide Web at: 
Oh, thank heavens for organized wives and compliant husbands who
cooperate to send Christmas greetings! My whereabouts these days is in
Plattsburgh, New York.
