July was a month of "Two Weddings and Three Funerals" plus lots of other activities which kept
me and Del very busy.
The last days of June were rather eventful, so we'll begin with them before we segue into July.
The sales agreement for our fourplex at 1209 Hagan Street in New Orleans was set to expire on
June 30, but the buyer, had a delay, so we agreed to postpone act of sale and closing to the
next Thursday so she could get her insurance binder processed. Del came home and we 
packed
the Maxima and headed to Grand Isle on Thursday, June 29 where our four Matherne offspring were
gathering in a rented camp with the Bayhi clan. The camp was one of two with a Dr. Seuss
theme. Remember the rhyme, "One Fish, Two Fish/Red Fish, Blue Fish"? One camp had a red
door, roof, and Seuss fish cartoon on the front, and the other had all that in blue. We stayed in
Red Fish. It was clean, airy, newly constructed, and had a large kitchen and living area with a
wall-to-wall view of the Gulf of Mexico through the windows or on the outside porch. The surf,
shrimp boats, and oil rigs were visible over the broad expanse of Van Gogh sunflowers fifteen
feet high through which a short walk took one to the sand and water's edge.
But the drama of our weekend began before we left town. Driving down the raised Westbank
Expressway at its end, our rear passenger wheel began rumbling and I decided to continue off the
expressway and took the first right. By then the tire had come loose from it sidewall completely and I
was riding on the sidewall. The car did not swerve or handle dangerously, but just rolled to a stop on
Carmadelle Street in an empty lot next to a used car place.
I noted the name immediately, "Look, it's Carmadelle, Karma, Del!" I yelled back to Del who
was sitting in the car in the 92 degree heat. Called AAA right away and they said, "75 minutes". I
noted I was given selections 1 to 6 having to do with St. Louis and other places in Missouri and
Illinois when I placed the call. I was forced to select 7 for "Other." Some 80 minutes later , no
AAA. Called again and they told me "Truck had a problem", and said another 45 minutes.
Another 50 minutes later I got out the jack and began replacing the tire. Short pants and sandals
on a gravel bed, yuck. The truck drove up as I was trying to replace my sandals with a covered
toe shoe. The driver said he had been dispatched only 30 minutes earlier! ! ! I asked why the problem,
and he told me that all AAA calls have been dispatched from St. Louis since Katrina. I had gotten
lies from the dispatcher to cover their incompetence! We later canceled AAA and told them to
let us know when they get dispatchers back in New Orleans who actually know the area from
something other than GPS coordinates.
I had called Carlos at Twin Tire and he said to bring the Maxima and leave the keys in the night slot. I had
earlier called Brian and he had come to get Del and the luggage from the trunk (so we could get out
the spare when AAA arrived). Brian drove her home and then she waited till I left Carmadelle to head
for Twin Tire. She met me there, we transferred the rest of the stuff and headed to Grand Isle about 3
hours late. We didn't arrive in Grand Isle till 9 pm.
Rob (Indiana) was there with his three kids, Yvette (Houston) with her two, Carla (Beaumont)
sans her two, and Maureen (New Orleans) with one of hers and two of her grandkids. It was great
to have all four together in one place at the same time. It was the first such reunion in several
years. Had all my grandkids there except Tiffany (who's in Europe with her husband, John, and
his Mother), Jennifer (who came later after we left), Chris (working), and Carla's two, Garret and
Molly, who were at a Dude Ranch with their daddy. Our great-grandsons, Ben and Aven, were
both there. Maureen was the grandma on duty with a lot of help from Del and the great-aunts,
Carla and Yvette. I got to thinking about my Aunt Carolyn Matherne, who at 69, is a Great-Great-Great-Aunt to Ben and Aven!
One more last crisis arose at our fourplex. The buyer-tenant called to say that the
water at Hagan was shut off. Somebody in a backhoe had broken the lines by the water meter or
those going to it and water was spilling out all over. The Sewerage and Water people came out, but
they only got half the fourplex back with water. They were supposed to return the next day.
We blew up our air mattress and laid it over the sofa bed and got a fairly good night's sleep.
Needed a cover over the sheet and my shoulders were freezing. Finally about 4 in the morning I
got up and found the thermostat and raised from the frigid 62 to 74 and we sleep okay thereafter.
Up about 7 am, I fixed some eggs and rice for me and Rob. Steve and Nobie were ready to leave
about 8:30 or so, the latest I've ever gone fishing. Usually I'm out fishing shortly after the Sun
comes up. We drove to the Ice House and got a 60 qt. Igloo chest full of crushed ice for $3.50 and
nice size bait shrimp for $1.50 a pound. Five pounds fixed us for two trips. As I recall we only
used half of it and Steve and Nobie went back fishing later in the day.
We drove down the Fourchon road to the end where the Golden Meadow Redfishing Rodeo was
going on. We ignored it. We rode out to the first rig and caught nothing but hard head catfish
which we took off the hook with difficulty and threw back in. In about 15 minutes we rode
to another double-base rig and began catching 27 inch redfish. We caught enough for everyone
on both boats to have one, plus several 26 inch redfish of which we could each keep four, but
didn't catch enough under 27 to fill our limit. Redfish at size 27" begin their migration from
inland waters to offshore where they begin to spawn — that is the reason for their reduced
number in the overall limit. This has apparently worked overly well as evinced by the large
numbers of redfish being caught lately.
We also caught about a dozen "hard tails" or what I determined and confirmed with Nobie were
actually "Blue Fish" which people down here throw back in because of they are an oily flesh, although the
fish is eaten on the East Coast. Considered quite a sports fish there. Very sharp teeth. Through
some cosmic synchrony, we stayed in the Red Fish, Blue Fish camps and caught red fish and blue
fish.
We pulled up and came back in about 12 and got to the Red Fish Camp about 12:30 to eat lunch.
Kathleen had made scrambled eggs and grits. I heated myself some grits and they were good. The
eggs I didn't bother to re-heat, and later Kathleen came back and began scrambling a dozen eggs
or so. At the same time, I answered my messages on the cell and the buyer-tenant was calling to say that
the water company said we needed to get our plumber out to Hagan as the problem was between
the water meter and house. She and I both knew it wasn't so, but I called my plumber Mike
Roth anyway and he was at the hardware store.
Later the buyer-tenant called back to say that Mike came out, and somehow in turning valves back on
and off, both the cutoff at the porch and the cutoff at the meter, the water came on full force.
Later Mike needed to clean out the dirt which was clogging the lines and causing the water
stoppage. This problem spoiled my morning and caused me to completely miss eating any of the
scrambled eggs newly made. I never even got to see them — when I got done with my phone
calls, all the eggs were gone!
I talked to Rob on the porch. Walked down to beach with Del and sat under the canopy and
enjoyed the wonderful sea breezes while watching the Bayhi family out in the water almost to the
rocky breakwater reef.
Later I walked on the beach a ways with Carla and Yvette and grandkids. Found an interesting
piece of branched tree limb driftwood with purple polyps, still alive, along the branches. Took
photos. Placed it as a royal tiara over the sand sculpture of the mermaid that Maureen had made.
The purple contrasted with the gold sunflowers to make a harmonious image.
Later in the day Del and I decided to leave before nightfall and eat on the way home. I loaded up
two redfish and two trigger fish in our ice chest. We had to stop at the Conoco station to get another bag
of ice to hold the fish over night.
I was up early to filet the redfish and trigger fish on Saturday, July 1, which included a Cajun
Celebration and Book Signing in Metairie, a funeral Uptown, and a wedding to officiate in St.
Charles Parish. After packing the fish into the freezer and washing down the fish-cleaning table,
I drove to PJ's for a double latte and cranberry muffin, and then drove to the German American
Cultural Center to give them a replacement check for the John Folse German cooking taping. The
$40 check I mailed to them on June 19, still hadn't been received. I wrote "replacement check" on
the Memo space of this one. About a week after the July 6 trip, Gisele called to say the original
check had arrived. Three weeks to travel about 2 miles! Imagine a proprietary mail system trying
to stay in business with such lousy service as the USPS. Three weeks is about how long an actual
snail could traversed that distance to deliver the "snail mail."
I overshot the GACC and found a space right at the edge of Gretna Farmer'sMarket. I walked
through the market and found a large Mississippi-grown Watermelon for $7 and put it in my
trunk. Then I walked to the end of the market and on my way back and spotted Allen Fontenot
playing the fiddle along with Kermit Venable on the squeezebox. I talked to them for awhile.
Told Alan I listened to him when he preceded Johnny Fasulo on WWOZ. He told me that Johnny
was found dead in his apartment a couple weeks after his beloved Mama Lillian died at around age 91.
Johnny was found with his stereo on real loud listening to his Cajun records. Two more good people who died
shortly after Hurricane Katrina.
Our friends, Anna Keller and Warren Perrin, were signing their books at Barnes&Noble and the
Cajun Band was already playing when we arrived. Bumped into Sidney and Jo Anne. Rosie
Harris and JB Borel were there in period Cajun dress. Unfortunately we had to leave halfway into
the celebration to attend the funeral of our beloved friend, Battle Bell, III, in uptown New
Orleans. It was a somber occasion. I had never seen so many of our friends in such a solemn
mood before. After the funeral, we drove home to change clothes for my brother Kevin's
wedding to Vicki.
The wedding took place at Kevin's home in the Hawaiian Garden. I administered the ceremony and the wedding came off with only one hitch: Kevin to Vicki. Mickey Falgout, the bride's father and Buster Matherne, Kevin and my father was there plus several friends of Kevin and Vicki from Monsanto plant.
For the 4th of July, our friend Rosie invited us to go to Chateau Bleu with her. It's her daughter's
home above her catering kitchen and restaurant in Slidell. The home is painted blue on the
outside as its name implies and is an old two-story home Cathy and her husband bought and
restored. They found a staircase someone was discarding from some demolition project nearby
and toted it and installed it to create a pathway to the large upstairs area which was hitherto
unaccessible except by ladder. The home is Victorian decor. There are even fringed plaster ropes
drooping from the picture molding near the 20' ceilings. Small rooms with fireplaces and lots of
nicknacks. We ate hors d'oeuvres and watched the Slidell fireworks show from the front porch of
Chateau Bleu.
On July 6, we took our first of two day trips to Chef John Folse's taping of his new PBS show
based on his Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine. We had to be at Casey Jones for an 8 am
departure. Del and I went to PJ's first and had our muffins and coffee and then drove to the lot
back of Academy Sports and parked our Maxima. As we got out, we noticed some chattering
birds which looked like doves at first, but were making too much noise. Del said "parrots" and as
I looked at the birds flying, I saw the brilliant green with yellow marking on their feather, looking
ever so much like the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. (See Photo of movie cover for comparison.)
Didn't see any with red heads, but I only took photos of a couple of the parrots. I maneuvered to
the sunny side of the two dozen or so birds, all alike, in the pine and palm trees and got some
closeups of the parrots. Or as close up as they would let me. Del and I had all this excitement
even before getting on the bus. Marcus was our bus driver, from S. Calif. moved here six months
before Katrina and loves it here. He said that he's been really enjoying learning about the culture
and foods of Louisiana, especially the history portion of the TV production. We took photos with
John and he said that they're using the material that he and Michelle York put together in his
Encyclopedia, the one that Wes gave me a year ago.
One day after I had finished mowing the grass, I decided to go buy the parts to overhaul the
Snapper and allow it to get through the next 15 years as well as it did its first 15 years. I couldn't
find my list of desired parts at first, so I looked in the file cabinet under Lawnmower and when I
opened it up there was Del's PASSPORT, PHOTOS, and FILLED OUT APPLICATION that
we've been scouring the house for the past two weeks. Apparently the orange stripe on the form
led me to think it was a lawnmower document or it had otherwise been placed on top of the open
file folder which I closed and filed without suspecting what was in it. I called Del immediately
and she had just re-taken her passport photos and liked the new ones better. She said that
morning she had told the Devil to take his hands off her passport and, just for good measure, also
pleaded with St. Anthony to give her closure on what happened to it. He did. Thanks, St.
Anthony. It's an old German custom when they misplace something to say, "Devil! Take your
hands off!" of whatever it is.
On Saturday the 8th Del and I went to Farmer's Market and bought some okra, some green beans,
and a new African violet, among other things. Then we drove to PJ's for coffee and muffins
while waiting for Target to open. There we bought a new towel of Egyptian cotton for my desk
chair, a 20" fan for garage and a new steam iron to replace the El Cheapo one Del got from
SchlockMart which broke during its FIRST USE! May have cost more in gasoline to pick it up
and return it than the price of the iron ($6). Without abusing it, a piece of plastic detached from
the handle fell on the counter after I used it to iron my cuffs which Del loop-stitched after cutting
from a 36-32 to a 36-29. Seems clothing makers do not make 29 inch inseam pants for men any
more.
On Sunday the 9th, we watched Hour of Power on tape delay when Del got up about 7:30 am. It's
amazing to have a "VCR" that can record and play back the same program in the middle of the
program! That's what a hard-drive-based DVR (aka TIVO) can do for you. Shortly afterward, my
sister-in-law Joyce called to tell us that she and Paul have their first male grandchild after four
granddaughters. Keith and Tatiana Matherne had their first child, delivered by C-Section.
Vital Birth Statistics
Andrew Keith Matherne
born in Virginia at 9:22 am EDT (8:22 CDT)
7 lb 14 oz and 19 3/4" long
Del and I dressed up, I in my Seersucker Suit to attend the French Mass at 11 AM Mass at St.
Louis Cathedral. As soon as we cleared the square in front of Cathedral I saw JB sitting there in
his seersucker coat. Edwin Fleischmann also had a seersucker suit on, so Del took a photo of the
three of us in Jackson Square after the Mass.
We stayed around to chat with everyone after Mass, then left to come home so I could watch
France against Italy in the World Cup final. It was settled by penalty kicks (best out of five) after
two overtime tie of 1-1. A great game. France lost their captain Zidane when he lost his head and
slammed it into an Italian tormentor's chest in the first of the two overtimes and France had to
end the game with only 9 men and that likely cost them the game. I saw an editorial cartoon the
next day which showed Beavis standing next to Zidane and the caption read "Beavis and
Headbutt".
I went to PJ's after the game for a latte and cranberry muffin and there was Kasey sitting on the
outside porch, looking hale and hearty! Kasey worked at this PJ's before I found it, long before
Katrina, and was a favorite server of mine. He contracted leukemia after Katrina and has been on
chemo. He said he's got only one more course of chemo and he will have licked it! His face and
body shows it, too. Thank you, Angel, for answering my prayers for Kasey.
On Monday, I cooked some leeks-mushroom soup for lunch. Went to Breaux Mart after PJ's and
got some potatoes. After soup for lunch, Del and I snapped the green beans and I cooked them
for supper.
We took an afternoon nap and then drove to Rosie's with some green beans and salad. Del,
Rosie, and I talked for an hour or so while waiting for the egrets to return to "Rosie's Roost"
which is what I am naming the large Live Oak tree across the canal from Rosie's patio. Several
dozen great Egrets filled the top of the tree and several hundred cattle egrets and white ibises on
the lower branches. Saw dozens of ducks flying over the canal going south. We watched two Muscovy
ducks walk past, the female wiggling her tail when she stopped from time to time. As we were
leaving I got photos of the two ducks enjoying a conjugal visit on the side of Rosie's driveway.
Del and I came home and watched a new episode of the "Closer". Another great one. Murder victim
turns up in Provenza's garage while he and Flynn are late to a big Dodger's game. Brenda has to
walk a delicate line to avoid the taint of a coverup by her two men. If you haven't watched this
new show, you have a treat coming.
On Tuesday the 12th the big day for closing of the act of sale on Hagan apartments came. We
drove to a Metairie law firm and met Raymond Landry. We discovered he worked right after law
school in Alexandria for three years and knew our son-in-law Wes Gralapp while there. The buyer
was there with her sister who is an accountant from Oakland and who has been
helping her with the bookkeeping for the fourplex. After nearly twenty-five years, we are no longer landlords who can be called in the middle of the night because some tenant has broken something from neglect or abuse. The only house I need to worry about is the one over our heads and it doesn't take a trip across the river to find out what's wrong. Hooray!
On Thursday the 14th, Quatorze Juillet, Rosie called to invite us to go with her to a covered dish
supper and BBQ at the Gretna Historical Society. After the meal, a group of folks put on a skit
about Katrina which involved a couple stranded in an attic during the storm. This BBQ marked the
beginning of a string of eating out events which lasted into the next week. The next morning we
drove to Picayune, MS to visit Del's Uncle Bob. His wife Edna fixed a nice lunch for us. That
evening we were due to eat at Kathy and Bob Dolan's home, also in Picayune, but we received a
late call that they had a family emergency, a missing daughter. By the next morning they had
discovered the body of the 40-something mother of three in a motel, death by suicide. This was to be
the second funeral in our month, but we were unable to attend and visited Kathy and Bob on
Sunday instead, a couple of days before the funeral. Come Saturday morning, it was a breakfast
meeting at my club followed that night by a Black Tie "Cat & Mouse" Dinner at Antoine's
Restaurant in the French Quarter. After an elegant meal, the ladies are read poetry by their
husbands or beau's. I read a poem to Del for the dinner which took place only a day before our
28th anniversary. The poem is one I had written on the bus trip to John Folse's first taping back
on July 6.
Love at First Embrace
©2006 by Bobby Matherne
Do you believe in love at first embrace?
Have you felt the woven threads of karma
Unravel in a caress so warm a
New World arises when you part, to face —
To smile — into each other's eyes, to see
Deep within the light of a long lost friend.
Do you believe in love to never end —
Have you parted the veils of destiny?
If you believe as I, you know the boon
Of following your heart beneath the moon
And finding love comes either late or soon.
My first love gave four children to hold fast
My second gave me five years of repast
My third the luck to save the best for last.
~~^~~
One humorous note from the breakfast meeting: someone asked a club member how his 89-year-old father
was doing. He said, "Okay, but he says he doesn't buy green bananas anymore."
The next day was our anniversary and we planned to meet our good friends Mark, Ruth
and Ted at the Bombay Club on Conti St. in the Quarter for brunch. Unfortunately Mark didn't
make it. We found out later, he was planning to come the following week and was much
disappointed.
By the 17th, I noticed the first cantaloupes are appearing on the vine in the center garden.
The blue flower potato vine has reached the top of the arbor and is now heading down.
Everything's growing great guns with the arrival of normal rainfall again a week or so ago.
As soon as we get a cloudy afternoon with rain, I'll oil the air blower in attic and repair the
riding mower. I bought about $200 of replacement parts for my trusty Snapper riding mower.
Shortly after we moved to Timberlane my push mower's motor was destroyed when the blade hit
a hidden cypress knee growing up in the St. Augustine grass. I quickly saw that my days of push-mowers had come to an end. I needed a mower with a fan belt between the motor and the blade. I
was pumping gas one morning at a Texaco station on the way to work at Waterford-3 Nuclear
Power Station when I noticed a beat-up old riding mower on the trailer behind a pickup truck. The
owner was also pumping gas and he was obviously cut grass every day for a living. My thought
was, "If he cuts grass with this mower every day, and it's still running after all these years of wear,
this must be a great product!" He told me he had been cutting grass every day with this mower for
8 years! I figured that with my cutting once a week, such a mower would last me several decades.
And I was right. Mine is almost 15 years old and I'm doing the first major repair and replacement
of parts. The driver wheel, the fan belt, and the mower base are the major items that needed
replacing. Plus a new blade, spark plug, air filter, and some transmission fluid. In the summer in
New Orleans, in an un-air conditioned garage, I plan my work to take place on the coolest days
and that's a rainy day which stays cloudy all day.
Reading the Times-Picayune the next morning, I saw the first obituary for Davis Madere,
schoolmate from Hahnville High School. We were headed to the second John Folse taping in
Baton Rouge, and we decided to leave a bit early and stop by Holy Rosary in Hahnville to offer
our condolences to Brenda Dejean Madere and her family. Then we drove up the river road all the
way to Wallace Bridge over the Mississippi and I took photos of Cajun Cottages along the way.
You can view these cottages (new ones are below the first four) on my Recipes page here:
http://www.doyletics.com/recipes.htm
I couldn't get an exact location of John Folse's LPB Studio in Baton Rouge from Google maps because, as I found out when we arrived,
Staring Lane turns into Essen Lane at Perkins Road where we needed to turn left. Luckily I
followed the Trailways "Louisiana Coach" bus driven by Marcus, our earlier driver. Sat with
Rosie and her "pajama party girls" — two cousins and a sister-in-law, Lillian Terrebonne Sehrt,
Ruby Lefort Pierce, and Mary Guidry . Took a photo of the four of them before we left. (See Photo below.)
After the TV taping we ate lunch. Potato-leeks soup had long flat pieces of leeks in the soup and
while I was eating, one of the pieces which I hadn't chewed very well got laid over my windpipe
and I began wheezing. I stood up and motioned to Del to give me a Heimlich maneuver which she
did and displaced it immediately and I was able to breathe again. One more push and I was okay.
Took only seconds between the blockage and the dislodging. Del moved quickly and efficiently,
following my directions. I would never allow large pieces of leeks in any of my soups. These are
hard to chew, especially for people with dentures.
The German Christmas taping was beautiful and the food was otherwise delicious. Red cabbage
recipe was delicious also. The Glühwein was good also. As we were just leaving the taping room
to go eat, I offered to take Rosie back for a photo with John Folse and her face told me, "NO"
even before she said no. Later as Del and I were walking into the eating room, we saw Rosie with that
same look on her face, only more so, leaving with someone to go, where else? To get her photo
taken with John Folse.
While we were waiting for the taping to start, we received a brochure for a "Mozart's Christmas"
— a guided tour sponsored by Louisiana Public Broadcasting with two days in Salzburg, two days
in Vienna, and two days in Prague during prime Christmas shopping time. Snow and Weihnachtzeit in
Austria and the Czech Republic! What could be better? Del and I signed up and wrote a check for
the deposit on the spot. We'll be back from Austria in time to see the broadcasting of the German Christmas show on LPB and PBS nationwide — we're told it will air either Christmas Eve or Day this year.
Do you remember what you were doing 37 years ago on July 20? Well, I do because I was
celebrating my 29th birthday. My neighbor on Ole Miss had invited us over to watch the first man
set foot on the Moon that night. She made a green cheese ball with a tiny American flag stuck into
its top to commemorate the event. When we began eating the green cheese, we didn't know if the
Moon was "made of green cheese" as the old myth had it, but by the time we finished eating the
green cheese, we knew it was not! It was white and powdery and we saw Neil Armstrong's
footprints in the powdery surface as he stuck a real American flag in the surface of the Moon.
Always as a child I wished that my birthday had some famous event happen on it — July 20 was
always a blank spot on the calendar each year. Soon all calendars will have "Moon Landing" in
that spot, because the greatest event in human history until that time had occurred on my birthday.
My brother Paul sent me a birthday card and he scribbled on the bottom, "Get your kicks on Route
66!" I decided that would be my theme for my 66th birthday year. Del and I spent the entire day
together. Started off with a PJ's run with Del in the morning for coffee and muffins. Then we
drove to Metairie. Shopped for clothes at Dillard's in Lakeside; stopped for a chat with Barry
Pizzalotto of Designs in Jewelry. He suggested that I send my LSU ring to Balfour and ask for an
oval cabochon amethyst to replace the chipped, faceted stone, no charge. They have a lifetime
warranty and that includes replacement of a damaged stone at no charge. While Barry and I talked,
he had his jeweler re-polish the gold ring he had made for me some fifteen or so years ago.
Looked brand new.
After I bought shirts and pants, shorts, at Dillard's and Penny's and Del had returned a blouse, we
drove to Hurwitz-Mintz Furniture and couldn't find a simple wardrobe for Doris, so we drove to
Magazine St and stopped at French Antiques store where there were several to choose from. Less cost
than new ones which didn't do the job. By the end of July, Del took her mom there to look at it,
and they purchased that wardrobe for her Woldenberg Village apartment in New Orleans. She will
now have almost twice as much space for hanging her clothes.
After an afternoon nap, we drove to pick up a FedEx package delivery we missed. I tracked it as
originating from Phoenix, so I thought it was the Scottsdale insurance refund check, but instead it
was our Alaskan Cruise tickets. Found Humphreys street entrance off Hickory on first try, a small,
newly cut 2-lane into the back end of Elmwood Business Park. Then we drove down Earhart and
Carrollton to the Two Sisters Pavilion in City Park and arrived just in time for 6 pm start of the
Thursday at Twilight Concert Series with the Reeks family playing clarinet and piano pieces of
pop and classical. Very good. Our friends, Renee and Burt, joined us before the music began and
afterward, we went to Semolina's on City Park. This day was a busy, fun-filled day and a fitting
way to begin my trip on Route 66.
One more trip before the end of July — our son Jim was getting married (See First Embrace photo above). We had to get up at 4
and we left at 5 am after dressing and packing for the Beaumont and Alexandria trip. First stop was
Jim and Gina's in Kountze, but because we stopped for breakfast at Mel's (30 mins) we were
about 30 minutes later than we planned. We picked up Jim and Gina at the State Bank off Hwy 96 and followed them to
Courthouse. I took lots of photos and a couple of .mpegs. After a brief ceremony, we drove to
Papadeaux's on I-10 in Beaumont. We had George and Sandra (Gina's mom and step-father),
Amanda, Kirt, and me and Del for lunch. We had a check to give them for
a wedding present and Del wanted me to give it to Jim. I put the folded check in my pocket and,
as we prepared to get in the cars after the wedding, I was standing next to Jim, and "accidentally"
dropped the folded check at my feet between me and Jim. I asked Jim if he could pick it up and
when he did and tried to hand it to me, I demurred, saying, "No, that's for you." He looked at it,
smiled, and thanked me. Del liked the way I handled it. It was already in his hand, so he couldn't
refuse to take it, but I could refuse to take it back.
When we arrived at Papadeaux's Seafood Restaurant, we found out that when Sandra heard that
Gina and Jim had decided to get married, she was overjoyed and had bubbled out, "Jim, you're
going to get to be my son-in-law!" Jim, abashed by the exuberant outburst, blurted out, "Does that come
with a T-shirt and a hat?" Well, at the restaurant Sandra gave him a present, and when he opened
it, inside were a black T-shirt and matching hat. The T-shirt said on the front, "I am so lucky" and
on the back, "to be Sandra's son-in-law" and the matching black baseball cap read, "Sandra's
Son-in-Law". That got a good laugh especially after we heard the back story of why she gave
those to him.
We ordered the combination appetizer and then ordered our main meals. I ordered a light salad
with shrimp, expecting I'd want to eat light after the Semolina dining aftermath. Well, all of us
could have ordered nothing else but the appetizer! It was HUGE! We all looked at that and
wondered how we could eat it all. A huge platter stacked a foot high with crab fingers, fried
alligator tail, crawfish tails, onion rings, and chicken on top of a bed of french fries 3 inches high by itself. We
were mostly full by the time the last seafood covering the fries were eaten, but we ordered doggie
bags for half of the other meals. I did eat all my shrimp and most of the greens and felt full but not
stuffed like the night earlier at Semolina's. It digested well. We called and told Kim and Wes not to
plan any supper for us in Alexandria when we arrived.
After the wedding lunch, we drove to our daughter Carla's new home. I called her when we left
Pappadeaux's and she listed the multiple streets I had to navigate. Del tried to help me and I asked
to her be quiet so I could travel by intuition (unconscious navigation) and we arrived exactly at the
right place without needing to call Carla again. She was impressed as I had only been there once
month's before and it was a tricky maze of streets. Molly came running up to me at full speed, and
the sight of that did my heart good! No more bashful hiding behind her mother's apron. A few
years earlier she even told her mom, "I'm going to be bashful for two days while Grandpa is here."
I experienced some of that bashful behavior from Molly's younger brother, Garret. We met Jack the Giant
House Fixer who did the contracting on Carla's house. Huge size 14's on his feet. Was at least 6'
6" and next to Carla's 5' 2" looked 7' tall. Took photos of house and Molly and Garret doing their
tricks in the new pool outback. Left Carla's and drove through Lake Charles and up US 165 to
Alex. I took over the last hour or so and Del showed me how to bypass the large traffic circle
coming in.
That night Wes and I drove to visit Oday. He was watching TV outside, on his newly installed
LCD HD monitor in the upper corner of his outdoor pizza oven pavilion. Lots of bugs, but cool
with overhead fan blowing. Always enjoyable listening to Oday talking about his latest plans. Wes
and I left and when we got back to S. Hampton, I was leaving the house to retrieve my clothes
from the Caddy and Thomas stopped me, saying "cake was about to happen." He thought I
was leaving the house, so I turned around and sure enough out came a Doberge cake, Alex-style
with sticky outside icing. Before I began cutting 8 layers of chocolate cake, the grandkids, Del,
Kim and Wes all sang "Happy Birthday" to me and were amazed at how readily I blew out the
candles. Heck, I wanted my wish to come true. If you want to know what it was, you'll have to
stick around another 30 years or so to find out.
On the way home the next day, we stopped at Jefferson Trace in Prairieville to visit Jim's twin
brother, John, his wife Kristin, and the two boys, Kyle and Collin. Lucky stop for me as I showed
John my new P200 camera and he called me the next morning to tell me about extra memory sticks being
sold at Office Depot for only $30. I'll need the extra capacity for the Alaskan cruise and Mozart
Christmas trip. I appreciated his call. While at Office Depot, I found two ideal rotatable monitors by Gateway on
display. Spectacular view, 21" monitor, 5 separate video modes, rotatable, 1680 X 1050
resolution. 1000:1 contrast ration and even more! I brought them home and they now grace my
desktop.
I came home and replaced the right side monitor. It worked fine with no software changes, but it
was too stretched because of 1680 X 1050 monitor size. I needed new drivers. Went to NVIDIA
website and followed instructions. Halfway through, my PC kept stalling immediately after
reboot. I needed to go to Safe Mode. I called Brian who said to hit F8 periodically while booting
sequence is in operation. In Safe Mode [SM] I was able to install the new NVIDIA drivers that I
had downloaded, 40.1 Mb. Still stalled on full windows reboot. Then I decided I should install
EZTune software which contained the rotation function. Took me forever. I executed the .exe for
the install twice while waiting for the HP CDW drive to just read the 22 Mb file once. Finally it
executed and then things got better. Still no rotation, but EZTunes took care of that. Rotates
automatically when I rotate the hardware. Then I re-sized Venice mirrored background to fit the
new screens and my two new monitors are working fine!
I'm still figuring out all the features in my new 21" Gateway monitors. They rotate 90 degrees and
software automatically rotates the image. They also slide up and down about six inches and rotate
around a vertical axis about 30 degrees as well as tilting backwards! All without moving the
sturdy base which doesn't slide easily on the wooden surface of the desk, exactly what I would
want. Has five independent input modalities (DVD, e.g.) And two USB ports on the right hand
side for convenience. Great color with 1680 X 1050 resolution!
After PJ's I talked Del into coming to Verizon with me to get my new cell phone. My case had broken
earlier and I wanted the new phone before the electronics broke because of the weakened case and
the phone directory became irretrievable. By the time we got through wheeling and dealing in all
the specials we both got new cell phones for total of only $50 dollars after a $50 rebate! Including
a snap case and a car charger. Del will keep the one car charger in Caddy unless we Maxima out
of town. I don't need a car charger for my errands in town. I spent the rest of that day sorting out
all the features on the new cell phones.
Good news to report on my Aunt Hilda Breaux, Buster's sister. She is back home from the collapse and suspected stroke/heart attack and stronger than ever. Final tests showed there was no heart attack. The physical therapy she received is credited with her improved condition from before the problem set in. Your prayers are requested for Buster's brother, my Uncle Purpy (Francis Matherne) in Florida, who has inoperable cancer. Also for my friend, Kasey, who is recovering nicely from leukemia.
Cover bottom of large fry pan with Bertolli's Extra Lite Olive Oil. (This type of olive oil works best for sautéing without emitting smoke.)
Sauté the onions and garlic till translucent, add 1/2 tsp sea salt and grind Malabar black pepper over the onions. Then add eggplant slices with enough of the water to not quite cover the slices. (slices will shrink with cooking) Cook at a brisk boil for at least an hour, last half hour with top off pan to allow excess liquid to boil away. Monitor carefully to adjust liquid content. At halfway point, use potato masher to mash the eggplant slices into a mush as shown in this photo. Cook the rest of the way.
With liquid still boiling add the shrimp next for six minutes. Then turn down to low simmer or off and add the lump crabmeat. The crabmeat is ready to eat, so you want it warmed into the Cresh, not cooked. Pot should look like this.
Now, add the Progress Italian Bread Crumbs by sprinkling a bit on the top and stirring into the mixture until most of the pooling of liquid disappears. Remember the bread crumbs will absorb more water over the next few hours, so don't overshoot. See for photo of Cresh in the pot at this stage.
What's so provocative about Provocative Therapy? Inquiring minds want to know. I first read this
book back around 1977 or so, and then my friend Tom Mellett wrote me recently about a comment that
I made calling him the "Fritz Perls" of the Steiner group. Tom said he considered himself more as the
Frank Farrelly of the email group. That sent me to my library in the hallway at Timberlane to locate
Frank's book, and it was nowhere to be found. I searched my Library database and sure enough, it was
listed as OUT, on loan to my daughter Maureen since 1998. I called her and she knew exactly where to
find it, and after I retrieved it from her, I read it all the way through a second time for this review.
The answer to my initial question above came to me full force when I found myself ROTFL —
rolling on the floor laughing — when I read the case studies titled, "Tragedy Revisited" and "Clem
Kadiddlehopper." Frank discovered that deep pervasive change could come about quickly in his clients
if he simply reacted honestly, told them the harsh truth, or consciously or unconsciously provoked
them. You gotta read the reports of these two cases in my review, if you read nothing else this month!
More importantly, it's highly possible that it was this book that inspired me to tell some of my
callers into the Crisis Line that their situation was hopeless. I wrote about this earlier in my review of
Pragmatics of Human Communication this way:
When I had the occasion to work eight hour day shifts at the Crisis Line office, I would listen to
the regular day counselor offer suggestion after suggestion to certain callers for hours upon end, to no
avail so far as I could tell. When one of these callers got on the line with me, it took me about ten
minutes. As soon as I recognized the type, I'd use the "hopeless" maneuver, and I interrupt their
endless game called, "Why Don't You, Yes, But?" It was given this name by Eric Berne in his book,
"Games People Play." I came to call these people, my "Yes, Butter's" and actually enjoyed moving
them off their favorite game and into taking positive actions to change their lives. Actions that they
actually had come up with themselves, and which I only reflected back to them. Saying, "Your
situation is hopeless" was exactly what they needed to resist, to push against, and to push themselves
into healing and sanity again.
Ever wonder what many therapists spend their time doing in those three-times-a-week
sessions? Frank tells us plainly what they do: a lot of hinting instead telling outright. Hinting takes up a
lot of time. Just think how much it would cost to have a water pump replaced if your auto mechanic
used this strategy of fixing a problem. "Do you think it may be a hose leaking or something more
serious? Our time is up now — we'll talk more about that when you bring your car in next time."
But not Frank Farrelly: he will not hint or otherwise beat around the bush. This is "provocative
therapy" and Frank is a hands-on kinda wild and crazy guy, so fasten your seat belt and your chastity
belt for this review. If you survive with your chastity intact, you might want to read the entire book as
well.
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.
1. 
“Failure to Launch” (2006) in which Matthew McConaughey is a 35ish bachelor who brings his date to meet his parents by laying her in his bedroom at home. Terry Bradshaw the pop pops in to say Hi! in a Sports Center coitus interruptus. Well, the parents hire a gal to lure him into moving out the family home and thereupon hangs a piece of tale.
The two Cajun buddies, Boudreaux and Broussard, were in Abbeville sitting at an outdoor table in front of T-Joe’s Bar. They were sipping a couple of ice cold Dixie beers, slurping in some oysters on the half shell, and watching the pedestrian traffic in the lot across the street. Every so often, some guy would go in or come out of the double-wide trailer, which they knew was being used for prostitution. Their attention perked up when they saw Reverend Jim, a local Baptist minister, walking into the trailer. Boudreaux said, "Mais, looka dat! Ain’t it a rotten shame to see a minister of God goin' bad?" Broussard nodded his head in agreement.
Cresh, Simplified
[page 5, 6] "No man cometh unto the Father but by me" does not mean that I am in any way separate or different from you except in time, and time does not really exist. The statement is more meaningful in terms of a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. You stand below me and I stand below God. In the process of "rising up,” I am higher because without me the distance between God and man would be too great for you to encompass. I bridge the distance as an elder brother to you on the one hand, and as a Son of God on the other. My devotion to my brothers has placed me in charge of the Sonship, which I render complete because I share it. This may appear to contradict the statement "I and my Father are one,” but there are two parts to the statement in recognition that the Father is greater.
68goldwg.jpg
ACADIAN MEMORIAL
What wonders can you begin to perceive in your life if you start to notice how accidents are miracles which appear to help you overcome fixed behaviors which have not been good for you? Cindi Broaddus created the concept of "Random Acts of Kindness" after 
I received this note from a "Friend of New Orleans":
