"You Have Apparently Done Well."

BNS notes perhaps the best compliment you can get if you defraud the government and abuse the sympathies of others. Welcome to New Orleans.

Underneat That....

Compliments of Deirdre. Shades of Lawrence's Bakery?

Since We're On A New Orleans Kick...

Here's the recipe I always use for Red Beans & Rice. But I modify it a little.

Pray for Pete

Mom mentioned to me that Pete Fountain was hospitalized recently. She had a chance to talk to Bev and there's more story than I think I'm allowed to print here. So, we'll stick with the paper's account.

And I'll throw in the MSNBC article about him from a few years ago. 'Cause we love Pete.

The Speras and the Bats...go way, way back

The Speras have woven their lives into ours in a lot of different ways. Keith had a unrequited crush on Erin in grade school, played on basketball and football teams with me, and his dad coached me. Keith's limp is the result of me running my head into the corner of a huge something or the other that fell on Keith's foot. Keith's brother, Craig, was one of Tari's closest friends in New Orleans and passed away tragically some years ago.

But that's just one generation. Keith's dad and Christa and Bat double dated. If I have the story right...Dad dated my aunt, and Keith's dad dated mom on that date.

So, Keith just had a baby. He wrote about it in his column at the New Orleans Times Picayune.