Archive for the ‘Journal’ Category
Our third day in NO was a special day for me because for most of my life I’ve wanted to ride an airboat through these Louisiana swamps. We boarded a bus in the French Quarter which took us across the Mississippi River southeast into the bayous. Our destination was a bayou named Barataria where the pirate John Lafitte and his men helped Stonewall Jackson defeat the British at the battle of New Orleans. A beautiful place filled with as much history as you could ever want.
These boats are just as fast as you can imagine. It’s like flying on water.
We left the dock and proceeded into the bayou and the beauty of the place was breathtaking. I could have spent an entire week just riding around taking pictures. The guide took us to a rather cool cemetery where the brother of Jean Lafitte is buried. As you can see all bodies are buried above ground here in Louisiana.
This is the ultimate spooky graveyard.
I was especially interested in getting some wildlife pictures and I no sooner had that thought and BAM . . . we found a few gators. They were almost as curious about us as we were about them. This guy came to visit after we pulled ashore to get a better look at him.
Doesn’t he have the cutest smile?
We played around with them for a few minutes then it was back into some isolated logging channels where we ran into a couple of turtles sunning themselves on a log.
I hated for this day to come to an end but I was able to take some truly wonderful photos. This last photo is the one that will remind me of this trip for as long as I live.
WHAT MORE CAN I SAY?
Day two began with a walk through the French Quarter to the Toulouse Docks where the steamboat Natchez was moored. My better-half has always wanted to ride the Mississippi River in an old steamship and we made that happen. We signed up for a three hour river cruise (hopefully better than Gilligan’s) that would take up south on the river through the busy port of NO. It was a brunch cruise and we had a great meal sitting on the main deck with a fantastic view of NO and the river.. It had been fully restored and was just like you would expect it to be minus the gambling tables and card cheats.
One of the m0ost interesting sights was the massive amount of damage caused by Katrina. There were huge section of docks and buildings that had been totally destroyed in the storm and had yet to be repaired or replaced.
On the upper deck we checked out the gift shop and of course the bar. Their specialty drink was the Jazz Punch which was delicious and wickedly alcoholic. I wanted to have a second one but wasn’t sure I could off the boat without injury. The views were incredible.
We made a U-turn an hour later and proceeded back north to NO which was a sight to behold from the middle of the river.
Another great day of relaxation to help us prepare for day three of the vacation. Day three was on the top of my wish list and it meant an airboat and trip into the bayou’s.
HOPING FOR LOTS OF GREAT PHOTO’S
The first day in NO was coming to an end and we decided to just hit the streets and roam around to get a better feel for things. It was just getting dark and we were both starving. That airline food really is a joke. We stumbled on a place on the north end of the French Quarter called Coops. It’s one of those places with a questionable first impression and it was filled with mostly local residents some of which were way out there. Of course we immediately went in to sample some good old Cajun food and we weren’t sorry.
My rule #1 for eating in NO. Go local!
I ordered my usual ice cold Chardonnay while my better-half discovered a new love. She ordered a Big Easy IPA that’s brewed locally. She fell in love with the brew which meant I would have a few more of them on my credit card in the coming days. . . AND I DID! She ordered some sort of shrimp dish while I stepped outside the box once again. I dined on rabbit and alligator sausage jambalaya. I hate to say this about the rabbit but if cooked properly it tastes just like chicken. No eye rolling please. We were finally cooled down by the air conditioning and decided to continue our walking tour. Temps were still in the low nineties at dusk.
We stopped at a number of small shops when we saw something interesting and to use their air conditioning. I’d already sweat through my clothes and would do so many more times during our stay.
NO is known as an artist colony and one of the reasons I love this place so much. We saw murals and sculptures just about everywhere we went. Here are two samples from our first night.
We spent a lot of time looking at art work displayed in galleries and also on the street in Jackson Square. Some of it was really good, some just OK, and others that were unbelievably bad. To each their own I guess. We continued our walk into Jackson Square where the line of horse drawn carriages were waiting for customers.
We were at the end of a very long day and headed back to our hotel for the night. That little pool in the courtyard I posted about earlier was the best thing that happened to us the entire day. Off with the clothes, into the swim suits, and into all of that lovely cool water. We chatted with some new friends from Germany at the pool, finished our drinks and went off to bed. Our room felt like a refrigerator and thank god for that.
MORE TO COME
Well, my better-half and I arrived home last night after spending 6 glorious days in the party capitol of the USA . . . New Orleans. If I disregard our god awful experiences with Jet Blue then we had a great time. It’s been a number of years since I visited NOLA but I was thrilled to see that it was the same old exciting place that I remembered. The evidence of Katrina’s visit eleven years ago has been all but erased.
I grabbed this shot from their website because mine was blurry as hell.
I booked our hotel in an off-the-beaten-path location located in the old creole section of NO on Burgundy Street, 2 blocks north of Bourbon Street. The St. Pierre hotel was once the NO Jazz Museum but has since been converted into an hotel.
It consists of a group of 150 year old creole homes joined together with small intimate courtyards and swimming pools hidden from street view. If you ever visit there you need to know this is not the Hilton or Weston style of hotel. This is an old building with 150 years of character and an 1850’s atmosphere. We loved going native for a few days and would do it again in a heartbeat.
This pool was 30 feet from our room. This is the view looking down from the balcony.
The weather was typical NO. It was 90 plus degrees all week with never less than 80% humidity. It was feel-like temperature of over 100 degrees. Even though the heat was brutal that pool made it bearable. We visited it twice a day to cool off and have a drink and meet people from all over the world who were also staying there. Just fabulous.
Another view of the courtyard from our balcony.
This posting is just the start of our trip. I’ll probably continue posting on our other activities for the next week or so. There was a lot to see and maybe I can give you a little taste of how it felt to be there.
IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE WEEK BUT WE’RE GLAD TO BE HOME.
With the Summer more than half over our garden time is more about canning, drying, and storing the results of our efforts than anything else. I’ve been asked in the past how I can get so much production from such a small garden. There’s really no simple answer. An old adage immediately comes to mind: “Plan the work, then work the plan.” Test your soil and keep it fresh, season to season, with compost. Plant your plants near compatible plants. Pull the weeds and kill the bugs. Easy peasy!
The following picture was taken this morning of my small herb garden. The total square footage is 60 ft. which isn’t all that much. I’ve noted the herbs planted there and while they are jammed tightly into the small space they are flourishing.
This small patch has been supplying us with fresh and dried herbs for more than seven years and will hopefully continue to do so. We’ve had so much luck with our herbs growing that next year we’re converting another 100 square feet of garden space for a much larger herb selection. This little patch will continue as is but the new area will be loaded with every herb I can find that we can dry and store. With a larger and more diverse collection I can begin harvesting herbs to create my own mixes for picking, canning, home brewing, and cooking.
Growing more herbs has a number of advantages over vegetables because none of Mother Nature’s little critters seem to like the herbs. That doesn’t include neighborhood felines who find fresh catnip rather interesting. That will allow me to remove some of the fencing I have in place and eliminate my current problems of ripping my clothing on the fence or constantly falling on my butt trying to climb over it. My better-half claims that I’m the clumsiest person on the planet but I dispute that. I’m just unlucky is all.
I will try to post as usual but our upcoming vacation may make it difficult. I’ll attempt to post from New Orleans if I can but after all it is a vacation. I’ll have plenty to post about upon our return.
ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR SUMMER
If you follow this blog you already know I love all forms of salsa and make many versions of my own. One of my favorites has always been Roasted Corn & Black Bean made with varying degrees of heat. I love getting feedback on what I make especially from my son-in-law who loves salsa.
I made a batch a few months back and for the first time he made a request for the next batch. He said it was delicious and hot but it needed more corn and more beans. Many people feel that putting beans in a salsa is just wrong. It may be wrong but I do it anyway because it tastes so damn good. Yesterday was once again salsa day with many more beans and a lot more roasted corn.
I first collect the canning lids and rims and the jars and heat them up in a hot water bath.
If you decide to try this be sure to wear a thick pair of kitchen gloves to save yourself a lot of pain from the hot peppers. Plain latex gloves are too thin unless you double them up. Add your ingredients into the pot and cook for approximately 15 minutes and then it’s time to fill the jars and return them to the water bath.
Looks good and tastes even better.
After a nice boiling hot bath for fifteen minutes they’re removed from the pot and allowed to cool for a few hours. I always recommend waiting at least a week or two before eating. It’s been my experience that over time the salsa gets a little hotter and a little thicker. Then it’s corn chips (Yellow) all around the table for a sensational Mexican pig-out. Top it off with everyone’s favorite beer or wine and you’re good to go.
MY MOUTH’S WATERING AND BURNING AT THE SAME TIME
I LOVE IT!
Fresh and delicious shrimp.
Do these shrimp look good to you? They were just as delicious as you might think or so says my better-half. She’s a shrimp junkie going back many years and considers herself an expert. I tried just one and really couldn’t disagree.
Summer time meals are something special around here and are to be enjoyed and relished whenever possible. While I’m not a big fan of shrimp or lobster I do love just about everything else that the ocean has too offer. I experiment when possible to come up with new flavors and textures with my seafood. This week we picked up those shrimp and a large haddock fillet just for me.
To make things a little more interesting I poached the fillet in habanero wine. I made this wine a few years back and it carries with it a delicious flavor and heat. Once the poaching was completed the fillets were dropped onto the grill to give them a little crispiness.
Just sooooo good.
Then it’s off to the table with a side of fresh corn-on-the-cob and a glass of Chardonnay. Cherry tomatoes picked just before the meal and chilled are a perfect addition. That beer in the picture belongs to my better-half. She considers any beer she drinks as her Chardonnay.
The garden continues to flourish now that we’ve had a few days of rain to help perk things up. I picked this collection of hot peppers (Serrano, Fresno, jalapeno, and Anaheim’s) today because tomorrow is salsa day and I want them as fresh and hot as I can get.
I’ll be slicing and dicing all of the other salsa ingredients this evening in preparation for tomorrow. This is the best part of Summer for me without a doubt.
OLE!
We do a lot of trivia on this site which usually consists of total useless information about totally useless things and people. Today will be a miscellaneous mish-mash of things I’ve discovered recently. First is something called the Manner of Death statistics. It’s a list created by some group somewhere telling us all how we are dying in descending order of frequency. Enjoy!
Heart disease: 614,348
• Cancer: 591,699
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 147,101
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 136,053
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 133,103
Alzheimer’s disease: 93,541
Diabetes: 76,488
Influenza and pneumonia: 55,227
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 48,146
Intentional self-harm (suicide): 42,773
That’s enough to send a cold chill up anyone’s back. The perfect way to start your day. Next is a list of injury types, hospital data, and a whole lot more.
- Number of medically attended injury and poisoning episodes in the population: 39.5 million
- Episodes per 1,000 population: 126.3
- Number of visits (to physician offices, hospital outpatient and emergency departments) for injuries: 80.1 million (includes visits for adverse effects of drug, medicinal or biological substance)
- Number of emergency department visits for injuries: 43.0 million (includes visits for adverse effects of medical treatment)
- Number of discharges for fractures (all sites): 1.1 million
- Number of discharges for poisonings: 260,000
- Number of discharges for certain complications of surgical and medical care: 1.0 million
Mortality
Total number of deaths: 192,945
Deaths per 100,000 population: 60.2
Poisoning
Number of poisoning deaths: 48,545
Deaths per 100,000 population: 15.4
Traffic Deaths
Number of deaths: 33,804
Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.7
Firearm Deaths
Number of deaths: 33,636
Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.6
Are you feeling more secure now? Do you even want to leave the house? It appears that life in these United States is a real crap shoot. Roll the dice and hope for the best every time you leave the house.
I admit I’ve depressed myself with this posting so I’ll keep this last item short. On this day in history many people have passed on. Here are two that died on this day that I thought might interest you.
1948 Babe Ruth, Baseball legend (NY Yankees), dies in NY at 53
1977 Elvis Presley, American musician, dies at Graceland at 42. Official cause of death is cardiac arrhythmia
I THINK I’LL GO BACK TO BED
Mother Nature is normally not my friend.
We celebrated yesterday because it finally rained. Not like the dozen or so sprinkles we’ve received in recent weeks but an honest-to-god rain shower. The rain cooled things off overnight but ten minutes after the sun came out this morning the temperature zoomed back to 90 degrees.
I should be happy . . right? Not very. We need a good five or six days of rain just to get the water levels back where they belong. Early this morning at 5am both my better-half and I were awaken by the sounds of tree branches cracking. Just outside our bedroom window a rather large tree branch snapped and barely missing the house. This portion of the tree was obviously dead and we knew it was only a matter of time before it fell. I once attempted to climb the tree with a chain saw to cut it down but it was just too dangerous.
The house is just a few feet to the right of the photograph.
How it missed the house is a mystery but thank god it did. That’s the second time in the last year a tree has fallen close to the house and missed it completely. We must have a guardian angel keeping an eye on things.
Mother Nature isn’t usually this kind. I remember a time in Massachusetts that we had a storm that dropped a 100 foot tall oak tree onto our backyard and took the corner of my house with it. At the same time a giant pine tree fell on my car in the driveway and crushed it completely. I count my blessings any time she chooses to leave me alone. Today was one of those days.
MOTHER NATURE IS NOT NICE
I’ve been doing everything in my power to disassociate myself from politics during this presidential election year. I’ve been keeping my opinions to myself except for a few comments to my better-half. If the truth be told, I have little or no use for any political party at this point. I’ve morphed from being an social moderate, fiscal conservative Independent to an “Anyone But Hillary” Libertarian. Actually all of those labels are mostly BS anyway but everyone insists that everyone else have a label. If our forefathers could see us now they’d be sad, disappointed, and most certainly ashamed of what we’ve become and are still becoming.
With that thought in mind why don’t you sit back and read some of the thoughts of the men who helped create this country. Take those thoughts from our forefathers and match them up to any of the antics of either the Bushes or Clintons. If your an intelligent and thoughtful American you should be able to figure things out before pulling the lever for Hillary.
- “A government of laws, and not of men.” JOHN ADAMS 1774
- “If the government is in the hands of a few, they will tyrannize the many, if in the hands of the many, they will tyrannize over the few.” ALEXANDER HAMILTON 1787
- “A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.” THOMAS JEFFERSON 1801
- “The aggregate happiness of the society, which is best promoted by the practice of a virtuous policy, is, or ought to be, the end of all government.” GEORGE WASHINGTON 1790
Do those statement in anyway describe our current political situation? That would be a big “HELL NO”. Lets take a moment to discuss with our forefathers the matter of government corruption.
- “Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power.” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 1738
- “Few men have enough virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” GEORGE WASHINGTON 1799
- “Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.” THOMAS JEFFERSON 1821
- “Where the private interests of a member of Congress are concerned in a bill of question, he is to withdraw.” THOMAS JEFFERSON 1801
I think they’ve made my point for me. I’ll drop in one last quote from the most infamous of all politicians that perfectly describes many of out current representatives, senators, and Big Businesses.
- “I recognize no moral law in politics. Politics is a game, in which every sort of trick is permissible, and in which the rules are constantly being changed by the players to suit themselves.” ADOLF HITLER Mein Kampf 1924
I realize that my opinion means very little in the grand scheme of things but here it is anyway. Hillary Clinton is the epitome of what’s wrong with our government. Donald Trump may be brash, loud, and combative but he’s a better choice than anyone else I see. We’ve had eight years of Liberal nonsense with Obama and Hillary will be more of the same. Trump will be a breath of fresh air in the halls of Congress that currently smells a lot like a hot and humid day in an outhouse.
VOTE TRUMP!
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