Diary: 4/12-13/14

[title type="h5"]Saturday, April 12, 2014. Back To The French Quarter. [/title] Today was the second of two live-on-location broadcasts from the French Quarter Festival. The weather was nice, but not as perfect as on Thursday. A little warmer, a lot more humid. As if anyone really cares. Mary Ann came in with me for the day. She's a big fan of the Festival, with its combination of grazing on small portions and the selection limited to New Orleans food. But a piece of news received yesterday is alarming her enough to eclipse both the Festival and the looming specter of the lengthy vacation we will begin Monday. Jude informed us last night that tomorrow he will put a ring on the finger of his girlfriend. He even sent a photo of the ring. The Marys now have a new topic to fill all their thoughts and hours, beginning with what the answer will be from the girl. The two of us certainly talked about nothing else all the way over. I made a blunder in the middle of the show, when I mentioned on the air that Jude would pop the question. Mary Ann was horrified that I let the trout out of the net. It was a mistake, but not a harmful one: the show was on 1350, not WWL. The listenership on weekends of that station may as well be zero. I got not one call during the entire three hours. And nobody heard the news to spread it on the grapevine. [divider type=""] [title type="h2"]Sunday, April 13, 2014. Getting Ready To Travel, With Palms Upraised.[/title] I am so nearly up to speed for our European semi-vacation that I felt good about taking two hours off for Palm Sunday Mass at St. Jane's in Abita Springs. For some reason, Mary Ann thinks of this as a major ecclesiastical day. She didn't even mind the long version of today's Gospel--a surprise to find at a Sunday evening Mass. We made up the time by not going to lunch or dinner. I am nearly packed. My subscribers will get at least a limited edition of the New Orleans Menu every day the entire time I'm gone, without even a day missed. We are set for the special events that will take place when the Eat Clubbers begin to join me this Friday. The guest hosts for the radio show are nearly set up (if you count Mary Ann's usual loose ends, tied up on the way to the airport.) Mary Leigh and The Boy are finishing the big pre-vacation project of building a fence around the house to contain the dogs. I am concerned that while the fence has definitely affected the moods of the German shepherds, we have not really put it to the ultimate test: will Susie, a very street-smart dog, figure out how to penetrate the barrier? I'll believe it only when I see her still confined tomorrow. [title type="h6"] Yesterday || Tomorrow[/title]