Sunday, September 4, 2016.
Like Nothing Ever Happened.
I’m working on the flat tire on the lawn tractor, and getting nowhere, because I have no jack. But then, deus ex machina, Mary Leigh shows up at the Cool Water Ranch with her fiance Dave. Dave is just back from an extended bachelor party, the highlight of which was a parachute jump in the local airport outside Abita Springs. Dave is in the Army reserve, and does things like that.
He's also in good enough shape to help me with the lawn tractor. He lifts the front of the tractor high enough that I can slip some lumber under it, allowing me to turn the bad wheel. We try to pump the tire up, but it’s leaking badly somewhere. Getting the old tire off is very difficult. (I still haven't done it.) Nor can I seem to locate a new tire. What I really need is a new tractor—this one is over 15 years old. But I was hoping to postpone that big purchase until next spring. On the other hand, the rain is falling so often and hard that I might not be able to cut the grass anytime soon.
While Dave and I work on the tractor, I have my first talk with him since the postponement of his wedding to my daughter. I come away from the discussion with the feeling that he and she are perfectly okay with the situation as it stands. Trying to dope it out further leaves any outsider only puzzled.
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Monterrey Fajitas at La Caretta.[/caption]
MA joins the three of us to have dinner at--where else?--La Caretta. Here come the familiar queso with chorizo, the beef tacos, the salads, the cups of black bean soup, and about four baskets of thin tortilla chips with maybe a quart of the excellent salsa. Why are we outside on a day that is both hot and occasionally rainy? I just go along with the flow.
Monday, Labor Day, September 4, 2016.
Good-Bye To The Nearlyweds. Five Hours At The Chimes.
Mary Leigh and Dave and one of Dave's groomsmen (a guy who once was in the Boy Scout troop with Jude; once again we prove that only 500 people live around New Orleans) hit the road at five in the morning for Dave and ML's apartment in Virginia. So much for that!
Among the worst days of the year for dining out is Labor Day. Not even the indefatigable Chef Andrea opens. For the most part, only the chains are available.
But Mary Ann wants to get together with all six of her siblings, who are still in town for the event that wasn't. They go to The Chimes. Of course. MA's favorite place. I go along, with oysters on my mind. Bad news! Chimes is smackout of oysters in all forms. I get a platter of fried catfish instead. They wrere reasonably good. No I have something else to eat next time I am dragged to the sports-intensive eatery.
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The view from the deck at The Chimes. During the recent floods, the water was at the top of the wood ramps in the background.[/caption]
We are there for six hours. The first of them is the wait for a table. We are about to be seated when MA says that she would allow another fifteen minutes so she can eat outside on the deck. It is raining.
We discuss the wedding massacree and everything on earth related to it, over and over. But things really get lively when Mary Ann's little brother Tim shows up. We all know from the experience of many Thanksgivings that one must accord Tim at least an extra hour to arrive at anything.
But he is worth waiting for. His car is under siege by a battalion of what are known as Crazy Ants. This is another exotic species which has found new places to live in the New Orleans area. Crazy Ants are so aggressive that they are actually giving fire ants--another import that seemed to be decimating all the other ants--a run for their money. The Crazy Ants can also run termites out of a niche. They almost sound good. But they are not.
At first, I think Tim was making all this up. Photographs of the ants makes them look likle cartoons. No matter how many places he has run them away from his car, shed, and house, they seem to be not long before appearing again, usually carrying a vanquished insect that seems too big for the ants to carry. But they do carry it. Tim's description of the ant ordeal is so funny that the whole table is convulsed in laughter.
And so the big weekend ends. Not with a honeymoon, but with a puzzle, and a story about ants. We will consider all this for the rest of our lives. I've heard and seen enough to feel actually good about it all.
The Chimes. Covington: 19130 W Front St. 985-892-5396.
