This Past Week

I started off he week with a bridge lesson here. Connie and I have been taking lessons for a couple months now. We've been meeting here on Mondays with another couple---whenever we can all work it in. 

We met Mindy at The Pub for dinner to discuss the itinerary for our upcoming trip to London in June. They are going for the Red Sox game. We're tagging along. We sort of invited ourselves, so we plan to give them plenty of space!!

Mindy surprised us with a king cake from this famous bakery in NOLA. We cut it in to 4 pieces and gave some to Stephanie, Morgan and our Cajun friends, the Broussards. We didn't have the baby, so one of them got it. I hope they really do have good luck this year!

Tuesday was our annual meeting at St. Cecilia to pass out rosary bracelets from the Holy Land to the graduating seniors. This is through an organization we belong to: The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. The rosaries are made in Bethlehem of olive wood and blessed by the bishop. 

From there, we went to Morgan's new apartment in Germantown. Butch hung some hooks, then we went across the street to the Farmer's Market to buy plants to put in the macrame hangers. 

We went to Richland for their Mardi Gras party.

All of the food was fabulous---everything Cajun you could possibly want on Fat Tuesday including fresh oysters (Nicky loves them) and oysters Rockefeller (we all love them). The dessert table included the king cake, bananas Foster---a NOLA original and the most amazing praline cookies. I LOVE cookies---especially Richlands. I smuggled two of them home.

Of course they also had the traditional beignets. I'm not a fan, so was able to pass. I don't like funnel cakes either---just fried dough. We're going to NOLA in a few weeks with our friends. I'm excited because I can honestly say, New Orleans is my favorite city in the world for the food!! Cafe du Monde is on the itinerary. I'm thinking I'll pass on that. Even if I don't want to have beignets, you CANNOT go there without coming away covered in powdered sugar!

Oh my gosh! I just realized this whole part about the king cake and Mardi Gras party happened last week. My weeks run together and the memory isn't all that great! To prove that, when I talked to the guy from A1 Appliance about getting a new dishwasher, I asked him to quote me the Kitchenaid because that's what we had. He said, "mmm, no. According to our records, you have a Maytag." I said, "no, it's a Kitchenaid. Wait, let me look. Yeah, you're right---it's a Maytag!" Sheesh! And it didn't even bother me to look like an idiot!

Wednesday, the four bridge lesson takers got together to play for a couple hours. I've been preaching that you can't really learn bridge unless you play frequently. We're trying, but everybody is so busy. Luckily for me, I still have my regular Thursday game---although my bridge partner there is getting older and crabbier each week!

The weather is so gorgeous now. We had our first happy hour of 2019 on the front porch even though it wasn't Friday. Wednesday, Friday, what does it matter when you are retired?

On Friday, I went to Michaels to pick up an Easter craft for my houseguests next week. I met Connie for a pedicure. We've somehow have gotten off our monthly schedule. We lunched at one of our favorite "hole in the wall" Mexican places.

I spent the afternoon napping, reading my book club book. I know it's very highly rated, but I am not enjoying Becoming Mrs. Lewis. It's pretty boring to me, but I'm only about half way. Maybe it gets better. At any rate, it's based on a true story, so we'll see. At least I won't feel like it was a complete waste of time.

Which reminds me. If you are a Jeffrey Archer fan (I am---been reading him since the 1980's---Kane and Abel and The Clifton Chronicles (7 in the series) are some of my favorite books. However, DO NOT bother with Heads You Win. I have never been so disappointed in an ending. Total waste of time. I should have paid attention to when this book was released. Anything by top authors that come out right before Christmas are usually not their best. They are meeting deadlines to cash in on the Christmas trade.

Played bridge---came in dead last---on Thursday. Stopped and bought the new dishwasher. I wanted another Maytag, but they didn't have it in stock and it was going to be a month. No way! I got a Whirlpool---yes---that's it. It will be installed on Friday. Still a week. I'll live.

Our regular Friday night happy hour with my new favorite drink: an extra dirty martini. #icanonlyhaveone! I'm not sure if I really like it or I like the idea of it---like it somehow makes me a more sophisticated drinker. It definitely tasted better when I was introduced to it by my baby sister on our cruise!

Butch copied me. He made them, so I guess it's easy to make two at a time. He tried to convince me that he used to drink martinis---even siting an occasion---"don't you remember, Bruce and I used to order them before our poker dinners," I don't. The glasses we are using we actually bought when we were on our Alaska cruise. It's hard to tell, but they have a cool "ball" on the bottom---each a different color.

More evidence of spring. The trees are in bloom everywhere. Every year, I'm always so surprised because it seems like it should still be winter. Winter goes by really fast here. It seems like it starts in January and is only two months long.

We have nothing going on over the weekend. We'll just go to Mass today so tomorrow we can do more nothing.

How was your week?