Good morning, everyone and welcome to Friday’s Morning Open Thread.
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Notes from Below Sea Level
A late night snared me, I’m afraid, and I’ll be catching a bit more sleep before work. My sister got back from England but her flight was delayed and she caught a later flight from Houston to New Orleans. By the time I dropped her off and made it back to my place, it was well past midnight. She gave me the Cliff’s Notes version on the way to her house from the airport—suffice it to say she had a wonderful time, got to see most of what she wanted, went to a formal tea, walked a bunch, ate pub food and Indian and Chinese, enjoyed attending The Mouse Trap (loved it, actually), and enjoyed the Cotswolds. Oh, and she brought me a collection of teas—in a can shaped like a double-decker bus—to thank me for looking after her dogs (they were so happy to see her).
The first four days of my work week slid by quickly but without too much chaos and this weather on the gulf coast is the sort you pray for all year: beautiful, clear days with springtime temperatures and not too much rain to dampen the mood. We’ve picked up a couple projects that are going to present slightly different challenges for me. One federal and one state, the former is on a coastguard facility on an island and the latter a marine fisheries laboratory—both which I’m looking forward to learning a bit about. In construction, I see so much of the same-old-same-old that a couple projects that present different sorts of challenges are always welcomed; otherwise it starts feeling like a job.
This Saturday is the third annual Bayou Terrebonne Boucherie Festival, which features a string of local bands (no, you’ve never heard of them) and a white bean cook-off. I also see there’s going to be a pirogue race, a duck call competition, barrel toss, and a chicken chase: good times on the bayou, for sure. Since tomorrow’s weather looks divine, my son and I might make our way downtown to catch a bit of the music and maybe lunch at one of the local food booths. And I don’t want to miss the opportunity to hear a bit of Nonc Nu & Da Wild Matous.
Between Leeville and Fourchon is a area of Lafourche Parish I know well and have spent way too much time (especially when I was younger) fishing and shrimping. There isn’t much there besides water and swampland (and a few scattered camps) but it is a wildly seductive landscape that is best appreciated on the deck of a boat at sunrise.
My time is up and that sleep I was hoping to get before work is now just a fading dream. I have stray cats to feed and a second cup of coffee to pour. I’m going to take the last half hour of this morning to enjoy some peaceful moments on my patio. I do hope you’ve had a good week so far and that your weekend holds a surprise or two.
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Cheers everyone. Be well, be kind, and appreciate the love you have in your life.
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What's on your mind this morning?