Point Made

Travel My heart quickens a bit when I ponder the selection of outerwear I need for our trip North. Surely a sport coat with the now fashionable neck scarf, my fedora, and my ever-present and always-reliable Duluth Trading Fleece Gloves  will protect me from most of December's cool weather. However, I did watch the two games played in Lambeau recently and note a raincoat may be more prudent. My memories are of blinding snow and biting wind. I should bring the parka and my wool navy watch cap and calf-high boots. I guess there won't be room in the van for the dog. Unless we Romney pack her on the roof...? In any case, we are just days away from filling the travel cup with coffee, plugging in the smartphone,  tuning up an audible book on the van's stereo system, and watching the scenery change from light green to brown (possibly snow white). The reward will be seeing all of our family and friends on the Third Coast and up in "da Valley hey." Unfortunately, we ar...

It's that continuing curse of having one mental foot in two communities. I read the news from Milwaukee and New Orleans, and it's apparent both communities have similar problems. Carjackings are more popular for New Orleans criminals than Milwaukee unless that activity is no longer newsworthy in Beertown. Armed robbery is common news in both communities. I must say, when it comes to sheer guts, imagine three armed masked men invading Bachus at the height of the dinner hour and robbing customers of their valuables. We had a comparable incident in New Orleans last month. Then if you're a Milwaukeean, to get the magnitude of this event, you have to imagine the thieves went down the street a few nights later and hit The Pfister and a couple of other Tony locations. Then there are the shootings. The bad guys are firing at people because of a bad drug deal, gang activity, someone pissed them off, somebody's relative pissed them off, or just pissed off in general. Oh, th...

Packers V Lions My friend Danny called me to confirm that we were going to his place for dinner that evening. He started the conversation with, "Did you watch the Game last night?' I told him the same thing I told my friend, John, from Wisconsin, earlier. I watched the Chicago game a week earlier, and I had trouble sleeping that night. So I decided to skip the Detroit game. THIS MORNING, when I got on the computer, I had really forgotten about the game until I read a headline in the Times-Picayune about Aaron Rodgers beating Detroit with a "Hail Mary" pass. I have now seen that clip six times. I saw the clip that "clearly" showed the defender grabbing for Rodgers facemask, which resulted in the penalty, and extended the game after the clock ran out. I saw Rodger's interview with the sideline talent, where he was boyishly thrilled and emotionally exhausted. Then I watched the play again. I bookmarked it . I'm going to watch it again. Mowed t...

An interview with Gordon Gekko. JWJ: Gordon,..May I call you Gordon? GG: Yeah, man, but right now, you have to be quiet for a second. There's a bug over there, and I'm starved. Gordon takes care of the bug. He nods as he swallows. I continue. JWJ: I guess that establishes the fact that you eat bugs. GG: Hell yeah, That's why your breed likes me so much. That and the fact that I'm so damn cute. I gotta tell you, the spokeslizard for the insurance company raise our profile into the Dinosaur realm with little kids. JWJ: I have to be honest with you. I see a few lizards out here, and it's hard for me to tell one from another. GG: Yeah, we get that a lot. I have to remind you that white people have that problem with many animals, even your own kind. JWJ: True enough. My research tells me that you are a South Carolina Anole. GG: I've heard that, but let's face it, man. Those are your names. My people didn't campaign for it any more than I...

T he Name of My Companion Lizard is... I happy to announce that a suggestion from Cathy Miller, a unintentional second by Michelle Mooney and approval from my Granddaughter, Devon, to name my deck companion lizard, Gordon, has settled the matter. As far as I'm concerned. He is Gordon the Gecko, formally known as the Lizard on Jeff's Deck. You will be occasionally hearing from Gordon in this blog as soon as we get his contract worked out. Negotiations are in progress and agreement is expected any day now. Frost on the Bamboo You might have noticed, I posted an article on FaceBook warning residents in SE Louisiana of a frost warning. The warning period is narrowed down to the possibility of temperatures below freezing for four hours on Monday morning. The high temperature for Monday will be in the high fifties low sixties. I can hear you laughing Wisconsin. And you're right, I won't even bother to bring in the garden hose or worry about low lying vegetation. In fac...

What's the weather outside like? It's fall in SE Louisiana. That means we need another blanket at night to sleep comfortably. Temps are getting down into the low fifties at night, high sixties and seventies in the day. So soups, beef stew, meatloaf with mashed potatoes, and, if you're going to be a SE Louisiananian, red beans, and rice are all comfort foods that suddenly sound good. Making heat in the kitchen is not a huge sin anymore. And there is where we find me, my loyal blog readers. I'm still trying to bake "The Loaf of Bread," and I'm so close. The reason I'm getting close is a beginning to understand what I've done wrong when I fail. Dough to wet. Dough to dry. Too much kneading. Not enough yeast. More time in the oven. Make adjustments in the baking temperature based on the realization that the temperature of our oven is not correct. DO NOT USE A BREAD MACHINE. Be careful of using a hand mixer. After all, is said and done, maybe just...

Football the way God intended it to be played. On Television It is, in Louisiana, the High Holiday of the year, LSU v Alabama. My friend, Danny came over to our place Saturday about 4:00pm.to watch the game. Our respective spouse, either out of sense of not wanting to witness such silly behaviour or just a need to bond with other sensible human beings not addicted to a football game, left town. The Badgers had taken care of business,  (We didn't get the game) . Notre Dame had wupped Pittsburgh.  (Danny and I are both fans. Long story in both cases.) We watched Arkansa beat Ole Miss.  (You have to see the overtime replay if you missed it. Yeah, I know. The hated one Bielsma (?) won.) We ate Johnsonville Brats. Drank NA Beer And then the slide from the top of mountain called Hope began. By the end of the third quarter, Danny went home. Alabama didn't just beat LSU  (LSU fans represent the second most popular religion, losing out only to Christianity). ...

This is LSU week. This week is the runup (pun Intended) to the LSU - Alabama Game. Two things you have to know about this game besides the fact that it is a intense historical interleague rivalry. Nike Sabin, the highly successful coach of Alabama, used to be the Coach at LSU. Think of Green Bay Packer coach, Mike McCarthy, coaching the Vikings. Not only do LSU fans consider Sabin a traitor for leaving LSU, but going to Alabama is unforgivable. Second, LSU undoubtedly has the premier running back in college football, Leonard Fournette. Not only is Fournette capable, (He typically runs for more yards than a suburban home development in any game he plays.) but he is from New Orleans. Fournette is on his way to becoming a Heisman trophy winner and, if local fans have their way, a member of the New Orleans Saints. I know Wisconsin Badger fans are intense, but I have to tell you these LSU people need to think about 12 step treatment programs.  FYI: Next year Wisconsin will play L...

We had a primary election Saturday. As I have mentioned in a previous entry, we had several Republican candidates, four considered serious and one Democrat, who want to be the next Governor. The challenge for the eventual winner is that they are left to try to figure out how to save this state from the financial disaster that term-limited Governor and woeful presidential candidate Bobby Jindal left behind and the projected deficit in the next budget. This morning we find that there will be a runoff. The Democrat, John Bel Edwards, and the Republican David Vitter, currently a US Senator, will face off. Vitter suffered a horrendous attack by his own party contenders during the race. He survived because of his reputation as a staunch conservative and the truckloads of money spent by his Super PACS. Bel Edwards is a West Point Graduate, former army ranger, and minority leader in the state legislature. As a "southern" Democrat, he runs on credentials that feature pro-gun, pro-...

Post Disaster I refer to this post-disaster period, not because of Katrina or Isac, two hurricanes that inflicted physical and psychological terror on this area. No, I'm referring to the horrible start to the season by the local NFL Football Team, The New Orleans Saints. Said team made an effort toward respectability when they beat the Dallas Cowboys and unexplainably fell back in a rout inflicted by the Philadelphia Eagles. Ah, but our Prime Time showoff's really performed in the smacking down of the previously unbeaten Atlanta Falcons. And so, the air is fresher. Really the humidity has abated, and it has become cooler. There is a smile on most faces. Even here, not everyone lives and dies for the "ain'ts," as they are affectionately referred to when they are losing. If there was only a way of playing their entire schedule in the Primetime slots of Monday, Thursday, and Sunday night Football, this team might go to the Super Bowl. Instead, they languish at 2...

The cloud under which LSU resides. Normally a university under a cloud implies scandal, but fortunately for Louisiana State University, it really is clouds that are affecting their football program. Earlier this fall, LSU had scheduled one of those games all of the big schools put on the calendar. If the game didn't count in the standings, it would kindly be referred to as a scrimmage. Unfortunately, it does count. Like all of the big powerful teams, LSU was granted the privilege of getting drubbed by their team, which is spoken about as a possible National Champion and a Heisman Trophy candidate at running back, to McNeese State. The shadowy benefit to our sacrificial lamb is "national" exposure. Coach in Visitor's Locker room The steam rolls in from the shower room. The overhead lights flicker seemingly in time with the muffled chants of the LSU fans screaming for blood. "Gentlemen, I know that we did not play our best half of football today. L...

Travel to Wisconsin: Appleton's Art on the Street allowed me to touch base with some old friends. My friend Lenny Nagler was exhibiting at Coventry Gallery for this Friday night event. Some of his friends in this circle are also friends of mine.  A big surprise was the appearance of the somewhat reclusive Bob Levy. Bob is a long-time friend and member of The Royal Order of Toads. Since his divorce, he has been in a long-term funk. His decision to move back to the East Coast seems to bring him some peace. Bob agreed to attend a film and join us for dinner the following day. It was good to see him on the road to recovery. The Family got it together for me on Sunday morning. I had a jolt when my 14-year-old Granddaughter, Grace, walked out of her bedroom in high heels. It seems you have to practice walking in that type of shoe. The Homecoming dance is coming up, and she was getting in shape.  My Princess Warriors are, one by one, evolvin...

There are always the Grandkids. They are reason enough for going back, and it always will be. But there's more. I have tried, pretty successfully, I think, to keep in touch with many of my friends in Wisconsin. Len Nagler and I will be going to a Packer Game while I'm there. John B and I will have breakfast. We will talk about getting old gracefully (It's not a pretty process). My son-in-law Dan and I will share our sorrows about the Badgers' failure to look respectable against their SEC opponents. He feels bad. I live with it. Michelle Mooney is going to let me stay with her while I visit the Milwaukee Film Festival. I expect to see Leon, Jon, Charles, Ken, Bill, Larry, Jeramey, Dave, Tom, and Harry. I already have a date for lunch with Whitney. I know I'll see Sis, Mary, Cathy, Darlene, Carolyn, and Anne. So, it's not that I've slipped the tethers and floated away. My roots are still in Wisconsin, and those roots are what will bring me back again and ag...

As many of you know, Maria suffers from SAD . This was getting worse every year. As I explained to some of our friends, it wasn't the snow or the cold so much as the seemingly endless stretches of cloudy days in a Wisconsin winter. I can accurately report that Louisiana is a cure for that problem. I log the weather every morning in my journal. The usual entry looks like this. Morning temperature, the mid-seventies,  Skies Fair Wind, Calm Barometer, 30 inches Dewpoint, the mid-seventies Predicted high, the low to mid-nineties Feels like temperature, the mid-nineties to low one hundred Chance of rain 20% My doc says I can't wait any longer. As if my ankle fusion and two knee replacements aren't enough, I'm having my varicose veins zipped out. Since there is a recovery period, I'm waiting until I return from my visit to Wisconsin. My doc tells me that once the veins are out, the water retention that has been plaguing me will go away, and I will have ...

We may have been the only house on the block or maybe even in Louisiana to turn off our air conditioning and open our windows this week, but we did. For two comfortable nights with only a ceiling fan and our stick fan rotating in the bedroom, we slept with the windows open. We fell asleep to the night sounds of the Louisiana bayou country singing to us. Yes, the days go hot. However, the cool front that dipped down from up north (thank you) lowered the daytime temperatures and the humidity to a tolerable level. I learned something this week. See to me being able to ride my moped year-round also entailed mowing lawn as a component. Seems that is not true, My neighbor John pointed out to me that sometime in November we will mow the lawn for the last time in 2015 and not have to resume until May of 2016. Mock Jury Maria and I served on a mock jury this week. It might be a testimony to the justice system that the two combatants in this dispute, after almost eight years, preferred to sub...

The difference between Wisconsin and Louisiana is we don't get that cool Canadian high-pressure system sneaking in between the slightly muggy days. That cooler, crisp, dry morning in August is the tap on the shoulder that tells you Fall is coming without invitation, and it expects to be welcome. It's that first time you can't find a golf ball because it rolled into a pile of fresh fallen leaves. It's the sudden drop in temperature when you ride or walk to the lakefront. No, none of that has happened here, and I don't expect it will. Maybe in November. Speaking of golf. People that know me  (and you all do)  know of my love for a good story. I love books, film, and theater. Any venue that delivers a good story. I don't need the performance to make me laugh. I'm old enough and wise enough to know that the swinging pendulum of joy to sorrow and back again is a need that ranks somewhere high in the order of importance in the Hierarchy of Need near where love ...

This will be one of those "be careful what you wish for" moments, but we do need rain here. However, let me you in on a perverse benefit of having a lawn consisting of St Augustine grass. Seems this stuff can live off of the moisture in the air and the dew in the morning. Rain or no rain, it grows and therefore must be cut weekly. We made our first trip OSL (Other Side of the Lake). I booked tickets at the Theaters at Canal Place to see Ricki and the Flash . But before we were slightly disappointed in the movie, we ventured into the Garden District. Spared from major damage in Katrina, this is a neighborhood of diverse, wonderful, and historic dwellings. So you took pictures, Jeff?  You would have to have remembered your camera to do that. NO PHONE IMAGES ON THIS BLOG! We'll catch up on this in a future post. The Garden District is an area of some of the more expensive and desirable homes in New Orleans. The anchor here is proximity to downtown, the universities (Tu...

Report From Points South Of Lake Woebegon Published 8/04/15 Wednesday 8/4/2015 Sunny, Hot and Humid Do you know that feeling you get when you step into a cool lake on a hot summer's day? Your body reacts as it senses a major attack on the status quo. Its system clinches as your bloodstream speeds up its job of circulating not only nourishment but controlling your body temperature. Imagine that feeling, only in reverse. Every morning, I open the patio door to let Lucy, my dog, out for her morning stroll. The heat and humidity roll through the door opening like a wave on a beach. Later, I will take my breakfast and my second cup of coffee out the same door. I read while I consume my cereal, toast, or whatever... Inside of a few minutes, I've acclimated to the heat and humidity, to the point I don't even notice it. Note: I'm not in the sun. Our deck has an awning. I'm not exerting myself. If I mow the lawn, I will sweat like a hog. But I am getting used to it. It i...

Last Week I Made Bread Published 8/3/15 It doesn't sound like much, but I was just beginning to make some decent bread when the move interrupted all of that. So actually needing to knead some dough was a real-life situation. The report on the first loaf of simple white was B+. It should have been a little lighter in its texture. The taste was a little on the sweet side. However, it passed the toast test. Weather It continues to be hot. Since the month is over, we can report, we lived through the second hottest July in the New Orleans records. The temperature reached at least 91 degrees each and every day. As I mentioned in my last blog, I'm looking forward to August, typically the hottest month of the year. Registered Voter I now know my government representatives and election day draws near. No more Jindal.  He is off trying to become President. Unlike Walker, Bobby is term-limited and can not run for Governor again. If you think Walker's record will be tough to run on...