Gearing up

Keeping one's ordinary life in order when living away from home can get tricky. Today I made sure my AAA membership and my car insurance were in good order. On my last trip the car had a major service and yesterday I got a functional spare tire at a nearby junkyard (replacing my dead one). Today I bought a wedding present and wrapping paper (one more task for tonight), I got a haircut, and I picked up the prescription refills I had ordered yesterday. Laundry continues. A few more reservations have been made.

We will be discussing Huston Smith's book on World Religions on the road, so I have pulled out some nice supplements from my shelves: the Dhammapada and the Upanishads. Also some poetry we might read to each other on the road. There is going to be lots of time on the road.

My buddy trimmed his beard. I asked at lunch today if this were for my sisters. He said yes.

Lunch today was lovely. It was my treat for Jack's birthday (belatedly) and Bill's saint's day (Gregory the Great on the Roman calendar). We dined as Seasons Grill in Old Town Albuquerque. I had a delicious glass of pinot gris (I usually avoid white wines so this was branching out a bit).

The return to New Orleans begins. The consulting agency I work through said we could come back tomorrow and Friday. I, of course, will be going back later.

This is wonderful news. Gustav hit New Orleans but New Orleans held. Hooray!

I am glad that Mimi and her family are all right though I eagerly await news that they are home and have power and can buy food in stores once more.

Back to laundry and getting ready. Mercifully we will not be departing at dawn as we are only aiming for Kingman, Arizona, on the first night.

Yes, photos are promised. Thermy and Manuel are going along. (This time a couple of my boys will be traveling.) Thermopoulos Lobster and Manuel Mapache (mapache is Spanish for raccoon) will partying on this trip. After all these days I don't think Belle and Maggie have gotten half-way through recounting their New Orleans adventures. I have not the slightest doubt that their siblings are getting much fuller versions than daddy gets. Which is just as well.

Thermy traveled with me to Mexico back in 1988. He is a great travel companion but I did not dare take him to New Orleans (too many seafood chefs in that town for his comfort). He likes riding on my shoulder.

Manuel comes from a long line of Californios, his people stretching back centuries in California. Some of his distant relatives hung out in the neighborhood where we lived in the El Cerrito hills, regularly visiting some of our neighbors.

My nephew in Albany made a slight error in naming places where the bride and groom are registered so I had to cross to the other side of town after lunch to get a wedding present. Fortunately a cell phone call to the groom's grandmother (my sister) got me on the right track.

Albuquerque is lovely. As ever. I so love living here.

And that wraps up the personal news from Desert Farne.
--the BB