12/11 In New Orleans

We started repacking the truck Sunday morning, no need to keep all the stuff in the house when it will be going to Arizona with us. Of course we have everything we brought with us from Canada plus several pieces of furniture we stored here after selling our place in Florida last summer. 

In the evening we went out to dinner at Melanie's cousin John's (Lois) home - interesting dishes included a brown-butter orzo with butternut squash, latkes with sour cream and Melanie's homemade applesauce, roasted beets and for dessert, homemade orange ice cream. You may recall that John and Lois got married in October and we were there - via a Zoom broadcast from the temple. For the record, they have also added a flame point Siamese kitten to their household - she is deaf but definitely not dumb. When we got home I fed my sourdough starter, holding some back to dry on parchment paper. Apparently, dried sourdough starter lasts indefinitely stored in a sealed jar or Ziploc bag. I'll have a backup in case I lose the currently refrigerated batch. Also, I can mail dry starter to anyone interested in taking on an edible hobby.

Monday: Shopping for vital necessities - Chicory Coffee! Exercise - Melanie, 10-11 Zoom class, Charlie, 9:45 - 11 walk around Audubon Park. Then lunch at La Madeleine with Marilyn Cohen who mentioned how much she liked my blog postings. That started me thinking about how they have changed since we left Nova Scotia - they've become more 'reportage' without the personal insights, thoughts, and observations which seemed so easy to include when we were at The Shore. 

I've missed being 'able' to write descriptively and wonder why that is. On the surface life these last few weeks has seemed very task oriented - get from point A to point B, unpack truck, pack truck, go shopping, make appointments, keep appointments, and on and on. As a result, what I've been doing recently is plug in my headset and listen to an audiobook while walking instead of observing the world around me. It's a world filled with  leaf blowers and construction cranes, delivery trucks, rattling streetcars, traffic, sirens, lots and lots of people of all complexions, ages and appearances - the poor, the wealthy, students and pensioners, waiters and bankers, truck drivers and nannies. But even that is not descriptive, it's just listing. I want to be more aware, I have to 'slow down' - we, or I, shall see....

Later in the afternoon we straightened up the house in preparation for Julian and Julies' arrival midday Tuesday. They plan to be 'in residence' throughout the remainder of our stay in New Orleans. Melanie is making Eggplant Parmigiana for dinner tomorrow night. 

Tuesday: Today, and through the next nine days, we have a number of medical appointments (7) and dental appointments (2). New Orleans has been our base for our medical services for a number of years and we are both loath to move to new practitioners elsewhere; we are quite comfortable with our current docs.

Now, Saturday morning, and I haven't written a lick since Tuesday. The appointments, lab tests and meetings with doctors have taken place as scheduled over the past few days. Labs have all been good. Melanie will have Laser surgery in one eye next Tuesday and I am scheduled for a repeat CT Scan in April to look at a small nodule in a lung. Dentist, Dov, has given Melanie a good report, I'll see him next week. Mixed in with these 'exciting' events Julian and Julie have settled in and Melanie has been preparing dinners for four - bean soup, Apple Crisp, etc.... We've continued repacking the truck in between intermittent rains. Melanie has her exercise classes and I take my walks - Four Miles With Audiobook - sounds like a title. Filled a propane tank Friday afternoon, made an appointment to get all the truck's cooling system hoses replaced next Thursday - thank you Marty for the suggestion  This afternoon we went down to the Bywater, an area of New Orleans adjacent to the French Quarter, for a light blue gallery opening by Melanie's cousin Maxx - a fantasy child's bedroom with guns. 

Between appointments I've been working on another loaf of whole wheat bread. Started Thursday evening it came out of the oven an hour ago (10:00 Saturday morning). Analysis: I need to use a lot more water. Research suggests that, using whole wheat flour, a higher hydration dough will yield a lighter bread. A flour to wheat ratio of 1:1 by weight may give much better results.than my current 3:1 recipe, That will have to wait 'til we get to Green Valley where we have a scale. Also, letting the dough proof overnight in the fridge may be much too long though it's what my current recipe suggests. Just had a couple of slices of whole wheat bread with cream cheese and lox - not bad.

Now, Sunday morning, I'm getting this ready to post. No pictures this week. We'll have a few more days in New Orleans and plan to head West next Friday with Casita in tow.