It's a rare day that I find myself all the way back home in Mandeville after work before 5 p.m. But, due to having to take care of some legal biz for our firm on this side of Lake Pontchartrain, such was the case today. I started to turn into my driveway, and then thought, "Heck, why not have a little bit of a weekend on a Tuesday night?"
So, I drove right back out, turned left on Highway 22, and a few minutes later was seated overlooking the Tchefuncte River at Friends Coastal Restaurant http://www.friendscoastal.com/which, sorry to say, I had not visited since before Hurricane Gustav. The first time I ever went to Friends was in the course of doing this piece http://www.insidenorthside.com/08MarApril/0308madison.html about the charming town of Madisonville, Louisiana. I recall alighting from the ladies' room and seeing no one outside the door but Dan Aykroyd. Apparently, he had been besieged -- moments earlier -- by fans at a fundraiser held that day in the name of saving the town's lighthouse and drawing more attention to the need to halt coastal erosion. But, for just a moment he was left alone and that is how I met him and proceeded to interview him for the piece.
The restaurant is a Phoenix that has risen from the ashes more than once -- first after being reduced to nothing but rubble after Katrina, and again, after some pretty extensive damage from Gustav. I've been craving the Caribbean salad with papaya and pulled chicken for some time now, and tonight was just the perfect opportunity to head over there and relax on that waterway with a great meal, a Bloody Mary, and a good book. I just began delving into Frank ("Angela's Ashes") McCourt's "Teacher Man," his bio about the 30 years of being a public school teacher in New York prior to his "overnight" success as an author.
I love one of the things he has to say in his introduction: Now I think it time to give myself credit for at least one virtue: doggedness. Not as glamorous as ambition or talent or intellect or charm, but still the one thing that got me through the days and nights.
That is something I at least try to identify with. But I know someone who is a true testament to doggedness, and that is my dear friend and exquisite ballet dancer, Sarah. It's coming up on two years past her stroke, and I know my other friend Trina has paid her homage in her blog as of late, but just to ensure that news of this wonderful woman reaches as wide an audience as possible, forgive me if I also post the link to this recent story: http://www.wwltv.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=372781&shu=1
After my wonderful meal, I just let my trusty Rocinante take me where it would, and I drove through the backroads to the movie theater in Covington, where I pre-purchased my ticket to Sandra Bullock's "The Proposal." I had a half hour to kill, so I went to the adjacent shops and snarfed up every last box of Harry & David chocolate truffles from Marshalls, where the price is almost worth dealing with the uninspired clerks.
The movie was fun, and a great way to get out of this 100+ degree heat index we've been dealing with for weeks here (especially because so much of the movie takes place in Sitka, Alaska).
All that before 9 p.m. As da Vinci said, "A well spent day brings happy sleep."
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So you met Dan? I spent a week with him on a shoot in, I think, Toronto. We got along fairly well. He was pleasant, and preferred not following a script. It made for some tense, but highly amusing moments. Strange, small world.
ReplyDeleteYou sound well. That's a very good thing. Do you think Lisa Meisner ever bred?
I have only one response to that last question. And you are the only person who would ever understand it. Ready?
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