|
May122006
|
Uncle Joe’s Birthday Party… Among Other Things |
Dad and I would have gone to work today, but there was a baseball game at noon. What’cha gonna do? Tulane played Southern Mississippi this weekend in the last home series of the regular season. They’re a very competent team that hits the ball very well. Southern Miss. opened big in the first with a home run. Tulane answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the first inning. The score remained tied until the fourth inning when Tulane got one run in. Although there was drama to spare through to the end of the game, there was no more scoring after the fourth inning, for a final of 2-1. Pitching on both teams was very good. Sean Morgan put in another great show, allowing only four hits in 8 innings. The game was rather short, about two and a half hours. We went home afterward. Later in the afternoon, the whole family including myself went over to Aunt Doris and Uncle Joe’s house for his 82nd birthday party. All of the usual suspects were there as well as some friends of Dad’s family I don’t know. Like most get-togethers with my Dad’s family, there’s lots of food and conversation. Beyond that I don’t really feel like detailing anything. While I was there I got a call or two from Khadijah who was with Toni on their way to New Orleans. Kali was only going to be in town overnight before flying back to Florida. She suggested we get together later in the evening. We left the party around ten I think. I was home for a little while before I heard from Khadijah again. She and Toni picked me up around midnight. It’s been months since I’ve seen Khadijah and I can’t even remember the last time I saw Toni. They didn’t really have any plans on what to do in mind. He headed over the river and it occurred to me on the way that Frenchman Street might be a nice place to go at such a late hour. We got a parking spot near the intersection of Esplanade and Frenchman. Kali needed a bathroom not long after we were out the car. I suggested Snug Harbor, as I know the rest rooms there are easy to get to. I didn’t think we’d stay long as it was nearly one in the morning and I didn’t think there’d be any music there but a band was playing to my surprise, UNO’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Quintet and the performance hall was open to anyone. They were a pretty decent band. When we first got there they were accompanied by a female singer performing “What It Means to Miss New Orleans.” I got Khadijah and myself a drink and we took a table upstairs and listened to the rest of the set, which finished at about 1:30. After that, we decided to go hang out some place quiet where we could talk for a little while. We went to the Sheraton but the front door was locked at the late hour. I didn’t think to go to the side entrance so we just walked across the street and sat in the Marriot lobby for a while and talked. We remained there until 2:30 or about three. Toni was rather tired by then. I was surprised she wanted to leave the house this evening after driving five hours from Natchitoches. I finally got home sometime close to four. I went to bed not long after getting home.