The early flights were all booked up, so I got a few hours more sleep. I've finally finished packing and I'm ready to go. With the construction on the airport road and holiday traffic, I have to leave the house around 10:30 for a 1:15 PM flight! It makes for a long day. So far all flights I've checked seem to be running on time, so it might be a smooth trip. Just time for one more cam pic.

I spent the day getting ready for my trip; washing clothes, packing in my usual disorderly way and working for hours to get the laptop ready. It's the first time I've tried to take the web site on the road. I think I have everything set up so I can do almost everything. I'll be updating the journal and I hope, the web cam from my brother's house.

During all this lil' Puddin' has been doing her best to trip me so I'll fall and hurt myself and maybe not go. She knows that somethings up and she doesn't like it!



My friend Robert will be taking care of her while I'm gone, but she hates it when I leave. She's never very nice to Robert; seems to think that it's his fault that I'm not there.

I've got an early afternoon flight, but I may be able to get on a morning flight. I'm waiting until midnight to call and see if I can. There are still seats available on three earlier flights, but I can't tell how many. If it looks good on either of the two earliest flights, I'll have to be at the airport by 6 AM. I won't get much sleep, but I never do the night before a trip and I tend to sleep well on planes. The earlier flights go through DFW instead of O'hare/Chicago which might be a good thing tomorrow.

Well, the funeral was kind of sad, which is amazing since I didn't know the woman. My friend seemed OK with everything, he was handling it so well, but said that was due to the Xanax. The visiting hour was pretty easy, but then we stayed for the service which included members of the family, mostly grandchildren, getting up and talking and weeping for the longest time and hymns, bible readings and a sermon. A bit much for me.

But then it was over. So we went shopping!



It was way crowded.

We saw some tacky beautiful dolls in the toy store.



And a Lucy one...



And here's Robert "walkin round in women's underwear"!



(We had dark suits on because we had just been at the funeral. We don't usually dress like that for shopping.)

After that we went to a BBQ joint and had a huge lunch, then crawled home through pre-Christmas rush hour traffic.

And I did find a good prezzy for my niece.

Another gorgeous day! The weather has been exceptional this fall and early winter. We definitely must be heading for a big hurricane next year!

This morning Robert and I are going to a funeral. My friend George's mother died. She was 85 and I never met the woman, but we're going for George's sake. When it's over, the malls are quite near the cemetery, so we'll do some shopping to cheer us up.

I'm still trying to decide about going to Vegas in January. I got a free pass to the Consumer Electronics Show which is going on at the same time, which now makes it an even more desirable trip! I think I'll decide today.

I still have a lot to do before Boston. I've got to go over everything on the laptop and make sure it's ready for a road trip. My intention is to continue doing site updates as I travel, particularly the journal and maybe some cam pics.

Got an extension cable for the cam and I can now actually go outside with it, plus around the house. I did a pic from the front of the house since it's such a gorgeous day.



I noticed on the "society page" in the Times-Picayune this ayem, in one of the pictures there was a woman named Cissy Tittle! Seems like she could have picked a better nick name! NO society women always have wierd nick names; one wonders why they don't drop them as the grow older, but they don't. That nick will probably be listed in her obit.

My friend Ken is coming over today to cut my hair. It's been a while since I've seen him and there's lots of dirt to catch up on! Ken always has tales to tell and he's looking forward to hearing about my trip to Waveland last Saturday night.

Yesterday was a washout; I accomplished almost nothing. Well, I did talk to luca and helped him with some computer stuff. And I did watch Ellen and Absolutely Fabulous. Not a total washout, but there have been more productive days.

This morning I woke up with a sty in my eye. I've never had one before and this one doesn't seem to be too bad. If it doesn't get any worse, it should go away pretty quickly. ( I hope.) It's not pretty. Warm compresses; I be walking around dripping all day. And I have a lot to do before this weekend!

OMG! So we went to the party

We took off in Robert's big old Oldsmobile, a very huge old car and went screaming down I-10. We went across the edge of Lake Pontchartrain and in between The Rigoles and Lake Catherine. Then we took US 90 towards Pearlington. One of the things you have to understand about this road is that it's very narrow, there's lots of marshland on either side of the road and only occasionally a spot where there might be a gas station and a pawn shop. We missed our turn to Joel's house and went wildly out of our way! And during that time we went over the Jane Mansfield Death Bridge!!!! We were on that same horrible highway!!! We were on that same piece of road she wrecked on coming back from Biloxi!




Shit, Pussy and Goddam!!

Then we found another big road and ended up at the Stennis Space Center Rest Area in the state of Mississippi. It was the hugest place to pee that I have ever seen! It looked like a "plantation home" rest area!

And the Space Shuttle was there!!!



And there were soooo many rules to follow. Um, we forgot...




Anywhoo, (as that Dell Boy says), we used the cell phone and Joel came and found us and guided us, eventually to Peaches' house. But as we drove along, we went through a "restricted dead zone". Joel told us that the entire area had been bought up by the government in the fifties so that if a rocket that they were testing really blew it's ass up, people wouldn't get killed too bad. It was a long dark patch of road.

Finally, we got to Peaches house in the country, a long box like structure.... it was fabulously decorated, so many lights! We parked the car, got out and managed not to fall into the ditch.

And entered the party.


I have to tell you about this group of people; if you didn't know them to start with, you'd never believe them. The 20 or so people that were there were from New Orleans and places in between, and San Antonio and Austin and places in between.



The big round guy used to manage a notorious bath house in New Orleans. Our host/hostess at this party was the infamous "Flame La Rue" a man who worked the Bourbon Street strip clubs as a woman when he was only a 17 year old boy. (That was back then, when you didn't have to take it all off...) Peaches was pretty amazing then, she still is now. Actually she's more amazing now!

And of course, we had to listen to a guy who once was Clay Shaw's lover. (Funny thing, if you get drunk with a bunch of gay guys well over sixty years old anywhere in the New Orleans area, one of them is going to tell you that he was Clay Shaw's lover.) The Kennedy thing is still alive here... oooooh!

(The guys in the picture have nothing to do with the story really, nothing I tell you. Don't ask)

especially in the country in Waveland, MS late at night.

We were sooo glad to get back to New Orleans, where we know our dangers and the streets are lit at night!