Home again, and back to work.

I still have a pretty long "Things to Do in New Orleans" list.
Bernie got totally stiffed on this trip. All he got to see was the hotel, the convention center and one restaurant.

We want another shot at New Orleans.

Since our anniversary is coming up in December, we're talking about taking advantage of the Christmas in New Orleans "Papa Noel" hotel rates, which are good the entire month of December. We've been to New Orleans twice around Christmas; we think it is the best kept holiday vacation secret in America!

Read about what is fun to do in New Orleans in December here.

Everywhere I went, I talked with New Orleans residents who urged us to spread the word that New Orleans is a safe and wonderful place and it is ready for visitors again. I'm doing my part here on my blog.

Seems only patriotic to head on over to the Big Easy at least once in December!

Let the good times roll!

The Mississippi River winding through the area as seen from the air.

The delta, where the soil from the river turns the water au lait brown before finally mingling with the deeper blue water in the Gulf. The sediment looks like clouds.

Tender post party feet need Crocs.

A gentleman across the aisle in the plane asked me if I bought the jacket to match my Crocs, or the Crocs to match my jacket.
Bernie bought me the Ellen Tracy jacket last November; I have finally decided to just wear it, and get over how expensive it was.

Fashion editors everywhere would just up chuck to see that jacket worn with Crocs.

The gentleman told me he thought Crocs are just great, and that he, his wife and his kid wear them all the time. Bernie chimed in with how the PGA caddies all wear them now, but can only wear them in black or brown.

The gentleman was curious about where I had found the unusual aqua toned Mary Jane crocs. I told him my daughter got them for me.

I'm reporting the above conversation just in case you ever wondered what the folks up in first class on the plane are chatting about...yesterday, it was about aqua colored crocs.

(I got my ticket upgraded to first class on the flight home, hurray! Bernie just about always gets upgraded to first class whenever he flies. Considering he has made over 130 flight this year alone, Continental aims to keep his business by making him as happy as possible when he needs to fly by upgrading him whenever there is first class space available.)

I've said it before: You never know what you will see in an airport. Irish dancers...in Houston, in October. Love it! Click here to watch a clip of the kids in action.

I left Bernie to grab my luggage at the terminal while I jumped into my car to race off to work. I made it to work with just enough time to spare that I could stop and snap a picture of the butterflies on the flowers outside the library.

I had never seen this kind of butterfly before. There are SO many butterflies this year! And I am finally getting good at getting pictures of them.

After a fairly quiet Saturday afternoon at work, I was driving home through an undeveloped area and spotted some Texas Scissor Tail Fly Catcher perched on the barbed wired fencing. It was just after five in the afternoon, and the birds were plentiful; it must be a good time to catch flies.

It took a couple of U-turns on the street to get a good shot of the birds. I have been trying to get a picture of them for about a year!

Here's a link to a picture of the bird close up. They really are very pretty.

Back at home, Bernie was vegging out while I earned my paycheck. The cats were SO glad to see him that Hart had caught an anole and brought it into the house as a gift.

I think the boys have finally caught on to the Uncle Scott "you get a welcome gift" policy.

Uncle Scott's gift this time included two small pumpkins with "Tiggie" written on one and "Hart" written on the other. And another set of note cards and pens. Lately Uncle Scott has been including those two items in his gift baskets; sadly, neither of our cats are very good at remembering to write him thank you notes.

It is embarrassing...Uncle Scott is rated #5 on the list of best pet sitter in America. (As determined by polling done by International Society of Pet Sitters.) Nothing but the best for our kitties! Plus he costs the same as everyone else around here. And he has just recently been certified to perform cat and dog CPR.

Yeah, I'd just love so see him try to give old Tiggie the kiss of breath....

Hart lost hold of his "gift" to us. There's an anole on the loose around here some place today, unless the critter got eaten during the night.

So today it is Sunday. After retiring early last night, we awoke to Tiggie purring between our pillows at 8:30 in the morning. It felt so nice to linger in bed...thinking about the fun I had in New Orleans, talking about what we want to do next trip.

I got up about nine to make coffee (don't tell...I do it all the time actually, scriptural guidelines scoff law am I...) and Bernie came into the kitchen looking for the paper shortly there after.

At 9:20, Bernie's brain woke up and reminded him that he had a flight to catch at 10:30. (I knew he had a flight today, he knew he had a flight today, we both woke up thinking it was at 1:30 for some reason.)

He showered while I unpacked and repacked for him. Tiggie was so upset that Bernie was apparently leaving again that he went and ate a tissue, which made him throw up.

Bernie raced out the door and was at the airport at 10:10.

THEY LET HIM ON THE FLIGHT!

AND HE GOT UPGRADED AGAIN!

(I wonder how long it will be before the planes just dip down over our house and hook Bernie up and on to the plane...seems like a reasonable next step in providing passenger satisfaction.)

He will arrive in Atlanta at 1:30. Another convention (why don't they space these industry specific conventions out better than this?) with the same gang that we had breakfast at the airport with yesterday.

Everyone flew to the four corners of America yesterday morning just so they could sleep in their own beds, unpack and repack, and get ready for another convention.

What a way to live.

Me?

I'm thinking about making pralines.

I think I can make them, then I can eat them while I sip a cup of cafe au lait, and read up on corsets and daydream about New Orleans.

Wish you were here to join me.

It would be nice.