Our Thanksgiving week trip to New Orleans was a total battery charger. Lots of light and family and friends. It started off with your basic over-stim experience: a new brew house eatery (Zia) in a mall (roasted corn grits!), then up the escalators to see the third Matrix movie on the big screen, then, the most entertaining and somewhat anachronistic part, sitting behind the marble counter and arched lights of the newest incarnation of Morning Call/Cafe du Monde, drinking that old style coffee and watching the teen traffic swirl up and around the escalators. We, the watchers, were invisible to them because we were sitting in the past. For the country mice of Unity, that sort of piled on urban experience is like an exotic drug. Way fun. A gathering of the sisters and their families on Sunday at Colleen's house. Our total conversation experience with everyone talking at once could have been the inspiration for spread spectrum technology. Having 5 sisters is also like having your own ongoing genetics experiment. I listen when they talk about health issues, and what works for them, because I know how basically alike we are, despite our varying personalities and lifestyles. David's pots of chicken andouille gumbo and rice sit on their old Chambers stove. You don't move those around much; they are filled with sand to hold the heat. Several wonderful visits with friends: Dave and Ana for lunch on Monday, dinner with Ginny and John in Slidell, overnight in Covington with Anita and Malissa just in time to show them their new DVD player would also play MP3s and JPEG slideshows. Then to Gulf Shores for a late birthday dinner with Georgette and July and two nights in the condo with Jinx and Peg, Mary Jo and Dawn, and Clare and Joanne. Much variation in temps. One day we were in swim suits on the beach, the next day in sweaters. In between visiting, we mailed ourselves packages of coffee and spices. A quick cup of coffee with Barb Johnson, then we finished up with Friday night dinner with Cherry and Beth. Whirlwind, but satisfying.

And finally a couple of beach moments.

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