June 22, 2003

All –

Boy, another 4 weeks since I wrote last.

Let’s see. The highlight this last month was that Maureen came down for a visit. I left work at lunchtime last Sunday to pick her up at the airport – a 10-minute drive. We had a nice lunch at the Macaroni Grill and then went back to The Army Reserve Center to meet some of the people I work with. Sunday is a slow day with most people off and very few calls from Iraq and Kuwait as they are mostly on a Monday through Friday schedule also. Got out of work a bit early and headed to the house where Maureen got to meet Cheryllyn and check out the house. We had a nice dinner with jumbo shrimp (they come with the heads still on and Maureen was a bit turned off by that) and excellent steaks cooked on the grill (coincidently, I cooked the steaks). We ate by the pool as the rain had stopped after storming a good part of the afternoon.

Monday morning Maureen stayed home while I worked. I had worked the previous Wednesday so I could take Monday afternoon and Thursday morning off. Later on we ran some errands and visited Gene who rides a Moto Guzzi at his photography studio. We also met his assistant, Brenda, and had a nice visit. Gene recommended a Cajun restaurant nearby and we ended up eating dinner there. Afterwards, we went to the Argosy Casino on the Mississippi River, lost some money in the slot machines and walked around a bit. We both agreed that it is more fun to play cards and roulette but the tables were priced a bit high for us. We called it an early night as we were going to New Orleans on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning was supposed to be getting out on the road early to New Orleans but we were both pretty tired and we ended up getting there a little after noon. We parked near the aquarium and got some info on the aquarium, the zoo and a boat ride for when the kids come down. We also walked the “River Walk” which is a long, 3 level shopping mall along the river. Some interesting shops. Just as we walked outside the rain started – I guess we were looking at things in the wrong order! It was okay as Maureen found a little store that sold umbrellas just as we entered the French Quarter. So, of course, the rain stopped right after we bought one! We walked around a while and found a little restaurant on the corner of Chartres and Napoleon. We ordered sandwiches – I had smoked alligator, which was real good, and Maureen didn’t want to try it – no sense of adventure. I found a good web site with restaurants and stuff in the French Quarter - http://www.frenchquarter.com/ .

After lunch we walked some more finding a lot of little shops and some historic places and museums. Talking with people we were told about other places in the Quarter that would be fun and educational for the kids. We found the Court of Two Sisters ( http://www.courtoftwosisters.com/ ) which has an interesting history as well as being a very good restaurant. Next, we went to Pat O’Briens ( http://www.patobriens.com/ ) to have a Hurricane which is a rum drink they made popular. Maureen had gone to Pat O’Briens 25 years ago when she last visited here. We were meeting Tom and Jean for dinner and had a little time left so we went to a Blues bar and heard a pretty good band. It was funny as they took a break just as we sat down but we both really enjoyed them when they started back up.

From there, we took the trolley up St. Charles Avenue to meet Tom and Jean for dinner at Copeland’s (http://www.alcopeland.com/copelands/copeland.asp ). The food was EXCELLENT and it was fun dining with Tom and Jean as they talked about things around New Orleans and Louisiana. They gave us a ride back to the car and no one liked my idea of going back into the French Quarter. Oh well, it was getting late and it was a long but enjoyable day.

Thursday Maureen and I went to Nottoway Plantation ( http://www.nottoway.com/ ). It is one of the largest left – they said it was 53,000 square feet. The tour guide was excellent giving us ideas on what life was like back in the 1800’s, how the household was run and problems (like insects, heat and humidity) that they had to deal with. She also mentioned that there were 365 doors and windows – one for every day of the year. We had a nice lunch at the plantation and spent a little time in the gift shop.

That evening several people came over – Cheryllyn’s cousin Beth, her co-worker Chris, Cheryl and Glen from next door and Robin who I met through the Moto Guzzi Club. We had a few drinks and lots of hors d'oeuvres. – too full to eat any dinner.

Thursday came way too fast. We did a little bit of shopping and then I brought Maureen to work to introduce her to some more co-workers. Then it was off to the airport. I do, however, get to fly back to Pennsylvania tomorrow for my ‘monthly’ visit. It is difficult being apart, though.

Almost forgot about my trip to Pennsylvania at the end of May. My brothers Bill and Bob and their families and a few others stopped over for my 50^th birthday party. It was a lot of fun but I still can’t believe I am 50!

In the past few weeks I did get to visit some other plantations – The Myrtles, "One of America's Most Haunted Homes" ( http://www.myrtlesplantation.com/ ) in St. Francisville and Oak Alley ( http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/ ) just south of Nottoway. They each have their own personalities and stories and the food seems to be real good at each, also. I am looking forward to taking the kids to one when they come down in July. I am scooping out other places, too. Lafayette is the center of Cajun Country with some historical areas and good restaurants. Avery Island, near Lafayette, is where they make Tabasco Sauce and they have other things to do on the island as well.

By the way, my brother Bill has some of his artwork on a website now - http://www.anchorandpalette.com/artists/bunting.htm . I believe he has some of his work being shown at the Anchor and Palette Gallery in Bay Head, NJ, also.

We are working on refinancing the house as the interest rates a low and I have a job – no one wanted to talk to us without me having a job. The closing is supposed to be around the 4^th of July. This should cut our expenses by almost 300 dollars a month.

The motorcycle went over 100,000 miles Friday on my way home from work. I sort of wanted Maureen and I to be riding it when the milestone happened but with the weather and time constraints it didn’t happen. Now I get a patch from the Moto Guzzi National Owners Club for riding 100,000 miles.

The weight loss program is still progressing – about 3 pounds per week. Last week with Maureen here and going to New Orleans and dinking some beer and all I ended up gaining a pound. I have been staying away from the beer and that seems to be helping a lot. I still do the stationary bike for 30-50 minutes on the days I work and lift weights every other day.

Lately, I have been going to a church close to work at 11:00 on Sundays. This way I can exercise after work. Boy, all these churches seem to find a way to stretch out the time to over an hour. This week it was over an hour and ten minutes as they had a long soloist, a long sermon and a couple speaking on Marriage Encounter.

The dental work is over as I got my crown a few weeks ago. Over 2 months to have all the work done.

I have been playing with the laptop computer putting Linux on it. Linux is an operating system like Windows and based on UNIX, which I grew up on. Got it to start up on the computer but now I want to tweak it a little to get everything working well.

As I said at the end of my last letter “It is getting pretty late and I am flying to PA tomorrow night so I am calling it quits. I won’t wait this long again to send some words and pictures.” Oh well.

Till next time,

Paul