Up early in the hotel this morning. We had breakfast at 6:30 AM. They were out of eggs and sausage but I got the attendant to replenish. The same person is also covering the front desk. It was not a great breakfast and to make it worse, the coffee tasted like instant. We got going around 7:30 and stopped at Walterboro for gas and coffee. Libbie got a biscuit that was the worst ever at a McDonald's. The bacon wasn't even cooked and the biscuit was mushy. The coffee was OK. Next stop was the Pilot at exit 170 in Florence to top off the tank. The sun came out and the sky turned blue on the trip. We got home at 12:20. After unloading the car and having soup for lunch I got to work on my passport but as I got going, Andrea called and talked quite a while. I finally got all my stuff together, called rushmypassport.com and got my shipping label and authorization letter. I took all this to Fedex in Cary and mailed it. On the way back I stopped in Kroger and got the Tuesday groceries. While there I stopped into Bach2Rock. They tried to shove me off on a guy who was not a Clarinet player. I'm unhappy with this. I'll see what happens when I get the Clarinet guy who it turns out plays Sax, not Clarinet.
During the day Robert texted us to see how we're doing. Libbie called him back and set up a lesson for Wednesday at 2:45 PM.
Tonight dinner was spaghetti with cheese topping.
Late tonight I received an eMail from B2R setting up an account in my name and an appointment/lesson with Alan on Thursday at 2:30 PM. The first lesson is free.

We packed up the apartment this morning. Libbie scrubbed and cleaned everything. I made many trips to the car carrying the suitcases and boxes of household stuff including the speakers, the kitchen stuff, showes, camera, computer, Oranges, bike batteries, tubs of electronic parts and other stuff. I had to make a run to Costco to get gas. It was 2.08 per gallon, member price. We loaded the bikes as our last items then left the condo at 11:30 AM. Traffic was surprisingly heavy up I-75 and also on 301. We chose to go around Jacksonville by taking 301 all the way to Callahan. This wasn't too bad since the road was mostly 4 lane and 65 MPH except for one or two small towns. We may do this agaim. I-95 was better with off and on rain. We had to get gas in Baldwin then arrived in Port Wentworth, GA exit 109 for our Comfort inn reservation. After checking in with steady rain, we went over to the Sweet Tea Grill where we had the crabcakes sandwich which came with house chips and house sauce. Everything was delicious. I had a Sam Adams Seasonal to go with dinner. This was a great meal. Our room was nice but we had the highway side of the hotel which was noisey. Overnight I used the Thule cable lock to lock the bikes to the rack and also used the regular cable lock to lock the two bikes together.

Libbie worked on getting our stuff together for our trip tomorrow. I put together a temp/humidity sensor to sense indoor temperatures next to the AC vent. This is the one that sends MQTT temperature and humidity to Adafruit. We left at 3:30 for Ted and Lorraine's and had a very pleasant drive down Honore and then I-75. We had veggies and nuts on the porch next to the pool and chatted then went to an italian restaurant that I really liked, Donatos. The restaurant interior was Little Italy with fire escapes, subway tiles, a subway turnstile and Italian business store fronts. For dinner I had eggplant Parmesan with Rigatoni in a pasta sauce accompanied by a Yuengling. It was a pretty nice time. Surprisingly Tommy is in bad shape health wise. He lives near Ted and Lorraine in Port Charlotte. Ted was going to drive to Tommy's house to roll his garbage can to the street because Tommy can't walk. We had a small incident on our way home. I was in the left turn lane and did not know the lane ended before the corner. There was a barrier there that I braked hard and swerved left, avoiding a certain problem. We got home safely at 9:30 PM which was good.

Practiced with my Clarinet this morning then we had to leave at 11:30 for downtown. We went up Beneva, West on Fruitville to the back of the parking garage for the Hollywood 20. The performance of Traviata was outstanding. I loved every minute of this opera with many recognizable hit tunes. We got out of the parking garage and onto Main Street by 4 PM then back to Beneva and home. Ian came at 6:30 for my last Clarinet lesson with him. We covered some more keys on the Clarinet plus some 1/8 notes which are used in the William Tell Overture which we both played as my last song. We offered dinner to Ian at the Clubhouse which he accepted. I had a Cabernet and the plank Salmon which came with Hollandaise sauce and veggies. It was lick your plate excellent. Ian has been a good start for my Clarinet non-career.

This morning I did my Clarinet practice then we did a little straightening up before leaving at 11 for downtown. We found parking on Pineapple just before Main Street. When we reached the Opera house they were already going in so we joined the line going into the rehearsal room which was up one flight of stairs. The room is quite large. We sat next to a couple from Syracuse. He was a college professor before having a heart attack which put him in a coma. They instantly retired 2 1/2 years ago. They recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The concert was wonderful and included the trio from Hoffman, Nessun Dorma, Soave Fanciulla from Boheme and many other notable pieces capped off by the entire group of 25 apprentice artists singing the party scene from Die Fledermaus. It was totally enjoyable. We decided to take a walk down Main Street and ended up having a very nice lunch at two Senoritas. I had the Taco Salad with a Margarita which was very good. It had shredded chicken and topped with Chili Con Carne. The meals came with chips and Salsa. We luckily had a seat inside along the rail where we could people watch as well as see what was driving by. After lunch we walked to a new bookstore and then walked through a gallery next door.
I did some more Clarinet practice then we had wine, cheese and crackers which served as our dinner. Only an Orange was my food after that.

Took a trip up Tamiami after my morning Clarinet practice to mail Libbie's passport renewal package at Fedex. We had a prepaid overnight label. We have to drive home next week to get mine so i could renew as well. We stopped at the Swim Mart store on the corner of Stickney Point and Clark on the way back. Libbie really liked the store. The New Or1ean's watercolor art from Lee Tucker came today as well as a package of a polo shirt and a dress shirt from LL Bean. We can now shut the mail off here for our trip back.
Libbie made the mushroom pastry puffs. The Filo dough had some problems because it was very dry. We had to go next door to Mark to borrow some flour. They also stuck to the aluminum foil. Parchment paper would have been better. That's what we used last time but I brought it home and didn't return it.
The party was pretty nice. Maggy next door made chicken wings that had spices but were not hot. I like the crab dip and the bean dip as well as the shrimp someone brought. Annita had some delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies. The party food served as our dinner tonight.

It started as a normal day but then we got a call from Uncruise about our passport expiration. It turns out that a May expiration for our March 30 trip was not legal, it has to be at least 6 months in the future. Libbie has her passport here but mine is in MC. I considered driving back tonight and returning tomorrow. We ended up deciding to expedite Libbie's and then super expedite mine next week when we get back. It costs an extra $200 with shipping to expedite Libbie's. Mine will be an extra $250 plus the passport fee. We backed up out takeoff to Monday instead of next Thursday. It was a hassle filling out the papers and getting passport photos made. I took pics and printed them at Walmart but we ended up going to the store and getting mine retaken. After looking at Libbie's we went back a second time and her's taken again as well. Since it was late in the day we had dinner at 7:15 over at Pub night. I had the salad, some garlic bread and coconut shrimp which came with a yummy citrus dip as well as fries and slaw. It was the end of a very stressful day. Ian came over at 1 PM for my Clarinet lesson. It was a fantastic lesson. We did some double notes, he raised my music stand higher and had me sit on the edge of the chair. He played along with me which made a huge difference. he also told me to set the metronome to 80 instead of the 60 or 90 I had been using. Tomorrow we will go to FedEx on Tamiami and mail Libbie;s stuff with the prepaid overnight Fedex label.

I saw a Youtube video about how important dewpoint was in making a decision about crawl space ventilation. I took out the huzzah and hooked up the DHT sensor. It didn't work at first, I found i needed to pick up 3.3 V off the Huzzah instead of the Vbat line which actually is a place to supply power to the Huzzah device. I used Lady Ada's example code to get basic functionality then found a dew point function that I added to the program. I found an online dewpoint calculator and compared my Huzzah readings to the online program and also weather underground. Everything looks good. I will use two of these to send crawl space dew points and outdoor dew points via MQTT to a fan controller that will exchange the crawl space and outdoor air. The timing of the fan controller is still to be determined. I need an algorithm that combines when to ventilate in conjunction with a timer to limit the run time to something reasonable per hour. I spoke with Lorraine again and we agreed to meet Sunday afternoon around 4:30. I asked if Tom would join us, She said she would call but he's been pretty depressed and basically lives in his cave in Riverwood. She said he has deteriorated significantly since Anne died 3 years ago.
This afternoon we did a run to Nokomis Groves and picked up a 1/4 bushel of Honeybelles and a jug of grapefruit juice. We also had an orange soft serve while we were there. For dinner in the spirit of eating light we had our cheese and crackers with a single glass of wine and then had an open face salad with celery, cucumbers, egg and lettuce. It was great.
I continued my Clarinet practice and feel I am getting a little better with embouchure and tonguing the reed. We listened to Traviata live from the Met this evening after dinner and Clarinet practice.

This was still a windy but a warm day. I practiced some measures of notes on the Clarinet and feel I am getting better but have a concern that the notes are staccato sounding. Each note possibly only is being played as a half note with a half note pause between each. We did a grocery run to Walmart on Honore and picked up the ingredients for the mushrooom puffs for the pool party Thursday. We also had to buy a cookie sheet because last time we had to borrow a cookie sheet from Sally. We next did a bike ride down the Legacy trail and then down Bay to the other side of Tamiami where I wanted to take a look at a house that was listed as a fixer upper. It was an eyesore from the street and needs lots of TLC. It would be a real challenge to restoe this one to health. Just after wine and cheese at Sunset I did another Clarinet practice. Dinner was spaghetti with sauce and cheese and a glass of Cabernet. It was excellent. After dinner I called Lorraine. Ted wasn't home but we chatted for a long time over kids and Jimmy's death and also Ann's death. Their family has not had an easy time of it with the deaths, etc. She said Tommy is now living in Riverwood nearby in a Villa. Wow, Aunt jean would be shocked.

Windy! There are some pretty strong gusts blowing outside today but it's warm in the mid 70s. I practiced today using a metronome app that i really like. It has made a difference in my playing. We reviewed some materials from Uncruise and decided I needed a hat with neck protection. I'll wait till I get home to shop at REI for the hat. There are some bird books that would be useful on the cruise so we tried the local Barnes and Noble then Books a Million on the way back. While at Books a Million we visited Publix for another brick of Swiss Cheese. When we got back I set up the Clarinet to practice again but got a call from the Craigslist guy I emailed about a music stand he had for sale. I went over there and picked up the stand. It's perfect for what I need. For dinner I ordered a Dominos online mushroom pizza. They still have the large 3 topping pizza for 7.99. It's very tasty but the crust is soggy. After the pizza I tried a few measures in the music book on the new music stand before putting the rig away for the night.

Libbie did Yoga and I practiced the Clarinet. She said I was in luck because neighbors on both sides were out. Once again I watched many YouTube videos on how to play Clarinet. Ian is coming tonight at 6:30 so before he came we had our cheese and crackers at sunset without wine and then very nice Tuna sandwiches with mayo and celery. The lesson was great! I was mostly doing stuff right with the reed but not with the notes. He wants me to seal off the air on the end of the reed after each note which is something I had not been doing.

Watched more YouTube videos and played with the Clarinet some more. Today is an incremental improvement over yesterday. Maintaining breath for a while is a problem. We left around 11 for the noon concert at the opera house. The apprentices were great. We enjoyed some not familiar pieces consisting of Handel's Armida, Pearl Fisher's Love Duet, Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, Puccini's La Rondine, and of course a sextet from Rossini's Barber of Seville which was incredibly beautiful and lots of fun. Rossini music is always fun and an easy lesson. We went out to the front of the opera house and spoke with the apprentices. I sought out Natasha, a pretty blonde and spoke to her about her treble cleft tattoo on her foot. She's a modern day Soprano.
After the Opera we drove to Selby and found it was pretty full due to some programs going on and a Chagall Art show. The gardens were dressed up with special plantings reflecting the style of Chagall and the colors of Provence. The tropical house had a few French doorways and windows integrated with special exhibits of plants in the style of Chagall. We had a lunch from a French inspired food truck and had chicken sausage on a baguette. It was delicious. I had an iced tea with mint for a beverage. We went into the Chagall exhibit after lunch and were wowed by the three paintings in the Payne house. Admission was only 25 at a time. There were narrated guides in the front and the back of the Payne. Afterwards we walked to the Selby house and checked out the flower pots on the roof and the other plantings to reflect France. Once we left Selby we went to the Whimsy Museum for a few smiles. unfortunately they no longer allow photography with anything other than a cell phone. We enjoyed it anyway. Went home and had the left over Prime Rib on a bun with cooked onions and a bottle of Mondavi Cabernet we picked up in Winn Dixie next to Ace hardware on the way home. The Winn Dixie wasn't too bad although they didn't have a lot of business.

This was pretty much a do nothing day. When Libbie went to Yoga at 11 I put the clarinet together and had some success blowing a few notes and doing some scales. This was a much better experience than yesterday. After watching a few more YouTube videos I took the clarinet out again in late afternoon and once again tried some notes and a scale or two. I had trouble putting out breath to last through a 5 note scale. This may need some breath control exercises. We had some cheese and crackers but instead of wine I had a small glass of grapefruit juice. We then went over to the clubhouse for rib night. I ate half of a prime rib and half of my baked potato with sour cream and a cranberry roll. I took the rest home for dinner tomorrow. I went to bed around 9 PM which is the first time in over a week that I went to bed early. Unfortunately I woke around 1 AM and lay there in bed for a while staring at the ceiling.

I waited for Ian to come for Clarinet instruction at 1 but he never showed up. I called him at 1:30 and he had the wrong address and no phone number. This shot the day for me. Later I tried assembling the Clarinet using Youtube and eventually was able to get a note out of it like the Youtube video. I think I can do this on my own with the help of YouTube and possibly some hands on instruction. I tried calling a studio in North Port who said he would give my name to an instructor. The instructor never called. Sarasota is vacuum valley for music lessons. I would have much better luck in Apex. We did a grocery run to Walmart earlier where I also picked up a dvd/cd player that automatically rips CDs to a USB stick. It worked really well but needed a TV for use as a monitor. I ripped the 2 New Orleans CDs to USB then spent some time manually writing the Mp3 tags to the albums. The tags are the real work in ripping an album.
We stopped by Costco to get coffee and tuna fish then went to the AMC theater and bought some Opera tickets for Rusalka tonight.
We went to Rusalka at 6:30 and were not disappointed. Kristina looks and sings incredibly well. I enjoyed the performance although I may have dozed once or twice during the performance. Libbie made some outstanding tuna fish sandwiches with celery and tuna. The theater let out at 10 but by that time the mall was shut down and the parking lot was empty. Welcome to Sarasota.

I continued the research this morning and checked some Clarinet prices on eBay and craigslist. I also weighed the rent vs buy equation and found i could buy a used clarinet at Sam Ash and trade it back in for half of what I paid for it. This is a pretty good deal. I also read a lot of buying advice online. in the meantime i received a phone call from learn online, a web service in San Diego that has Clarinet instructors starting at $15 per half hour. I had a nice chat with them about a female instructor in Davenport, Florida that i will probably use if I go that route.
Libbie accompanied me to Sam Ash to do an exploratory trip. The guy in the woodwinds department named ian turned out to be a Clarinet player. He played a Jean Pierre student clarinet then also a Yamaha 250. The Jean Pierre sounded great and will be perfect if i can make it do what i heard. The John Pierre is $99 plus reeds an other stuff. The bottom line was $164. Ian is coming to our condo tomorrow at 1 to give me some basic lessons. I don't know what I'm getting into but I'll give it a shot.
We had the leftover Quesadilla from yesterday for a later lunch. We then drove down to Nokomis and picked up grapefruit juice and honeybelles. While down there we also had a couple of orange soft serve cones. The ice cream business they do in that place is amazing. We had a couple of cheese and crackers as we got dressed for the oopera tonight. Left the condo at 6 and got to the Opera house parking garage in about a half hour.
Madama Butterfly was fantastic. No many how many times I have seen this opera I never get tired of it. it went so fast and the singing was top notch. We sat in the center in row J and thoroughly loved the performance. It was a wonderful experience.

We got up at 6:30 this morning and gathered our last minute stuff. At around 7 i called for an Uber outside the Blake. Yusaf was on Podyrus and came with a Dodge MiniVan in less than 1 minute. The price to the airport was now $53 compared to $33 last week. Mardi Gras is tomorrow which is probably why the rate is higher. Traffic was heavy but our driver went up and around on 610 instead of I-10 which was faster. We did 18 miles in 24 minutes. Check-in and TSA was no problem, we both are TSA Pre so we sailed through the line. We had breakfast at PJs Bistro which is associated with PJs Coffee. This was pretty good food. They were cooking real food right there. I had scrambled eggs and delicious crisp bacon on a bagel which came with hash browns. The coffee also was excellent. This is good airport food. Our flight was a quick one hour and 8 minutes then we walked to the long term parking garage and retrieved our car. the bill was $108 which wasn't outrageous. We got to the condo around noon and talked about how we can get a Bloody Mary. We ended up going to the clubhouse and having Quesadillas with Bloody Marys. They were not as good as a New Orleans style but they served the purpose. I spent the rest of the evening studying Clarinet buying advice and some clarinet basics on YouTube. The only dinner was some cheese and crackers.

Once again the street is all cleaned up from last night. We ate in the hotel. I had an omelet with hash browns. We then wandered down St Charles where we found another in our group, Cindy, doing the same. We were on our way to the WW2 museum. We went around the circle at the Ogden Art Museum and admired the big brown stone building that is part of the museum. Engraved in the facade is the word "Library". We went into the WW museum and bought tickets that included the 11 AM showing of the Tom hanks narrated movie. The museum started with a train trip where we registered our electronic dog tags. i was assigned a pilot from WW2 named Greg "Pappy Boyington. Throughout the Museum I followed the travails of my guy at various stations. This made the museum interactive and a lot of fun. We waited around the gift shop for the 11 AM movie. The movie starts with a preshow outside the theater on a group of smaller flat screens that combine to provide a larger overview. The movie itself is spectacular. The words 4D are used to describe the movie, it includes a plane nose lowered in front of the screen that matches the image on screen and a camp tower and other effects that come and go. The seats vibrate with scenes of tanks and bombs including the atomic bomb although they didn't focus much on the bomb. The overall experience was quite good but very daunting. After a while all the war exhibits, videos, artifacts and re-creations blur together in a mass. It's hard to give the proper attention to any of this.
After the museum it was time for lunch. I wanted a place with music and new Orleans food. We started walking towards the river with the theory that with cruise ships visiting the harbor there would be pubs with music. We didn't find any but we did encounter the Bacchus floats lined up along the road next to the river. I took some pics then we continued to wander along N Peters. We stopped into a few gift shops looking for the slate tiles I originally found but we went into the Crescent City Brewery first. There was a band playing in the corner that we tipped a few dollars because they played during our lunch. We ordered two appetizers, a crab cake remoulade and a shrimp remoulade. The crab cake was to die for it was so good. We had a beer with lunch. During lunch i called Blake and spoke to him about tonight. He suggested we join them at Bufas Bar on Esplanade. Music starts at 7. We walked over to Jackson Square after lunch and bought the pen and ink watercolor from Lee Tucker instead of the gift shop tiles. This was a good decision. He is going to ship the artwork to us in a cardboard. It's already matted. Lee told us we should take the riverfront troll back to Podyrus. We didn't know this existed. We decided to take a walk around the square and found some oils of old houses in front of the Presbytere and bought one. Asking was $75, we offered $50 cash and the person accepted the offer.
We made it to the trolley behind Cafe Du Monde and rode it down to Podyrus. This was a good experience. We loved the fact that the driver took the time to give directions to one lady who stepped on but didn't ride. He explained to her how to get to Mannings restaurant. It would be fun to have a notepad and pencil and ride the trolley in the PM for 40 cents a ride and take notes of how much fun it is to record the comments of the colorful people getting on and off. What fun. MAde it back to the hotel but on the way saw some floats getting moved that were covered in colored foil. They were quite pretty.
Around 6:20 we left again for streetcar and rode it to the end at Esplanade. Met a young girl who was traveling alone and wanted to go to the French Market then walk her way back to the Hilton for a cruise she's taking tomorrow. We walked 4 blocks to Bufas and went into the back and found Blaze and Cathy. This was a treat. We had a couple of Stellas and a bowl of the best Chili ever. The dual clarinet players in the band were fantastic. They were accompanied by a wonderful jazz drummer and a piano. I loved it and didn't want to leave but we left around 10 but first we did a few Rumbas then went out into the street and walked down the neutral zone for a while before using the sidewalk. The streetcar arrived and we watched the driver prepare it for going the other direction. The pulley has to get pulled down with a rope and the one on the other end raised. He also reverses the drive console since the back is now the front. We then had a very colorful ride to Podyrus. Once again I enjoyed the cast of characters getting on and off. This was so cool. Cathy came back with us to our room to pick up beads we didn't want. She wanted to take back 50 pounds to Raleigh. We passed out but first set the alarm since we have to leave tomorrow at 7 AM.

We wanted restaurant breakfast but they didn't open till 8 and we had to leave at 8:30 so we walked down to McDonalds. Surprisingly they had armed guards at the door. Today is going to be serious! We talked with some parade campers - they were lined up in front of the barriers along St Charles for a parade that doesn't start until 1 PM. They were a nice friendly family and fun to talk with. They do this every year with their kids, a giant party on the street.
We left the hotel with the group at 8:30 for the bike tour and had a lovely walk through the French Quarter on Royal. Loved the buildings at this time of the morning. We started our tour at a park, Washington Square. We had a fantastic tour guide, Casey. He was well educated in NO history and told it in a humorous almost stand up style way. We learned about the various switching of the ownership of NO. Casey was laid back whatever kind of guy, probably typical of New Orleans locals. We had a fantastic tour even with a stop for Bloody Mary's at Marie's Bar. They were great. i would love to do this again sometime and take more photos of the beautiful small homes in the area. We waalked back down Royal and ended up on Decatur looking for lunch with live music. We found BB Kings place with a Blues band. We split a shrimp Po Boy and a couple of beers. We even got up to dance to a few songs. Perfect lunch with cold beer, good music and good food and a few dances. To go home we had to cut over to Harrahs Casino before crossing the parade route and walk down side streets.
We rested up in the afternoon then got dressed to leave at 5:50 in our tux and gowns. Everyone looked fine. We ended up walking about 4 blocks to get to the bus and had an easy ride to the Superdome. Inside we had a nice buffet dinner of pulled pork, andouille sausage gumbo with rice, spinach dip and catfish bites which were really nice. There was an open bar where I had a martini then a glass of wine which was difficult because I went to get free tumblers and when I got back the wine was cleared from the table. I got another wine and headed downstairs to find the group in the arena seats. I ended up on the floor of the superdome. The place was crowded but I enjoyed the many beautiful woman in evening wear. Eventually I found the group in section 114. The noise was too much to take for me. Making it worse was the stupid band kept playing loud music when the bands were coming in and the awful announcer's voice was even louder. His voice was louder than the bands. After the first float arrived, fireworks went off and the sound was unbearable. I ran out of that place and met up with Cathy and Blake who said it wasn't their cup of tea either. Google was showing it was only a 14 minute walk so we joined them in the escape. The walk back wasn't too bad. It was such a relief to get outside into the night air and only hear the sounds of the city. I fell right to sleep after a very nice day despite the disaster at the Superdome.

Didn't get up until 6:45, went down for breakfast and sat with Anne and Paul. I ordered 2 eggs, a muffin and grits which came with coffee. Nice breakfast for $10 each plus $3 for coffee. We gathered at 9:45 in front of the hotel where our police escort and brass band were. We then took off down Poydras and turned on Chartres towards the French Quarter. We marched thorough the French quarter and had a bar stop for Mimosa's. Libbie and I each had one. Our next bar stop was at Jackson Square where we only had water. Finally we marched around the square and turned at Cafe Du Monde towards our last bar stop. Finally we went down N Peter and marched into the Jax Brewery where the band played a lot of music downstairs. i sat upstairs then it was time to partake of the buffet. My meal was some Chicken Jambalaya, some Boudin Sausage, a shrimp Po Boy, gator gumbo with a little rice and a Shiner Bock. I skipped the Bread Pudding which was delicious when I tried a spoonful of Libbie's. After the parade and lunch we walked along the Mississippi then though the French Market and up to Bourbon following a Second Line band with woman with bustiers. it was fun. our last stop was at a Nipple Glitter lady who was painting young girls's boobs. I got quite an eyeful of beautifyul unclothed young boobies of a pretty blonde wearing cutoff short shorts.
We had dinner on the hotel balcony. It was an open bar where I first had an Abitit Amber then a Cabernet. Dinner was a por Boy with London Broil, Penne PAsta, Crab soup corn chowder and then I came back for fried Oysters. Had a little chocolate brownie for dessert. We had to eat this standing up on the balcony then watched allthe parades.

We got up early this morning and walked down St Charles where we had breakfast a McDonalds on Canal. The McDonalds there is huge and very efficient. After breakfast Libbie recognized a guy in the restaurant as Blaze from Facebook. We introduced ourselves and had coffee with them while they had breakfast.
We shared a ride on Lyft with them to the restaurant, Andreas. Cost was $22 including tip. Uber was quoting $25. We waited in the bar and had a beer while waiting for the group to arrive. When they arrived we had a fantastic meal of cannoli appetizer, redfish main meal with roasted potato and veggies and a Tiramisu dessert. The meal was fantastic and will serve as oue one meal for today. We got to the hotel, rested a little then went out to find the French Market on the other side of the French Quarter. Pam and Eileen from our group came with us. We found music on N Peter at Crescent City brewery where we sat at the bar and had a craft beer and wings. We came back and the parade was already in progress. We had to wait a while at the crosswalk before the Police would let us across at a break in the parade. We joined some in our group in a reserved area in front of the hotel. We stood with Tom and Kathy Graham and Paul and Anne Cain as well as others who came and went. We stayed and watched Muses until the last float at 11:30. I was tired!!!!. When we got to the rooom I totally passed out and didn't wake until 6:45.

Up at 5 and left Stoneybrook at 5:36 in a light rain. As we approached Tampa the rain got heavier and so did the traffic. Our only problem area was the exit ramp off 275 to the airport. It was stop and go in harder rain. Because it was raining so hard Libbie suggested that instead of the economy garage we should park at the terminal in the long term garage. We did but ended up parking outside on the top deck. We had the worst breakfast ever at Quiznos in the Southwest gate area. Awful soggy flat bread with tasteless egg and bacon and instant coffee. it was horrible. We had an on time takeoff in a full plane. The ride was very bumpy on the climb in the pouring rain. The approach had some bumpy moments as well. Our seatmate was a charming woman from the Meadows in Sarasota who was a cajun dancer. She was going to Lafayette for a week to dance. Pretty cool.
We took an Uber ride in a Black Civi that looked pretty new driven by a young black girl named Jimmice. It was a great experience. Ride was $33 plus a $7 cash tip. Once we checked in, which was great because it was 10 AM and well before check in time, we took a walk into the French Quarter and had Beignets and Coffee at Cafe Beignet. We had a street musician just outside our table, We were in the patio which was great. After breakfast we walked Bourbon a while and ran into a second line with a group carrying umbrellas and waving handkerchiefs. We then went back to the hotel and rested before getting dressed up to go out to dinner. We walked the 7 blocks to Brennans and had the meal of a lifetime for $210. The wine list is a phone book, we had several servers waiting our table. i ordered the Poisson Bolange which was a Pompano in a white sauce over a bed of lobster, clam and shrimp. Wow, was this good. We started our meal with a Rock Shrimp Remoulade and finished with Bananas Foster. The experience was so worth it. The couple at the next table was celebrating an anniversary. They were from the DC area and were quite friendly. They got engaged here 3 years ago and have been returning for their anniversary every year.

I checked in at 8:35 this morning and ended up in the B group at B3 and B4. Amazing. Unfortunately weather is showing rain tomorrow morning. We will have to fly through this stuff on the way to New Orleans.
Spent the day packing and gathering our things. It's supposed to rain tomorrow in Tampa so it'll be a bumpy flight getting out of town.
Didn't do too much of anything else. Sunset was nice, I had triscuits dipped in the Chili Head Salsa which worked out well. For dinner we had our leftover Thai food from yesterday. I had leftover Chicken Pad Thai which I washed down with 3 glasses of Cabernet. That was a bad thing to do since I was trying to cut back but delicious! Went to bed around 10 and set the alarm for 5 AM tomorrow.

Bill and Barb came over after breakfast. Bill forgot his hat yesterday so he picked it up on the way to Fort Meyers to visit Carrie's parents. After lunch we went to Benderson Park which is the Sarasota Rowing facility. We had some trouble on I-75, the traffic was stopped so we got to Bee Ridge and got off then took honore to the top of the lake. I was looking for the road at the South end but couldn't find it. We ended up at a small parking area at the North end. We had an enjoyable ride around the lake then found the little roadway which is called Athlete Dr but turned around and took the 4 lane Cattleman to Fruitville then onto I-75. For sunset I ate the chips from yesterday but mainly I wanted to taste the chili head salsa. Next we went to the Party Store to look for Mardi Gras stuff. Lib bought a Boa in green and gold that was a little pricey at $10. On the way back we went to Bangkok Thai where I had a glass of Cabernet and Chicken Pad Thai. We started the meal with 2 Spring Rolls, one each. During the meal i found not to put the hot sauce on that is on the table. That stuff is hot, hot, hot. It burned my lips and required tons of water to put out the fire. Very good.

Bill and Barb came over today around 11. I previously picked up some cheese and triscuits at Publix. We sat out on the Lanai and had the cheese with strawberries and the orange juice she fresh squeezed from our second bag of Honeybell Oranges. The oranges previously were obtained up in Citra on 301 where they were buy one get one free. The juice was great. We then went out for lunch at the Spanish Point. Our server Brittany was nice and prompt. The girls were wearing some pretty short short almost exposing their cheeks. I loved it. Libbie and I split a plate of 3 shrimp tacos. We also ordered chips and chili-head salsa. I love the salsa. When we came back we went to two Open houses in the estates that were just listed. One had a realtor from RI that Bill talked with. The house was nice but in a bad location facing Tamiami. You can hear the traffic whizzing by out on the street which was too bad. The other one was by Charles Offer. The house was priced at 349 and had a much better location. The layout was a little weird and the furniture had been removed because the owner moved over to assisted living. In the evening around 6:30 I ordered a Dominoes pizza online using the 3 toppings for a large pizza for 7.99 coupon. This time I paid online and went over to pick it up. Libbie said this was her new Sunday night favorite. It was very tasty with very good mushroom flavor but once again the crust was soggy mainly because it's a Brooklyn hand stretched pizza that is not cooked on a stone but instead they use a conveyor belt.

Today I worked on the vintage violets forms and got them working correctly. The request loads the database and a view will display the data. I tried some test data and it worked. Now I need to design the admin screen to be able to delete the data. Lunch was leftover quesadilla then We had a simple dinner of salad later in the day. We left for the 7:30 performance of Italian Girl in Algiers AT 6 pm AND GOT THERE IN GOOD TIME. We sat out in the courtyard on wet seats while we waited for the theater to allow people inside. I was wowed by the dress, especially by one young couple in a tux with silk scarf and a beautiful woman in designer dress and perfectly coiffed hair. Wow.
The opera was a total delight. Campy as expected with lots of Rossini fast singing and very good acting by the singers. Wow, was this ever a great opera. I want to see it again. We got home at 11:30. It was pretty long with 2 intermissions but entirely enjoyable for every minute.