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Bill Baird Tharp Sontheimer Funeral Home 1600 N. Causeway Boulevard Metairie, LA 70001 Re: Pat Namer Funeral Dear Bill: As I explained today, my sister is the executrix of my mother’s estate. At the time my mother was admitted to the hospital she had an annuity that could have covered her prepaid funeral expenses, which my sister deposited into her own personal account. My sister did not execute the will in accordance with my mother’s…
I’ve been thinking about the crowds lately – how perhaps I abhor them to a certain degree. I even thought we’d leave town next French Quarter Fest and maybe rent out our house to people who had better stamina to endure the crowds who come to New Orleans to hear free, amazing music. And here it is the week of Jazz Fest, this Friday opens the gates, and I’m excited and yet a little daunted…
A fun packed weekend ended with Tin’s first canoe ride on the bayou with Aunt Jerri. Ruby and family joined us in their canoe and we tied together and cruised down the bayou. The mayor of the neighborhood and his family were having a picnic on the Magnolia Bridge and then they joined us on their kayaks. There was a crepuscule concert at the Pitot House and we were passing as Charmaine Neville was playing…
My cousin told me that at the newspaper where she works when everyone started groaning around Christmas time, she’d just hold up the photograph of Tin in his Santa suit and everyone would go awwwww and it would dispel the negative mood. Similarly, we only need to hear moo out of his little mouth and our day is brightened a thousand million times.
If ifs were skiffs we’d all ride for free – I was thinking about the power of positive thinking and how restorative nature can be. We went to do a family walk on the lakefront after Wolfie’s ceremony. And we let go of Tin’s white star balloon into the wind. Lake Ponchartrain is the second largest salt water lake in the United States, I thought it was the largest, but apparently the Great Salt Lake…
Today we held Wolfie’s ceremony on the levee, which was dog gone hard to get to as the New Orleans Ironman was in full thrust as we were trying to drive down Marconi, so we had to take a detour. Toby, savior of 600 German Shepherds, joined us and read Mary Morris’ Missing: A Dog’s Doggerel and brought poppies and roses from her garden, we brought Wolfie’s ashes, ten orange balloons in the shape of…
We went by my mother’s grave and there was an angel that a loved one put on the grave. It’s the Jewish tradition to wait one year after the burial and then dedicate the tombstone. In the meantime, someone felt she needed a marker. We brought her Gerbera daisies, favorites of my MawMaw (grandmother). My aunt had placed yellow roses on her grave recently. How perfect, the angel for my mother. I truly feel her…
We packed up Tin and headed to Franklinton and Pine to see my aunt and uncles and cousins galore, but the best part of the trip was Tin getting to experience all the farm animals first hand as my cousin has old McDonald’s farm in his backyard! We saw horses, cows, calves just born yesterday – Tin got to practice his mooing! sheep and lambs, chickens and roosters and rabbits – not to mention my…
Yesterday the WWL newstruck pulled up as we were all sitting on the porch ending our week with Tin having peanut butter and rice crackers for the first time, and us just starting to relax. CNN had just named New Orleans as one of the ten most dangerous cities in the world and they wanted to know what we thought about it. We gave them an earful – yes New Orleans has long had the…
Since adopting Tin everyone and their mother has great advice to offer us. I get this strange feeling that the older African American woman are positive I don’t know how to care for him and they stop to tell me, “He needs shoes; why is he crying; isn’t he cold?” Then there are the children who are always saying, “Ah, he’s sad, he’s crying.” No, I tell everyone, he has a blocked tear duct. Or…