Waiting for Mimi's arrival and Ft Lauderdale, FL

I did some shopping while in New Orleans the previous week and couldn't resist stocking up on a few items. 

At this point, the waiting is the hardest part . . . https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video;_ylt=AwrBTzooAhlWLdoAiDFXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMDgyYjJiBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Waiting+Is+the+Hardest+Part&fr=mcafee#id=1&vid=2ebec0a80112fc6fd2614849864925af&action=view

So to distract I stayed busy in Charleston the early part of the week catching up with people and "goings on" in town and in the I'On neighborhood. At our own amphitheater we had a Brazilian music band, Porto Seguro play one evening with a acrobatic martial arts group, dancing, drumming and singing.  We even had a Caribbean Creole food truck on hand serving delicious tacos.

  

Chris and I 

And for dessert later that night at another neighbor's house, a couple that I recently met, Jessica and Thibaut Fagonde (they are French), we had chocolate avocado pudding.

 It was actually very good.  And speaking of Thibaut (pronounced Tibeau - with emphasis on the Beau, although the people around here call him TBo with emphasis on the T). I learned that he's a film maker and one of his films, "Overalls and Aprons" is set to show at Charleston Music Hall coming up in a couple of weeks.  How very cool - hope I'm in town to get to check it out.

  And before heading out of town I had to show off the fruits of my labor to obtain a SC drivers license and plates.

 

And in the mail this week a bag of coffee beans from one of my Austin, TX friends.  Can't wait to try these!

 

And then it happened . . .  Gabrielle Rose gave birth to Naomi Victoria on October 13, 2015, just two days before Gabby and Tyler's second wedding anniversary (October 15, 2013). 

 

What a precious gift for them and the whole family. 

It was tough getting my head back in the work game, I really just wanted to head north to spend time with the new family, but I had a commitment to a meeting in Ft Lauderdale for a day.  Another great resort with beautiful pool area - at least I got to enjoy it through the meeting room window.

 

 

In book news this week, the National Book Foundation presented the finalists for the National Book awards.  The one I am reading, "Fates and Furies" made the list, and a book I picked up in New Orleans last week, "Mislaid", made the long list.  I also downloaded (hate hate that it's so convenient to do this rather than buy the actual book) "Dispatches from Pluto" which I'm looking forward to reading.  And, "A Brief History of Seven Killings" by Marlon James just won the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. And, (Ooh Ahh) the Texas Book festival is this weekend.  I'll miss it for the first time in many years, but happy reading.

Finally goodbye to an old friend. 

 

U S Airways makes it's last flight - they are scheduled to cease operations October 17th, when its final flight marks the next step in the airline's merger with American Airlines.  The flight is bittersweet as US Airways is itself the product of many earlier mergers and acquirements, among them Allegheny Airlines, Piedmont Airlines, Pacific Southwest (PSA), and America West. I began my business travel in earnest, out of Lynchburg, VA flying Piedmont in the early 1990's.