NOLA Doings

Dear George,

Katja was too wary of the heat and humidity to consider a summertime trip to New Orleans, but I was all set to go.  (Being from northern Michigan, I consider extreme heat a novel and exciting  experience.)   I flew down in early June.  J and K, as always, were wonderful hosts.  K’s mom, Linda, has moved to New Orleans and has an apartment in the Esplanade at the edge of City Park, about a mile away.  The family is always busy doing exciting things.  I think the kids have the best lives imaginable.  On weekdays J and K were at work and the children were at camp, so I had the run of the city.   Here is a report of my trip highlights.

Love,

Dave

-Grandkid story: Turning eleven this September, L and V are taller, smarter, funnier, more grownup.  Both were on the end-of-the year Fourth Grade Honor Roll at St. Andrews School.  L is busy taking piano lessons, and V works every day on her art.

-Doggies: Little Paws was still in residence, but Iko, the family’s first dog, has gone to live with Linda.  Both dogs are much calmer as a consequence of being separated.  Little Paws was happy to see me and I him.  For a tiny dog he has a strong pull on the leash. 

 -City’s best new addition for NOLA residents and visitors:  doubling the size of the Besthoff Sculpture Garden in City Park.

-Great local transportation bargains (a tie): 40 cent senior fare on NOLA trolleys and buses; $2 bus to and from the airport. 

-NOLA community grief and Second Lines: for Creole restauranteur Leah Chase (age 86) and R&B musician Dr. John (age 68).

-Excellent new look: J’s beard (which makes him look sort of like his father did at middle age).   

-Grandparent  education: the children taught me the fast-paced card game, Lord of the Goats, but I didn’t come close to keeping up with them.  

-Best digital slip of the tongue: when J arranged for his friend to drop off the kids to me but I didn’t hear the doorbell, J texted his friend, “He’s in there but he’s dead (sic, deaf).”

-Movie night out: Avengers-Endgame at the AMC Palace (with post-movie explanation of plot subtleties by the youth).    

-Best social outing: family dinner at Linda’s Esplanade apartment.

-Best New Orleans cuisine: sausage PoBoy at Dooky Chase’s.

-Best Louisiana regional meal: catfish dinner with J at Middendorf’s Seafood Restaurant in Manchat, La. 

-Best international meal: lamb kafke kebob at Shaya, the acclaimed Israeli restaurant on Magazine St. 

-Most misleading restaurant name: Chez Pierre French Bakery & Restaurant (serving exclusively Vietnamese fare). 

-Sports thrill: watching the Warriors defeat the Raptors, 106-105 (game 5 of the NBA finals), with J at Finn McCool’s neighborhood bar.  The crowd was cheering for the Raptors.

-Big Easy wickedness: ladies of the night at the cheesy motel on Tulane Ave. 

-A touch of spirituality: St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square.   

-Funniest sitcom watched: Parks & Recreation. 

-Children’s favorites: Harry Potter movies.

-Most impressive craftsmanship: Kenny fitting a new prosthesis for L’s leg.    

-Shopping disappointments: no T-shirt purchases at Goodwill (Mid-City), St. Vincent de Paul (Hammond), or Goodwill (Hammond).

-Least successful afternoon trip: to the JCC for swimming (but closed); to the public library for the weekly book sale (but wrong day); to Cosco to buy hearing aid batteries (department closed); battery purchase at Walgreens (dead; expired in 2014).  

-Most curious nature encounter: fish jumping on all sides as we swam in the Gulf of Mexico. 

-Most nervous nature encounter: family picnicking on the bank of St. John Bayou where a 9-foot alligator had been spotted a day or two before. 

-Best photography exhibits: “Photography and Place” and “Timothy Duffy: Blue Muse” at the New Orleans Museum of Art.    

-Most emotional museum experience: touring the D-Day wing at the World War 2 Museum during the 75^th anniversary week of D-Day.  

-Best NOLA history exhibit: history of gay carnivals at the Presbytere.     

-Most unusual art museum:  the Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs, MS.  Anderson regularly rowed 12 miles in the Gulf of Mexico to Horn Island to commune with nature and paint watercolors, as well as riding his bike from the Mississippi Gulf to and from Philadelphia and other distant destinations.

-My personal favorite art exhibition: “Self-taught, Outsider, and Visionary Art” at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (plus surreal and abstract art by Dusti Bongé and videos by Courtney Egan).

-Pleasant and relaxing: the NOLA botanical garden in City Park featuring outdoor sculptures from the WPA era by Enrique Alvarez.

-Most exotic costumes: homeless youth in the French Quarter.  

-Cool jazz: street bands on Jackson Square.  

-Sweet tooth treat: dark chocolate at the French Quarter candy store on Decatur St.  

-Signs of climate change: we took a look at the Spillway they’d opened outside the city (with resultant flooding of farmlands) to relieve the dangerously high waters in the Mississippi.   

-Saddest moment: Time to leave. 

Grandkid Interviews: Going On Eleven

Dear George,

One pleasant moment on my recent family trip to New Orleans was when my granddaughter V asked me if I were going to do interviews this time.  I always worry that this is a sort of onerous task for the youth, but V seemed enthusiastic.  V and L will turn 11 and enter fifth grade this September, and it’s always interesting to know what’s going on in the kids’ minds as they grow up.  Here is what V and L had to say this time around.

Love,

Dave

Interview with V, 6-6-19

What do you enjoy most about school?  Art class.  

What do you like about it?  I love art in general.

Are you good at it?  Yes.  

What seems challenging to you at school?  Math.  We’ve started learning decimals.  

How would your teacher describe you?  Silly.  

What is your least favorite part of the school day?  Spanish class.

Why is that?  The Spanish teacher is mean.  

Do you like working in groups?  Not really.  A lot of times I like to do my own thing.  

What do you like best about your friends? How nice and kind they are.  And accepting.  

If you needed special help with a school assignment, how would you get it?  I’d just ask my parents for help.  

What do you like to do in your free time?   Listen to music.  And draw.  

What do you like to read outside of school?  Usually novels — having to do with kids getting through something.  

If you could be any character in a book, who would you be and why?  Meadow.  In a book called The Death Code.  She is like the heroine.  

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  Tokyo.  I love animals and Japanese food.  I love the culture and the architecture and the art.  I watch a lot of anime movies.  

If you could meet any famous person, who would you meet and why? Probably Vincent Van Gogh.  Because he’s an amazing artist, and I want to learn how to draw better.  

What do you like to daydream about?  Usually the shows I’m watching.  

If you joined the circus, what would your circus act be? Probably helping with the animals.  

What is the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten?  I think escargot.  

What is your favorite sport?  Soccer.

Are you good at it?  Yes.  

If you had to give everyone in your family new names, what would they be?  L** = Liam.  K****** = Rosie.  J***** = Justin.  

Do you want to get married someday?  Yes.  

What is your favorite thing to do with your mom?  Talk.  

What is your favorite thing to do with your dad?  Play games.  

What was your favorite family event in the last twelve months?  Costa Rica.  

What did you like best about it?  All the animals.  

What is something about your age ten year that you never want to forget?  A chain mail text that I got.  

One word to describe you would be _____?  A foodaholic.  

What do you love most about your brother?  How good he is at like playing card games.  

What is one of your best talents?  Reading.  

What do you want to be when you grow up?  I want to be a teacher.  

If you could have a new name, what would it be?   Nova, like a Supernova.  

* * *

Interview with L, 6-6-19

What do you enjoy most about school?  Math.  

What do you like about it?  It gives me a good challenge. 

How would your teacher describe you?  Kind.   

What is your least favorite part of the school day?  Reading.  

Do you like working in groups?  Yes.  With friends.  

What do you like to do in your free time?   Video games.  

What’s your favorite video game?  Splatoon2.  

What do you like to read outside of school?  Graphic novels.  

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  Canada.  

If you could meet any famous person, who would you meet and why?  Juan Manuel Miranda.  Because I like Hamilton.  

Where in the world would you most want to live?  The U.S.    

What do you like to daydream about?  Video games.  

  

If you could make up a new holiday, what would it be?  Me! 

If you joined the circus, what would your circus act be?  A juggler. 

What is your favorite animal?  Cat.  

What is your favorite food?  One is sushi.   

What is the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten?  Escargot.  

What is your favorite song of all time?  Shotgun.

What is your favorite sport?  Soccer or tennis.  

What makes you sad?  Seeing my pets hurt.  

Do you want to get married someday?  Yes.

What age?  Around 30.  

What is your favorite thing to do with your mom?  Go out to dinner.  

What is your favorite thing to do with your dad?  Play games.  

  

What is something about your age ten year that you never want to forget?  Going to Canada.   

One word to describe you would be _______?  Amazing.  

What was something nice that you did for someone?  Helping set up dinner.  

What do you love most about your sister?  She’s generous.  

What is one of your best talents?  Video games.  

What would you do with a million dollars?  Buy a lot of food and eats.  

  

If you could have a new name, what would it be?  L**.     

Blogcation

Dear George, 

I am going to take a break of a couple of months from “Letters for George.”  I started this enterprise about ten years ago, and today’s is the 733rd posting.  That seems to me to call for a little vacation and period of replenishment.  In the meantime I plan to continue working on my second blog, “Funny Poems [Maybe]” at www.funnypoemsmaybe.blogspot.com.  It has some of the same categories as “Letters for George,” e.g., childhood, family, marriage, Menominee, sheepdogs.  I enjoy hearing from family, friends, and Internet chums.  As of now, I plan to restart "Letters for George" by or before July 4, 2019 (a big celebration day, of course).  

Love,

Dave

Jim brought life to the old farm with sheer muscle

By VIC LUNDGREN

Special to the Menominee Herald Leader

Saturday, Sept. 22, 1979

In late 1960 the Vic Lundgrens and the Vic Mars reluctantly bought the Eugene Salfai farm in Birch Creek.

We checked it out on a bleak November day — the buildings were in ruins.  It had not been farmed for some years and it was a heap of desolation.

Spring came — Birch Creek bubbled — and I fell in love.

There were 14 seedy buildings and a 52-year-old romantic.  I needed either a bulldozer or help.  We were living on the river bank at that time, and my aide-de-camp was Francis LaPlante.  He took one look at the farm, reminded me of his bad back, and said simply, “You need Jim!”

Jim came out several nights later, after working a full day at Vernco, in the maintenance department and he was lean and lanky with a great grin.  As a matter of fact, he was built like a very muscular ironing board.  Very little talk about money, mainly, “Let’s get to it!”

Our first task was to fill up a large open well in the front yard.  Jim Hoffman had dropped off a load of dirt and we went to it.  Jim exploded.  He hit that shovel with his boot as though he intended to bury it, handle and all!  That well never had a chance.  It was a tour-de-force that I shall never forget.  I had the good fortune to have worked with the “Leonardo of the Spade.”  That was his first lesson…

The farm house was a small log cabin built in 1889 by Lars Jonson of Karly, Sweden. He was obviously an old-world craftsman with an eye for proportions but seventy years later it was a sad sight.  The logs were covered with tarpaper.  Not just the ordinary stuff, but that horrible, ochre colored imitation brick pattern.  On the inside they had been plastered over and then draped with oilcloth that hung down like a funeral shroud.  The sill logs rested on field stone and had rotted out.

Jim felt the choice was between a bulldozer and a torch.  I played for time.

        It was two years before I was able to get Frank Piontowski to raise the structure, replace the sill logs and set everything down on a firm foundation.  While we waited, Jim and I demolished six of the ruins.  

Joe Krygoski and Uncle Sam dug us a pond in front of the house.  My slight touch of pregnancy was beginning to show.  

It was good that I had my family because I became an anchorite.  Every night after work, and on weekends, we were at it.  Jim’s kids grew up as orphans.  The dirtier the work the better Jim liked it.  Nothing dismayed him.  He could do anything and moreover he did.
        Our worst job was getting the plaster off the logs.  Jim borrowed a huge wire brush, set into an electric drill to remove the old plaster.  The result would have shocked Ralph Nader.  Our lungs turned to stone and our noses were merely an ornament.  When Jim came out after our first bout, I timidly suggested that just maybe, we should work outside for a bit.  Jim said, “Let’s save the dessert!” and back to the pits we went.  

In case you think he was one of the apostles — forget it.  On Saturday afternoon he would end quite early and apologetically say, “Let’s get an early start in the morning.”

I’d pop out of bed and get things ready by 8 a.m. and wait and wait until I turned blue.  Jim had gone to Crivitz, the place of his birth, and that was always a violent night for Jim and for Crivitz.

One lesson that Jim has never learned, is that on occasion, someone else should buy a drink.  Never a Sunday word from the dog, but he’d be back on Monday evening full of fire, and with no comment except his eloquent bloodshot eyes.

The barn lacked pizzaz.  The pitch of the roof was so steep that no snowflake could hang for long.

Driving down Bay de Doc one day I saw a possible solution, a cupola on a barn similar to mine at the Hoefgen farm.  It was broken down, but nonetheless a dandy.

I measured the barn and sketched the cupola and for two years I dreamed and read about them.  John Gorey gave me a sheet metal weather vane of a running horse.  That fanned the flame.

Each trip in the country was an adventure.  I read every book in the Spies Library and finally settled on coveting my neighbor’s cupola.  Jim built it on the front lawn.  It was large and sexy and my sleep was restless.  The pagoda roof was neat!  The crossed flags of Sweden and America gleamed on the north quarter.

We arranged for a crane to come on a Sunday morning to heist her in place.  All of the neighbors rallied around and were slackjawed.  Children clapped their hands and screamed.  Jim was late.  (He had spent Saturday night in Crivitz.)  Spreadeagled on the roof, he yelled down that things were just dandy.  In the meantime, the wind had carried the cupola back and threatened his rear.  Wow!   

By luck or design, it shifted into position and Jim nailed her down in the critical spots and skun back down the roof to the rolling earth.

Everyone congratulated Jim on his feat of derring do.  My joviality was forced. 

One bad puff and he would have been a panny cake and I would have been honor bound to adopt his family.  It’s the first thing Jim looks at when he comes to the farm and I always check her out, in the early dawn, on my way to the facilities.

         Real terror struck Jim only once during our several years of travail.

Doris wanted him to help hang wallpaper in her bedroom.  That’s where he drew the line!  His excuses were masterpieces.  She finally pinned him down and said, “Jim, this is the day,” and he said, “Let’s do it in the morning.”  Doris said, “What’s better about tomorrow?”

Jim answered, “Maybe I’ll die tonight!”

We do not have a living room in our house.  We have a parlor.  That was the way Jim’s mother had it and that’s good enough for us.          We also learned that you have dinner at noon and that in the evening you have supper.

Jim confessed one day that the guys in the shop had nicknamed him “Bent nail.”  It delighted this depression kid because I was always making do.

  Jim had three washtubs of junk in his car.  They held all of the leftovers from working for Tony Nerat, helping anyone who needed help, and the outmoded stuff that Signal tossed out.  In those tubs we found lots of answers in trying to restore an old house that had no square corners.

I soon learned that Jim would not work alone.  When I was off on an Ansul trip, I would lay out an elaborate work plan only to find zilch on my return.  We enjoyed each other’s company.  I’m sure he felt good about creating something out of chaos.

By this time an overall plan was glimmering and I was six months along.

Then too, we had classy friends.  Jim loved to visit with Jean Worth and the Jacobsens.  We never talked about Jim to anyone and tried to hide him in the barn when friends dropped in  Who would wear the kohinoor to a thieves’ ball?

I was going up the ladder a bit under Jim’s tutelage.  After all you can’t be an apprentice third class forever.

When I got the washing machine going by pushing the right circuit breaker my good wife would smile, emotionally pat me on the head and say, “Just like Jim!”  It makes my day.

Jim liked us well enough but he was critical of my wardrobe.  He confessed that he had owned a suit and a necktie when he was married, but someone else needed it and he gave it away.

Jim’s coveralls were the uniform of the day.  Sure our social activities were restricted to an occasional beer with Carl and Evvie in Birch Creek but he looked good.

Jim was always scouting for treasures.  He bought an old breakfront for $1.50 because he liked the curve of the glass and then gave it away to the first person who liked it.  I also remember the great oak dining room table with five extension leaves that filled my farm for awhile.  He gave that to one of the guys at Vernco for his hunting camp.  The Metropolitan Museum is still cursing.  You didn’t dare say that you liked anything that Jim had.  Never!  Never!

Just to show you, when Jim remarried he brought his new bride to see the farm.  It was like Michael Angelo giving the pope his first view of the Vatican.  Jim and I feel about the same affection for the farm.  When they came in the kitchen for cup of coffee, Doris complimented Carolyn on her purse.  She said it was a wedding present from Jim.

At that point Jim took the purse, dumped the contents on the table and handed it to Doris and said, “It’s yours!”

When Jim was out of town, that meant either Crivitz or the American Legion, he kept his important money in his right shoe.  Now that he makes a bundle in Milwaukee, he walks with a noticeable limp on Saturday night.

Things are changed now.  Jim is a dude with a sharp wardrobe and I wear the coveralls, but he’s still my kinda guy, that Jim Dana.  

Footnote.   Vic Lundgren, a local attorney, and his wife Doris have lived in  the old Salfai farm since 1963.  It took them two years to get the old cabin liveable.

The farm is located off U.S. 41 about six miles from Menominee.

Eugene Salfai had lived at the farm until the late 1950s and had been there since the early 1920’s, farming the land plus working in town.

Although Lundgren originally bought the farm with Vic Mars, former Ansul vice president, Mars later traded Lundgren his share for other land.  Lundgren has since expanded the farm to 240 acres, buying a few adjoining 40’s.

  Jim, the subject of this creative piece, works maintenance for a foundry in Milwaukee.  He visits the Lundgren and the old Salfai farm often.  

A Super Bowl Quiz for the Casual Fan

Dear George,

Super Bowl fever is growing in our household (even though our favorite playoff contender, the Saints, was outrageously eliminated by evil referees).  Katja and I have watched every Super Bowl in history, just about the only thing we’ve celebrated each year aside from Christmas and Valentine’s Day.  This is because we became ardent Green Bay Packer fans as young marrieds when my parents took us to Lambeau Field for a Vince Lombardi-coached game each time we came home in December.  Katja likes the Patriots this year because Tom Brady is so handsome.  I am plugging for the Rams because the Patriots head coach is chummy with Trump.  The quiz below, however, is about Super Bowl history.  Just by chance, one ought to get at least 4 questions right out of 17.  I’d say a score of 13 is very good.  The answers are given at the end.

Love,

Dave

1.  The first Super Bowl was played in: 

a.  1959

b. 1963

c. 1967

d. 1971

2.  The team that wins the Super Bowl receives the _____ Trophy. 

a. Paul Brown 

b. Vince Lombardi 

c. George Halas

d. John Madden 

3.  The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls with quarterback: 

a. Bart Starr

b. Don (Magic) Majkowski

c. Brett Favre

d. Johnny Unitas

4.  When Jets quarterback Joe Namath guaranteed a Super Bowl III win, their opponents were the: 

a. Detroit Lions

b. Oakland Raiders

c. Baltimore Colts

d. Chicago Bears 

5.  The first team to win four Super Bowls (with players Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, “Mean” Joe Greene, and  Lynn Swann) was the:

a. Atlanta Falcons 

b. Washington Redskins

c. Seattle Seahawks

d. Pittsburgh Steelers 

6.  The only team in history to go undefeated during the regular season and win the Super Bowl (#VII) was the:

a.  Dallas Cowboy

b.  Pittsburgh Steelers

c.  Miami Dolphins

d.  New England Patriots

7.  Which team has won the most Super Bowls?

a.  The Dallas Cowboys

b.  The New England Patriots

c.  San Francisco 49ers 

d.  The Pittsburgh Steelers

8.  The highest total points ever scored in a Super Bowl was: 

a. 65

b. 75

c. 85

d. 95

9.  What quarterback has the most rings in Super Bowl history?

a.  Tom Brady 

b.  Terry Bradshaw

c.  Joe Montana

d.  Steve Young 

10.  All but one of the following musical acts have performed at the Super Bowl.  Which one has not?

a.  The Beatles

b.  Madonna

c.  Michael Jackson 

d. Lady Gaga 

11.  Only one team in the NFL has never appeared in a Super Bowl or hosted a Super Bowl.  It is the: 

a. Minnesota Vikings

b. Jacksonville Jaguars 

c. Cleveland Browns

d. Kansas City Chiefs 

12.  With ten appearances each, the Super Bowl has been played most frequently in:

a. Miami and New Orleans

b. Los Angeles and San Francisco

c. Atlanta and Tampa

d. San Diego and Seattle 

13.  The coldest open-air Super Bowl of all times was held in 1972 in:

a. Minneapolis

b. Chicago

c. Kansas City

d. New Orleans

14.  Only one player has been the Most Valuable Player in the Super Bowl four times.  He is: 

a. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints

b . Tom Brady, New England Patriots

c. Joe Montana, San Francisco 49ers

d. Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh Steelers 

15.  What head coach has had the most Super Bowl appearances?

a. Vince Lombardi

b. Bill Belichick

c. Mike Ditka

d. Tom Landry

16.  A 30-second Super Bowl ad in 2019 will cost approximately:

a. $500,000

b. $1,500,000

c. $3,000,000

d. $5,000,000

17.  Which team deserves to be in the 2019 Super Bowl but was eliminated by an outrageous officiating error? 

a. New Orleans Saints

b. Oshkosh Penguins

c. Cincinnati Bungles

d. Birch Creek Burglars

ANSWERS

1.d.  The first Super Bowl was played in 1967.

2.b.  The winner gets the Vince Lombardi trophy.

3.a.  Bart Starr was the Packer quarterback in I and II.

4.c.  Namath’s Jets faced the Baltimore Colts.  

5.d.  The Pittsburgh Steelers were the first to win four Super Bowls.

6.c.  The Miami Dolphins in 1972 were the sole undefeated Super Bowl winner.

7.d.  The Pittsburg Steelers have won the most Super Bowls (6).

8.b.  75 was the most total points in a Super Bowl (San Francisco 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers, 49-26).

9.a.  Quarterback Tom Brady has the most Super Bowl rings (5). 

10.a.  The Beatles never performed at the Super Bowl.

11.c.  The Cleveland Browns never performed in or hosted a Super Bowl.  

12.a.  Miami and New Orleans tied for hosting Super Bowls most often.

13.d.  The coldest Super Bowl was held in New Orleans (1972, 39 degrees). 

14.b.  Tom Brady has been the Super Bowl MVP four times.

15.b.  Bill Belichick (Patriots) has mad the most appearances (7).

16.d.  A 30-second Super Bowl add this years goes for about $5 million.

17.a.  The New Orleans Saints were robbed.  

SOURCES: wikipedia.org; cnn.com; goodhousekeeping.com