A Family Reunion

The Maxwell Family Reunion was still going to occur even though it seemed we were surrounded by crisis.  Mary was hourly watching out for lava flow back home in Hilo and talking regularly to Jim to be sure he was ready to vacate the house if necessary.

Mary was also preparing to dash to Ft Worth as soon as the weekend affair ended to start funeral arrangements for Aunt Louise.   I planned on waiting to leave for Ft Worth until mid-week because cousin Jamie was having open heart surgery on Wednesday and I wanted to stay around long enough to know he (and Linda) were okay.

(Mr/Mrs Ken Maxwell, Patsy Maxwell, Doris Maxwell, Jo, Mary, Denise & Jamie)

Half of us at this affair are Maxwell descendants and the one thing a good many of us seem to share in some way are crummy tickers!  

There were others missing from this event that were also dealing with heart problems--cousins, Jerry Otis and his son Tavius. Thankfully all the hearts have been repaired and are mending.

Once again family friend Dickie let us use his beautiful renovated plantation home for the reunion.

The veranda was everyone's favorite spot.

Linda is surrounded by her mother and her aunt--twins.

(Wendy, Dickie, Mimi, Dwight)

More sisters.

(Lindsey)

Aunt Doris Maxwell is the last surviving aunt of that generation. And she is still as cheerful and loving as she has ever been.  We also have one surviving uncle, Merrill, who could not attend.  He is in an assisted living home in San Antonio.  

Dwight with the youngest Maxwell descendant.

Are we laughing or crying?

Little Lindsey

That is the original kitchen.  It is not used as a kitchen anymore--storage I think.

Dickie is very rightly proud of the chandeliers he has installed.  They are beautiful.

The bedrooms are lovely.  The plantation house is being used for weddings and reunions like ours but it will soon (we hope) be a B & B as well.

(Wendy, Jamie, Mimi)

Two sisters and their fantastic dad.

The last day before everyone was due to leave we went to Mimi's house for a very traditional 'Louisiana Crawfish Boil'.

These little tiny lobsters are tough to crack and peel so one has lots of time to sit and visit while working one's way through that mountain of crawfish.

During that afternoon we actually went through two mountains of this delicacy.  Food just doesn't get any better.  But boy, were my fingers ever sore. 

 

The Master Chefs, Brian and David

Mary, on the phone to Jim. "The lava isn't getting any closer."

Cousin Stephanie and the newest member of the family.

Lindsey

The next morning Jo and Mary headed to the airport.   Jo returned to Redding where, in only a few weeks time the Carr wildfire would force her out of her home.  Thankfully the fire skirted her street but it came very close.

Mary headed to Ft Worth and I would meet her there in just a few days time.   Such a happy/sad summer...stressful and never relaxing with so many crisis in a row. 

Sisters on the Gulf Coast

 We spent one night at Fontainbleau State Park on the east side of Lake Pontchartrain.  Expecting only a place to park for the night, we were pleasantly surprised by the abundance of....

...WILD life.

This guy was so tame he strolled right past us without a concern,

But here was REAL wild life.

We didn't try to get close.  There were also deer roaming around, just a great spot right off the highway for getting close to nature.

Our first beach stop was Biloxi and we discovered that Daisy could earn her keep.

Jo was thrilled to get her feet back in the sand...

...but for 'Hilo Mary' it was just more of the same but without the lava.

Daisy discovered that someone put salt in the water.

How annoying!

It was a sublimely pleasant time.  Three (cranky, independent, opinionated, slightly senile) sisters plus a dog, spending 10 days and nights in a 24 foot long RV--has its challenges.

Staying close to the water with lots of room to play...

Soft breezes, the whooshing sound of foamy waves, plus the occasional cawing of hungry seagulls is the perfect antidote to 'ruffled feathers'.

We took the ferry across to Dauphin Island then traveled to Gulf Shores State Park south of Mobile where we stayed a few nights before heading back towards New Orleans.

We explored Fort Morgan. 

As we left the park we noticed the nest on top of the chimney at the Ranger station.

When we crossed back into Louisiana we received the call from Suzanne that Aunt Louise had died. Her passing was easy, she went with no pain.  She was a very strong lady.  She fully expected to be around for a few more years--and so did we, but in the end I think she was just too tired to keep going.
We were 24 hours from the family reunion in Thibodeaux so we decided to attend, especially since Mary had to change all her flight plans and I had to repack the RV for the trip.  So for the next two days we wore out the phones making all the arrangements to reside for most of the summer in Ft Worth and do the very difficult task of closing up an apartment, a history and a life.

Sisters Memories--and the French Quarter

Sister Mary and I returned to New Orleans from the Islands then picked up Sister Jo at the airport. The relatives were gathering for a family reunion the last week in May so Mary, Jo and I were going to enjoy a mini reunion of sisters beforehand.

The very first request from Jo, "Can we go walk on the levee?"  That was not such an easy request for Jo as her Parkinson's was doing nasty things to her legs but that didn't stop her--she went right to the top and got a long look at the muddy Mississippi.

It is universal that our childhoods will pull us back.  There is an undeniable urge to return to 'where it all began'.  Nostalgia is powerful--sometimes good and sometimes not.  The above is the house where the three of us and mother lived for approximately 18 years.  

The grade school is still in operation but the junior high school burned to the ground last year.  I didn't try to find the high school--somehow it held too many negative memories for me.

The next stop was the French Quarter.  Jo had not been here in 50 years so she had a fun time remembering her teen years ...

when the Quarter was our introduction to the 'wild life'.  

Not one of the three of us was so 'wild' as to shock anyone with our behavior but we each had vivid memories of some fun times and some really uninhibited people.

These two could have stepped right out of memory banks.  Please note what is on his backpack.

Yep.

NEW ORLEANS

First sighted as Indian Portage to Lake Pontchartrain and Gulf in 1699 by Bienville and Iberville.  Founted by Bienville in 1718; named by him in honor of the Duke of Orleans Regent of France.  Called the Crescent City because of location in bend of the Mississippi.

Like any city, anywhere, New Orleans has it's good features and its not so good.

The very best thing about the Quarter is its respect for its history.

(Beignets and Cafe au Lait)

Second best would be the food.

And third would be its art and music culture.

Agreed, it is dirty and smelly, mosquitoes thrive, humidity is sometimes unbearable.  But the good parts outweigh the bad--at least for the length of a vacation.

(Crossing Lake Pontchartrain on the causeway, the longest bridge in the world--23.83 miles.)

Next on our itinerary was to head east toward the Gulf Coast.  We were going to spend the week camping and exploring the beaches of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and get back in time for the reunion.