But, alas, the haunting soon ended and they have returned to their “ranch” in sunny California.  I find myself really missing his VISA Gold card.  He complained about the “Leprechaun” picture as being somewhat demeaning and so I find myself compelled, out of a sense of fair play, to include a more flattering picture . . .

Saint Paddy’s greetings from Red Bay, Alabama!!  I apologize to those of you who’ve already received and struggled through our original Saint Pat’s greeting from New Orleans and I’ll try to add some additional stuff to this one so you aren’t more bored than usual with these missives.  For those who missed the original tale, a quick recap is in order: Our olde computer began a slow demise somewhere in the desert of Arizona and by the time we reached Austin, Texas, it had descended into nearly total obnoxiousness.   We ran out to the local Gateway store and purchased a new M505X laptop to replace it.  This new computer is really loaded with all the bells, whistles and gizmos inherent in just about any electronic doodad you get nowadays.  It even has a sub-woofer!!  We were feeling pretty smug about our new purchase until we tried to go on the Internet and found that our olde phone was not compatible with our new computer.  Our next dilemma occurred while trying to download pictures from our olde camera to our new computer.  That old noncompatibility problem again!  And soooo . . . we now have a new phone and new digital camera in addition to a new computer and about $3000 less with which to purchase new goodies for our now olde motorhome.  Maybe this is not really such a bad thing.  While in New Orleans we managed to attend a Mardi Gras parade in Slidell and gathered another bag of beads while standing on the side of the road yelling, “Throw me sumthin, Mistah!”  Kalyn did the usual sort and arrange by type and color and I found myself, once again, drowning in a sea of beads . . .

We weren’t able to stick around New Orleans for the Saint Paddy’s parades due to this appointment in Red Bay and will really miss the green beads, green beer, green flags, green floats and the occasional green person . . .

The contrast between the old and new is more readily apparent in New Orleans than in any other place I have ever been.  We did manage a 3 day stop at the Elks Lodge in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, enroute to Red Bay.  The Elks own 1800 acres with a private lake and campground in the middle of a spectacular pine forest.  And Bret Favre went to college here at the University of Southern Mississippi!  Here’s a picture of the lake (we weren’t able to track down Bret Favre) . . .

And to further advance this newly recognized concept of fair play I am including a recent picture of us for those of you who may have forgotten what we look like . . .

This is my brother-in-law (of whom I have written fondly on many occasions).  He and his wife met us in New Orleans and we spent 2 weeks traveling the Gulf Coast together.

That’s me fishing off the end of the dock (one of my less flattering pictures which I am inserting to further appease my brother-in-law).  So, Pilgrims, until next time, hope this finds you all well and looking forward to the arrival of the Easter Bunny.  Hugs, Chuck and Kalyn

And no trip to New Orleans would be complete without a shot of the balconies on Royal Street in the French Quarter (the locals simply call it “da quata”) . . .

St. Pat's (#2)                                                             March 17, 2004