December 1 - 4, 2005
With the task of moving my parents complete, I began to make plans to return to New York on the following Monday. There were a number of little household chores that needed to be completed, but a large portion of my time was devoted to scanning some of the photos and slides that had been newly rediscovered in the move - some of which appear on this page.
On Friday we took a trip into Monroe in search of a mattress for my father's adjustable bed. Our first destination was B-Joe's Wholesale Furniture, which was just a vacant slab since it had burned down some months earlier. We did find a place called Sleepy Hollow Furniture that was willing to order one and deliver it for a $35 fee that my mother was strangely averse to. We did do some searching at furniture stores in Ruston, but ultimately my mother called Sleepy Hollow and got exactly what she needed. And they hauled off my old nemesis, the King-Size mattress!
We celebrated my birthday on Sunday with a trip to a surprisingly unfriendly church and lunch at a Chinese buffet. As with many churches, they have divided their morning into two services: an 8:30 traditional service and an 11:00 contemporary service. Although my folks would have preferred the traditional service, the time required to get my father bathed, fed and dressed makes it extremely difficult to get anywhere by 8:30AM. So, contemporary service it was. Although the music is a bit too loud and catchy, in form and message, it really wasn't that different from the traditional services I grew up with and continue to seek out.
Aside from the perfunctory ritual of friendship, there was an uncomfortable moment when the pastor popped up a Power Point (tm) slide of Bush, Blair and Aznar Photoshopped into royal clothing, with the commend, "Three wise men... Bush, Blair and some other guy. At least we hope they're wise." I'm not sure whether it was supposed to be a joke or some subliminal plug for Faith-based Initiatives (tm), but there was no laughter. The discomfort came because my father detests Bush and has a tendency to yell, "Shit" whenever he appears on TV. Fortunately, my father's dementia did not overwhelm his sense of propriety and there was no ugly scene.
We picked up a carrot birthday cake at the Country Market and discovered after a few bites that, appropriately enough, the bottom of the cake
was moldy.
December 1 - 4, 2005
December 1 - 4, 2005
December 1 - 4, 2005
Home, kinda