An Obituary. A real one.

HUEY P. BOUDREAUX

Huey P. Boudreaux, 76, a native of Breaux Bridge, and a resident of Centerville for the past 54 years, died Friday, September 22, 2006, at 1:20 p.m. at the Franklin Foundation Hospital.

Mr. Boudreaux is survived by four sons, Lt. Commander Lou E. Boudreaux, Ret., and his wife, Lena, of Pensacola, FL, Huey P. Boudreaux II and his wife, Lorna, of Lafayette, Dewey W. Boudreaux and his wife, Mirela, of Baton Rouge, and TSgt Donald L. Boudreaux, Ret., and his wife, Samantha, of Oceans Springs, MS; two daughters, Dr. Mary K. Boudreaux and her husband, Calvin Cutshaw, of Auburn, AL, and Major Susan B. Pohlen, Ret., and her husband, Terrance, of Denton, TX; his longtime companion, Claudia Townsley of Centerville; his former wife, Eva A. Boudreaux of Lafayette; one sister, Goldie Burke of Lafayette; six grandchildren; and five great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by one daughter, Celina M. Boudreaux; his parents, Nelson J. Boudreaux and Justilia Martin Boudreaux; two brothers, Homer Boudreaux and Nelson J. Boudreaux Jr.; and two sisters, Doris Pepper and Willie Mae Burbridge.

Mr. Boudreaux retired on Oct. 1, 1970 from the United States Air Force, with the rank of Master Sergeant, after 22 years of dedicated service to our country. During this time, he served during the Korean Conflict, flew reconnaissance missions in the Vietnam War, and was stationed around the world. Following his military career, he worked for 20 years for Bell South until his retirement. He was an avid golfer and enjoyed gardening.

The family requested that visiting hours be observed Monday, Sept. 25, at Ibert’s Mortuary, from 10:30 a.m. until service time.

Funeral services will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the mortuary, with Father Thomas Habetz officiating. Interment will follow on Tuesday in the Southern Memorial Park Cemetery in Biloxi, MS.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Ibert’s Mortuary, Inc. of Franklin.

Fifth Anniversary

We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary last night. It was a little early (our actual anniversary is on September 17th) but since we are going to be out of town for that, (stay tuned to my European Blog for more information about that) we decided to try and gather the people we had at the wedding for a nice small dinner.

We only had a dozen of our closest friends at the wedding. Partly that was due to the rapidity at which we arranged to get married (we got married one week after 9/11 – because of 9/11. Originally we were going to get married 02/02/02 – a date we could not forget. But 9/11 changed all that) and partly because we wanted a small ceremony anyway.

So the plan for this party came together pretty well. Sadly, two of our original participants were unable to make it – they had both moved out of town. One to Denver and one to San Francisco. But to keep the original number in place, we had two new partners come into the fold. So while we were sad to miss the original folks, we could celebrate the new friends.

We ate at Brennan’s – the same place we had our Wedding dinner. This time we had enough time to arrange for a private room, so we had the Terms of Endearment room just to ourselves. (Yes, part of the movie was filmed in the room).

A bit of background: Even though we wanted to be married on 02/02/02, we were planning our reception to be held in Charles & Eddie’s garden on 3/17/02 – St Patrick ’s Day. Ed’s idea was to hire dwarfs to dress as leprechauns and jump out from behind the bushed with pots of gold. We loved the idea, but alas, it was not to be.

Of course, as we were having our drinks last night, what happened but a “leprechaun” showed up with a pot of (chocolate) gold, some REAL gold (A Magnum of Veuve Clicquot Champagne!), and a proclamation from The Mayor! (It was our good friend Lary Barton. He is a champ)

After that event, the dinner started. The menu (after a bit of negotiating with the restaurant) was tremendous. We included the flights of wines described, and they all matched the food with tremendous subtlety. It was well presented and well served after a slight bump at the beginning. It was great fun.

Here are a few photos that we took last night. When I get a photo of Lary Barton, I will post that one as well.

We are off to the airport shortly.

Rendezvous?

This is one odd neighborhood.

So I got home just a touch early today (It is currently about 5:20 CDT) and grabbed a beer and sent out to the front porch to enjoy a little cool weather (current temp 85° F, 54% humidity. Sweet!) and noticed all the hummingbirds (Ruby Throated) in the yard.

Then on the east side of the house, on Stanford Street, a late model black Ford pulls up. The car just sits there with the motor running.

About five minutes later, a late model Honda pulls up. A tall, good looking woman with long black hair gets out of the Honda, and walks over to the Ford. She gets in the passenger seat and closes the door. The driver hands her a CD (a CD?) and they start talking.

They talked, gesticulating wildly for about ten minutes – the CD in the woman’s hand the whole time.

Then she gets out (she just got out) and goes back to her car (I can smell her perfume wafting onto the porch as I type these words) and they drive away in different directions.

My guess?

They are married.

But not to each other.

But why the rendezvous here? On a not so obscure backstreet in The Montrose?

I can guess (like I did on the Live Drop story) but I don’t have the energy to do so right now.

Birds

We’ve got hummingbirds again. They are just coming out of our ears. I think that it is a little earlier this year than before. Maybe they just want to come by and say hello.

I like having them in the yard. We have been hearing Owls consistently in the mornings as well. We seldom see them, but they are Screech Owls. That is another bird I like to see in the ‘hood. Makes you feel like you are part of the natural environment.

George Soros

Houston has a public progressive lecture series called The Progressive Forum. About three months ago they had Al Gore come and talk. We did not go to that. Tonight they had George Soros talk. We went to that.

As most of you know, George Soros is a Hungarian Jew who fled the Nazis as a child and the Soviets as a young man (17 yo). We went on to London, and then New York to become an extremely wealthy hedge fund trader.

Since then he has used his money in the furtherment of democracy and progressive causes. He believes that Bush is using the “War on Terror” to do nothing more than consolidate his grip on power, and is misleading the American people to do so. He equates the “War on Terror” to the “War on Drugs”, which by its binary nature casts you as a good guy (against terror, against drugs) or a bad guy (A terrorist or a drug dealer) when the real answer is much more complicated.

I was disappointed in the format itself, though. They set it up as a Question and Answer with the audience. And a couple of things came through loud and clear. One is that most people have a very hard time producing a single coherent question, and the second is that the Democrats are the most defeatist people I have ever heard. TWO questions revolved around “Has the US gone so far down the wrong path that it is irretrievable”. He answered both times “no” but you can see why the Dems just don’t have their act together. You would never have heard a Republican – ever – say something like that.

Oh well. It was worth it to see Soros.

Movies

Part of growing older and growing up is getting to see movies that are more complicated that you saw in your youth.

We went to see The Illusionist this last weekend. It was quite enjoyable, and certainly one of the “four stories” that Borges mentions. (Boy meets girl. Class issues prevent true love. Mayhem ensues)

Paul Giamatti plays the introspective police inspector who is “just doing his job” Edward Norton is the fellow from the wrong side of the tracks, and Jessica Biel plays the rich girl with a heart of gold. The acting is outstanding, and the plot is intricate and fun to follow.

We watched It Happened One Night from Netflix this last week, too. Amazing how innocent those old movies are.