Guess who ate at the Abita Springs cafe today?

I gotta get my mind off of yesterday's Penn State game.

Seriously, I really do like to meet the other posters and their families. I hope you and your family come back soon. Orlando tiger and Mike (?) were trying to make it, but it didn't pan out. I think Legacy Tiger may be the next to visit the cafe. I see that some of the posters are from Slidell (like Perple) and Hammond/Pontchatoula (Coramprat, Crip, YawYaw) Covington (LSU Pathdoc) Mandeville (Cparso)...so I hope you guys pass by if you get a chance.

 

Today, the day of super Sunday, in Mardi Gras terms, I was surprised to see at table #7 a Mardi Gras Icon who was taking time off from Carnival to have a Valentines day breakfast with his bride of around 30 years.

He's very familiar to those of us who live in New Orleans and look at the television news here. I told him that despite all his Mardi Gras experience, he probably never met someone (me ) who was "banished for life" from the Jefferson City Buzzards...a story for another day. They said I crossed a line...who knew there was a line?

He may be interested in working with me for a fundraiser dinner for Warren Easton High School which is a charter school now (post Katrina). He didn't have a card with him so he left me one of his Mardi Gras guides that make great gifts to displaced New Orleanians after the diaspora.

It was a pleasure to serve Arthur Hardy and his wife today.

Arthur Hardy's Mardi Gras Guide

 

I'm stunned...again.

I just got a call that one of my good customers and a very good friend died today...Burt Wright.

Some of you may remember that I sometimes refer to my Gump buddy in some of my posts. He didn't post here but lurked under the name "Jockscrap". He was the first to call me and extend congratulations when we won the college world series in baseball. My 13 year old son, Mac, and I had the pleasure of watching Alabama win the national football championship at his house over pizza and a few beers and Dr. Peppers. He was very objective in his observations and followed both LSU as well as Alabama recruiting and was a real student of the game. His girlfriend was a Barner from Auburn and I was one of his best friends since he moved to Abita after Katrina so that tells you that he really put football fanaticism in its proper perspective.

Burt had a son who played football for and graduated from the Air Force academy. He was real proud of him because those guys have to major in things like engineering and have to graduate in four years while playing ball. For the life of me, I can't figure out how that is done. He owned several sporting goods stores in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Selma and supplied uniforms, equipment and cleats to the Crimson Tide football team up to the Shula era. Burt worked for a company that won government contracts for reconstruction and that's why he moved here. He spent yesterday in New Orleans updating his passport because he was leaving Tuesday for Haiti.

Before he left for the passport office, he came in to the cafe with his girlfriend and ate a very nice breakfast and told me of his plans to immediately leave for Haiti to administer a contract for pre fab housing there.

As he left, he shook my hand and said, "Steve, you won't be seeing me for a while, but I'll keep in touch with you via PMs through Tigerforums."

He's right...I won't be seeing him soon...but our paths will cross again someday.

God bless you Burt !!

 

Wow, life is short. RIP+ Burt.

 

My condolences Steve.

Reminders to embrace our own lives seem to come all to frequently.

 

Yea, I hugged my wife extra hard today.

Burt had a sense of humor and was a very big Bama fan...as was his son. I talked to him today and funeral arrangements are incomplete. During my first conversation with him, I told him I was a big LSU fan to which he replied..."That's too bad." (in jest). So when he informed me that Burt would be buried in a cemetery very close to Bryant/Denny stadium in Tuscaloosa, I couldn't resist a reference to Purgatory.. We both had a good, well deserved laugh.

It looks like a new relationship with his son will pick up right where the one with Burt left off.:thumb:.

 

I'm so sorry for your loss, steve.

 

How many of you out there would die for the chance to wear an LSU national championship ring ????

Well, eat your hearts out because I got to do just that today !!...and I will have a picture to prove it.

Dr. George Boudreaux, inventor, entrepreneur, and super Tiger booster, ate at the cafe today. He's originally from Abita Springs and grew up here before becoming a pharmacist....and inventing a worldwide pharmaceutical blend that's very effective and is good for a lot more things than just baby's butts.

By the way, I believe that this is the balm that is going to cure Anthony Ranaudo's aching elbow :yelwink2:.



(ps) Okie, it was last year's baseball NC ring...Gaudy, yet classy.

 

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