Wednesday, December 23, 2009

No More Doctor Visits For Three Months!



Yesterday, Grandpère and I headed for New Orleans again for another check-up by the doctor after my cataract surgery. I'm not scheduled to return for three months. All is well, and I have the okay to visit the local optometrist, because I will need corrective lenses for far vision.

On the way, so I wouldn't have to listen to Grandpère's talk radio, we listened to the three CDs that GP owns that he purchased for himself and keeps in his truck.

Chart Toppers - Romantic hits of the 50s

The 1950s - 16 most requested songs, V. II

The 1940s - 16 most requested songs, v. I


The CDs included Marty Robbins' "A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation" and Pat Boone singing "Love Letters in the Sand". How cool is THAT? Remember Johnny Ray's "Cry"? Of course, you don't unless you're old like me.

If your sweetheart sends a letter of goodbye
It's no secret you'll feel better if you crrryyy....


Mixed in were goodies by Louie Armstrong, the Harry James and Benny Goodman Orchestras, and also early performances by Doris Day, which, in my opinion, were better than her later songs, because she had a pretty nice bluesy style back then.

GP and I danced through the 1950s to to the music of many of the songs. Memories of slow dancing with someone you liked tends to produce a positive response to songs that were not always of the top quality. "Memories Are Made of This", by Dean Martin, describes the story of Grandpère's and my life together, even down to the three children.

WAIT!

GP and I didn't meet didn't meet until 1960! We danced through the 50s with other people! Oh well. It could be that some of the 50s songs were still playing on the jukeboxes in the 60s.

After the visit to the doctor, GP wanted to eat at Andrea's Restaurant, which serves northern Italian food, where my friend, Paul the BB, showed off and conversed with the proprietor en italiano, so we headed into the belly of the beast with a huge mass of Christmas shoppers, the area near the intersection of Veterans Blvd. and Causeway Blvd. in Jefferson Parish. Even on an ordinary day, the traffic in the neighborhood is bad. We should have known better.

To make a long story short, we never reached the restaurant. The traffic was horrendous. We turned off Veterans as soon as we could and ate a late lunch at Dot's Diner on Jefferson Hwy, much to GP's regret. I had an excellent BLT and GP the lunch of spaghetti and meat sauce. Hey! He ate Italian. What's not to like? For dessert, I had cheesecake topped with chocolate chips, and GP had pecan pie, both quite tasty.

Then we came home.

I took the picture above of the stained glass, which hangs in the doctor's office. A patient made it for the doctor. A patient who had radial keratotomy?

22 comments:

  1. Congratulations on the good news for your eyes. I remember those songs: part of my youth indeed.

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  2. Glad to hear the eye is well and that Grandpere didn't have any driving difficulty -- he didn't, did he?

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  3. I am so glad to hear this news! Sorry about the meal though.

    And that you danced through the 50's with others made me laugh so hard!!

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  4. Thanks all.

    Except for GP's rage over the traffic and not being able to dine at the restaurant of his choice, the trip lacked excitement.

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  5. Glad everything is well with your eyes Grandmere. Thanks be to God!

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  6. Glad your eyes are great! Your lunch sounded good - but your desserts sounded even better!! (Oh, I said that out loud didn't I?)
    Lol!

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  7. Glad things are going well with your eyes.

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  8. Thanks all. I'm grateful to God and to the medical staff.

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  9. Those songs were so much easier to dance to. Some of them bring back good memories. Glad the eyes are doing well.

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  10. Good tunes, good eyes, good memories. As the Austrailians say, "Good on ya!"

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  11. Why is the eye in the surgery made with frosted glass?

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  12. that is good news!

    one of the few things that I miss from the south is pecan pie. that sounds delicious.

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  13. Ah, Pat Boone. Whatever happened to him? Wasn't he an evangelist?

    Good news on the eyes then. Keep an eye on that wallet!

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  14. Pat Boone is a leather biker, with tanned-to-leather skin, and a cranky old homophobe these days, DP.

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  15. Well it was a good day for me anyway. Dot's Diner has good food and cheap prices. The two of us ate for $20, with dessert!

    Dot's is the kind of place where men who do real physical work eat lunch and old men from the neighborhood gather for coffee. The waitresses and the regular customers hurl insults back and forth at one another.

    Waitress: "Oh, look who's here now. What are you doing coming in to bother me and make me work?"

    Customer: "What do you get paid for? To sit around all day?"

    Amelia, the music WAS better for dancing back in the day, especially for slow dancing, which for me and my friends was all we had in the way of sexual encounters, but for a bit of cuddling in the car.

    Adrian, you should know about artistic license. When I think what you've done to poor Rowan....

    Paul, I'm laughing at your description of Pat Boone today because it is so right and true.

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  16. Mimi, the good memories of slow dancing have mostly to do with my awakening sexual feelings. We just didn't talk about it, or do much else. Maybe that's why the Friday night CYO dances were so popular.

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  17. Glad to hear your good medical report, Mimi.

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  18.      Loved Pat Boone in April Love, a movie I wonder if anyone remembers. It was so 1950s! YouTube link

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