A beautiful weekend, weather wise, was made even better because we had a visitor to share it with--our eldest, Becky, arrived here last night around 7pm or so to spend the night and today with us.  We always enjoy having our kids over, and this was no exception.  Let me fill you in on our "goings-on" yesterday and today.

Although pretty quiet for most of the day on Saturday, we did get a lunch from the hospital, some very good spaghetti w/meatballs.  One doesn't usually think of "hospital food" as good, but Pointe Coupee General really does provide nutritious AND good-tasting food.  They provide "senior meals" for $3 and meals for others at a cost of $4, so for $10, the three of us had sufficient food for lunch.  A nice treat for all of us on occasion.

We went to Mass at St. Augustine's yesterday, too, and, of course, I had to live with teasing from everyone in the family about not falling down the steps again or not breaking another rib or whatever.  Jan, especially, has been "on a roll" with her teasing, calling us "finger rib" now, relating to Sid's accident with the table saw and my accident with the steps.  I guess we'll never live that down, but at least, we're OK now, thank God.

After Bec arrived, we began watching the LSU/ALABAMA game which had already started.  We don't usually sit down and watch an entire game, but this one was really good, especially since LSU came out on top.  They were making some really bad mistakes when we started watching, but they "cleaned up their act" as the game progressed and did well at the end.  Just about all of our kids/kids-in-law love LSU, so you can imagine the excitement at the end of the game.

Today, the four of us went to have dinner in St. Francisville at a place that we have dined at before--Magnolia Cafe.  We had enjoyed our previous experiences there and wanted to go again, so we did.  WRONG MOVE!  This was NOT a good experience, and I suppose it will take a while to make the decision to try it again.  This is what happened:

First of all, it took forever for the waitress to come to our table to take our order (we had already given our drink orders--2 waters, 1 diet Coke, and 1 Budweiser), although the beer was NEVER brought by our waitress, even after Bec asked several times.  She ended up going to the bar herself to get the beer!

Then, we made our order:  Sid and Becky wanted the special of the day, fried catfish w/trimmings--they were out of catfish.  So, their orders were changed:  Sid got a Motherload Pizza and Bec got nachos.  Randi ordered a shrimp Remoulade, and I ordered a club sandwich with a salad and a coke.  Not too difficult--right?  WRONG!

After a good while (and still no food on the table), the waitress asked Randi what kind of dressing she wanted on her salad.  Now, a shrimp remoulade comes on a bed of lettuce, so--duh!  I asked about that, and, after a look of extreme questioning and checking around with others, the waitress said it did.  I told her, then, to cancel my order for a salad and I would eat the one that came with Randi's, since she wouldn't be eating TWO salads.  OK!  Not too hard--right?  WRONG!

Finally, food began to arrive at our table.  Pizza--check; nachos--check; remoulade--check; club sandwich--check; salad--NOPE!; coke--NOPE!. We asked for the coke again and after a rather long time, it arrived.  Salad--still NOPE!  We asked another waitress about the salad, and rather than checking on it herself, she asked every other waitress in the place about the salad.  OUR waitress finally said that it should be "in the back"--the back of what????  Why didn't she go get it?  Finally, I just told them to cancel the salad since I was just about finished my meal any way.  Lo and behold--the salad appeared!

By this time, I was a little bit aggravated; Becky was beyond furious.  When the waitress came back to our table with the bill, Bec suggested (strongly, I might add) that we get some kind of discount since SHE had to get her OWN beer and I got my salad AFTER I was through eating.  The waitress said she would remove the cost of the salad.  Simple--WRONG!

When we got the bill, the salad was still on the ticket.  She started to try to explain why it was there and realized, I guess, that she HAD to take it off--and so she finally did.  In the meantime, we could see that everyone behind the counter was chatting about us, probably thinking we were crazy people.  I do NOT return food or complain when out at a restaurant, but this was ridiculous.  I think the young lady was overwhelmed by something, but she should have gotten help or done something to solve all the problems that we were having here.  There was no excuse for this kind of service.  (By the way, another waitress came to our table and removed all the plates, glasses, etc., and was really nice.  Our waitress didn't smile even once that I saw, even BEFORE all the problems.  I really think she was having some kind of problems not related to her job, but still--we were paying customers and the service did not meet even the lowest standards of attention.)

Becky will get upset when she sees this, but we still gave a small tip.  I know that these people work very hard for their money, and their salaries are very low.  They depend on the tips to help them survive, and having had several of our kids work as waiters/waitresses, I just feel bad about not leaving anything.  She did NOT get our usual generous tips, however, so you can relax, Bec.

We did bring some food home for tonight and for Sid's lunches tomorrow and Tuesday, so I guess that was good.  The ferry ride was relaxing, and I think Bec and Randi enjoyed standing on the deck to feel the cool air blowing in their faces.  A ferry ride can be a really nice experience--and so it was today.

When we got home, Bec and Randi began preparing to head back to Lockport, but they had to have their 4-wheeler rides first.  I think a visit here would not be complete without at least one trip to the woods!

Around 4:30 or so, Bec's car was headed home, with Randi and all the SAM's purchases in tow.  This was a really nice visit, and we can't wait to have a repeat performance, except for the Magnolia Cafe episode, of course.

Hope your weekend was as nice as ours and that the week ahead brings beautiful weather and lots of good things into your lives.

"Each small task of everyday life is part of the total harmony of the universe."                              --St. Therese of Lisieux