La Madeleine - then and now

I had a La Madeleine breakfast for lunch today - was in Dallas for a Dr. appt. and was in the area.  The next step of degradation was there and I'm beginning to wonder how low they can go.

If you go back to the founder who's name was Patrick Esquerré, was French, who supported the local community, and wanted to create a French dining experience you'd find it quite different than it is now.  The "American Breakfast" is what we ate there every Friday morning.  The meal included a big, flaky croissant, two big and tasty sausages, and scrambled eggs.  The table had a little vase with a fresh flower.  Jam was served in a little white china dish.  The paper napkins were big and fluffy and were printed with a nice logo picture.  Coffee was made by the pot and was fresh and hot.  the food was brought to your table by a friendly wait person and for many years, where we went, it was a guy named Gerber that became a friend.  The manager and other staff became friends too.  It cost $4.99.

Then the business was sold and became a business - the kind where profit was the driver.  You could tell from the beginning that middle managers were looking for little ways to pull a few more pennies into the profit column by cutting down on what was being provided.  The cut flowers were the first to go.  Then the napkins became tiny little things that made you pick up 3-4 to take the place of the one (false economy there). And they  were plain - no more pictures on them.  We noticed each of these as they came along and joked/cryed about them to the manager.  Prices started going up too.  Then the little china dishes of jam went away in favor of a little plastic container with its snap-on top and they were half full. Again we found it necessary to take 2-3 to make up for the one that was taken away.  The sausages became smaller and then smaller again.  Now they're crusty little half-dollar size things. Then, after a bit, they started using the blinking-vibrating things that told you when you were suppose to pickup your own food. No more Gerber bringing it to your table he buses tables.  Today I experienced two more cost cutting devices.  The croissants that were once so excellent are now little more then crescent shaped bread - not worth the name croissant!  And the final (the restaurant we visited was one of the last to make this change) the coffee is now served in a very large thermos - and was barely warm!  The eggs?  They are about the only thing that I haven't noticed changing for the worse.  I paid  $6.39  for my breakfast today.

Of course we're retired and living in the country now and only make the breakfast trip a few times a year.  But there's really no longer any reason to go back.  Nothing special there any more. We've got a couple friends that we have lunch with every Wednesday at a local east Texas coffee shop.  We discovered a short while back that during the time we were having our Friday breakfasts at La Madeleine, they were having Saturday breakfasts there.  As we compared notes we found that we were all noticing the same changes as they took place.  So it comes under the category of nostalgia now.  But it was once very nice!

So it's like this . . .

"Blues Monday" at ZAZUZ Pizza in Winnsboro.

A few weeks ago Gus (the guy in the blue shirt) suggested to Alex that, when it gets a little cooler, they get together at the Treehouse for a jam session.  Gus is sorta the go to guy around Winnsboro when it comes to things musical and he's the one that runs Crossroads Music Company.  It then turned into plans for a little gathering and we scheduled it for the first part of October.  Now there's been time for talk to get around and we're now planning for a generator for the music systems, several professional musicians in additions to guys like the group in the picture playing at ZAZUZ, how to get the equipment in, parking for fifty cars or so, food, and a bunch of other stuff - even porta-pottys. Looks like good times are coming!

Gift cards

. . . paid for a new bench at the chapel!

More on Aunt Maude's old photographs

Aunt Maude had lots of old (1904-1920) photographs - many of them very high quality and in good condition.  Unfortunately most do not have any identification on them - but some do.  And for the past week or so I've been using my genealogy software to try to find people that might be interested in having these.  A story has developed about the picture above.  Norm, the owner of the tree I contacted looked into it and his living cousin, Helen, is the sister of the two boys.  They are from Michigan.  Helen wanted to know how the picture got to Texas and I told her about Aunt Maude, whose maiden name was Littleford, and that she went to college in Chicago and that we have family there.  She then asked if Maude was related to (brother and sister) George and Lottie Littleford because they were friends of hers.  And, yes, Maude is related.  She's the daughter of another brother.  I'm still not sure why Maude had the picture of two boys whose last name is Weller.  (It's a 1920 Christmas picture.)  Maybe there's a relationship somewhere, I sure don't have it in my tree.  But I'm pretty sure that Aunt Maude would enjoy this "discovery" and the knowledge that the original of the picture will soon be on it's way to Helen!  It's been an enjoyable connection and exchange of information and there are a couple more working now.

On another note, I noticed today that there was one of those little green leafs on my cousin Jerry's (Jerry Ray Zapata) name in the Family Tree Maker software.  When I clicked on it I found his death record - he died last November 25th.  He was the last member of that part of the family except for one child of his and three children of a sister.

Working with Family Tree Maker and some old photographs

And this is one of my favorite old photographs.  Her name was Isabel Jeanette Van Hagan.  Her mother, Margarette,  was a Flanders and was the sister of my great-grandfather Charles Lorenzo Flanders.  I just think it's a great photo that shows how photography was thought of at the time.  And the time was 1906 and Isabel was eighteen.  She was probably named after her grandmother Isabella who emigrated from England.

Zoe Elizabeth Smith

Zoe Elizabeth Smith - born on her great grandfathers birthday
 July 31st to Julie and Kevin!

 She looks ready to get started with life right now!

Day One - Learning Photoshop Elements 9

BEFORE

AFTER

Old - but still good!

We enjoyed this!!

You see the little guys on the right??  They are there when you need them!

I don't post many movies but want to share this one!  It  was a fun movie - lots of dry humor and lots of great animation!  Definitely some laugh-out-loud moments!  (If you want some comparison - Greg would like this!)

It's funny - but there's still romance.

There's even a special guest appearance!

Here's the trailer! - Trailer #2 is a little bit of a spoiler.

Another old report card

A few weeks ago I posted a few school report cards of a couple ancestors. I discovered this one today and decided to post it.  It is my own second grade report card from 1948 - thanks mom! 

The top part is the front and back (it folds).  Notice that the handwritten part says that I had a "grade equivalent of 4.2"  - at the end of my second grade year.  I was pretty smart way back then!  Also - we were graded on nine traits of "Citizenship" - and, of course, I got the top mark in all of those.

In the other section the grading is interesting.  It shows how many kids in the class, how many got A's, how many got B's, etc. Then your own grade was circled in red.  That really gives some good information! (And you'll see all A's circled - but from the looks of things that really meant that I was not in the bottom quarter or so.)  The "Explanation of Marks" isn't exactly accurate - "C" was not "Average", in actuality, "C" (in most cases) was the lowest 5-10%!

The other interesting thing to me are the subjects - Arithmetic, Drawing, and then "Language & Grammar", "Reading", "Spelling & Phonics", and "Writing".  Also "Music" for which we were not graded.

This is where I went to school in grades 3-6.  The 2nd grade building was behind this one and in the 7th grade I moved to the building visible to the right.  In the 8th grade we moved to a new campus.

Zippin' in the heat!

I don't think I've seen anyone enjoy the ride down more then this little girl. She'd ridden it before and she made three trips down this time!

 

 

It was actually pretty nice yesterday morning.  In the shade with a breeze - so everyone had fun.  Daniel brought a family over last fall and when they had more family in town for a wedding and visit they wanted to bring them over to ride the zip line.  So now the guest book has entries from Florida and Washington. 

Alex at "Blues Monday" at ZAZUZ Pizza

Come on in!

Our new Monday dinner.  A good pizza at ZAZUZ's in Winnsboro and music.  Our A&E buds Gene and Suzanne make this a regular stop too!  Alex pretty well led this session!

Have you ever seen a "White-lined Sphinx Hummingbird Moth"?

They act like a hummingbird but they are a moth.  It does have a long proboscis and can feed deep into a flower (Mirabillis here).  They zip around like a silent hummingbird.  Never knew there was such a thing and when I ran to get the camera I thought I was going to be taking a picture of a strange, lost, little hummer!

Finished except for the shade cloth - and a few replacement boards

At this point, the pergola is a $300 project and I'm happy with what we have for that.  It is a bit like another room. We're at the stage where the little ideas for further improvement start popping up - a rug? - no two matching rugs, replace the existing one? - change out the furniture? - some of it has lumber from the way it was - replace some of that!! etc., etc.  I've got shade cloth on order now (part of the $300) but I found a big piece (but not big enough) in the garden shed, leftover from the greenhouse, and tacked it up to see what the change would be - nice! So, a little more wood tomorrow for replacements. 

Will finish the pergola tomorrow

But today it's just too hot to work out there in the afternoon!!  I have to rest and rehydrate every half hour or so - but that gives me more time to think about what I'm going to do next and the best way to do it.  It's turning out OK!  Here are some progress shots.  We've noticed already that it makes the deck gazebo more comfortable, particularly in the mornings and early afternoons.