Hello, everyone. Welcome to Ray and Suzanne Ward’s on-line blog-style Christmas newsletter, our annual snapshot of who we are (or appear to be) and where we are at the moment. We’ve been doing this for a few years now; at right, under “Christmas Past,” you’ll find links to back issues (and yes, some old family photos too).
We’ve been married for 19 years, and for the last 17 of those years, we’ve lived in this 110-year-old house on Magazine Street in New Orleans (click on photo to enlarge). The location is fabulous — one and a half blocks from Audubon Park, and within easy walking distance of many stores and shops.
The city itself continues to recover from the disastrous levee failures that followed Hurricane Katrina. (And please, please understand: It was the levee failures, not the hurricane, that did New Orleans in.) We were fortunate to live in the “sliver by the river,” the relatively high ground near the Mississippi River that didn’t flood. In the other 80% of the city, the recovery continues at a slow but steady pace. The places that tourists usually go are in good shape. The major landmarks continue to re-open one by one. This year the Fairmont Hotel re-opened under its old name: the Roosevelt Hotel, where Huey Long stayed when in New Orleans. The Saenger Theater is undergoing repair and renovation and will re-open in 2011.
Ray continues to work as an appellate lawyer for Adams and Reese LLP in New Orleans, where he had a win-some-lose-some year. In his spare time he does a little blogging (see links at right under “My web sites”). Also this year, he took up guitar-playing again after a 20-year layoff. Back in the 1980s, he was just a strummer of chords, like Dr. Katz playing “She’ll Be Coming ’Round the Mountain” or Guitar George in the Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing.” This time, he’s trying to learn some more interesting blues techniques, along the lines of Junior Kimbrough: hypnotic bass line accompanying melody. In fact, if you clicked on the soundtrack above, you heard a taste of that: Ray’s homemade slide-guitar recording of “Silent Night.” At right is a group photo of Ray’s guitar collection.
Suzanne is in the final stretch of her tenure with the Louisiana Department of Social Services, where she has been working in the area of Social Security disability. Her last day at work will be later this year; she officially retires in March 2010 when she will use up her accumulated vacation time. She recently became certified as a yoga instructor, and plans to spend her newly available time developing that as a second career. This past year, she completed two half-marathons (that’s 13.1 miles each): the Mardi Gras Half-Marathon on February 1 and the Jazz Half Marathon on Halloween.
Both of us are active in Holy Name of Jesus Parish. Both of us are on the RCIA team (that stands for “Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults”), and both of us serve as lectors for the 6 p.m. mass. Suzanne doubles as a eucharistic minister and hospitality minister (translation: usher). Ray, meanwhile, has found a spot strumming guitar chords for the 6 p.m. mass’s music group. Several weeks ago, in a moment of poor judgment, the music director let him do a solo during the offertory: “Amazing Grace” a la Blind Boys of Alabama (that is, to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun”). If you’re masochistic enough to want to hear Ray’s version, you’ll find an MP3 recording here.
We share our house with four cats — we didn’t plan it that way; that’s just the way it turned out. There’s Rocky (in group photo above), our geriatric Persian who has more prescriptions than any human I’ve known. One of his meds is Buprenex, a synthetic opiate, for arthritis-pain management. So yes, we are supporting Rocky’s opium habit. There’s Jelly Roll, our tubby tabby. There’s Wednesday, our black cat, who’s on Prozac for her anxieties. And there’s Alexis, now known as Petunia, my inheritance from my mom, who died in February 2005.
As Porky Pig used to say, “That’s all, folks!” Thanks for stopping by. If you have a minute, send us an e-mail and tell us what you’ve been up to. Just click on the e-mail link in the right sidebar. Please have a joyous holiday season and a wonder-filled 2010.
