Hollywood Mother's Day

The Hollywoods hope all mother's had a nice day with their families this past Sunday.

I bought Mrs. H. a big diamond ring, took her to a fancy restaurant, and went on a cruise. Well, not exactly.

As is typical in our family, nothing is typical.

But we were able to honor the maternal feast thanks to help from kind parishioners, the Mathernes, who entertained the highly-kinetic Leo for a good bit of Sunday afternoon while I was able to deliver the first part of Mrs. H.'s Mother's Day present (per her request).

We watched the new Star Trek movie at an IMAX theater.

Of course, this was a supreme sacrifice for me, as I grew up in a house where we raced to the TV to turn the big clunky tuner knob as soon as the whining theme music came on for Star Trek. I just never got into the pointy-eared and green-people thing. I guess it is an acquired taste.

Mrs. H.'s family, however, had a rather opposite approach to Star Trek, with all and sundry gathering as though the bell had been rung at the Pavlov's.

So it really was a noble self-immolation on my part to watch the movie. Well, not really.

Actually, the movie was really good (here is a review I find to be spot on). The story and characters were well-done (even for people like me who are not well-versed in the characters from the TV series), the special effects were stunning, and on an IMAX screen with the bombastic surround sound, it was quite a spectacle.

Mrs. H. approved!

As is often our custom, we extended the holiday by fiat, and part deux of the festival was to come on Monday.

Mrs. H. had to miss her sewing class (the last session until August) as a result of my staying late at church for a meeting. So, I proposed that we take Lion Boy and have a family outing to the Quarter. We had a nice meal at Margaritaville (complete with a frozen concoction made of pina colada and coffee). Afterward, we had a nice stroll through the vieux carré (it turns out that Leo is quite the Quarter Rat). Every few feet, a different aroma of delectable food tickles the nostrils, along with music and more music everywhere (everything from Louis Armstrong to Iron Maiden) - and this was only a Monday evening!

Oh yes, I forgot, Mrs. Hollywood's last gift for Mother's Day: a cast iron skillet!

Mrs. H. had asked for it months ago, and boy, was she happy!

We are a weird family indeed.