Happy Birthday Frankie and Bon voyage Grace

Happy Birthday Frankie, and Bon voyage Grace! .

Seems like just a few weeks ago I was in a cafe in Nice with these two celebrating Carnaval, and enjoying pre-parade petit dejeuner. (How we didn’t get sick traveling for Mardi Gras mid Feb is a miracle.) .

Today, Frankie goes to 11, and Grace goes home to New Orleans. Yes, seeing her in her packed car, GPS set due south brought me to tears, but I can’t blame her for wanting to be where she grew up. I asked her almost 4 years ago to come up to help me open @antique_bar_bakery and I was lucky enough to have her stay all this time. Craving The Crescent City is a yearning that has moved many, and I know well what it means to miss New Orleans, but gently singing of nostalgia over a trumpets wail feels halfhearted as my girl heads over the horizon. Now I miss them both! .

Luckily I still have one left in the nest! I’ll just have to home style smother ‘im up real good til he’s ready to fly!