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TulaneLSU’s Top 10 Halloween and Harvest decorations at Destin’s Lowe’s

Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:46 pm
Posted by TulaneLSU
Member since Aug 2003
Member since Dec 2007
13298 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:46 pm
Dear Friends,

Today has been quite the interesting day. It started out very early, with a drive from Portofino on Pensacola Beach to Destin. There we stopped at Dewey’s at the pass. I had hoped to get a fried platter of both grouper and shrimp, which are both excellent, for lunch. However, I doubt they opened today based on the appearance of the tide this morning. I imagine by nightfall, the water will be over the decking.



We then went to The Donut Hole. Normally, we enjoy brunch inside the restaurant, but we are still taking every possible precaution to avoid the spread of covid-19. Today, we ordered a dozen donuts by phone and I, wearing an N99, went inside the restaurant to get them. I gave them an Andrew Jackson, perhaps a doit for a tip in exchange for the six chocolate and six vanilla snow angels. These powdered cream filled delights are some of the best donuts you will ever have. The Donut Hole recently added strawberry flavored, but I will be faithful to the chocolate and vanilla. Next time you are in Destin, you should try one.

Plan B, after we arrived at our cousin’s house in east of Destin, and Mother was safely settled, was to go to the outlets just west of the house. I said that Mother gave me permission to go. The truth is Mother was furious with me already for exploring the beach. With great anger she yelled at me, “Avaunt, you dandiprat!” I believe she takes me as a faineant, even though I do my best to keep my room in order.

Heartbroken, I took the keys to Mother’s Mercedes and headed to the outlets. I enjoy browsing the Brooks Brothers there, mostly for ties, as their shirts usually are the outlet line, 357 or whatever it is, which might as well be Ralph Lauren. I do have several swim trunks from that store. Tears were still streaming down my cheeks when I parked in front. Cruel words from my friends and from my family, they seem never ending. I once returned those words with evil words and thoughts, but I am doing my best to forgive, to bring my worries and hurts to the Father of us all.

Do tears make you hungry? Although I was six snow angels down, I was esurient as a cyclone for warm water. I had not been to Publix in a few years, and they were open. The Publix bakery was brisk with business, so to that department I peregrinated. Although sugary foods are not my favorite foods, I do love four specific types of sweet foods: sno-balls, donuts, chocolate chip cookie cakes, and black and white cookies. The nice baker behind the counter invited me to come over. She was missing straight teeth, had her blonde hair in a bun, and hinted at an Irish brogue, “Would you like something, dear?”

“Are those black and white cookies freshly baked?”

She responded, “I baked and iced them this morning.”

Grateful that she used the term iced rather than frosted, I smiled. “I’ll take every last one in the store.” It was disappointing she only had three left, but it would have been wasteful if she tried to load me with a hundred of them.



Black and white cookies, in addition to being a well known tool for racial reconciliation, bring together everything good about sugar and dessert. With that cookie, you have the infinite circle that fits perfectly in the hand. It does not break apart. It does not smear your nose with icing like the pitiful cupcake. It does not require utensils like cake. It does not melt like ice cream. But more than its form and shape is its sponginess. It is the perfect fusion of cake and cookie, never too hard, but never mushy either. And then there is the icing, which has brought the cookie fame and love. It is reminiscent of the crispy yet creamy icing of the New Orleans Doberge cake. Just as people debate endlessly about which Impastato’s pasta is better, the red or the Alfredo, so too I struggle with which icing is my favorite. Today, I enjoyed the vanilla more. Ask me tomorrow, and I may say the chocolate. The great part about the chocolate side is that beneath its thin layer is another layer of vanilla. The best of both worlds!

New Orleans has never had a thriving black and white cookie scene. New York, the cookie’s mother and home, is to that special cookie as New Orleans is to the king cake, sno-ball, and excellent American cuisine. I was able to try one from Glaser’s, which claimed to invent the cookie, although others say it was invented upstate, in Utica. Glaser’s was good, but not nearly as good as those served at Zabar’s and Caputo’s, not far from TulaneLSU's top pizza in America. Russ & Daughters, like everything else they serve, is grossly overrated. As far as the best black and white cookies in New Orleans, it is sad to say the best is sold at Winn Dixie. Stein’s Deli, where our friend toof enjoys eating, also has a good one, but it is not made there. When Manhattanjack was open on Prytania, it served an excellent unity cookie. I will begin a quest to give you The Top 10 black and white cookies of New Orleans. Do not expect great things, however. We just do not have that type of scene.

Before leaving the parking lot, those three Publix cookies, which cost 1.99 each and were 250 calories each, were down the weasand. I regretted not having with me a scale to weigh them, but the cookies were delicious. They were better than any such cookie I have had in New Orleans.
This post was edited on 9/15/20 at 8:10 pm
Posted by TulaneLSU
Member since Aug 2003
Member since Dec 2007
13298 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:47 pm to
Most stores were closing, some even boarding with plywood. Like on Pensacola Beach, this action was prompted by the weather, not by rioters, as was the case in Seattle and Portland. One store that remained open, however, was Lowe’s. Hardly another customer joined me, but I had nowhere else to wander. The weather grew increasingly furious throughout the day and a nice stroll through the aisles of Lowe’s did me well.

Not long after entering did I spot the Halloween and Harvest decorations. I smiled for the first time today, remembering that time I decorated our front yard on Prytania in 1998. I had a day off school and no one was home. Using cardboard and spray paint, I created about 25 tombstones, each with a Bible verse on them. I do not think the Apocryphal books are canonical, so none of the verses came from those seven books. I set the markers out in biblical order and waited on the front porch swing to see Mother’s expression when she arrived.

We had never before decorated the house for Halloween. We had done Harvest decorations before, usually with a pumpkin and corn theme, but never Halloween. Mother does not like Halloween and always told us to take heed around the snares of the Hallowed’s Evening. Mother taught us, “The celebration started off well and good. It was Christian, just like Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day. And then the hedonist pagans hijacked it. Sadly, some carnal lower case Christians followed.They stole these days of gratitude for our loved ones past, that great cloud of witnesses, exchanging honor, love, and memory for gore, violence, debauchery, tricks, and strumpetwear. We celebrate good and life. We will not celebrate evil and death.”

Mother, though, did let us attend haunted houses, but only if they were supervised by our youth group leader. I remember fondly going to Sheriff Foti’s haunted house in City Park. It was the best haunted house ever, and the attempt to recreate it last year at Scout Island failed miserably. Sheriff Foti’s haunting was both fun, friendly, and scary in the same sense that Morgus the Magnificent was scary. It was not demonic like that wicked, disgusting and entirely unscary haunted house by the Huey P. I also enjoyed trips to the haunted houses at the Pontchartrain Center, the Mortuary, and the JCC, or was that St. George’s.

Trick-or-treating was also tightly restricted. We were allowed to visit the homes of neighbors we knew and only those homes. An adult had to be present with us at all times. My favorite Halloween of all-time was 1992. Halloween landed on a Saturday that year, which meant it coincided with the Octavia Street Halloween party. This was, and probably still is, a good and clean family event where neighbors enjoy hospitality and laughs. I dressed as Master Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I even carried the walking stick of a wise man. Grandfather handcrafted the stick from cypress wood because “that’s the wood that saved you at the Cross.” He was indeed a wise man. I will save the details of that Halloween’s eminence for another time.

“What is this!” It was not a question. It was a demonstrative command for the tombstones to come down at once. “TulaneLSU, what have you done?” She emphasized the you in her sentence in a dispraising way that I will never forget, though I try.

“Mother, Mother, Mother, I made these signs to evangelize the lost.”

“No. You have polluted the garden. You have ruined its sanctity with these symbols of Satan, these symbols of death. Behind me, now, Petros!” When she was mad at me she sometimes called me Petros, instead of Satan, as a play on how Jesus called Peter Satan.

All that work was for naught. I quickly gathered the cardboard and put them in the garbage. I never tried to decorate for Halloween again. Even as I walk through the old neighborhood or ride the streetcar, I still yearn for a chance to change the past. I do not seek to change my action, for I believe what I did was compatible with the Gospel. I wish to change Mother’s heart, so she would allow me, like at Christmas, to decorate. Why should houses on State Street get all the publicity, with their mix of gore and trite expressions? I could have created the grandest of all Halloween displays, all with the heart of Halloween -- the Christian message of love and redemption and hope.

This post was edited on 9/15/20 at 8:30 pm
Posted by TulaneLSU
Member since Aug 2003
Member since Dec 2007
13298 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:47 pm to
While I cannot decorate for Halloween, I can wander the aisles at Lowe’s and think, “What if?” Friends, I hope you will enjoy TulaneLSU’s Top 10 Halloween/Harvest decorations at Destin’s Lowe’s.

10. Giant skulls



Levitating twenty feet above me were these massive skulls that would be proportional on a twenty foot tall man. Imagine what fun this would be in your yard. As a bonus, it could serve as a decoration should you ever have a pirate’s day.

9. Spider webs



Cotton or polyester spider webs are so simple and easy, but they can turn any porch or tree or mailbox into a Halloween scene. What is the historic connection between spiders and Halloween, I do not know. But they are now intricately linked. Their webs just scream, “Halloween!”

8. Turkey



I do not know what exactly drew me to this piece. It is not particularly pretty. Its shape is not particularly interesting. But the whole of it is intriguing. When I stood staring at it, I realized that it transported me to my childhood. I looked deeply into this turkey’s eyes and found myself looking into my past. It was not one particular place in my past, but a series of memories flashing together. After fifteen minutes, or maybe it was an hour, an employee interrupted my gaze to see if I needed any help finding something.

7. Skulls and jack-o'-lanterns




While most of our peaceful, uplifting Halloween traditions come from Scotland, the jack-o-lantern comes from Ireland. The superstitious there would hollow out root vegetables. Once empty and clean, a lit candle was placed inside. The purpose, like a scarecrow, was to strike fear in the unwanted. For the Irish, it was to ward off evil spirits.

6. Tokens of gratitude



I never experienced an Autumn’s harvest on a farm. Such are the wages of living in the city. I have always wanted to farm. Watching Grandfather grow tomatoes in his small garden planted that desirous seed in my heart. One day, perhaps. Mother was supposed to buy a farm in Elberta, AL, not far from where Hurricane Sally will come ashore. But she has stalled and second guessed that decision. To work the soils with my hands and see the truth found in the parables of Jesus come to life, that is what makes the farmer’s life so appealing to me. Give thanks with a grateful heart indeed.

5. Skeletons



As most of you know, my freezer is filled with bones. Mother gets our bones from a butcher in Pensacola, usually on the way home from our cousin’s. I hope on our return in the next few days, that butcher will be open so we can purchase some more. I digress from the skeletons at Lowe’s. Who knew a hardware store had catacombs. The possibility of these plastic bones in a yard, or even indoors or in your car, are endless. If only Mother would let me decorate.

4. Pumpkin stacks



Pumpkins are as vital to Halloween celebrations are the old Time Saver Icee coupons handed out during trick-o-treating nights in New Orleans in the 90s. We usually purchased our pumpkin at the patch at First Presbyterian Church on Claiborne. The minister of that church, a reverend by the name of Clifford, I believe, was so kind and always greeted us with a great smile. When he tragically died shortly after Katrina, and the church fell into the grips of poor leadership, we stopped buying our pumpkin there. For the past few years, we have purchased them at St. Andrew’s Episcopal on Carrollton.

3. Spooky pumpkin



The colors are both autumnal and foreboding, but not too much so. When I was young, we did not have Halloween lights, but it seems lighting decorations is a new trend in Halloween fashions.

2. Spooky tree



The eyes and hands are quite anthropomorphic. Walking at dusk through the Couturie Forest in City Park, I have seen several trees that looked similar to this one. I probably would never purchase this one even if I could decorate, though, because it is so scary. Under the lights of Lowe’s it is not, but can you imagine being a child walking past this terror under the cloak of darkness?

1. Mother and son skeletons



This adorable family was stashed to the side, as though the decorators were not ready to unveil it, as we are still in September. How fashionable both the son and his mother appear together, while he escorts her, we are left to assume, to a restaurant or maybe even to church. I love the masked touch, reminding us that we are not out of the woods yet with coronavirus 2019. I would probably have Mother’s seamstress make some custom clothing that are of better materials, but I do love the period of their clothing. This piece will be the runaway winner for neighborhood decorations.

May you and your homes stay safe. I am back with Mother now, but may try a meal at Waffle House. Nothing pairs better with a hurricane than Waffle House, or so I am told.

Faith, Hope, and Love,
TulaneLSU

P.S. Lowe’s already had much of their Christmas decorations displayed. I will give you a sneak peak. I cannot wait in just weeks to meet in the streets you, my dear friends, as we will be transformed into Christmas Waits worthy of Hallmark!


This post was edited on 9/15/20 at 8:05 pm
Posted by fightin tigers
Downtown Prairieville
Member since Mar 2008
73681 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:47 pm to
Pagan celebrations?

Mother won't like this.
This post was edited on 9/15/20 at 7:48 pm
Posted by soccerfüt
Location: A Series of Tubes
Member since May 2013
65751 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:52 pm to
Friend,
quote:

z
quote:

z
quote:

z
Is this to what you were referring?



It is tres risqué!

I hope you and your company are well and safe.

Good luck with the weather issues.


Your humble correspondent and friend,

Mssr. Füt

ETA: I now realize the “z”s were placeholders.
Please excuse my earlier comments.
This post was edited on 9/15/20 at 7:54 pm
Posted by Beessnax
Member since Nov 2015
9163 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:55 pm to
quote:

The celebration started off well and good. It was Christian, just like Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day. And then the hedonist pagans hijacked it


Mother actually has this backwards. They were Pagan celebrations which were hijacked by Christians. I bet you won't tell her that though. Enjoy Destin, I'm headed down in a couple of weeks.
Posted by Walt OReilly
Poplarville, MS
Member since Oct 2005
124509 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:58 pm to
Posted by misterc
Louisiana
Member since Sep 2014
700 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:58 pm to
quote:

Sheriff Foti’s haunting was both fun, friendly, and scary in the same sense


Did he give you a visual body cavity search?

Foti Visual body Cavity Search Lawsuit

Posted by TigerFred
Feeding hamsters
Member since Aug 2003
27179 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 7:59 pm to
You have jumped the shark.

This is pathetic.
Posted by BeerMoney
Baton Rouge
Member since Jul 2012
8377 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:01 pm to
Posted by baybeefeetz
Member since Sep 2009
31638 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:01 pm to
quote:

Black and white cookies, in addition to being a well known tool for racial reconciliation,


Posted by Walt OReilly
Poplarville, MS
Member since Oct 2005
124509 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:02 pm to
No reason for you to be a dick

IF you don’t have anything nice to say than don’t say anything at all
Posted by nvasil1
Hellinois
Member since Oct 2009
15910 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:06 pm to
quote:

4. Pumpkin stacks

Are those really $100? Can they do anything but stack?
quote:

1. Mother and son skeletons




Posted by tiger91
In my own little world
Member since Nov 2005
36728 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:06 pm to
Cookies. Now I want ALL of the cookies.

Stay safe.
Posted by tigergirl10
Member since Jul 2019
10311 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:10 pm to
These posts remind me of my Adderall days.
Posted by jmon
Mandeville, LA
Member since Oct 2010
8419 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:18 pm to
Posted by Dat Boi Bruce
15th Judicial District
Member since Mar 2020
644 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:20 pm to
Friend,

These posts suck.
Posted by Booyow
Member since Mar 2010
4000 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:27 pm to
quote:

debauchery, tricks, and strumpetwear


Posted by t00f
Not where you think I am
Member since Jul 2016
90090 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:28 pm to
Thank you for supporting our Episcopal Churches.
Posted by TrimTab
North County Coastal San Diego
Member since Mar 2019
7777 posts
Posted on 9/15/20 at 8:30 pm to
Friend,
I have joyous news to share with you! We are going to have a baby. A little girl. I'm due on Halloween. We will name her Rosemary. Oh, Mother will be so excited.

Your concubine in Jesus,
TT
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