After a quick but thorough tour of the house and huge tree-filled back and front yards, we took our now sleepy and cranky Layla home to get her fed and bathed and in bed. Walking through the streets of New Orleans at rush hour with a fussy child wasn’t the most pleasant experience, but we didn’t live that far from Mama’s house so fortunately none of us had to suffer too long on the way home.

Getting Layla fed and on her schedule of bedtime by 7pm was our highest priority, so after a quick meal and bath and the usual bedtime story we had our little angel fast asleep by 7:15.

We had all evening now to ourselves and the big topic of the night was Mama’s offer to sell us her house.

“Do you want a red or a white?” I asked Maggie as I was looking through our rather meager wine collection.

“So I think it’s the right thing to do, don’t you, honey?” Maggie said and then, “Oh, a red definitely, a red!”

“A red it is, then!” I said.

“Merci mon ami!” Margaret replied with a silly French accent.