While so many restaurants – locally and nationally – have closed because of the COVID-19 impact, the fine-dining Bossier City restaurant is an outlier. Three new construction projects started just weeks before the pandemic – a courtyard, patio and wine cellar – are either finished or soon will be finished.

I mean, don’t you just feel, sometimes, just physically and emotionally exhausted? Like you just can’t muster up the energy or patience to face the world? Maybe it’s pandemic fatigue, or you’re working exceptionally long hours, or taking on exceedingly heavy workloads.

Shreveport is fortunate to still have such a large historic neighborhood with hundreds of preserved homes sheltering new generations of families. Many of those homes in the Highland neighborhood are celebrating their 100th birthdays. They are labors of love that call out to some of us who crave artisan architecture and affordable house notes.

But her hunger pain came at a time when restaurant owners were scrambling – Louisiana’s governor had just ordered dining rooms closed because of COVID-19. Restaurants – with only a few hours’ notice – were limited to take-out and delivery. They were adjusting on the fly.

And they couldn’t be happier. “That was the impetus for doing the shower, for sure,” Dana Phillips said. “That’s how it started. But also, we despised that whirlpool tub. It was kind of gross to me. I knew if we did the shower, we would probably have to redo the flooring.