BATEAUX DE BOIS FESTIVAL - LOCKPORT, LOUISIANA

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COME TO THE BOAT MUSEUM FESTIVAL. IN THE EVENT OF RAIN, ACTIVITIES WILL TAKE PLACE INSIDE THE MUSEUM OR IN TENTS. DON'T LET A LITTLE RAIN KEEP YOU AWAY.

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

Grandpère et moi

At left, Tom and I from another year. We are quietly at home on the great day of revelry otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday.  Perhaps some folks around here will get shriven today, but my guess is not many.  They'll be too busy watching parades and partying. 

Look at that kick!

On Saturday, we reveled in Lockport, Louisiana, gathering at the Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building for a party with lots of tasty food, a parade a block away, and good Cajun music.


On Sunday, at St John's Episcopal Church, we had our traditional pot luck lunch after the 10:30 service and then gathered outside to watch the parades.

The Prescriptions

This year, we had musical entertainment by The Prescriptions, a five-piece band, which plays "primarily music from the late sixties, seventies, and eighties" and perform very well, indeed.

Fr Ron on the harmonica

Fr Ron, an Episcopal priest who says he's retired but works as a consultant in the Episcopal Church and serves half-time as our priest-in-charge, is a member of the band and plays guitar (above on the right) and harmonica (on the left).  Ron works more than half-time for our church, because he's always there when we need him.

The rain that was predicted came once the parade started, and I decided to leave.  The stalwarts who stayed, including Grandpère, were rewarded, because the rain stopped as I was on my way home. 

Growing up in New Orleans, I saw enough parades to last more than one lifetime.  From my quiet place at home, I wish for all the revelers a great day and a safe day this Mardi Gras.  Laissez les bons temps rouler!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDPÈRE!

May you have a great day, Tom!

My gift to Tom will be a nice pair of jeans.  When we go out to eat or to a movie, Tom will often ask if he can wear his jeans, and I have to say, "No, not with me."  People wear jeans nearly everywhere, but Tom's jeans are another matter.  They're from Walmart, which would not be so bad, but they usually have holes in them or are stained with black grease or blood from the many small and not-so-small wounds he accumulates from his yard work.  The other day, I persuaded him to go to a store other than Walmart to try on nicer jeans.  It took us a while and many tries before he found a pair that suited him, so now he has one pair that he can wear to a restaurant or a movie and look decent.  Now that I know the style and size, I will buy him another pair for his birthday, and he will have two, which should do nicely for now.

Tom doesn't like to have too much made of his birthday, because it's sort of a sad day for him, since he's one year older, but I see birthdays as a reason for celebrating having made it through another year more or less intact.  Glass half-full or half-empty?   

He's off working at the boat center today.  He was on TV a few nights ago on Channel 8 in New Orleans.  The reporters visited the center and did a fine job with a lovely news piece on the museum during the nightly news.    

FOX 8 WVUE New Orleans News, Weather, Sports New Orleans News, Weather, Sports

RUNNING AROUND LIKE A MADWOMAN

Ever since our visitors from Connecticut left to return home yesterday, I have been running around like a madwoman, and I got to feeling a little sorry for myself.  Woe is me.  But then I thought of a relative of mine who is laid up with a painful leg after knee surgery, and I prefer running around.

Below is a picture of us with our friends: Grandpère, Hugh, Ginnie, and me.  As I said in my earlier post, we visited the Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building, in the picture below, and then had lunch at the golf club near Lockport, Louisiana.  The couple's son, Andrew, is not shown as he took the picture, and I'll have more to say about him later. 

Our friends and GP and I talked and talked. Ginnie and I stayed up very late talking Monday night, so we were tired and went to bed fairly early on Tuesday.  Ginnie and Andrew were my companions on the nightly walk with my dog Diana.

We lost track of our friends for many years after we moved and they moved, and then several years ago I found them through the internet, and we've stayed in touch ever since and visited back and forth several times.   Of course, we had filling in to do about what had happened over the years, but we seemed to get back quickly into the friendship groove.

OUT TO LUNCH...

...and breakfast and dinner.  Well, we are not literally out for all the meals, but we had lunch today at the club house of La Tour Golf Club.   No, we are not members of the golf club, but the restaurant, with its very good food, is open to non-members.

Friends from Connecticut are visiting us, so I have little time for blogging.  We visited The Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building with our friends today.  Grandpère gave us the grand tour of the museum, and then we had lunch at the golf club nearby.  We were in our friends' wedding 50 years ago, and we always have much to talk about when we get together.  I hope to have a few pictures later.  Unfortunately, our friends must leave tomorrow morning, so we have to cram in as much food and talk as possible in a short time.

I'll be back blogging tomorrow or the next day.  Au revoir.

BATEAUX DE BOIS FESTIVAL

Yesterday the Friends for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building sponsored the first Bateaux de Bois Festival in Lockport, Louisiana, which was a grand success. The weather forecast showed an 80% chance of rain on Saturday. Friday was a total washout, and it seemed that Saturday would be more of the same. The organizers, including Grandpère, were mired in gloom.

But Saturday morning arrived with patches of sunlight, and the weather outlook was much improved, although rain was still in the forecast but not until the afternoon.  The rains didn't come until the around 1:30 pm, and by then a good many of the activities had already taken place.  The museum building and several sturdy tents made it possible for people to stay around.  


When my son, daughter-in-law, and I arrived at the festival, and GP saw us, he choked up because he was so pleased with the number of people who showed up.  He's quite emotional, but I was happy for him and the other organizers who worked so hard planning and making the festival come together.  The purpose was to call attention to and raise funds for the Center for Traditional Louisiana Boat Building.

Above is Grandpère being interviewed by a local television station.



The two beautiful girls on the right are my granddaughter and the daughter of a friend of ours.

Left is one of the bands that played at the festival.  This one, as you see, is a one-man band.

Couples doing a Cajun jitterbug dance pictured on the right.

The festival raised several thousand dollars for the boat center, which operates on a shoestring.  The museum is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, staffed by Grandpère (Tom Butler) and one other faithful volunteer.

Click here for another post about the center.