"DANCING WITH THE STARS"

Picture and title supplied by Lapin.

WITH CHEF JOHN FOLSE AT THE E. D. WHITE HOUSE

On Friday, Grandpère and I attended the grand opening and ribbon-cutting of the reconstructed plantation kitchen at the historic Edward Douglas White House a few miles up Bayou Lafourche from Thibodaux.

The national Historic Landmark, situated on the banks of scenic Bayou Lafourche near Thibodaux, Louisiana, was the residence of two of Louisiana' s foremost political figures, Edward Douglas White, who was governor from 1835 to 1839, and his son, Edward Douglass White, who was appointed to the United States Supreme Court in 1894 and served as chief justice from 1910 to 1921.

Historians date the construction of the plantation home anywhere from the late eighteenth century to the 1830's due to the evidence of contrasting architectural features found within the house. The house more prominently represents the Creole-style cottage design that was popular in south Louisiana prior to the Civil war, but was transformed into a Greek Revival house in the 1840's, reflecting the impact of Anglo-American culture on the Acadian Bayou landscape in the mid 1800s.

The kitchens of the plantation houses were usually situated in separate buildings to keep the heat of the kitchen out of the house and to protect the house in the event of a kitchen fire. Below is the newly reconstructed kitchen.

 

The hearth of the kitchen where the food was cooked.

 

David, Ray, and Danny Weimer, pictured below, constructed the kitchen. That's Papa Ray with his sons on either side.



Twenty-six years ago, Ray and his two brothers, Mike and Ronnie, built our house. David worked on the house during the summer when he was 15 years old. Danny was only about 8 years old, so he maybe got to help pick up trash, but that's about all. Maybe his dad even gave him a few bucks for his work.

Chef John Folse, pictured below, and his staff cooked our meal in the kitchen hearth as in days of old.

Chef John Folse is the owner and executive chef of his Louisiana based corporations. His Lafitte's Landing Restaurant in Donaldsonville is recognized as one of the finest restaurants in and around New Orleans. White Oak Plantation, in Baton Rouge, houses his catering and events management company, "Voila!" Louisiana's Premier Products, his cook and chill plant in New Orleans, manufactures soups, sauces, entrees and meats for food service and retail establishments across the country. Chef Folse is the author of numerous books and publications available in bookstores nationally.

John is respected around the world as an authority on Cajun and Creole cuisine and culture. He hosts his own national television cooking show on PBS.

Chef Folse again and someone you may recognize standing at the preparation table. No, I did not help prepare the meal, but I was so bold as to ask for a photo with the chef, which I said would be viewed all around the world.

Chef Folse shared with us from his vast knowledge the history of Cajun cooking. The influences on what we know today as Cajun cooking are varied and are derived from seven main groups, which I list from memory: French, Spanish, German, Acadian, Native American, African, and Caribbean.

Our meal is pictured below.

The dishes included:

Grilled Cornish game hen

Jambalaya

A mess of greens

Corn maque choux

Corn bread

Mixed green salad

All of the dishes were delicious - altogether an excellent meal.

We dined in tents set up under the oaks. The weather was warmish, but large fans strategically placed outside the tents circulated air so that we were not uncomfortable.

Grandpère standing next to one of the old oak trees on the property.

 

A large branch of the same oak tree.

 

The recipe for a mess of greens or voodoo greens is below. Back in the olden days, folks had to use everything that was edible, not just carrots, but carrot tops, not just turnips, but turnip tops, etc. The mess of greens prepared with Chef Folse's recipe was quite tasty.



Click on the recipe for the larger view.

HOUNDED BEYOND THE GRAVE

From The Indy Channel:

Homophobic hate messages were left Thursday on a memorial page set up for Billy Lucas, a Greensburg High School student who killed himself last week after being mercilessly bullied, friends said.

Numerous images were uploaded to a Facebook group, giving visitors a taste of the kind of hate Lucas endured, friends said.

The messages chided the teen about defending himself and made attacks on his presumed sexuality, 6News' Joanna Massee reported.

No respite from the hate even in the grave.

H/T to Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin.

SANCTUS SANCTUS - HILDEGARD VON BINGEN

Spiritus Sanctus, the second Antiphone and Psalm 110/111 from the vesper of Hildegard von Bingen.

Admiring the height of God´s Creation, praising him, thanking him.

Together with the photos of Marcus "Coy Dog" Werner. Photos, visualizing God´s splendor in bees, butterflys, birds and flowers.


God's Word Is in All Creation - Hildegard von Bingen

No creature has meaning
without the Word of God.
God's Word is in all creation, visible and invisible.
The Word is living, being,
spirit, all verdant greening,
all creativity.
This Word flashes out in
every creature.
This is how the spirit is in
the flesh—the Word is indivisible from God.

On the feast day of Hildegard von Bingen.

"THE BAND OF JOY!"

The group (now including saints) on the left first, starting at the top, left to right:

At the very tip-top - Scotty

Pamela RW Kandt, Grendel of the Gravy

Ann, Roseann, Lisa, Raleigh Pierre Wheaton

+Clumber, Caminante, MadPriest

PJ, Johnieb

Paul the BB, Padre Mickey, Fran

Kirstin, Elizabeth, Klady

Below the balloon: Delphi, Glenna

Mimi, Fluffster, +Airedale, Muthah+, Bruno, +Rowan


The group on the right starting at the top, left to right:

+Maya

Kirkepiscatoid, Dan, Dennis

Susan S., Alex, Robert

Jasper, Doxy, Jane, Margaret

Lindy, Shelley

Gracie


Brilliant Photoshop by that old dog/bishop, +Clumber, at Barkings of an Old Dog.

LOCH BUIE STONE CIRCLE

 

Photo by MadChauffeur. Click on the pictures for the larger view.

From Virtual Tourist:

As you ride into Lochbuie, you will see a sign noting ’Footpath to Stone Circle’. The sign should read 'Bogpath' as your feet will be getting wet as you wander across boggy pastures. The stone circles are finally reached through a gate - the gate latch was set so one has to stand in about four inches of water, unless you are agile and can hang onto the gate and fence while repeating that feat three more times as you come and go. There are nine stones set in a circle, the tallest being a couple meters high. Several outlying stones are thought to be of astronomical value. The stones date to the 2nd century B.C. and are the best prehistoric monuments to be found on Mull.

And ain't that the truth? Bogpath it was, and I was not wearing my boots, although to have dry feet, one would have needed wellies. Cathy helped me jump the small ditches filled with water, and I believe MadChauffeur may have given me a hand a time or two, although Cathy was my mainstay. But the trek through the bog was worth it, for the stone circle was amazing, indeed.

About halfway, we came upon a circle of smaller stones which Cathy thought (hoped?) might be the stone circle which was our goal, but MadChauffeur assured us they were not, and on we trudged.



Photo by Cathy added

Finally, we arrived. Below is the circle with the taller outlier stone nearby. Being near structures set in place by humans like us thousands of years ago was awesome (in the old sense of the word).

 

Photo by MadChauffeur

To give you an idea of the size of one of the stones in the circle, which varied in height and width, there I be for comparison.

 

Photo by Cathy

Click the link to view a panorama of the stone circle.

This view is taken from the centre of the stone circle. The site can be reached by following the signs on the roadside and then following white painted stones across the fields. The ground is often a bit swampy, so take boots.

More than a bit swampy, I'd say.

You may wonder why I why I don't use my own photos, why I use Cathy's and MadChauffeur's photos. Didn't I take pictures? Of course, I did! After trekking through the bog, and avoiding sheep shit all along the way, and never once asking, "How much farther to the damned stones?" I was not going to miss recording my visit. I join you in wonder about my photos, because they disappeared from my collection. I have not one photo from the stone circle. They are gone. So far as I know, those are the only pictures from my trip that went missing from my camera.

 

Photo by Cathy

Cathy said the vibes did not feel right for her to step into the middle of the circle, but I ventured boldly in. All seemed fine to me - no bad vibes. Cathy snapped the picture above.

But now all my pictures of the circle are missing. MadChauffeur said, "That will be down to the magic of the stones. Being partly French you were obviously deemed unworthy by the gods." He added that because I stepped inside the circle, "You'll be away with faeries - but, then, you always were."

I don't know what to think.

Anyway, visiting the ancient stone circle was a great pleasure, and all the effort required was amply rewarded in the end.

PS: The scenery is not bad, either, is it?

UPDATE: From the comments:

Cathy said...

What I like about the pic where you have your back turned, Mimi, is you are striking the same pose Aslan strikes in the drawing where he and the evil White Queen are conferring with each other before she sacrifices him on the stone table. You are striking Aslan's pose with unerring precision - feet, hands, head, everything - and the stone is standing in very nicely for the witch. So, that's who took your photos. It was that dratted witch.

A striking resemblance, indeed. I am Aslan.

CONFESSION

An elderly man walks into a confessional. The following conversation
ensues:

Man: "I am 92 years old, have a wonderful wife of 70 years, many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Yesterday, I picked up two college girls, hitchhiking. We went to a motel, where I had sex with each of them three times."

Priest: "Are you sorry for your sins?"

Man: "What sins?"

Priest: "What kind of a Catholic are you?"

Man: "I'm Jewish."

Priest: "Why are you telling me all this?"

Man: "I'm 92 years old; I'm telling everybody!"

Don't blame me. Blame Paul (A.)

"WE ARE NOT AMUSED"

Queen Elizabeth looks rather grim, and she is not wearing black.

From the News Blog at the Guardian - random quotes:

So far we haven't seen much of the pope's celebrated private secretary Georg Gänswein otherwise known as Gorgeous Georg. But a picture has emerged of Georg helping the pope with unruly cassock blowing in the wind.
....

So after the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, got mistaken for the head of the Church of Scotland at the Edinburgh welcoming party, where was the man in question the Rt Rev Christie?
....

Site crew at the location for the Pope's visit in Birmingham are spraying the grass a brighter shade of green. This is at the taxpayers' expense.
....

There's no red carpet (it's too windy) but there are two rows of pipers dressed in kilts and lots of grinning clergy. The 83-year-old pope walks carefully down the airline steps and is greeted by the 89-year-old Duke. The pope's white cape briefly blows into his face. The pope didn't kiss the tarmac.

The quotes go backward in time sequence, with the earliest quotes last.

FOR SHAME!

Please go read Lisa's story of her experience in junior high school at My Manner of Life. The title of her post is "Confessions of a Junior High Idiot". Lisa is not the idiot in the story. Not all young people are survivors. Not all young people can bear the pain of such treatment, but thanks be to God, Lisa was strong and survived appallingly cruel behavior, in this instance, not from her peers, but from adults in her school, persons who had the responsibility of caring for her and keeping her safe.

CARDINAL KASPER AGAIN!

From Ruth Gledhill in the Times UK:

One of the Pope’s senior advisers today pulled out of the visit to Britain after describing the UK as a Third World country marked by “a new and aggressive atheism”. A day before the Pope’s state visit to Britain Cardinal Walter Kasper made a series of embarrassing remarks in an interview with the German....

Sorry, that's all you can read without a paid subscription to the online version of the newspaper. Cardinal Kasper is at it again. Ruth Gledhill is about all I miss from the Times, but I do miss Ruth. Well, I'd love to read the article, but I won't pay.

That Cardinal Kasper! He has a knack for saying just the right thing, don't he?

Thanks, Lisa.

Oh wait! All is not lost. The Telegraph covers the story, too.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, a senior aide to the Pope, has pulled out of the Pontiff's visit to Britain after saying the country resembled a “Third World country” where “aggressive new atheism” is rife.

Although officials insisted that the 77 year-old had dropped out of the trip for medical reasons, as he had been ill “for some days”, his comments represent another embarrassing PR blunder for the Roman Catholic church at a critical time.

The[y] are all the more embarrassing because the Cardinal's position makes him responsible for promoting Christian unity around the world.

The Vatican, the hierarchy in England and Wales and the Government are all desperate for the first-ever state papal visit to Britain to be a success.

Count me out from amongst the desperate.

The cardinal’s abrupt withdrawal from the trip prompted speculation in Rome that it was linked to an interview he gave this week to a German news magazine, Focus.

In an article headlined “A Third World country” he was quoted as saying: “When you arrive at Heathrow you think at times that you’ve landed in a Third World country.”

His secretary, Mgr Oliver Lahl, said the remark was a reference to the diverse, multi-cultural population of Britain, which the Cardinal has visited three times in recent years.His secretary, Mgr Oliver Lahl, said the remark was a reference to the diverse, multi-cultural population of Britain, which the Cardinal has visited three times in recent years.

Well, Monsignor, that changes everything. We all understand why the cardinal would want to avoid the multicultural hoardes.

Meanwhile one of England's most senior Catholics, The Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark, has warned that "crackpots and lunatics" may try to disrupt the papal visit.

The Protest the Pope coalition has promised its rally will be peaceful and that no attempt will be made to arrest Benedict for alleged "crimes against humanity".

For better or for worse, tomorrow is the big day. In all sincerity, I pray that the protesters and the police will exercise restraint and that the protests during the pope's visit will be non-violent.