No, I haven’t been strolling through the park, nor did the month of May start so merrily. As many of you know by now, we buried my 100-year-old mother-in-law on the 2nd of May. My two oldest sons were able to arrange to be let off their boats in order to serve as pallbearers for…
When I first met this original bayou woman, it was 1979, and I was working as a dispatcher for ODECO. She answered the old black telephone in her native tongue, her words lost on me. I had called her house to ask if her son, the crew boat captain, happened to be home. His boat…
Today is the sixth anniversary date of the BP Oil Spill off the coast of Louisiana. In April 2012, I drove down to Grand Isle to walk the chenier in hopes of seeing and photographing some beautiful neotropical birds. But before doing so, I performed my island ritual, which is to drive the Island from…
Dear readers, how I’ve missed you. I can only hope that you’ve missed me as much and haven’t totally given up on finding a new post here in this century! It was very rough winter for me as far as having more than my fair share of the creeping crud (repeatedly). We’ve heard it over…
Yams. Just that single word conjures up images of delectable dishes featuring the root crop for which Opelousas, Louisiana, is so well known. But don’t be fooled. What you thought all these years were yams are really not yams at all; they’re sweet potatoes. There is, however, one type of yam abundant in Louisiana with…
Very quickly, before I hit the road, let me invite you to come visit me in Pontchatoula tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 27th). I will be one of a panel of judges for the Annual Pontchatoula High School Football Booster Club Gumbo Cookoff. Benefits go toward a scholarship fund in honor of a football player who was…