Milan Mardi Gras

We're going downtown Eunice Saturday see what's going on.  I think we'll see Jason Frey and others play music.  Plenty of food and beer and stuff to see. Sunday we'll go to Alexandria hang out with the beer guys at their spot by the mall and watch the city style Mardi Gras. It's a lot of fun too. I already see some evidence of Mardi Gras on Veterans in Metairie when I pass. They celebrate early in the New Orleans area. 

Madame Grand Doigts is still alive

Christmas is done and basically I'm finding related videos to post for time. Main focus now for me is driving and trucks. Mardi Gras is also coming soon but I think I'll be working. Not in New Orleans area but somewhere.

Chrismisse

Gratin

I thought I put all my Youtube vidoes on my blog. Came across some gratin and saw I hadn't shared it here. Eat gratin and be happy.

L'Anse Grise flooded by Miller's Lake in Evangeline Parish

Mom and Dad have pictures of L'Anse Grise flooded by Miller's Lake sometime in the 50s.  A levee had broke around the North Landing.  

ouragan

Flowers in Evangeline Parish

Mom and Dad talked about flowers.  I thought that would be a nice subject for Spring, however, it seems Spring will never come.  Today looked like January with the grey skies and cold.  I sent a text to Mom asking about some gumbo and she'll cook some tomorrow.  I work again all weekend but I'll pass get some to bring back when I drop the truck off at Miller's Lake.  They talked about the smell good flowers and the red ones have a name, but they had no name for the yellow ones.  I used to put some in my boots to make them smell good. God help me, after work they smelled like something died in them. Summer is coming and I'll have to get some before I scare people.  The flowers bring them to back to life and everybody happy. Many people would put them all over the place, making everything smell like bananas.  

Pets in Evangeline Parish

                         

I remember several pets but Flash is the most memorable.  Dad had cut down some Pine trees and I made Flash a dog cabin.  Paw Paw and Maw Maw had Lady and her puppy Tramp.  Tramp looked like a little bear when we saw him at Miller's Lake.  Lady was a German Shepherd and she would jump in the boat to go fishing with Paw Paw.  Fee Fee would cry when she was cold and Dad would throw a blanket to her and she would bring it into her little dog house.  The picture is me looking at Fee Fee's puppies.  She had dug a hole under the fence and roamed the town.  Bad Fee Fee!  Bad Girl!

traiteur

Carême

Mom and Dad talked about Carême and what they knew about St. Joseph's Day.   St. Joseph's Day was a day where you could suspend your penance.  Mom and Dad didn't really practice it because it was already fading out of popularity.  Maw Maw and Paw Paw and their generation did.  Mom also said people ate simple food during Lent.  There was no eating crawfish, catfish, seafood gumbo and all that good stuff.  Egg gumbo or potatoes or just rice were examples of the meals.

boutique

Mouman and Poupa talked about stores around here back in the day.  Mom said they never used the word magasin for store and only used boutique.  She said maybe it's because Dad's parents were older than Memere.  He was the youngest in an older family and maybe that's why he remembers words used that fell out later on.  

Noël in Evangeline Parish (Chrismisse)

Mouman and Poupa talking about Christmas.  The Dictionary of Louisiana French has these spellings:

Chrismisse

Chrismusse

Chrismeusse

Another spelling is Chrésmésse and the explanation for it can be found here: L'Anse Grise Forum

I love the tree. 

jardin

Dad likes working in the jardin.  I remember me, my brother Marcus and a neighborhood friend flooded the jardin.  We had our GI Joe toys and a new hovercraft thing.  So we dammed the jardin, flooded it via garden hose and created our adventure.  We had jeeps, guns, etc and the jardin was a huge jungle to play in.  Dad, however, did not appreciate his jardin being turned into a muddy swamp.  

Evangeline Parish meteorite

Dad remembers a meteorite falling in Evangeline Parish when he was a kid.  This is a piece of it.   Just kidding.  We didn't have a meteorite handy to take a picture of it so we took a picture of a rock on the ground.  You'll have to use your imagination, cher.

comment tu dit dat mot

I asked Mom and Dad how to say several different words.  All of them can be found in the dictionary.  I got fed up trying to pronounce the words just by looking at them.  Sound is important.  I kept the flash cards too so I can write words over and over.  My phone is a basic one and I'm starting to record my parents and other people.  I can then listen to them whenever I can.  I'll probably need to upgrade for more storage.

gumbo et blanquettes

I'm not too sure about the spelling for blanquettes but it's smothered potatoes with onions in it. 

Evangeline Parish flashcard video

I'm enjoying YouTube.  I plan on asking Mom and them to make more videos like this with French words also.  I asked them to say the English word or saying because I can listen to it on my phone without having to see the video. If they said a French word or phrase without saying it also in English, I might not know what they were saying.  When I'm on break at work or waiting in the truck, I can listen to Mom and Dad saying different things in French.  I was getting slightly stressed out in learning how to spell that it was killing any enjoyment in just talking French.  Mom or Dad would say something and I would try to see the word or words without focusing on how they were saying it.  I don't know if that makes sense but that's how I think.  So I'm trying more to listen to the sounds and then worry about spelling it later.  I heard an older man question another dude at a store about betting on football games.  He first asked comment affaires?   I tried to spell it as soon as he said it.  It seems like he said, "how things."  And the other guy responded simply, "ca va."  Anyway, I'll try listening more instead of stressing out "seeing" the words.

radio and TV

Mouman and Poupa talking about radios and TV.  They told me they used to listen to a station from Abbeville.  We looked for old pictures of radios and TVs but couldn't find any.  We decided to just put some old pictures of Mom, Dad, Maw Maw, Paw Paw Leo, Paw Paw Adan and Maw Maw Elia. 

Halloween

Mom and Dad talked about All Saint's Day and Halloween.

Pâques

Mom and Dad talking about Lent, St. Joseph's Day, no digging in ground on Good Friday, Midnight Mass, Easter Sunday and pocking eggs.