Columns

WOW...these weeks sure do come quickly! Where does time go? In the blink of an eye, I’ll be living IN MNC and some other activity director will be writing about me. That’s a thought I think I’ll skip ...let’s move on from that, ha ha!

The weather...nah ain’t gonna talk about that either!!! It’s just disrespectful outside. Let’s talk about fun things! Today at MNC has been fun. We celebrate residents’ birthdays the last Thursday of each month. Today was THAT day. We had our July Birthday Party.

We gather in the cafeteria and have either sausage, cheese, pepperoni pizza, or a combo of all that. We have soft drinks, and we have cupcakes, cookies, brownies and several types of desserts. The residents really enjoy the pizza because its something they don’t get to eat often so we splurge and make them happy! We all laugh and talk as we eat all the goodies.

I must confess-I get so confused about Facebook prayers. “Please pray” I just don’t really understand. What am I praying for? I have read Stormie O’Martian’s book The Power of a Praying Wife. It’s truly life changing. I believe in the power of prayer-I truly do! So, I don’t enjoy “just praying”. I need more details!

Romans 8:26 tells us “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words”. Once again, God convicts me by telling me that it’s okay that I don’t know how to pray for this person-my prayers are still needed.

Let’s get shakin!!!!!!

There are few dishes that are both Cajun and Creole, but both have different variations of similar dishes.

I’ve always made what I considered “traditional” Louisiana foods, but it wasn’t till my years of living and working in different parts of South Louisiana I really learned the differences.

One of the simplest differences between the two cuisine is Creole food typically uses tomatoes and tomato-based sauces while traditional Cajun food does not.

Cajun food is rustic.

Cooking anything found along the Bayou. It is a combination of French and Southern style cooking. Think of one-pot dishes; jambalaya, rice dressing, boudin.

Ya’ crawfish boil is another Cajun culture creation!

You’ve read when I relate stories about my Mother who loved being a teacher. It was truly her calling and I know for a fact that many loved her because she was such a good teacher. She told me one time that the Teacher had to know more about the subject she was teaching than anyone else in the room. And, I didn’t understand until I was selected to teach the Young Adults Sunday school class I attended back in the day.

What made me think about this was when I attempted to change my morning shaving routine. I’d purchased a cheap set of razors and they didn’t have the same endurance or capacity that my better ones had. Instead of shaving in three sections of my face I now had to do six … what a pain.

Let’s get shakin!!!

When you think of Louisiana you think of cotton, sugarcane, rice, even corn, but how about blueberries?

Absolutely, especially if you are over 40 years old and from DeSoto Parish Louisiana.

It conjures memories of the Blueberry Festival, half the town covered in Blueberry signs, teens picking blueberries in the summer for extra money, and even the Blueberry Cafe.

Those days are all but memories now, or at least for most, but all is not lost. Louisiana still produces amazing blueberries and has blueberry farms, several right here in DeSoto Parish like Hillcrest Blueberry Farms in Gloster, Louisiana. Hillcrest was even featured in Southern Living Magazine.

Blueberries have a short season, and we are sadly coming to an end for this season but if you hurry fresh ones are still available for another week or so and even after that you can get them frozen.

The Hot Cat

When I first moved “all the way across town” , which actually was only a little over a mile, I brought to little black yard cat I had with me. Transporting this cat who had just wandered into my yard a year or so ago and was just now tame enough to pet was one of my main concerns about the move. However, she made the trip well and made herself right at home in the new yard and promptly had a litter of five kittens. By adoption and attrition and her abandoning the last remaining kitten I ended up with the pick of the litter a black and white male I called “Mister Tux” because of his white chest. He stuck around until he discovered girls then left to search them out and has been gone for over a year.

For many years this writer has had wonderment and doubt about General Edmund Kirby Smith, Commander of the Tran-Mississippi Department of the Army of the Confederate States of America, stationed in Shreveport, LA, which was then the Capitol of Louisiana. According to most accounts he rarely got out of his office on Spring Street. Even though he was credited with repulsing the much larger Union Army under political General Banks he never came near his commanding General Richard Taylor at the Battle of Mansfield. One Civil War writer said that Taylor won the Battle of Mansfield in spite of Kirby Smith!

God Even Uses Six Year Olds

My friend Cassie is a single mom with a sixyear-old daughter. Cassie began attending church regularly about 2 years ago, and her daughter attends with her every other week. Cassie was finding it difficult to get back into the routine of getting up early and get out the door in time for church. She was finding it more difficult to ignore her daughter asking twelve times if it was time to go to church on Sunday morning.

Most people have a varied interest in history – some are interested just in facts, some in historical fiction, some in trivia. The writer, as some of you may know and have followed this article, has little interest in historical fiction, but accurate trivia is different.

The Best Thing

When I was a kid we’d play a game on those long family vacation trips called “The Best Thing” and it was fun because even the parents got involved. With my Mom being a schoolteacher and all she made sure the game was structured and had some developmental opportunities. For instance she’d say, “Son, what was the best thing about last week (or about school or about the trip so far)?” And whomever was chosen got to pick the next person so that everyone could be involved. My Dad wasn’t very enthusiastic about participating but grudgingly was after a warning glance or two from The Mom.