Rheta Grimsley Johnson

Living in Luke, Mississippi, Rheta, a retired newspaper journalist for the liberal paper "The Atlanta Journal Constitution", and Don, a retired journalism professor at the University of Alabama, now avid duck hunter, purchased a getaway houseboat, the Green Queen, in the Basin Landing Marina on Henderson Lake, and later a cottage, in Henderson, Louisiana, where they would spend the next 10 years for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Her writing was just so-so, maybe because it was a bit shallow, or maybe even a little self-serving, or maybe I'm just a little bit jealous. I'm a Cajun and a direct descendant of Daniel LeBlanc and the infamous Joseph Broussard. My family migrated over here to SE Texas from SW Louisiana (just 10 minutes from the border) and she has experienced more in Louisiana, land of MY ancestors, than I ever have...and she's an outsider.

This book is short-takes and snippets of a few of her experiences. I can connect to one story when Rheta was getting her haircut, she asked the girl if she was from the area, really assuming she was because she had that heavy Cajun accent, but the girl replied, "Oh no! I'm from St. Martinville, me."...which was only about 10 miles up the road. Too funny!

Here, where I live, we say anyone above I-10 is up north...that's only about 5 minutes from my house. And one of my daughters moved all the way to Vidor, Texas. I hardly ever get to see her or my grandsons any more, at least not like I used to. But really, Vidor is only about a 15 minute drive...lolol. Cajuns really don't travel well. We love home.

And then, the author just had to go there. Politics (p. 188): Since she brought it up, I have a right to voice my opinion as well. The author obviously does not know political history when it comes to blacks and racism. It was the Democrats who have always held the blacks back. They WERE the Klu-Klux-Klan! It was the Republicans who fought for equal rights, even the right to vote. Today, it is still the Democrats who continue to dumb down by offering free this and free that. Keep them down and desperate and begging. It's all about power. She says that nothing has changed much in the Deep South, except now haters wear navy blue blazers instead of white sheets and have morphed into Young Republicans. Meanwhile, she's at St. Martinville's Evangeline park watching a marriage take place between a black man and a white woman. There doesn't seem to be a problem to me.

What's ironic is the fact that we don't see all the hate riots and destruction of property and businesses that we see and hear about on the news. All that takes place up north in those dilapidated liberal cities. Sure! There's still racism today, but it streams both ways. We just don't see it here like the lib-tards would like for us to see it. They want nothing more than to keep the hate going and racism alive.

The best you can get out of this memoir are restaurants to check out if ever travelling in the vicinity of Henderson, Louisiana. Unfortunately, Mulate’s in Breaux Bridge is no longer open. We ate there a few years back before it was sold and renamed. I’m not sure exactly when they closed, but it is now 2019…they are closed down. Mulate’s had a good run for 58 years, opened in 1953, before selling out in 2011 and renamed “Pont Breaux’s”.

• Chicken on the Bayou in Breaux Bridge, she swears they serve up the best poboys around.
• Poche's Meat Market in Breaux Bridge serves buffet lunch line, highly recommended.
• LeJeune's Bakery in Jeanerette still bakes the best fresh French bread from a 113 year old recipe.

BOOKS MENTIONED:
• Helene Boudreaux singer and writer, wrote memoir "Cajun Survivor". (p. 48)
• Greg Guirard's "Pyscotherapy for Cajuns"

FESTIVALS:
Louisiana publishes a large volume of all festivals held in Louisiana throughout the year. Look into this. There's a Duck Festival in Gueydan, Frog Festival in Rayne, Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge...and pretty much every where else, and Bastille Day celebration in Kaplan...just to name a few.

CAJUN'S FAV CARD GAME:
Learn to play the popular card game called "bourre".

NEVER KNEW:
Never purchase bagged cypress chips for lawns which come from deforested cypress swamp forests. They clear-cut to make these chips and there aren't many of these cypress forests left.

POEM BY ROBERT SERVICE (p. 173): Brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me of our dog Scottie who got hit by a truck and flew into the ditch in front of the house. I ran to see and he painfully crawled out of the ditch to me and laid by my feet as the driver put his hand on his head and softly said his name, Scottie, and shot him to put him out of his misery. I had to bury him alone because my husband was working that evening. I'm just going to put that poem right here. It's a tender reminder of just how faithful dogs really are. Their love is so unconditional.

"One pearly day in early May I walked upon the sand
And saw, say half a mile away, a man with gun in hand.
A dog was cowering to his will as slow he sought to creep
Upon a dozen ducks so still they seemed to be asleep.
When like a streak the dog dashed out, the ducks flashed up in flight,
The fellow gave a savage shout and cursed with all his might.
Then as I stood somewhat amazed and gazed with eyes agog,
With bitter rage his gun he raised and blazed and shot the dog.
You know how dogs can yelp with pain; its blood soaked in the sand,
And yet it crawled to him again, and tried to lick his hand.
“Forgive me Lord for what I’ve done,” it seemed as if it said.
But once again he raised his gun – this time he shot it dead.
What could I do? What could I say? ‘Twas such a lonely place.
Tongue-tied I watched him stride away, I never saw his face.
I should have bawled the bastard out, a yellow dog he slew.
But worse, he proved beyond a doubt that – I was yellow too."… (más)

Good grief : the story of Charles M. Schulz is readable biography of Charles Schultz, the cartoonist of the comic strip "Peanuts", and the first biography of him and one that coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the strip. This book not only tells the story of his life, it analyzes his work.

I was particularly interested in the author's listing of the twelve devices that Schultz used to create with ideas for the strip, such as Shroeder's music, Linus's blanket, and Lucy's psychiatry booth. Since then, I have endeavored to identify the devices that other cartoonists use.

This book was enjoyable and informative, but there was an underlying sadness to it when there didn't need to be. The author also has a tendency to spin Schultz's beliefs so that they become politically correct.… (más)