Wordless Wednesday: Silly Cat

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Many thanks to all...

You all are such an encouragement and a blessing. Thank you for your kind emails, comments and prayers. I always appreciate hearing from my blogger friends. Now, for the even better news:

MawMaw is doing wonderfully! Here's what happened: her blood pressure dropped to an indiscernable level, she stopped breathing and no heartbeat could be found. My aunt and uncle were with her at the time. At some point, she was revived. This is where the story begins to get hazy: my parents received a phone call that she was passed away. My mother did not handle it well at all. My sister called me in Florida to let us know. We immediately began making arrangements to leave the next day, informing my sister that we would be on our way as soon as possible.

At 3 p.m., we received another call from my sister. Ummm...MawMaw's not dead. Good news but a little mind-bending, right? We continued with our plans to head to Louisiana anyway. When we got to the hospital, the only one expecting us was MawMaw. No one else got the message that we were coming and they all thought she was delusional. Gee.

But, she was sitting up eating and talking and so seems to be doing much better. I'm so very happy to have such good news to report. Thanks again.

Wordless Wednesday Eggs

Eggs, originally uploaded by bekados.

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What do you suppose James is holding in his hand? Hint: we're in the swamp!

Thursday 13--A Wealth of Cajun Names

Aerial view of Abbeville, La.


Special thanks to the Louisiana GenWeb project and especially the Vermilion parish website for the wealth of information I was able to find in just a short amount of time.

As I was ruminating on possible topics for this morning's TT, I was reminded of a bit of genealogy research I did about six years ago. Although my mother staunchly refuses any Cajun roots and proudly calls herself a Texas girl, I know better. Her family, the Harringtons, were among the first English speaking settlers along Bayou Teche. From the 1850s on, the Harringtons (patriarch William) have repopulated Vermilion Parish in south Louisiana.

The point of this brief history? Well, nowhere else will you find more colorful-sounding names than south Louisiana in the 19th century. Here are just a few:

1. Let's begin with Arelise. When Arelise was 40 years old, she was mother to 10 children. That's right. I said 10. No, she didn't even start her world population mission until she was 20. At this point, she and her husband Joseph had a child every two years. I will never catch up.
2. Aristide--he was a son of Arelise and Joseph. He did his part to multiply the population of Vermilion parish as well.
3. Alzina--youngest daughter of Arelise and Joseph.
4. The 1860 and 1870 censuses (censi) are a wealth of pleasurable names, beginning with Zerilda (spelled Serelda in a different census).
5. Eugenie, Orisca, Selenie and Eulalie--what musical sounding sisters!
6. Eloi--now there's a name that usually stays in the Bible (remember the last words of Jesus on the cross? Eloi is Aramaic for God). I came across more than one Eloi while researching...
7. Octave and Gustave
8. Odile--now that is a Cajun name that I know I have heard in my own lifetime!
9. Zelia, Ezilda and Melina
10. Nastasie, Celeaus and Belzire
11. The 1900 census provides us with more great names, beginning with Rosella and Clerfe
12. Zeoline, Enercide and Cleophas
13. Followed by two of my very favorites: Telesmar and...Jessie James!

1850 Vermilion Parish Census

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Wordless Wednesday

Don't forget to check out other entries at Wordless Wednesday!!

Some others to see specifically:

Old School Acres--I don't think she's really participating in WW, but she has some great shots of ice!!
His Eye is on the Sparrow--some great bird shots!
Smokie's Light--another bird!

Elf Girl and the Princess

These two girls just make me giggle! Notice the matching hats, scarves and mittens: courtesy of Mee-Maw. They had lots of fun playing on the "playground" at my parents' home. Thanksgiving was such a lovely day in central Louisiana!

in the country...

When was the last time you saw a firefly? For those of you who live in the country, you may say you saw one tonight. I always forget about fireflies until I visit my family in the summertime. There are still for real fireflies flitting about in the back country of Louisiana. And, I caught one of them! Of course, it was a catch and release kind of situation, but I was thrilled nonetheless. The firefly stayed on my finger long enough to blink at me and then she was gone again. What a nice experience!

A few nights later, I had an altogether different insect experience. I was standing in the front yard of my sister T's little house when a bug flew directly into my mouth. Why was my mouth even open? I wasn't talking to anyone. I wasn't eating or singing. For some reason, my mouth was open and the unknown flying insect took the opportunity to fly inside. I coughed the rest of the night and the next morning. I seriously thought the bug was trying to crawl out of my mouth. I believed I could feel its little legs scratching on my throat. It wasn't a nice experience. You know what makes it even better? The lovebugs are in full force around these parts. That means I got two for the excitement of one. Why swallow only one flying critter when two will do just as well?

Yum...