Pirogue Races Return

After a two year hiatus, the 60th Annual Bayou Liberty Pirogue Races return on June 3rd. During that time, major construction was under way on the property of St. Genevieve’s Catholic Church, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The celebration will be June 3 from 1 to 7 p.m. at the St. Genevieve Landing, located just four miles west of Slidell, on Louisiana 433 at the Bayou Liberty Bridge crossing.


The old Bayou Liberty Bridge

Chaired by the late Junior Pichon for over 50 years, the races have been handed down to his daughter Beth DiMarco.

From nola dot com:
Thanks to DiMarco, chairwoman of this year’s event, her father’s dream will live on.

“We are honored to pay tribute to our dad this year,” DiMarco said. “He’ll be smiling down on us from heaven.”

The day of celebration on Bayou Liberty will feature competitive paddling, including: Men’s championship race; common boat race; two-man canoe race; kayak race; women’s championship race; women over 40 race; men over 40 race; girls 13-16 and 8-12 races; and boys 8-12 and 13-16 races.

ne of the highlights of the day of competition is the hilarious 'blindfold race.'

The prized Bayou Liberty Pirogue Championship raffle also will return. Tickets are $1 each, with ticket holders vying for a 14-foot Fiberglass pirogue, first prize; Propane seafood frying setup, second prize; and fleur-de-lis rocker, third prize.

A separate raffle will be held for a shotgun. Only 300 raffle tickets will be sold for $5 each.

Various game, food and beverage booths also will be featured. Among the traditional race-day favorites being dished out will be gumbo, red beans and rice, hamburgers and hot dogs and snoballs. Ice chests are not allowed on the premises.

Music will be provided by Band of Brothers, and Big Al and the Heavyweights.

Commemorative hats and T-shirts also will be available for purchase the day of the races.

For information on how to support “Back on the Bayou,” contact DiMarco at 985.643.2581

Window Wednesday

In looking around to come up with ideas for blog posts, I thought taking one day a week and feature pictures I have taken on one subject. I have a fascination with windows of ANY kind, so I thought why not Window Wednesdays? Yeah, I like it! So here is my first picture for WW

Taken at Fort Pike around 2007.

Guess what today is?

National Chocolate Chip Day!!!

Enjoy

Wise Advice

~author unknown

Graduation Surprise

Graduating college is a heady thing, but imagine receiving your diploma and then being proposed to?
Check out this video

The Old and the New

One of the hundreds (if not thousands) of things that gives New Orleans her charm is the intertwining of old versus new.

The killing must stop

Sam over at NOLA Slate has penned a thought-provoking, heart wrenching post about the state of our kids killing kids and not just in New Orleans. It's happening all across the US. Her post is entitled stabat-mater-dolorosa-on-mothers-day_05

Excerpt:



These are kids. Our kids. Their kids. OUR kids.

The blood is running down the streets like water after a rainstorm. The cop shop says isn't it terrible. The DA files a case against the accused. We all jump with glee that the asshole that did the shooting is caught.

And the mothers keen. And the mothers will never recover. And the family is broken beyond repair. And the mothers keen.

Why are we not looking at the societal issues that cause a 17 year old kid to feel that shooting a gun is the only way to settle a debt, or a moment of disrespect, or to make them a man? Why are guns so easily bought? Are we entering an entirely Darwinian age? Those who are the strongest by virtue of the weapons they carry are the winners? Really? Why are not furious at this situation?

Facebook killed blogging

Or so it seems like. Actually, this morning I rediscovered some of my favorite blogs (non-NOLA) are still active after all these years.

But I was just going over my NOLA area blogs and many of them have either closed shop or aren't actively blogging anymore.

There are a few left that update regularly:

BayouCreole's posts always delight me

Glen over at Bigezbear has me thinking and/or laughing all the time

Cliff is still sitting on his porch

Jeffrey over at Library Chronicles blogs several times a day

NOLA defender updates daily

New Orleans News Ladder can be counted on to update every day

Pistolette is still active and continues to entertain me

Chris over at Prytania Waterline has resumed blogging

Mark Folse blogs about returning to school and his views on everything on a regular basis

Varg's still kicking

Speaking from personal experience, Facebook is one reason I have slowed down blogging here myself. It's too damned addictive! But I'm making an effort to find things to blog about whilst perusing Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and others.

Love playing with light

Pet Cemetery

This picture so aptly predicts the future of the woman in the foreground. She was Dorothy Thompson from Toca, Louisiana in St. Bernard Parish. The man standing over her - Brandon Nodier - has just been arrested for her murder....27 years after it happened.

NOLA.com published an in-depth article about the history of this case here. It's a great read and would make a fantastic movie. The story starts at the beginning of the 20th century and ends in 2012. I found it fascinating.

Excerpt:

It was estimated that about 5,000 pets were buried on its grounds, mostly dogs and cats, but also parakeets, parrots, myna birds, a cheetah, a hen, monkeys, rabbits -- even the boa constrictor named Serita who had performed on "The Tonight Show" in the 1960s and was afforded a funeral with a choir that sang "Goodnight, Irene."

Graves ranged from simple to very elaborate, costing as much as $2,000. A human-sized Buddhist statue topped one of a pet cat, and one woman's ashes were cemented in a large urn atop her dead dog's tombstone, as per her last wishes.

Thanks to Benjamin Alexander-Bloch from the Times Picayune.