Monday, October 31, 2011

Forever Fall Bounty - AIE, Book Fest, Bitches 'n Witches

Forever Fall Bounty...

 



AIE
Academy of Interactive Entertianment
Australia - Seattle,WA & now Lafayette, LA



US Head of School and Programming Teacher - Dr. Chris Erhardt

Professor Christopher Erhardt is currently Head of School-US Campuses for the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) in Australia.

In 2008 Dr. Erhardt ran a game training facility in India where he designed and produced 3 commercial titles using students and faculty from his program.
From 1998-2007 he was the Associate Dean as well as V.P.-Production for DigiPen Institute of Technologies in the United States.
Prior to 1998 Dr. Erhardt was producer, designer and project director of over 24 consumer based video game titles on multiple platforms for publishers such as Electronic Arts, Infogrammes, GT Interactive, Infocom and Activision and successfully ran development teams in Russia, France, England and the United States.
Dr. Erhardt currently splits his time between Seattle Washington, Lafayette Louisiana and Canberra Australia.
He holds a PhD in international business, a MS in business sciences and a BS in organizational behavior.

(note: met him at Cafe Vermillionville, speaking at 6 - 7:30pm, on Oct 28, 2011 - per Julie Calzone who posted on Facebook on AFF Lafayette Page...or I would not have known anything about it...)

Link to the news on Calzone & Assoc's webpage...
http://calzone.com/newsMessage?id=1197

“We evaluated many locations in the south and along the southeastern seaboard of the United States and selected Louisiana because of the aggressive marketing they are doing to bring studios, developers and post production facilities to the state” says Dr. Christopher Erhardt, Head of School-Offshore for the AIE. “From our base of operations in Lafayette we plan on maintaining solid outreach to New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport with focused certification programs and course content for their specific digital media needs."


AIE Lafayette, LA School Location...
 


Lite CenterAddress:
Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise


537 Cajundome Boulevard
Lafayette, LA 70506, United States
(337) 735-5483

Note: an aside...on their webpage they have a 'Gallery' of Projects--I love this one...


Williams Cafe - After Transformation - a Visualization
(note: go to their webpage to find the "Before" - I'd love to walk the streets of say downtown Lafayette, around the edges, & Visualize all the rundown houses or empty lots to make them into this "After" - at first as a webproject & then for Real?!)
Back to AIE...

Link to their webpage...
http://www.theaie.us/

Link to Campuses - Louisiana...
http://www.theaie.us/Campuses/Louisiana

Link to an AIE project...
George Rodrigue Foundation for art, especially kid's art - which an AIE student/s or graduate did an interactive program for elementary school kids using the Blue Dog for the Foundation, that I don't find a link to right off but we saw it at the talk briefly on Dr Chris Echardt's laptop...
http://www.georgerodriguefoundation.org/site.php

Wait here's the link to the iPad App for You Can Count on Blue Dog & Blue Dog 123... http://georgerodriguefoundation.blogspot.com/2011/01/artist-george-rodrigues-blue-dog-goes.html

"The new app is the first app by internationally renowned Cajun artist, author, and creator of the Blue Dog series, George Rodrigue. The app was created in conjunction with the Louisiana Digital Gaming Initiative (LDGI) and the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE). LGDI introduced AIE to Rodrigue and then three students at AIE’s Canberra, Australia campus created and programmed the app in their free-time outside of their coursework."

"I could not have been more thrilled than when the Academy of Interactive Entertainment’s students chose this app as their class project. Like the app itself, its creation by students once again reinforces the goals of GRFA.”

 


George Rodrigue painting - Education & Art - from the Foundation webpage...
(note: Passing on to the next generation is big with George & his Arts Foundation - so it's great he's also embraced the 'digital arts' as well?!)

Next talk by Dr Chris Echardt will be at the Lite Center next month, November 9th, the time yet to be announced, prob 6 - 7:00pm, to hear about/see AIE's school there & find out more about Dr Chris Echardt too...

*Update: Jolie's will be the location instead of the Lite Center (which we can only hope, fingers crossed, that there's lovely Jolie's foodie snick snacks to be had while listening to the talk?!)
And it's being held November 10th on Thursday instead at 6-8:00pm for the time, so you could do dinner at Jolie's afterwards...mmm...a tasty creative idea...


Courses offered in at AIE:

Game Art & Design
Game Programming
3D Annimation for Film & TV
Degree Program
Short Courses
Summer Camp

(note: it's hard to believe that something as big as this, besides the Lite Center being here, is being offered to students here in Lafayette, LA - if my oldest son was just now getting out of High School this would be a perfect fit for him...& what may you ask did he do instead, went to colleges - yes, plural - then joined the Navy, where he still is to date...working with computers?!)
    /\/\/\

LA Book Festival 2011
Baton Rouge, LA

Authors I managed to go sit in on their talks...


Magic's in the Bag:
Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags & Sachets

Cheré Dastugue Coen is an award-winning journalist, instructor of writing, playwright, novelist and cookbook author. Her latest books are Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets, Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Tour of Acadiana and Cooking in Cajun Country. A native of New Orleans, Cheré now makes her home in Lafayette.
SCHEDULE
2:45 PM – 3:15 PM
Senate Committee Room C
Book Talk
Get Your Mojo Working: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags & Sachets
Book Signing
3:30 PM – 4:15 PM

Link to this description above about the Author...
http://www.louisianabookfestival.org/Author_Coen.html


Authors Blog...
http://havebookswilltravelletseat.blogspot.com/

Authors Other Blog...
http://www.louisianabooknews.com/

(note: she's my new writerly friend in Lafayette & she intro'd me to two of her friends there at the LA Book Fest too--the Atwoods, of which one gave me their book so I had to buy the other one's book to have the couple's books...as yet have not read either, one will be poetry reading & the other one looks like fun reading...)

      ###



Kody Chamberlain (Louisiana) is a writer, artist, and designer mostly working in comics and graphic novels. He recently completed the award-winning crime series Sweets: A New Orleans Crime Story from Image Comics. Chamberlain is also the co-creator of Punks: The Comic soon to be released from MTV Geek. Other credits include Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Paramount, Universal, HarperCollins, and Warner Brothers.


SCHEDULE
2 PM - 3 PM
State Museum, Auditorium
Discussion
Pens and Pistols: A Roundtable featuring today's Crime Comic All-Stars *
Book Signing
3:15 PM - 4 PM


* Howard Chaykin & Victor Gischler w/Brannon Costello

Link to above descrition about the author...
http://www.louisianabookfestival.org/Author_Chamberlain.html

(note: I've met Kody at AcA when he was signing his newly published graphic novel, Sweets, & I now have bought a number of copies--I think 5 copies now, to give away...but did manage to keep 1 copy, that I've read & enjoyed though there are crime scenes in it--after TV/Movies or living in 3 foreign countries, as well as Houston, TX...at the time touted as a Top 10 Worst Crime City--I think I can handle a graphic novel about NOLA?! I love the parts about New Orleans I know of & also the people he's used to draw characters in the novel, like our very own coffeeman, Floyd, from Americas Coffeehouse in downtown Lafayette...among others, which I think I've only met 1 other I've heard he used in his novel...so far...)

    ###


Robert Olen Butler

Robert Olen Butler is the author of twelve novels, six story collections, and a book on the creative process, From Where You Dream. In addition to a Pulitzer Prize and National Magazine Awards, he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship for fiction and an NEA grant, as well as the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He teaches creative writing at Florida State University.

SCHEDULE
3:15 PM – 4 PM
House Committee Room 1

Book Talk
A Small Hotel

Book Signing
4:15 PM – 5 PM
Author's Web Site

Link to this above description of the author...
http://www.louisianabookfestival.org/Author_RButler.html

(note: I did not buy this book, nor did I step up to the Authors Book Signing table either - as he had a queque & "What would I say?" "I heard you speak, thank you for reading, can you sign my book?" At this point in time I do not need anymore books on my bedside or I will have a tower of babble going on to the sky...I chose instead to buy my friend's friend book - who I'm just guessing, is 'not' as famous - to see how she writes, plus her book sounded funny & as her husband also gave me his poetry book - which is most endearing, I was immediately curious about their separate writing worlds...)


Another author I recognized & stopped to chat with out on the park grounds in front of the Capitol...



Sheryl St. Germain directs the MFA program in Creative Writing at Chatham University. Her books include Going Home, The Mask of Medusa, Making Bread at Midnight, How Heavy the Breath of God, and The Journals of Scheherazade. She has also published a book of translations of Cajun poet Jean Arceneaux, Je Suis Cadien. A book of lyric essays, Swamp Songs: The Making of an Unruly Woman, was published in 2003 and Navigating Disaster, a collection of Louisiana essays, will be published in 2012.

SCHEDULE
11:45 AM – 12:30 PM
House Committee Room 2

Discussion
Between Song and Story: a Conversation about New Forms of the Essay
12:45 PM – 1:45 PM
State Library, Capitol View Room

Reading
The Wetlands Panel
2:45 PM – 3:15 PM
State Library, Capitol View Room

Discussion
Julie Kane and Sheryl St. Germain

Book Signing
3:30 PM – 4:15 PM

Link to her description above...
http://www.louisianabookfestival.org/Author_StGermain.html

(note: I knew her name from when I use to take Creative Writing classes for years, the 2nd time I lived here in Lafayette, as well as from Deep South Writer's Conferences--am sure she must of spoke at one of them...we nearly brushed elbows at the book tables under the B&N tent, as she wheeled her luggage around--that now I'm guessing may have had her books in it, but I didn't ask...then I thought she was leaving her hotel after being an author/speaker as I could see her name tag at the end of a lanyard around her neck...so finally passing her out in the open I had to take my chance & say Hello, I think I know you - which I knew her/her name, but she of course would not remember me...found out she is not living in Lafayette, nor Louisiana either-but of course has family/friends/roots her I think which bring her back...I especially liked the project she had currently been working on about Song & Story--my friend who's written a Singing Meditation Book I knew would love her book...now am kicking myself--shoulda/woulda/coulda asked her for her book & for her to sign it for my friend, then give it to said friend as a gift for Christmas?! but I let her walk away, as I went to the Beverage counter for a CC's Coffee to go & went wandering off to the Exhibitors tents...)

   ###

Link to LA Book Festival page...
http://www.louisianabookfestival.org/

     /\/\/\

Bitches 'n Witches
Halloween Party

Invited & instantly sweated out a costume idea-skipped the Bitches instead went for the Witches...
Googled TV/Movie Witches--thought about something between Hocus Pocus (Disney) & the Eastwick (aka sexy) Witches, not Harry Potter or Bewitched or OZ (didn't feel like painting myself green for that last one...)


Hocus Pocus - the 3 witches...(recognize any of them?)

Thinking there are so many cliche witch characters & pieces to what makes up a witch, in myth, in stories, in history...

So to make a witch--there is a hat, there is a broom, there is a wand, there is wearing black, there could be a wart on the face or be darkly beautiful...
there are webpages full of costumes & at a pretty penny (make that dollar) too...

For days I would pick up 'bits & bobs' (as my British friends loved to call that 'hunting & gathering' technique): striped thigh high socks, black & white wavy long haired wig, black lipstick/nail polish, purple eyeliner, shimmery eyelashes (that didn't stick so tossed them in the end,) out walking the dogs-a long but thin & curved with park of the bark left on a hand-hold stick to use as none other than a wand, a proper broom, a black dress, a black/white striped top, layered w/a thin black top & black gauze, black boots, black bee earrings, tiny sticks (again out walking the dogs) to put in the hair under the tiny purple witchy headband hat, a plastic cauldron, black eye pencil, feathered black boa, necklace of feathers (tho white) & leather/beads (that just looked right) & purple fresh flowers to take the hostess of the Bitches 'n Witches party, of course...being out of any 'eye of newt' to take instead right?!


"I'll get you my pretty & your little dog Toto too..." (did she say that? I seem to remember she did...)
Of course the 'classic' & green Wicked Witch of the West...not the Good Witch of the North, Glinda...nor the curled up black/white striped socks & ruby red slippers of the Wicked Witch of the East...


another classic witch image, w/a house on top of her--you can buy black & white socks & of course Ruby Red Slippers (here at the Party Store even, for a price...I've been to the Land of OZ Museum in Kansas & I've seen a 'real' pair of Ruby Red Slippers, behind glass mind you--there are ones also made of Swarovski's Crystals even...but that's another story for another time, when we can be off to see the wizard...)


It was more fun to see all the other Witches costumes--you may ask right off, where are the photos? there are none--we were too busy having fun I guess...comparing costumes, eating gumbo--from a big black cauldron over the fire right?! hah--not in this story...

After drinking of 'Bat's blood' or other properly named Halloween Cocktails there was...
Reading of the Tarot Cards--haven't done that since prob High School...but Oh my the truths that came out in those three little turned over cards...(we skipped the Ouija Board, due to mention of other years where it was tried & it failed to move, hmmm...)
Getting historical romance novels as party favors, many with bare chested men on them or the word Vampire in the titles (one I think was called Sex, Lies & Vampires--I will not say that was clever...) My book review of mine will be for another time, maybe by next Halloween for the next party when we'll swap books?!


Harry Potter evil witch, Belletrix - Helana Botham Carter in costume w/her wand...
(looking at it & wondering how to make this costume, one year...or the hair, now witchy black shoes could be fun...)

My fav Witches costume of the night, strange no one went for the Bitches costumes, was the ex-military woman in her old green cammo fatigues, complete with black boots & her black witches hat ontop of her bright orange neon long hair...(made me think of my son's a bit, both being in the military trying to have fun on the holidays...)


think of this long neon green hair, w/plain black witches hat instead...
worn w/army fatigues & black boots--then you have my fav costume of the night...

No magic spells were performed by waving our wands (nor for sure by wrinkling our noses) & no riding of the brooms thru the night sky over the house & ??? what else are witches suppose to do on Halloween?! Who's to say, but we had a Witchy Good Time no matter...


Laissez les bons temps rouler des sorcières?!


note:
if you look up Witches Wands, you'll find Wands & this in Wikipedia - tho it refers to this as the  First Magical Wand was in the Odyssey...
Circe painted in 1891 by John William Waterhouse - now I'm asking myself Where is the Wand? there is a cup yes in her right hand, so is that a wand in her left hand, if I look in the mirror behind her then I see a really long wooden one as if I sword possibly or a whole tree branch...
but now too I'm looking at this & wondering, again, how easy to make this witches costume all out of gauze (tho mine will have a lining-as I'm not a witch, nor a goddess, nor being painted romantically by a painter in the 1800's?!)

My Witches costume for next year--Circe...it will take a lot of gauze...After Halloween Sales here I come?!

Will be bulking up on all things Witchy too for next year's Bitches 'n Witches party, so with that--What Do Witches Say? (Oh, yes you can Google this...)

Among Witches there are special greetings.
Some of them are "Merry Meet!", "Blessed Be!", "Brightest Blessings", "Love and Light"

I think I'll go with "Love & Light Y'all?!"


Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_do_witches_say_and_do#ixzz1cR6F4xIb

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Further Fall Bounty - Food Day, Boudin, Red Baraat

Further Fall Bounty...

 


Food Day
Great Harvest Bread Co
Cafe Cohen
October 24, 2011 Monday

from Great Harvest Bread Co Facebook Page
Christine Balfa Powell, Anya Burgess, Kristi Guillory

Christine Balfa & Friends played after 3pm
I heard these girls before I saw them, love/Love the sound of a fiddle...
girl behind the bread samples counter inside the shop told me it was like having Cajun Royalty out there - as she's the grand daughter of 'the' Balfa (whom I'd not heard of but didn't want to spoil it, got to go Google him yet...am guessing he's a fiddler player too)

Link to all about Dewey Balfa--Yes, a Cajun Fiddler...how did I know that...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Balfa

(note: never saw the movie Southern Comfort either, now curious - can I rent it & just fast forward to the Cajun Fiddler part, hmmm...)

What he said...
"We are here to tell you a little bit about what a Cajun is. A Cajun is a person who his homeland was France. Went into Nova Scotia, at the time Acadia, and settled there and was there for about a hundred years, and afterwards the British took over the territory and then the French-speaking people, the French descendants, known as the Acadians, came down to the South-Western part of Louisiana, and that was back in 1755. So over all of these years, your language, and your music has been preserved from daddy to son or daddy to daughter or momma to daughter."

And what did he pass on to his 5 Children? I'm sure music, if not a fiddle...
Link to Christine Blafa Powell...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Balfa

(note: totally did not know she started Bonsoir Catin & I have their CD & love it?! Oh my the little circles that go 'round & 'round in Cajunland...nevermind or I'll be singing It's a Small Cajun World Afterall...)

Link to Bonsoir Catin Facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/BonsoirCatin

Link to their webpage...
http://www.bonsoircatin.com/

(note: It's on my Must Do's for While I'm Living in Lafayette List--Go See/Hear Bonsoir Catin!! They'll be at the Giant Omelette Festival in November & then Mulates & Cafe des Amis, all before the end of this year so I still have a chance Hey?!)

 

Bonsoir Catin poster from their webpage & this is what the cover of their CD has on it too...
(how do I know? 'cause I own it!)

Link to a YouTube - Bonsoir Catin playing at Cafe des Amis, where I can go see them soon (Yeess!)
http://youtu.be/1W10jQxEfbU

 

Donations/Tips for the day went to Acadiana Food Circle
this a photo of their sign from Great Harvest Bread Co's webpage

Link to them directly...
www.acadianafoodcircle.org

854A Kaliste Saloom Road
Lafayette, Louisiana 70508
337-236-8966

Link to webpage...
http://www.greatharvestofacadiana.com/community_events.htm

Link to Bread Blog...
http://www.greatharvestofacadiana.com/_blog/Bread_Blog/calendar/2011/10/

Link to Facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/greatharvestofacadiana

Link to Cafe Cohen - coffeeshop inside Great Harvest Bread Co...
http://www.cafecohen.com/
(note: who gave all their tips for the day to the Acadiana Food Circle too?!)

Link to the Official Food Day webpage...
http://foodday.org/


   /\/\/\

Boudin Cookoff

 


Poster (some piggy fun) from webpage...
http://www.boudincookoff.com/


my choice at the winner--fried boudin w/blackberry sauce...
from the boudin cooking folks up/over/down in Cottonport or was it Cottonmouth - I was blinded by my tastebuds, going gaga over the savory/sweet thang in my mouth at the time, so totally missed reading their tent sign (just know I paid $3 bucks for these babies & they were well worth it...mmm...lick fingers...mmm...)

 

a few of the 'other' samples of boudin links or boudin balls from 'other' tents...
one has brown rice, one is with crawfish & one is a boudin ball & others may be regular or smoked - sadly at the very beginning I lost track of what boudin was from what tent?! Good thing I was 'not' a judge, nor did I vote for any--because it wouldn't of been fair...

 

from the Boudin Cookoff webpage...a bigger photo & selection of How you can order/eat boudin - big links, little links, balls & with 'you name it' added to the rice & spices inside the sausage casings also...there are also boudin poboys, not shown & those fried boudin wedges with blackberry sauce that I was lucky enough to try & I'm sure locally they've thought of a whole bunch of other ways to eat boudin too...

Awards of the Day...

People’s Choice      
*the one I didn't vote on

First Place
T-Boy’s Boudin and Cracklin (Mamou and Eunice)

Second Place
NuNu’s (Youngsville and Milton)

Traditional, Specialty & Unlinked were the other Award categories for the Boudin Cookoff...

Band for the day while I was there...
The Howdies

(note: loved their old suitcase at the edge of the stage with their band name painted on the side - like they were an old vaudeville act back in the day...nice touch/detail...)

Link to their coming soon webpage link...
http://thehowdies.com/

(note: but still a list of Upcoming Shows so see Nov 12th they're back in Lafayette at Artmosphere)

Link to their Facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/THE-HOWDIES/127479325341

(note: not one photo of that Suitcase though, shoulda took a quick pick of it--but my hands were full of boudin samples?!)

Note:
Have you noticed a theme yet? In Lafayette, In Louisiana--if there is Food, there is Music...
you could as well as if there is Food & Music--there 'is' Dancing?!

     /\/\/\

Red Baraat
Dhol 'n Brass
World Music

 


AcA's flyer @The Center Red Baraat

Thursday, October 27, 2011
Acadiana Center for the Arts
101 W. Vermillion Street, Lafayette, LA 70501
8:00-9:30 PM
Tickets: $20

*misprint, our tickets were $14 & members were less, as were student tickets

Link to AcA webpage event info...
http://acadianacenterforthearts.org/Events/EventsDisplay.asp?p1=8064&p2=Y&Sort&Archive
 

Link to article: AcA Presents Red Baraat, Rounding Out the World at the Center Series
http://www.americantowns.com/la/lafayette/news/aca-presents-red-baraat-rounding-out-the-world-at-the-center-series-7155768



All the Red Baraat Band Members...

Sunny Jain - Dhol / MC
Rohin Khemani - Percussion
Aaron McLendon - Drumset
Alex Hamlin - Soprano Saxophone
Sonny Singh - Trumpet / Vox
MiWi La Lupa - Bass Trumpet / Vox
Ernest Stuart - Trombone
John Altieri - Sousaphone / Rap

(note: they did not all perform at AcA & now I'm asking myself what's a Vox? & took me a sec to go Oh yeah--that's a Tuba right?!)



Link to webpage...
http://www.redbaraat.com/

Link to Facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/redbaraatfans

Link to their Event: Coming Back to NOLA & Lafayette, LA...
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=289172744427674
(note: after they were here in Lafayette for the Int'l Festival - which is where I heard them first...but now I have a CD to listen to & remember what they look like/feel like live--it's hard to stay still when you hear them/see them...)

Link to a YouTube they chose for their webpage homepage...
http://youtu.be/Lxv7ZZ9Mon0

Next Stop Voodoo Fest in NOLA...here an article & a link to Voodoo Fest 2011...
http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2011/10/red_baraat_to_mix_up_the_music.html

The Advertiser newspaper online photo of Red Baraat performing Thurs night at AcA theater...
http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?

And The Advertiser's article: Brass music by way of India...
http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20111027/LIFESTYLE/110270302/Brass-music-by-way-India

 


photo (I know sad dark blurry) credit - all mine with my (I don't know how to use my) Droid phone...
after seeing what an iphone can do in action at a recent event, standing looking over someone else's shoulder I am shamed, impressed, feeling leftout, but as impoverished expat trailing non-working spouse, to date, cannot afford that upgrade at this point in time...sigh...can only hope that Droid will do better when it's time to upgrade my phone in July--totally another subject, nevermind... & I also know it's a FirstWorldProblem (just am not so sure either I want to be sucked into the i-world...)

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

More Fall Bounty: Mercantile, Authors, Festivals

More Fall Bounty:
Mercantile, Authors, Festivals...



photo credit: their home-made sign - borrowed from their FB page

Boho Mercantile Bayou Bazaar
First Friday of every month

Link to Facebook page...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boho-Mercantile-Bayou-Bazaar/149313511815831
(note: a lot of great photos & links, so go visit there for more...)

Info description from Facebook page...

"bohoMERCANTILE is a gypsy boutique offering handmade jewelry, clothing, pottery, soaps, essential oils and essential waters as well as a growing collection of vintage, salvaged, repurposed and redesigned items. We are four down home southern gals who were born on the bayou. We share a similar vision with respect for nature, passion to create and love for our community.

bayouBAZAAR is a monthy event held on the 1st Friday of each month from 6 - 9pm. We will feature our current creations and invite special guest artists and crafters. Along with local farm fresh food and local music. Each month should offer something new and interesting!"

Schedule 2011 (dates left)
Nov 4th
Dec 2nd

Address:
409 Brook Ave
Lafayette, LA 70506-4728

Location:
next door to Saint Street Inn
& the Beauty Spot - uses their parking lot

Link to webpage...
http://bohomercantile.com

My October Boho Mercantile visit photos...
of the Classic gorgeous car in the parking lot - which oddly enough on my way walking to Festival Acadiens I saw it parked behind some medical/dental offices I think, was really cool to see it again, but I did get some pics of it already...it was even more fun watching the kids come take pics beside it with their camera phones--what a difference a decade or two makes?! Geesh, I would of had to go borrow my G-ma's box camera to take a black & white pic of it on a roll that would of also had to have been taken to the drug store to be developed & waited awhile on?! Now click, Click & not only you have a photo you can send it off to your Social Media & share with all?! (OMGoodness am sounding ancient, but am still amazed when I think about it--my SciFi dream is alive & well & it's Today?!)





these old 50's car grills almost always make me, at some point, think of Stephen King's horror story (of course, what other) about the mad possessed car Christine--which makes me also not want to stand in front of it too long as well...btw 'she' was a 1958 Plymouth Fury

Thank you JaxRide & I hope he/she/they don't mind too much I've shared their gorgeous old classic car--will be sure to ask them if I'm lucky enough to meet them or see this car again, who knows maybe back at Boho Mercantile next month--November 4th?!

    /\/\/\

Authors...

Ernest Gaines
writer-in-residence emeritus at UL Lafayette, retired
public reading at the Ernest Gaines Center
inside UL's Dupre library, 3rd floor, 2pm, Oct 18th

Haven't heard this old writer man read since way back when, as I was taking one creative writing class after another for probably 2 years (after I had already graduated with a BS degree) - at the time his book A Lesson Before Dying I think was just published & so he read from that at a Deep South Writer's Conference, as he did on this day...just read chapter after chapter in this time a book draft, for about an hour - in what I've read being called a 'classic storytelling' style & I'll agree on that...but it's always great to hear the actual author read his book, his lines, as their characters...at the end of this reading this time they did take questions from the audience, but I was illegally parked on campus & was getting nervous thinking about what a ticket would cost so I had to get up & leave...

Link to the UL library Ernest Gaines Center...
http://library.louisiana.edu/Gaines/

Link to article in The Independent about his public reading at UL's center named after him...
http://www.theind.com/arts-a-entertainment/86-aae/9199-ernest-gaines-speaking-at-ull

from the article...

"[The latest work’s] early drafts concern a story of a young writer who, like Gaines did years ago, comes back to Louisiana after years of living elsewhere in an attempt to find his voice as a writer. Gaines has noted, however, that it is still early and the story may decide to go in a completely different direction."

(note: I especially liked what a commenter to the article said, that "Sometimes the most interesting story is Gaines himself. ")

Link to more about the reading at Ernest Gaines Center UL Lafayette...
http://www.louisiana.edu/Advancement/PRNS/news/2011/211.shtml


Also available at the reading was this book...

"Gaudet, Young, and recent UL doctoral candidate Wiley Cash also compiled and edited a pictorial history of Gaines as a Louisiana artist titled This Louisiana Thing that Drives Me: The Legacy of Ernest J. Gaines" from http://ultoday.com/node/4392




You can order here from the UL Press...
http://www.ulpress.org/catalog.php?item=103


 ###



love this girl's smile, it's catching :oD
Chere Coen

Magic's in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags & Sachets w/ Jude Bradley
Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana
Cooking in Cajun Country w/Karl Breaux



 
Get Your Mojo Working Workshop...
evening class at South Community College on Full Moon, Oct 11th
next up, tomorrow, evening class at South Regional Library on New Moon, Oct 25th

It's all in the moon...Ah mon amour de la lune?!
note: so far up, have made 2 fun sachets/Gris Gris bags (I think of them as Good Luck or Healing Help charms, though if you look up the origin of the word you'll be thinking Voodoo & bad spells, which they're not - nor were they in the past I don't think either, once again Movies Give A lot of Things a Bad Name...) And I plan on making 1 or maybe 2 more tomorrow or days following this next workshop...

my ingredients collected to make my sister a sachet/Gris Gris bag...
rosemary, lavender/sweet olive flowers, beach sand, beach pine cones, small feathers, tiny sea shells, coffee beans, loose Scottish tea, kid's playing marbles, an Indian Head Penny, tiny safety pin/ button/ bells/ star stud, some tiny plastic toys kept since we were kids & etc. (cannot remember all the fun little things I put in that little blue bag thinking of my sister as we were girls growing up together back in Florida, playing dress up with rags from the sewing box or floating around on blow up rafts in the Gulf of Mexico...)

Those first bags were made during the full moon, it's important when the moon is either waxing or waning--which the days after the first workshop would of been waning, you put together bags to send things away from you & if you want to draw them to you I think it's you'd make them when the moon is waxing...as for the new moon--I'll find out for sure, but I think it's a good time for bringing new things to you - say starting a new business or adventure, which I'm up for (maybe I should make me one & stop giving them all away to needy family/friends, hmmm...)

my finished bag, so cute & lovely smelling - plus added the little horse face/word horse too, cutout from the little mini card to put inside the bag...

(note: as my sister is a huge horse fan, she rescues the big 1,000 pound dogs down in the pan-handle of Florida & especially during hurricanes or fires or flooding events...as a non-profit, look up HorseSavers Inc - tho I think someone needs to redo their old/Old Rescue Ranch webpage, she's moved since then...so maybe this little sachet/Gris Gris will help her shed some things & bring some new things to her - as in would be good to shed some rescue horses to new homes & gain some wealth to pay for animal feed or hay, like in general kinds of things?!)

Link to Wiki for more info about Gris Gris, Louisiana Voodoo or Hoodoo (aka folk magic)...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Voodoo

Link to Louisiana Book News webpage by the author, Chere Dastugue Coen...
http://www.louisianabooknews.com/aboutcherecoen.html
(note: she has also written under the pseudonym Cherie Claire...historical romance novels A Cajun Dream, Snow Angels anthology / The Acadians series of Emilie, Rose, Gabriel & Delphine)

Link to Barnes & Noble for Chere Coen's books...
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Chere-Coen
And link for Cherie Claire's books...
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/cherie-claire?store=ALLPRODUCTS&keyword=cherie+claire

Link to Chere Coen's Blog - Have Books, Will Travel, Let's Eat...
http://havebookswilltravelletseat.blogspot.com/

"I'm a travel writer and a book reviewer who loves to eat. Join me as I travel the world, discovering fun destinations, interesting cuisine and a good read along the way."

(note: you'll see we follow each other's blogs, which I'm flattered for sure...recently she's gone on a writer's retreat in Arkansas only to get sent back again to write up about town/the hot springs spa there - now there's the kind of job I'd like, travel/writing/getting paid & even if in hotel/spa treatments... sigh...And if I have to write 3 or more books first in order to get to this level, I best hurry up is what I'm thinking--time's a wasting?!)

     /\/\/\

Festivals...

Festival Acadiens



 
Pine Leaf Boys, just ending their set - as I had just made it across the whole of the oil center, felt like, where I parked to walk to Girard Park, to the other end, to find the stage at the Festival Acadiens where the band was playing so I just snapped a pic from my phone in the sun (Ok, so I did also walk thru the vendor's/artist's tent rows - as I wasn't sure who was playing on the first stage in the park I came to...)

(note: did someone tell me they had a recent fundraiser fete to raise money for another Grammy Nomination run - did I read they have 4 of  'em already - or I think that's what it was for, must watch out for more rumor news about those details--have some friends of friends who are serious fans of these boys, they were there so must ask them more sometime soon...of course they have all their CD's too...)
Down Artist's Row I specifically wanted to see this man's work, as I'd only seen some pieces in local magazines before - because I want to so buy a winged angel or heart or butterfly (dragonfly?) or ?? in his style art of worked/chainsawed wood/metal--one day...



'blue butterfly 09' - from Kelly Guidry's 'Available Works' selections...

(note: I saw this one & many more at the Festival Acadiens--it just makes me want a piece of his art more, when at first I was attracted to the hearts & angel forms...now this butterfly attracts me, if he did a dragonfly like this I would be unable to resist?! Ok, under 'Forms' the 'wingedmermaid1' is making siren type sounds in my head at me too...)

And if those forms aren't to your liking, there are fantastic fish also - some on giant hooks too...
I especially like the polk dot fish, or he calls it the 'bubblegumfish'...(don't want to copy anymore photos, so don't get into trouble either--it is art afterall, go there to his webpage--scroll through all the pieces photos...you'll be hooked...hah?!)

Or there are bugs--cute bugs, actual cute bugs...personally I hate real bugs, but these guys are cute--like the shock mouth bright green (hungry) caterpillar or the leaf green pill bug on wheels (rollerpillar04) with a windup key on his back (more fantastic going on, it's great stuff--can you imagine this man's workshop, can you imagine this man's imagination?!)

Link to his webpage - where you see what he calls his "Modern Primitive" works

Events - his next art event - Bayou City Arts Festival - Downtown Houston, TX - October 25-27

(note: lived there 3 times & have been to this arts festival more than once, it covers a lot of blocks - I took the shuttle bus not to have to drive/park in downtown I remember...as for art, I do think - per usual - I did buy something at least 1 of those years, plus art greeting cards or postcards to save a little piece of the art I couldn't afford?!)


Boudin Cookoff - but feels like a Festival


love the piggie poster for this year's Boudin Cookoff...

 

a sampling of boudin, links or balls - from the webpage or facebook page...
Link to the 'link'...



my fav sample of the day, that I had to pay for as it wasn't paid w/tickets like all the other boudin samples...this is fried boudin with blackberry sauce drizzled on it - heavenly, it's really dessert... but were they from Cottonmouth or Cottonport? I forget & from what market/restaurant/gas station too?!

(note: you'll laugh, but I don't have my cayenne pepper tastebuds back yet - from living here for the 3rd time, so I can't tolerate all the usually spicy selections of samples of boudin just yet...but this little crispy pocket of boudin with berry sauce on top talks to my sweet tastebuds?!)


some of the samples I picked up at the Boudin Cookoff tents...
there's a crawfish boudin link in there & a crawfish ball & a link with brown rice in it & another normal or smoked variety & maybe one with chicken--or there will be, as I kept adding samples but didn't take another photo of them all...so a great day of tastebuds awakening for just 50 cents a sample, but please don't ask me where I got them all--because I've forgotten all the tents & what came from where (I'd be the worst one to vote, so sadly didn't - as most of these tastes weren't taken until I got home or the next day even...)

 
Link to the Boudin Cookoff...