A few weeks back we headed down to a one stoplight town in Louisiana to surprise and celebrate Papa for his 80th birthday.  We saw lots of family and overall it felt a lot like Christmas seeing Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and lots of kids we otherwise wouldn't see if it weren't for such a great occasion.  We also ate just about every hour to top off the holiday merriment.  Egg casseroles, dips, homemade ice cream and of course all things fried filled my belly.



The weekend was well planned out and the party was set.  Mamma T made a Happy Birthday banner of course and when Papa and Manet drove up he had to stop the car as he was stunned to see so many of his family's faces.  He got a little teary eyed, as did I.  Benjamin even told me later he maybe got a little emotional too.



It was a really beautiful weekend enjoying one another, drinking lots of iced water, and staying inside.  When we arrived I made the mistake of asking why people would have ceiling fans and air conditioning.  Yankee error.  I soon realized as well why Benjamin puts ice in his water all the time.  Down there you need to do anything to cool off and ice sure helps!



One of my favorite parts of the weekend was visiting Jerry Lou and their farm.  It was quite picturesque and fun to watch Scarlet enjoy the cows, chicken (who she called Nugget) and cucumbers growing in abundance.



I'm not sure when we'll get there next but I do know that Benjamin will want Anderson to eat some good home cooking, have Papa's fried catfish and some hush puppies too.  I learned over the weekend my love for hush puppies.  I made some the other night which I'll share with you, though I need to doctor them up a bit.  They weren't sweet enough or something.  Heck, I'm not Southern but I know something was missing!


Anderson will also need to go on a golf cart ride and drive through the fields and see some creatures I'd rather not- like the large rat like animals that apparently hang out in the water by the cows.  Glad I missed that part of the tour.




Until next time...ya'll.