Places to go and shop, or just visit, around Baton Rouge… We have The Mall of Louisiana …if for some reason you can not find it there, you can drive down to Gonzales (about 15 miles) and go to The Tanger Outlet… Drive across Highway 30 and shop at Cabela’s for all your hunting and fishing gear.
If you are unable to find it in Baton Rouge or Gonzales… Drive to Denham Springs and shop at The BassPro. “If you can’t find it here… it’s not to be found”.
What about the Area Weather…
The origins of Mardi Gras can be traced to Medival Europe, though we have no written record of how that really transformed into the current Mardi Gras of today. But the origins of the Mardi Gras we celebrate today — with Kings, Mardi Gras colors, and brass bands — are traced to New Orleans.
Although we can trace its history to the Romans, a French-Canadian explorer, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville, landed on a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New Orleans in 1699 and called it “Pointe due Mardi Gras.” He also established “Fort Louis de la Louisiane” (which is now Mobile) in 1702. In 1703, the tiny settlement of Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrated the very first Mardi Gras.
In 1704, Mobile established a secret society (Masque de la Mobile) … similar to those who form our current Mardi Gras Krewes. It lasted until 1709. In 1710, the “Boeuf Graf Society” was formed and paraded from 1711 through 1861. The procession was held with a huge bull’s head pushed alone on wheels by 16 men. This occurred on Fat Tuesday.
New Orleans was established in 1718 by Jean-Baptise Le Moyne. By the 1730s, Mardi Gras was celebrated openly in New Orleans.. but not in parade form. In the early 1740s, Louisiana’s Governor The Marquis de Vaudreuil established elegant society balls — the model for the New Orleans Mardi Gras balls of today.
The earliest reference to Mardi Gras “Carnival” appears in a 1781 report to the Spanish colonial governing body. That year, the Perseverance Benevolent & Mutual Aid Association is the first of hundreds of clubs and carnival organizations formed in New Orleans.
By the late 1830s, New Orleans held street processions of maskers with carriages and horseback to celebrate Mardi Gras. Newspapers began to announce Mardi Gras events in advance.
In 1871, Mardi Gras’s second “Krewe” is formed, the Twelfth Night Reveler’s, with the first account of Mardi Gras “throws.”
1872 was the year that a group of businessmen invented a King of Carnival — Rex — to parade in the first daytime parade. They introduced the Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold; the Mardi Gras song, and the Mardi Gras flag.
In 1873, the first floats were constructed entirely in New Orleans instead of France. In 1875, Governor Warmoth of Louisiana signs the “Mardi Gras Act” making it a legal holiday in Louisiana, which is still is.
Most Mardi Gras Krewes today developed from private social clubs that have restrictive membership policies. Since all of these parade organizations are completely funded by its members, we call it the “Greatest Free Show on Earth!”
Allee: A double row of trees leading from the road or river to a plantation house. (Fr. allee, an alley.)
Armoire: A cabinet closing with one or two doors, having rows of shelves and used for keeping clothes. (Lat. armarium, from arma, arms.)
Arpent: A former land measure, of 100 perches, which were 22 feet square. (Lat. arapennis or arepennis.)
Bagasse: The residue of sugarcane after the juice has been pressed out. (Span. bagazo.)
Baire: A mosquito net or bar. (Fr., barre, cross-bar.)
Bamboula: A dance executed to the accompaniment of a bamboula drum. (Fr. bamboula, African drum.)
Banquette: A sidewalk, so called because the early wooden sidewalks were elevated above the muddy streets. (Fr. banquette, a low bench.)
Batture: The land built up by the silting action of a river. (Fr. battre, to beat.)
Blanchisseuse: A washerwoman. (Fr. blanchir: to whiten, to clean.)
Blouse-wlante: A mother-hubbard; a loose wrapper. (Fr. voler, to fly.)
Boo: A term of endearment. (Fr., beaux)
Bouillabaisse: A stew of red snapper and redfish, with various kinds of vegetables, all highly seasoned with pepper and spices. (Prov. bouia-baisso t boiled down.)
Briquete entre poteaux: A method of construction in vogue in the eighteenth century in which bricks were filled in between the spaces of a framework of cypress timbers. (Fr. bricked between posts.)
Camelback house: A single house with the back half made into a two story. The front section remains a single.
Chacalata: The Creoles who remained among themselves, refusing to accept new customs or ideas. A local term.
Chambre a brin: A screened enclosure on a corner of a ‘gallery.’ (Fr. brin, linen cloth. In Louisiana, brin is screen wire.)
Cheniere: A mound, rising from a swamp, and covered with a grove of live oaks. (Fr. chene, an oak.)
Compere: A term of affection or friendship. The Creole animal fables use it as a title of address for characters. (Fr. prefix com, with, and pere, father.)
Courtbouillon: Redfish cooked with highly seasoned gravy. (Fr. court-bouillon, a sort of gravy consisting of white wine, salt, pepper, parsley, carrots and onions, and in which fish or game may be cooked.)
Crayfish bisque: A rich soup made with crayfish, the heads being stuffed and served in the soup. (Fr. bisque, thick soup, cullis.)
Creole: A descendant of the French and Spanish settlers in Louisiana during the Colonial period (1699-1803). (Span, criollo, native to the locality. Believed to be a Colonial corruption of criadillo, dim. of criado, bred, brought up, reared, domestic; p. pple. of criar, to breed.)
Faubourg: A suburb or neighborhood, now used only in context of a particular area, such as Faubourg Marigny. (Fr., suburb)
Gabrielle: A loose wrapper worn in the house. Local term.
Gallery: A porch, balcony. (Fr. galerie, Lat. galeria, gallery.)
Garqonniere: Bachelor quarters, usually separate from the principal part of the house. (Fr. garQon, a boy, a bachelor.)
Gard-soleil: A sunbonnet. A local term coined from Fr. garder, to guard, and soleil, the sun.
Garde-de-frise: The spikes projecting from rails separating two adjoining balconies. (Probably a hybrid formation from Fr. garde, guard, and cheval-de-frise, spiked guard rail.)
Grasset: The kingbird, or bee-martin, Tyrannus tyrannus, or the vireo, Vireo olivaceus. (Fr. grasset, fatty.)
Gris-gris: Amulet, talisman, or charm, worn for luck or used to conjure evil on enemies by the Voodoo devotees. Presumably a word of African origin.
Gumbo: The okra plant, Hibiscus esculentus, or its pods. A soup thickened with the mucilaginous pods of this plant, and containing shrimp, crabs, and often chicken, oysters, or one of the better cuts of veal. (Negro-French gumbo, from Angolan kingombo.)
Gumbo-File: A condiment made by powdering leaves of the Red Bay, Persea borbonia, powdered sassafras root often being added. It is used in place of okra for thickening gumbo.
Gumbo-Zhebes: Gumbo made of herbs instead of okra. (Negro-French Zhebe, from Fr. herbe, herb.)
llet: A city square. (Fr. ilet, little island. So called because the ditches which drained the streets were always full of water.)
Jalousie: In Louisiana, the common two-battened outdoor blind. (Fr. jalousie, Venetian Wind.)
Jambalaya: A Spanish-Creole dish made with rice and some other important ingredient, such as shrimp, crabs, oysters, sausage, chicken or game. No plausible origin can be found.
Lagniappe: A small gift presented to a customer by a merchant as an ‘extra’ or baker’s dozen. (Span, la, the, napa, from Kechuan yapa, ‘a present made to a customer.’)
Latanier: The fan-palm or palmetto.
Make menage: To clean house. A typical local translation of French faire le menage, to clean house.
Mamaloi: Voodoo priestess. (Probably from Fr. maman, mama, and roi, king.)
Mardi Gras: Shrove Tuesday, the last day of the Carnival season; day before Ash Wednesday and beginning of Lent. (Fr., lit., Fat Tuesday.)
Maringouin: A mosquito. (S. American Tupi and Guarani.)
Minou: A cat. (Fr. minet, kitten.)
Moqueur: The mocking-bird, Mimus polyglottos polyglottos. The most famous songbird in Louisiana. (Fr. moquer, to mock.)
Papillotes: Curl-papers. (Fr. papillate, curl-paper, from papillon, butterfly.)
Papillotes: Buttered or oiled paper in which fish, especially pompano, is broiled, to retain the flavor.
Parrain and Nainain: Godmother and Godfather. (Fr. parrain, from low Lat. patrinus, from pater, father.)
Perique: A unique kind of tobacco grown only in the Parish of St. James, said to have been the nickname of Pierre Chenet, an Acadian who first produced this variety of tobacco.
Perron: Porch. (Fr. perron from pierre, stone. A construction on a facade, before a door, consisting of a landing reached by several steps.)
Picaillon: Small, mean, paltry. (Provencal, picaioun, small copper coin of Piemont, worth about one centime.)
Picayune: Formerly the Spanish half-real, worth about 6% cents; then applied to the U.S. five-cent piece. (Provencal, picaioun.}
Pigeonnier: A pigeon-house, a dove-cote. (Fr. pigeon, pigeon.)
Pirogue: A small canoe-like boat, made by hollowing a log, used on the bayous. (Span, piragua, borrowed from the Carib.)
Porte-cochere: The gateway allowing vehicles to drive into a courtyard. (Fr. porte, gate, coche, coach.)
Praline: A candy patty made of pecans and brown sugar. (From Marechal du Plessis Praslin, whose cook is said to have invented it.)
Shotgun house: A house in which, typically, a living room is followed by a bedroom, followed by a kitchen, followed by another bedroom, with the doorways all in a row. (In the French style of planning, plots of land along a river are long and thin, so the houses also came to be long and thin. The name originates from the fact that you can stand at the front door and shoot a gun straight through the back door, without hitting a single wall.)
Soiree: An evening party. (Fr. soir, from Lat. serum, late afternoon.)
Tignon: A sort of turban made of a bright-colored Madras handkerchief, formerly worn by women of color. (Fr. tignon, or chignon, the nape of the neck, from Lat. catena, chain.)
Tisane: A tea made of orange leaves or soothing herbs and used as a specific in certain illnesses. (Lat. ptisana, an infusion of maple.)
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear..
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
“What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam’,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall..”
” So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”
PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.
CDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum, Iraq
Siding on the sides, washer in the rear,
Santa and his reindeer used to live right here.
Here’s a Christmas story that you probably didn’t know,
Like most Christmas stories, happened long time ago.
In a renovated double near Broad and St. Bernard,
Lived a fat little man with some livestock in his yard.
There were elves in and out, a refrigerated van,
People thought it was a day-care or a Sno-Ball stand.
Been a bunch of tenants, been a bunch of years,
But Santa and his reindeer used to live right here.
Time Saver time, spent a lot of dimes,
Reindeer need Icees in the hot summertime.
Working through the rain, through the hurricane,
Wasn’t just playin’ no reindeer games.
Blitzen went to McDonogh, Rudolph went to Colton school,
It was rough bein’ reindeer ‘fore reindeer was cool.
Dasher went to Warren Easton, Donna went to Sacred Heart;
She didn’t make the dances, but they’d meet in City Park.
Porch in the front, yard in the back,
Still got toys in the attic in a sack.
Siding on the sides, washer in the rear,
Santa and his reindeer used to live right here.
Sold a little toys, paid a little rent,
Made deliveries on the streetcar, it was only 7 cents.
They needed something bigger for a bigger operation,
Doin’ lot of Greyhound, waitin’ at the station.
They were lookin’ at a 4-door Oldsmobile,
But instead bought a sleigh out the News-On-Wheels.
Added power steering, added power brakes,
Had that sled painted red at the Fact-O-Bake.
The traffic, the weather, “We really want to stay,”
But Santa’s pretty tired gettin’ his sleigh towed away.
You know where they went, you know it’s cold up there,
You know it’s in the middle of everywhere.
I wanna make it plain, I want to make it clear,
Santa and his reindeer used to live right here.
Porch in the front, yard in the back,
Still got toys in the attic in a sack.
Siding on the sides, washer in the rear,
Santa and his reindeer used to live right here.
