BETTY/ANTONIO'S VISIT TO BATON ROUGE

We had invited Betty and Antonio to visit us in Baton Rouge the last time we were in Italy.

They made the arrangements to come to Baton Rouge. Their plane was to arrive at 8:30 PM. We were there to meet them, but they were not on this plane. The next plane was due at midnight (almost 4 hours later), so we waited and waited and waited. They had been delayed by customs in Atlanta. Finally the last plane arrived and we looked down the hall, and sure enough, here they came! Betty with that beautiful smile and Antonio smiling too. They looked very tired, but also excited to be here. BUON GIORNO!

We had our guest bedroom (Presidential Suite) ready for them and they slept soundly after another session of hugging and kissing.

When they finally waked up the next morning, we had a good time just visiting and eating a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, grits, sausage, hot biscuits, and mayhaw jelly and then coffee. They had never heard of grits before, but they really liked them. That night we had all our children and grandchildren over to meet them and we all enjoyed the fellowship.

The next day we showed them the sights around Baton Rouge, including the State Capitol, the Burden plantation, and some of the Ante Bellum homes nearby. That night we had supper at the Picadilly Cafeteria where they especially liked the crawfish etouffee and carrot soufle.

Later in the week we drove to New Orleans to see all the sights we could. We visited Canal Street and Riverwalk by the river where we ate shrimp po-boys and beignets and cafe au lait. We then saw the aquarium and Bourbon Street where our hotel (the Royal Sonesta) was located.

After a big supper at a small cafe called "Petunia’s" we checked into the hotel. We walked around a little and heard some great New Orleans jazz music. Virginia and I went to bed and I think Betty and Antonio stayed up a a little later listening to some more New Orleans jazz.

After another big breakfast at the hotel (with grits) we got onto the ferry and crossed the Mississippi River to see the Mardi Gras World Company. This is where many of the floats are built for the yearly parades. It is most interesting, and we were provided with a tour of the entire place where we took lots of pictures of past parades, and costumes that were used. All the time we were having a great time, just becoming more acquainted with our two wonderful young friends.

Sadly, we learned of the death of one of my nieces in El Dorado, Arkansas at this time. The funeral was to be held the next day and so we all drove for about 5 hours to the funeral and then to the cemetery. They met more of my family while there.

After returning to Baton Rouge we continued to see other points of interest and visited Patricia’s home where Willis played the piano for us. (He teaches piano at LSU and also performs in concerts nationwide). Then we visited one of the classrooms at the LSU Lab School where Betty and Antonio gave a short talk to Mrs. Young’s fifth grade class describing life in Italy.

Then it was time to say "Arrividerci". We all cried as we waved goodbye to two of the greatest kids we have ever known. We have learned to love both Betty and Antonio and the family as part of our extended family. He is the perfect companion for Betty and we wish for them to have a long and happy lifetime together. We hope to meet Antonio’s family in Naples one day.

OUR SISTER LOUISE

Wren and I loved our only sister. She lived in Arkansas and Wren lived in Dallas while we were in Baton Rouge. Wren and I would try to be in Arkansas at the same time so we could visit with Louise and her three daughters.

Once we decided to take her to New Orleans, just the three of us. Wren picked her up in Arkansas and then drove to Baton Rouge. We planned to spend two nights in New Orleans to show her some of the sights and sounds of the "big easy".
The three of us left my house and drove to Hammond for a big lunch of thin-fried catfish at one of my favorite restaurants called Middendorf’s. Then we proceeded to drive into New Orleans. We had made reservations at the Hilton Hotel overlooking the Mississippi river. It is a beautiful place.

That night, we took a taxi to one of the most famous restaurants in town, called Commander’s Palace. This is a super elegant restaurant with food and service "fit for a king". I think Louise fell in love with our waiter. He was excellent. He even gave Louise his business card and invited us all back to see him again. The evening was most enjoyable.

The next day, we visited the Aquarium of the Americas. It is also magnificent and we enjoyed this very much. That evening we drove into the French Quarter area. We just sat a while in our parked card and watched the people and heard some of the finest New Orleans jazz music ever from a band that was playing right on the street corner. Before leaving New Orleans the next day we stopped at Cafe Dumond for beignets and cafe au lait. What a treat!

Another memorable trip to see Louise was when she lived in Wyoming. She suggested a picnic in the mountains which were beautiful at that time. She and her husband and Virginia and I drove at least 100 miles into the most scenic mountainous country I had ever seen. The picnic was just great.

We also took her to Yellowstone Park one summer. It was a thrilling sight to see all the natural beauty of the park. The animals were all very interesting, especially a huge female moose feeding in a small stream alongside the road. We had stopped the car and Louise practically jumped out of the car with her little box camera to take a picture of "Mama Moose". The moose quickly jumped away as soon as Louise shouted, "Hold still, you old Hussy".
On the trip back home we happened to drive up behind a car pulling a horse trailer. Naturally, the horse’s tail was hanging out the back of the trailer. She looked right at me and said, "Arthur Gene, do not be what you see"

Louise loved country music and Roy Clark was her favorite performer. He was performing in his theater in Branson so Wren and I decided to invite her to Branson to see him in person. On the way we made several rest stops for gas, etc. We were in no hurry to get there so we leisurely drove on while having a real good visit with each other along with plenty of laughs.
Once we made a stop north of Little Rock at an open-front service station and store. We walked into the store and found a young, fairly attractive girl-clerk. She was busy filing her fingernails, chewing gum, and reading a copy of "Cosmopolitan" magazine. Louise asked her for directions to the ladies’ room. She popped her gum and pointed down the hall.

When Louise returned, the young lady asked her, "What do you and these two dudes have in mind?" Without hesitation, she replied, "Oh, we’re just going up to Branson and "shack-up" for a couple of days". Wren and I looked at each other in amazement and ran out of the station as fast as possible and nearly died laughing at what our sister had said and the amazed look on the young girl’s face.

On the return trip, Louise wanted to stop again at the same store where the young girl had been earlier. There she sat, still chewing gum and reading another "girlie" magazine. The first thing she asked Louise was, "Well, how was your weekend?". Louise could not wait to reply, "Forget it, it wasn’t worth it". Again Wren and I almost doubled up laughing at our sister.

Gizzards

Occasionally while my brother Wren and I were students at LSU. our mother would take  the bus from El Dorado to visit with us. This was one of those times.

There was a new restaurant in town that offered all the friend chicken you could eat for a bargain price of $2.49. We simply had to go there. When we arrived Wren noticed that they offered fried chicken gizzards on the menu. This had been one of his childhood favorites, so he ordered these. He must have eaten at least two dozen while we all ate supper together. He dearly loved them.

Later that night we received a call from his wife at the hospital. Wren had been admitted for an acute attack of appendicitis. He recovered shortly from the operation and probably has not eaten another gizzard since this.

A Dozen Eggs In a Baseball Glove

While I was growing up in Arkansas my mother usually had a few chickens. These of course provided fresh brown eggs which we dearly loved for breakfast. The chickens also provided many wonderful meals for many Sunday dinners.

Not long after Virginia and I were married and living in Baton Rouge, I wrote my mother and told her how much I missed those good fresh eggs.

Within a few weeks I received a package in the U. S. mail from home. I thought it had a rather strange smell, but I carefully opened it anyway. Inside the package was a small baseball glove that I had used many times as a child baseball player.

Carefully nestled in the pocket of the glove was about a dozen brown eggs that my mother had carefully placed there, side by side, (not individually wrapped).

You guessed it! All the eggs had been broken in the mail and the glove was completely soaked in a slick, yellow liquid that had seen its better days! The smell was unbearable.