Desert Blooms

We Dilmores are currently on a two week trek to west Texas/southeast New Mexico, trying to hit as many national parks and sights as we can. We’re experiencing and encountering so many exciting places on this family vacation, I don’t dare write here about everything, lest I lose you, my readers. It may take me some time to sort out the highlights, but in the meantime, here’s a post to tide you over.

After we explored the Big Bend area of west Texas, we meandered to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The night before we arrived, horrific thunderstorms – to hear one seasoned camper tell it – moved through the park. There’s been very little rain here and the area is currently in extreme drought mode. A ranger told us this was the first rain in six months. It was just enough to cause the cacti to burst into bloom. Perfect timing! The bees seem to be happy, too. Here’s just a small sample of the flora we’ve seen at Guadalupe.

More to come soon.

Bling

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not real big into jewelry. But I do enjoy accessorizing every now and then, if I think of it. For me to appreciate jewelry, a piece ideally has to meet any combination of the following criteria; unique or one of a kind, vintage, sentimental, and lovely. So, every once in awhile, I’ll discover a bracelet or bauble which thoroughly delights me. Such was the case last Saturday morning at the Lake Charles farmers’ market.

Artist Nancy Pierce creates bracelets and wind chimes out of antique spoons and forks. I found her work enchanting, and I knew I wouldn’t leave the market without a purchase. But oh, the decisions. Agonizing, actually, because I loved them all. First, I chose a bracelet. They’re all beautiful. And they clasp with a magnet, which, as any woman with only two hands knows, is brilliant. Then I chose a charm to accompany it. So many to choose from! After a ridiculously long deliberation, I decided on this. I love the moon. Guess it’s the Aquarius in me.


I also bought this wind chime, because I adore dragonflies. And bright colors.

Ms. Nancy designs and makes her creations from her country home in the Longview/Ragley area. I wish I’d taken a few photos at her booth, but I was so enamored with her wares, I forgot all about my camera. I don’t think she has a website, but she calls her business All Forked Up and she can be reached at allforkedupbraceletes@gmail.com

What kind of jewelry do you like?

Opelousas, LA

I spent the day in Opelousas with my friend and fellow writer Jan Newman. It’s a small town, but lot’s to see. Opelousas claims to be the third oldest city in Louisiana, so there’s plenty of history, and the Zydeco Capital of the World, so they’re big on music. Located in St. Landry Parish, a bit north of Lafayette, it’s in the heartland of Cajun French country, so there’s all that, too. Good thing I had Jan along to interpret for me. She grew up not far from Opelousas, a Cajun farmer’s daughter.

We started at Le Vieux Village (The Old Village). The tourist center is there, along with a dozen or so old buildings – several houses, one dating back to around 1791, a church, a market house, doctor’s office . . .

A two-room schoolhouse from the early 1900s.


A well-maintained steam engine graces the grounds.


“What’s this?” I ask Jan.

“It’s a pigeonnier,” she replies. “It housed pigeons.”

“Oh, you mean like carrier pigeons, for messengers?”

“No, they ate them.”

“Ah.”

The primary reason I wanted to go to Opelousas was to visit the Orphan Train Museum, located in a restored railroad station at Le Vieux Village.

Between 1854 – 1929, about 2,000 children rode trains from an orphanage in New York City to rural areas across the United States, including Louisiana. A few of these children were adopted, but most were indentured. Some families opened their homes out of love and compassion. Others, hopefully fewer, saw it as an opportunity for free labor. It’s a fascinating part of American history. In this Opelousas museum, Flo Inhern, whose father-in-law was an “orphan train rider,” gives a fantastic guided tour through the museum. Inside the museum you’ll see this beautiful mural by artist Robert Dafford, depicting the arrival of an orphan train in Opelousas.


We went to the Opelousas Museum and Interpretive Center, a small but interesting collection with everything from local Native American history (Opelousas is an Indian word), music and food (always), agriculture (cotton, rice, soybeans), and famous people from the town such as Jim Bowie, an Alamo hero originally from Opelousas, and 1972 Olympic gold medalist Rod Milburn. Did you know Opelousas is home to the Tony Chachere brand of spices and foods?


Upon a recommendation from the gal in the tourist center, we ate lunch at the Palace Café, an old fashioned hometown diner. I had a decent fried catfish poboy and fries.


There’s way more to do in Opelousas than we had time for. We were limited to the length of Andrew’s school day. An art museum sadly didn’t open until 1:00, and we didn’t get to the Zydeco Hall of Fame. But we did admire this mural (one of many in the town).

Mother's Day 2011

I’m feeling somewhat melancholy on this Mother’s Day. I don’t want to sound negative. But after all, the title of this blog is The Trials and Triumphs . . . . and I don’t always feel very triumphant. Some days are more of a challenge than others. This is the first year since my sons were born 16 years ago that I haven’t been with both of them on Mother’s Day.

On a positive note, Andrew and I drove to Natchitoches yesterday to see Eric and his mixed ensemble spring band concert. I did his laundry while I was there, and took him out to dinner. But darn, I failed to get someone to take a picture of me and the boys while we were together! It’s a tradition. Every year since they were born, I get my picture taken with my sons on Mother’s Day. (Read last year’s post here.)

I didn’t sleep well last night, had insomnia. I was keyed up after Andrew drove the whole two hours home from Natchitoches (but that’s another blog post.) Bob sailed in the Contraband Pirate Festival Regatta all day Saturday, and he awoke sore, stiff, and sun-burned. He wasn’t up to going to church. I finally roused Andrew out of bed and made it to church on time. No one said Happy Mother’s Day to me until Andrew noticed the sentiment on the fellowship hall projection screen.

“Oh yeah, happy mother’s day.”

“Thanks, Drew.”

On a positive note, upon returning home from church, I did receive two very nice cards; a sweet one from Bob and a funny one from Andrew.

This year, we had to improvise on the photo.


Thank goodness for Skype.

And I miss my mom. This is the fourth year in a row I haven’t seen her on Mother’s Day. On a positive note, I have the greatest Mom in the world and even when we’re not together, we know we love and miss each other and we’re still there for each other. My sisters, lucky for them, just happen to be a little bit more there.

On a positive note, Bob grilled burgers. He and Andrew washed my car. We took a nice walk. But my favorite part of the day was hearing Andrew play his saxophone in the praise band. And hearing Eric yesterday on his trumpet. I love seeing the talent these two boys possess. They make me incredibly proud to be their mother.


Not such a bad day after all! I hope all you mothers out there had a great day, too!

Getting Away Without Going Anywhere

Everyone loves a vacation. Getting away from it all, away from the normal routine, the stress of the same ol’ day in day out. But what would you do if you had a few days off and decided to stay home instead of traveling? A “staycation,” as they say? Bob and I found out these past few days. Eric of course is away at school. On Friday, Andrew left for Orlando with the high school band. Bob and I were alone, just the two of us. So he took Monday and Tuesday off, made it a long weekend, and we squeezed in as much fun as we could into a few days. Turns out there’s quite a lot to do in one’s own backyard. It was pretty easy to pretend we were on vacation.

Coincidentally, there’s a festival in town right now, Contraband Days, which is the city’s annual pirate festival. It lasts not one weekend, not one week, but an astounding two full weeks. It’s essentially a carnival with a pirate/boat theme and lots of music. Always a lot of music. Bob and I are not into the carnival scene, but we went to the Civic Center Friday night, dismayed that we had to pay $20.00 admission just to get to the marina to visit some friends of ours. En route, we enjoyed observing the merriment of the pirates and other general people watching.


We dined out several times over the course of the weekend . . . a late night snack and drinks at MacFarlane’s, Sunday brunch at KD’s Diner, burgers for lunch at Dairy Barn, and dinner this evening at Le Beaucoup Buffet at L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort. It was crawfish night. Looking around the restaurant, we could tell who were the out of town tourists. They were the ones who didn’t know how to eat crawfish. After dinner, it took us about ten minutes to lose $20.00 in the quarter slots. We quickly decided it was too noisy and smoky in there.

We saw the movie Water For Elephants. Bob and I had been looking forward to seeing this movie for some time. We had both read the book and loved it. The movie is also very good. And we watched a few Netflix movies in our favorite movie theater – our living room.

We played 18 holes at Mallard Cove golf course. Notice the plane in the background. Mallard Cove is right next to Chennault Airport.

We walked, gardened, shopped, baked cookies, relaxed. We wanted to go sailing, but it was too windy. I know, that sounds like a contradiction. But in a little sunfish, some wind is good; a lot of wind is just another way to go swimming.

Alas, Bob goes back to work tomorrow and Andrew returns from Florida. It’s been a pleasant time off.

What would you do on a staycation?

Easter 2011

Have you ever read something in the Bible that leaves you scratching your head? It’s one of the things I love about the Bible . . . it makes me ask questions and think.

On Good Friday morning, I read the Passion story from Matthew. I’ve read through the book of Matthew several times, but I can’t recall ever reading this passage before. As many Easter mornings as I’ve been in church, I don’t recall ever hearing it. Anywhere. Yet, there it is. So why isn’t this part of the Easter story?

Matthew 27:50-53 (NIV) And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. (That’s the part we all know, right? We all know about the curtain being torn in two at the moment of Jesus’ death. This next passage is the part that wowed my socks off.) The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

Wait. What? Huh? Can you imagine the scene? What must those resurrected persons have thought? Where did they go between Friday and Sunday? Imagine the look on the faces of the people they appeared to!

Those couple verses jumped out at me like a biblical bunny carrying a basket of colored eggs. Have you ever heard that part of the Easter story? So I read this to my boys. They'd never heard that part either. “Why isn’t this part of the traditional Easter story?” I asked them. Andrew replied, “Cause it sounds like zombies. More like a Halloween story than the Easter story.”

Eric checked and said that line does not appear in the other three gospels. Did Matthew know something the other writers did not?

I’m very curious about this. I’d love to hear comments from anyone, but especially anyone who’s a theological/biblical scholar. Or someone who simply knows about stuff like this.

Have a blessed Easter, everyone! He is risen!

USS Orleck Naval Museum

I’ve never been military-minded or particularly fond of anything related to war, but nonetheless, history interests me. Docked at the end of north Enterprise Boulevard, the USS Orleck Naval Museum recently opened in Lake Charles. So Eric and I took a tour today.

To give you a brief history, USS Orleck was a naval destroyer. Built in 1945, she missed WWII, but valiantly fought in the Korean and Vietnam wars. During her tour in Vietnam, she was known as the Gray Ghost. She later served 17 years in the Turkish Army. When the Orleck returned to the US in 1999, she found her way back to her birthplace, Orange, Texas. She was a museum there for several years until Hurricane Rita caused damage enough to close the museum. I guess she sat there unused for several years. Then through the painstaking efforts of numerous volunteers, the Orleck was brought to Lake Charles. For more information, go to http://www.ussorleck.com/. It’s a wonderful website.

USS Orleck is a work in progress. Many -- though never enough -- volunteers work to maintain and continue restoring the ship. According to our super tour guide Ron Williams, one volunteer who was instrumental in bringing Orleck to Lake Charles passed away this past Saturday at age 88. Edward Godwin was a retired Navy commander and was present at the grand opening and dedication of the USS Orleck Naval Museum just one week prior to his death. It’s as if he held on and waited to see the fruits of his labor.

Big guns.


Torpedos.


Captain Eric on the bridge.


The galley. The ship accomodated over 300 men, so this small kitchen served 1000 meals a day.

If you’re looking for something interesting to do, the USS Orleck is worth a trip.

My son Eric is one of the most adventurous eaters I know. When he was six years old, he eagerly ate fried frog legs at the Super Chinese Buffet. On our initial visit to Lake Charles, he was the first to try fried alligator. So naturally when we went to Victoria’s Taqueria (1004 Broad St. Highly recommended for good food and very reasonable prices.) for lunch today and he saw beef tongue on the menu . . . . Anyway, he said it was good. “A little chewy, but it tastes like beef.”


Did I mention my magnolia trees are blooming? Heaven scent.