Yesterday I got some help in my yard. It was good to be outside in the sun, and getting to little tasks that have pestered me for so many years felt great.  There are always those tasks you never find time to get to–but this time I had my son-in-law […]

Rick Blount is clearly pleased to be where he is today.  We met the CEO and fifth generation proprietor of Antoine’s at one of their private dining rooms yesterday where they were marking the momentous occasion of having been open since 1840.  That’s quite an accomplishment in a city that’s […]

It was a late night, we’d been on the road since 7:30, and dinner didn’t end til 9:30. So when we were taken by our Lafayette Louisiana hosts to a local nightclub, I wasn’t sure if I’d pass, or just watch a song or two and go back to the […]

We set out from Shreveport early this morning on a tour across Northern Louisiana, beginning on an interstate but quickly getting off on the smaller blue highways lined with pine trees, some clear cut, and some showing the replanted trees for a future harvest.  Our bus trip took us for […]

The Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport is famous because it’s where America’s favorite singer, Elvis Presley, got his big start.  We toured this beautiful edifice built in 1929 today and got a chance to go backstage and see the dressing rooms and even listen to a few tunes sung by an Elvis look-a-like. […]

What’s a Muffy?  You can find out at Fertitta’s Deli in Shreveport, Louisiana. It’s the only building left standing for blocks around.  Once there were 31 other small simple houses, but they’re all gone. Inside this wood-framed building is a local institution, so beloved that a street was named after […]

We started the day in a swamp, and moved on to view a museum of rural life, the biggest Antebellum plantation, and the Lousiana state museum in and around Baton Rouge today. A group of 27 writers, we enjoyed getting to know each-other with little time to dawdle.