More Fun and Friends at Betty;s RV Park

At the start of the week I was still not doing the greatest in my battle with the pollen. I did not do a lot over the weekend, but I'm happy to report that by Monday the sun was shining and I was feeling better. At this point I'm about 95%, so that is a big improvement. The good times continued here at Betty's and Nanc took part while I took it easy. 

On Friday afternoon, while I slept, people in the park gathered for an afternoon of games. At the top is a group who played a dice game. At the right is a game of pegs and jokers, a game that appears to very complex to me and at the bottom they are playing euchre. Hopefully, I will be ready to play if they do another games day.

Friday was also Jean Paul's birthday, so we had a big celebration including a cake. 

BON FETE MON AMI!!!!!!!

Everyone joined in the celebration, but only these die hards (top: Celine, Jean Paul, Sue, Dan and Dan; bottom: Kathy, David, Lynn, Cordell, Monica, Betty, Richard and Merlene and Nanc the photographer) made it to the end. I'm not there because I was in bed very early that evening. 

Saturday was the Cajun Jam Session at Touchet's and as usual many people from Betty's joined in the celebration. Here are Chari, Louie, a local, David, Kathy, Celine and Jean Paul.

Chari and Dan joined the band for a couple sets. Nanc was there, but I was still in recovery mode.

On Sunday we had a jam session, potluck and the usual happy hour. Since a couple of the musicians are still just learning their instruments, Celine made these little signs to let them know what key to play. Everyone here is always willing to lend a hand. 

Dan, Chari, Louie, Dave and Kristy having a fun time.

Dan, David, David, Dave, Richard, Kristy, Jean Paul and Joe providing the entertainment. There sure are a lot of very talented people here. I did listen to some of the music and ate at the potluck as I was feeling a little better each day.

By Monday I was feeling well enough to help with the crawfish boil we had here. This picture kind of sums up a boil. Jean Paul, Randy, Reid, and Dan supervising David to make sure he puts exactly the right amount of water in the tub of mudbugs.

They then cleaned the basket and pot and filled it with the correct amount of water. We did over 100 pounds which took three boils.

At top right we first cleaned the mudbugs that had just been harvested that morning. In the same tub we purged them by putting salt in the water for a few minutes. Next, they are dumped into the basket and then dumped into the pot. After they come to a rolling boil they are cooked for a few minutes, then the heat is turned off to allowed them to simmer a bit longer. Finally, they are put in another pot or a cooler and allowed to cool. We repeated the process three times to get the 100 pounds cooked.  

Of course, all this requires a lot of time and a couple of beverages to complete. Dan, Louie, Tom, Jean Paul, Richard, Merlene, Sue, Jeri and Cookie all gathered to watch and offer words of encouragement.  

After three hours of preparation everyone is ready to eat their fill of crawdads. Check out the neat bibs Kathy made for us. 

And look who ate his fill along with everyone else, me, HOORAY!!!! I helped cook so I decided to eat them and see how my body reacted. Great news!! I had NO reaction, so I'm thinking it was the place I ate them two years ago that made me sick.

Most of the art that hangs at Betty's has been done by RVers who have stayed here. Several people have contributed to the decor and this year a few new ones were added. I call it Betty's artists in residence program. Jeri, right, was the artist of all the work below. She also painted the beautiful portrait of Betty's granddaughter, Lucette.

Jeri has turned these discarded satellite dishes into works of art. They sure capture the essence of Betty's with happy hours, welcome sign, the swamp, Mardi Gras, getting caught in Betty's web and an old trappers cabin like Betty's family used for trapping when she was a kid growing up in Louisiana.  

On Wednesday Georgie and Tom arrived for week of Cajun music, food and hospitality. To those who recently visited us, take note that it is possible to say with us for a week without six pieces of luggage:-)

We got their visit off to a great start that evening at Touchet's for the Cajun Culture Associations monthly meeting. The band this month was Donny Broussard and the Louisiana Stars who had the place rockin'.

On Thursday we drove to Bon Creole in New Iberia, one of our favorite local restaurants. They have a great menu with po boys, gumbo and other Louisiana food.

We were joined by Louie and Chari at Bon Creole. This place does not look like much, but the food is worth the drive to New Iberia.

Our next stop was the Tabasco plant on Avery Island. We had all been there before so we just visited the store and bought some hot sauce and opted out of doing the plant tour. We did go to Jungle Gardens to see the blooming azaleas among the Southern live oaks trees.  

We saw a few gators. This one appeared to be exercising his jaws to get ready for a meal. I stayed in the car. 

The temple and the beautiful azaleas. They were a little past their peak but the colors were still wonderful. 

Always high on our list when we visit Jungle Gardens is Bird Island. E. A. McIlhenny built the aviary over 100 years ago to provide a safe breading place for the egrets that had been hunted to near extinction for their feathers that were very fashionable at the time. 

It is a bit early in the season so there was not nearly as many egrets as we have seen on other visits. At their height, the racks and all the trees will be filled with birds.

Thursday was the first of four spring Sounds on the Square events in Abbeville. What a treat it was with The Savoy Doucet Cajun Band with Wilson Savoy, one of the best French Cajun Bands in Louisiana.

It was a little cool, so only a few RVers went to the square. They were all happy to see such great performers as The Savoy Family Band.

As always with this music, it got people up and dancing. We are looking forward to the rest of the Sounds on the Square evenings. After the music we had a great meal at  Dupuy's, one of our favorite local eateries.  

As I write we have had three more days of different kinds of music with Tom and Georgie and been to a couple more local restaurants. I am happy to be feeling much better and being almost back to my old self. 

A busy week at Betty's RV Park

The fun times continue here at Betty's RV Park. I have been under attack from the spring pollen and have not been feeling that well with a runny noise and headache. I have not been spending a lot of time at happy hour and passed on the Cajun Jam Session because I did not want to spend the afternoon in a smoke filled room. 

Ever wonder what we do with all those beads?  Well, Betty uses them as ground cover around the party patio an deck.

They add some color to Betty's decor and are easily replaced with new ones every year.

We have been going out for crawfish on Fridays and this week we tried a new place for the mudbugs, Shucks, a local place that is most famous for oysters. I opted for the crab cakes.

There were 24 people from Betty's and Shucks was able to handle all of us with out any problems.

Betty's son Reid was putting up a new shed and a few of us pitched in to help. The first step was leveling and building the floor. Richard, Jim and I are working under Betty's supervision.

Next was the floor to which the outside walls were attached. It was like doing a giant 3-D puzzle 

With all the walls up we had to assemble the metal roof rafters.

The gables, doors and roof panels were put on and we were done. Reid now has a place to hid his stuff.

On Sunday a few of us went to New Iberia to see The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. It was very well done and what a fun show by the Iberia Performing Arts League. They even had a house band  w

The cast taking a bow for a wonderful performance. When we bought our tickets there were only a half dozen seats available so we were in the last row. Just before the play started the usher asked if we would like to move closer. Sure!!! We ended up front row center!

After the play the Whorehouse group dined at El Chili Verde, a great Mexican restaurant in New Iberia.

We had a going away party for Jim and Deb so of course the fireball came out, Very dangerous stuff!

Another day, another neat, out of the way place for lunch, Suire's. It is several miles from the nearest town but attracts a big lunch crowd. Since we were last there they have added a picture of CNN's Anthony Bourdain, who visited for lunch.

The Suire's lunch bunch. In addition to great food, the decor with all the articles from local and national papers are very interesting.

I went with my favorite, the turtle sauce picante that came with rice, potato salad, catfish, a roll and a piece of lemon cake. If you are in the area and want to check out a unique restaurant Suire's should be on your list.

Fun Times Continue

The good times continue to roll here at Betty's RV Park. We have been so busy we are going to need a vacation when we leave here. 

We all went back to the Park Restaurant on Friday for crawfish and crabs. The Park is a very small place and we took up most of the seats. 

There were 25 people from Betty's and everyone loved the food.

Because I'm still not sure how I will react to the mudbugs I opted for the crab again. They were more expensive than last week, but look at how big they were. I did have a few of Nanc's crawfish and had no reaction so they may still be in my future. 

The Cajun Jam Session at Touchet's is always on our to do list. We have been here often enough that we know most of the musicians. They really work at promoting the French Cajun culture connection with many of the songs being sung in French. We don't know the words but we love the music.

Betty does not often get to go to the jams as she has RVers coming in, but this week she was able to join her many RVers who support the jam. Here she is with Deb, Dan and Jim.

Musician Kristy, she plays drums, bass and accordion, with her mom Cecile. Kristy is typical of many of the Cajun musicians who play many instruments. 

Jill, Bill, Nancy and Denise at the jam. Nancy, who lives in California and Jill, who lives in Illinois are sisters who use their RV travels to get together, 

The RV park crowd and a couple locals gather in the "horny corner". The jams are always a fun time.

Deb, Merlene and Sandy getting ready for a Sunday morning potluck breakfast starting with Bloody Marys.

Everyone enjoyed the great potluck breakfast and rested up for an afternoon and evening of music and fun.

On Sunday afternoon the Betty's RV Park Over the Hill band entertained all of us. Richard, Lynn, Dan, Dave, David, Dave, Sandy, Kristy and Joe started the session and many others joined in for some great fun.

While Betty's is usually an adults only park, when your granny owns the place kids are allowed. Lucette brought her guitar and became the star of the show.

With that smile Lucette will be hitting the BIG STAGE someday and we will all be able to say we heard her play long ago at her granny's place in Louisiana.

At Bettys' you can not have any gathering without having food, so we had our second potluck of the day. Everyone brought a dish and Maurice grilled some chicken and sausage.

As the evening wore on others got the courage to join in. Celine took Jean Paul's guitar and did an very entertaining spot.

Maurice not only cooks he also plays the accordion. When he was here a couple years ago he bought two Martin Accordions.

Another day we headed to Martin Accordions. We have been here before and love it because it is more than a tour of how they make the Cajun squeeze boxes, it is a lesson on the music of Louisiana and a concert. Penny, Junior and Joel Martin tell the history of Cajun, Zydeco and Country music while playing the instruments used in each. 

They have been making accordions in this little shop for 32 years. They make over 70 at a time using a variety of wood that they stain in many different colors. This is the different woods they use and a jig they use to glue 22 frames together rather than one at a time. Then they stain them and put three coats of automobile clear coat on them. The whole process takes about five months.

The parts on the shelves are ready to assemble which takes three days. In addition to making them, they also repair all kinds of accordions. Those on the front table are there for repairs. If you are in Acadiana a tour of Martin Accordions should be on your list.

The traditional good bye gathering as people come to say so long to friends who are moving down the road. Remember if you don't leave you can't come back.

People leave and new friends arrive. We have met Dickey, Doris, Jim and Cookie here before and are looking forward to getting caught up with what they have been doing.

Tom and Ann are old friends while Axel and Beverly are here for the first time.

As you can see even the frogs and geckos are happy that spring is in the air in Southern Louisiana.