The Angels are Dancing Tonight

Tout les Soir Cajun Band  click here to read about Rodney and some surprising awards for the band.



I am pretty sure the angels in heaven are dancing to the accordion playing and singing of Rodney Thibodeaux!

And they are loving it!

That's Rodney on the accordion.  Enjoy the music.

He probably cooked up some spicy hot crawfish with potatoes and corn tossed into the pot.

And for sure he is charming the lady angels with his great smile and thick French Cajun accent!

He was a powerhouse of a man, dabbling in not only music but antique cars.

He was recently at my house a few months ago, memory fading.  But he still knew his way around a kitchen.  I had cooked for about 15 people when all the Cousins got together.  He was uncomfortable knowing he couldn't remember most of the people there.  But he found his way to the kitchen and cleaned that place from top to bottom.

I let him clean!

Diane said most recently he would vacuum their house, but put the plug next to the socket rather than in the socket.  He would be vacuuming happily away!

Sometimes you have to laugh at the tricks of the mind.  Or you cry at the loss.

I will miss his charm, his cooking and his music.

But I know the angels are waltzing away and tapping their toes tonight!


Rest in peace, my friend.

Candace the Therapy Dog and A Bit of Good Fortune

My house looked like this December, a year ago in 2017.  This fairly rare snowfall lasted all day long.  Here in Baton Rouge we have snow about every 6 or 8 years.

The Basset Boyz were totally amazed at the white stuff.








Today the beaver was in my next door neighbor's yard munching down on some acorns.  The tree there is a huge oak.  I odd to have a beaver rambling around here.  We are used to opossums and rabbits and armadillos.





At the hospice today, Rodney's son Chad brought Candace Marie, his Certified Therapy Dog.  Chad and Candy work with Autistic kids.  She is able to calm them.


He brought her here to visit his dad, who is struggling to breathe since he is in what they call Transition.  I didn't read the book they gave Diane, but I imagine they mean between life and death.








I did have about an hour or so this morning to work on The Good Fortune Mystery quilt.  I chose the oranges, and then stripped them.

I made about half of the needed pieces.  Since Bonnie requested about 3 times the amount of orange I used, I am thinking that there will be another use for the color.  

I will spend some time tomorrow at Hospice with Diane and Rodney again.  I am hoping for peace and calm.  We spoke today of letting go.  That is the tough part.

What A Day

Every once in a while you have these days that you feel your world spinning.   Today has been my day.

This morning my 22 month old grandson had tubes put in his ears.  The procedure is pretty common and widely done so it was just that it was OUR baby it was happening to.  He is home now and after eating lunch, he is in a better mood.  He will make it!

I spent the morning in the hospice rom with my cousin, her son as we watched my friend Rodney take some difficult last breaths.  He is still taking those breaths, and they are making him as comfortable as his troubled mind and body allow him to be right now.

Oh, what a day so far.

Rodney is quite a personality.  he had a Cajun band that traveled the US playing his beloved Cajun music at fairs, festivals and concerts.  His huge shop held too many to count antique cars he refurbished and drove to contests and meets.

Remember when the World's Fair was in New Orleans back in the 80's?  Rodney's shop was where the Gondolas that crossed the Mississippi River were built.

He grew up when French was a language here and his music was love songs in Cajun French spoken to his love, Diana.

I will be helping Diane  as much as I can in the next few days.

And all at Christmas time, what a Christmas memory, huh?

The Big Party!

Yesterday was the Big Party Day.

I spent 5 days working on the house.  That schedule taped to my counter helped a lot.  I always knew where it was and could add things as they needed to be done. You always have last minute things you think of like the proverbial:

*%$(OMG! Why didn't I do that 3 DAYS ago?)*&%

It helped, it didn't completely erase those moments!

Diane, Carrie Jason Sawyer

One of which was the Fruit and Veggie Trays.  I ordered them from Albertson's and then I asked Frank to grab them when he went out for the ice on Saturday morning.  He comes back with a cereal bowl full of chopped fruit and a kid sized tray of carrots and broccoli with a tablespoon size of dip between them. 

Gary and Matt

Really?  This looks like a Veggie Tray to you?  So in order to allow my guest to have veggies if they wanted them, 

I resolved to only eat the brownies.  I made sure we had LOTS of brownies!

Matt and Sawyer

Other than that, things went really well.  I sat there thinking that these people will never get together like this again.  Rodney's Alzheimers is getting worse.  Ethan is starting his senior year

Karen, Michelle, Kenny

Gary, Carrie, Andrew

Kenny or my Dad (either way, same face)

Michelle

 in Denver, Matt just finished his Plebe year at the Naval Academy.  My brother's kids are getting scattered - one in Kentucky and one in New Orleans.  

It was a good time we were together, talking about the things we used to do.  Grandma and Aunt Annie and how they watched all of us at one time or another.  

Matt and Sawyer

The young cousins got to meet their youngest Cousin Sawyer and the oldest Rodney got to take charge of my kitchen and do what he loves best:  be the Chief Cook and   Entertainer.  

Ethan and Lucas were off somewhere with video games and the dogs  They are getting two golden retriever pups on Sunday for Jason's workshop.  

I hope the Bassets modeled good dog behavior examples.

I don't know why I don't have a photo of Rodney.  He was really enjoying himself.  He spoke in his Cajun French and flirted with me when I was drying the dishes he was washing.  He was out there working the grill to help Frank with those Amazing Ribs, He had a great day!

And the dogs were perfect.  Well, once you get over the first 15 minutes of :

+*&^%#    OMG PEOPLE ARE HERE 

AND WE ARE SO $%@ HAPPY TO SEE THEM $#%^*

There was even one time when  the front door was wide open and people were leaving and DiNozzo was just standing there waving goodbye to everyone.  He didn't even step out!  

What a good dog I've raised!

What a Great Party I threw.

And despite the fear that I was hiding the number of people I had invited and that 30 people would really show up, Frank survived too.

I asked him, if you thought I was hiding people from you then why did you get such a tiny bowl of fruit?

Interesting Friday

Had some friends over at lunch today.  One noticed my dish washer liquid.  She asked what it was.

I told her it was a new mix I had concocted called the Dawn of Joy.

Actually it was the leftover blue Dawn mixed with the new bottle of yellow Joy.  It does look weird I guess.

We had a great lunch, traveling down to Middendorf's in Akers, LA  for thin friend catfish!  And you know how I feel about that!


Last night we spent in Addis, LA at Jason's momma's house with Jason and "his" Carrie and ALL 5 boys!  They drove from Denver to Panama City Florida, spent the week and then drove over to Baton Rouge.  In a Dodge Durango no less!  I can say they are better parents than me, I would have stopped the vehicle and put somebody out before I got to the Colorado State Line!  And by the time I got to Florida I would have been kidless!

But It was great to see them.  And even better that we had some of the best crawfish ever.  They were HUGE!

The guy in the white hat is Rodney.  He is retired, has a Cajun Music Band that tours the US and Canada, rebuilds old cars and travels the US doing those old car shows.  He wins all kinds of awards.

George was cooking the mudbugs.  He is the one sitting by the big fans.  And of course Carrie and Jason.

Bridge on the way to Addis

I know I miss Jason, but when I see them, I REALLY know how much I miss them!  they are getting together with "my" Carrie and Andrew tomorrow for some cousin bonding.

Bridge looking from Addis on the way home!

I am almost finished with the Cotton Robin piece.  I put off doing the quilting until the last minute because I was afraid to make bad quilting.   But now, fear of failure is FUTILE.

They need to be all mailed by June 30th, so the BIG REVEAL should be soon!  I can't wait!

I still don't quite know what to do with the Triangles.  I didn't intend it to be a baby quilt, so I guess I need to make it larger.  More modern would be with no borders, but I have no desire to do 30 more blocks.  Actually, I guess it would be more like 18 blocks

They Are Old As The Hills, But They Make Good Music

Ethan and Lucas

Frank, Carrie, Andrew

Since yesterday was Frank's Birthday, and Jason was in town, we met him and his mom and the boys at a place where Rodney was playing.  They have a jam session every Tuesday night.  The place is bad, they have bad service but the music is good!

If you are an alcoholic, this is NOT the place for you.  It took me all night to get one beer, and there was no chance of getting another.  Jason had the Happy Hour Two for One Margarita, and never got his second margarita!

And the place was half empty!

But it was a good time just to be with Jason and the boys.  I don't know why the boys even figured into this, they played on cell phones and x boxes the whole time.

Jason

Diane and Jason

For the first time I used the movie function on my new camera.  My old one had it, but I don't think I ever used it.  And you will be able to see the obvious in the one with Crawfish Pie.  Rodney and 16 other musicians from all over come together every Tuesday night to jam.  They are all retired, old as the hills, but they make beautiful music.  Some are from gospel bands, some from bluegrass and some from Cajun bands.  The blend is incredible.

The musicians all gathered in the corner

Oh, and you will have to tilt your head for the first half of the video.  I didn't know I couldn't flip it later on.  And the lighting sucks.

Rodney is the guy in the end who sings Crawfish Pie.  You can't even see him here, he is way in the right back corner next to the lady in pink.