It’s good to be back in the Petit Paris Café!

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    Bonjour!

    It’s good to be back playing the Petit Paris Café in St. Martinville. Carolyn and Terry Dupuis bought it last October but were unable to open on Sundays because they lacked a weekend cook. Vernon Morga has been a cook for seven years and after watching him in the kitchen Sunday I can say he’s got it together. The kitchen is a small area with space for one person. Waitress is Natasha Champagne is all smiles for her customers. She’s also worked for past owners Debbie Dugas and Paula Bonin.

    Oh, but the millions of us with boxes of old pictures stashed away in our closets that ain’t going nowhere! My Tante Jeanne sent pictures to me when I lived in Hawaii in the late 1950s of which every now and then I’d run across. I’d been holding on to a picture of my cousin taken in 1959 when she was about 7 years old, thinking of returning it and finally when I did, she was happy like she’d just reunited with an old friend. Had I known it meant so much so much to her, I’d have returned it sooner. She knew the picture had existed, not knowing I had it, thought it burnt when her mom’s house burned down many years ago. I’ve asked around for pictures of myself from the past to share with my kids. I got a couple from cousins from way back and I’m so grateful to have. My kids love them and look for comparisons to their kids.

    It’s time to sort my other pictures to give to their rightful owners. Cameras were rare to own in the past. If my cousin can be so happy with hers, imagine the smiles of others.

    On Mike Huckabee’s TV show last weekend Ray Price and Willie Nelson were his guests. I opened a show for Ray at the Langdale Theater in Valley, Ala., when he turned 75 several years ago. The audience joined in with me to sing “Happy Birthday.” He still has that handsome voice. My good friend Rheta Johnson and her husband Don, now deceased, had gotten that gig for me. Imagine from the sugarcane and cotton fields of Catahoula to being on stage singing and chatting with this great legendary country singer. Life has been good to me although I was a slow cotton-picker.

    If you ever accidentally leave your purse in a shopping cart in a parking lot, hope that Fred and Gladys Coy find it first. They’d been shopping at one of the super stores recently and as they were about to drive away they spotted a purse in a basket beside their car. After fouillaging (searching) around in it they found who its rightful owner was. They called Susanne Bodin in Arnaudville and left a message on her phone. She had done called and cancelled her credit cards and checks. She did not have a license to drive to backtrack because it was in her purse and the license bureau was closed. Her physical address was a highway number that Gladys and Fred couldn’t find. Leur méler mélange.

    Y’all say hey to Kathy Landry from St Martinville and her niece Julie Edwards from Huntsville, Ala. Also Christian Boutte and Kim Breaux, and hey goes to Caroline, Jackie and Kirk Lasseigne. Other visitors to town were Inez Barras, Youngsville, Janet Latiolais Cary, Rayne and Mary Jane Latiolais from Parks. And bonjour to Charlotte and Dion Antoine from New Iberia. Welcome back.

    Parlez Français. Amétie.

    Cousine Hélène
    helenboudreaux@juno.com, or 228-1714.