ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA AND RAMBLE AROUND TOWN.

A visit to Saint Anthony of Padua Church almost didn’t happen. When we arrived it was locked tight and Jim was bent on visiting what he remembered as one of the most beautiful churches he’d ever seen. His parents were married here in 1938. His mother attended the French Catholic School around the corner.  His cousin Jeanette lives nearby and probably still attends church here. Playing with his cousins at his grandmother’s house. Jim has so many memories of the older section of downtown North New Bedford.

The parish office was in the building next to the church and we rang the bell and got permission from Father Murphy to go inside and take pictures. His first question? Did you attend mass this morning? We hadn’t  and he proceeded to tell us that churches, his included, are struggling because so many people don’t attend. He lectured us about our lack of attendance, but he allowed us in.

The organ loft.

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A view of the ceiling.

The Altar.

Each side of the church opened into alcoves where the Stations of the Cross are depicted in carved statues.

The 12 Stations of the Cross are written in Latin as was the official language of the church even when I was a child.

The statuary was amazing, like something you see in old European Cathedrals. Here an Angel holds the Shroud of Turin.

The Communion rails were made of highly polished, carved wood.

The podium of carved white marble. The columns are marble as well.

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I am not a church goer, but I can appreciate the beauty and the workmanship that went into the building of this gorgeous church while keeping in mind the hand tools used for such work 101 years ago.

It would be nice to think a place of such beauty will last forever. I do hope it is professionally photographed to retain the essence of this magnificent edifice in the event something happens to this historical treasure.

We decided to visit a nearby Art Museum which was displayed in two different buildings. One building was formerly the Star Department Store where Jim’ s grandmother worked as a retail clerk in Ladies Clothing.

The small collection was mostly very modern pieces except for an exhibit of old photos.

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It was nice to walk around town on a Sunday because there is little traffic and ample parking space.
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We kind of gasped at cigarette prices. Jim heard they just raised the price of cigarette tax by $3.00 a pack in Massachusetts.  It should help people break the habit. Hypnotism works best, I’m told.

We enjoyed dinner with Donna and Bob. After snacks we had stuffed roasted vegtables, stuffed quahogs, and clam boil stew using up the leftovers from Friday.

Bob roasted the leftover veggies from the feast in the barbecue.

You could never leave the Parkers house hungry. Donna is an excellent cook and loves to feed people.

VERMILLION VILLE OF LAFAYETTE, LA.

There are two Cajun Villages nearby but the Vermillion Ville, a Cajun/Creole Heritage and Folklife Park has a Saturday afternoon jam, every Saturday. Greats like August Broussard, Ray Landrey and others I don’t know their names take time to help young students learn their great music. August is tutoring Darrien, above. We ran into them when we entered the park.

The park has about 12 buildings along the river in a beautiful park setting that show the Cajun/Creole way of life on a self-guided tour. Cajun houses tend to be small. People spent most of their time outside.

Most of them have stairs leading up to an attic.

The wattle and twig built fireplace heated the house and provided a place to cook.

In hot sweltering Louisiana, a family may have an outside kitchen, with their garden by the door.

A docent demonstrated cooking in a fireplace with a black pot.

The finished dish, grits and grenelles, I think is the name of the dish. It is beef and vegetables in a roux served with yellow corn grits. No tomatoes. She mentioned that most Cajun recipes do not use tomatoes except for a court bouillon.

At the school-house, where a sign on the blackboard reads, “I will not speak French in the classroom or on school grounds.”  A fiddler entertained us and a big contingent of French speakers from Canada, some were unfamiliar with the punishment and edict that tried to force Acadians (Cajuns) to speak only English. He was a humorous old gent named Merlin Fontenot, two months away age 90.
The Vermillion Ville Park is beautiful and we visited about 12 buildings. While Cajun families lived in small house right on the bayou, more affluent Creoles had fancier houses and furnishings.

Regardless of whether they were Creole or Cajun, furnishings were most often home-made like this beautiful cradle.

Trundle beds with mosquito netting for Louisiana summer nights.

And this rather amazing home-made device. A fan you could operate from bed until your arm fell off, or you fell asleep.

A piece of fancier furniture.

It didin’t matter how fancy you lived, when it was cold, you wore a heavy long cloak.

And you still had to light the candles everyday. (Above converted to electric lamps.)

You still had to pull yourself across the bayou with a hand pulled ferry.

There was church on Sunday, work, family and music. Fish in the bayou and herbs in the garden. The park tells its story and we enjoyed it very much.

In the church, a docent was making rosaries from “natural beads.”  Joabs tears. The seeds are picked green, they already have a hole to string them. They need no coloring or preservative.

The finished product.

There is a good French restaurant on the grounds and before going to the jam, I enjoyed a last bowl of gumbo before heading for home.

These two young boys and other older players were learning from the greats. It was fantastic, but we’ve had signal problems on and off all morning. We drive to Baton Rouge today, so I’ll finish blogging the jam tomorrow. I got some good video as well.