The cabin I'm staying in is operated as a bed-and-breakfast. I went into the small cafe about 100 yards from my cabin and was warmly greeted by Rocky and Lisa, the owners. "What you want fo breakfast Rawge?" I opted for the Boudin and Cracklin breakfast plate. It was a heaping plate of pork with scrambled eggs and toast. If I keep it up, I'll have to buy two seats on the plane to get home.
After the meal settled a little bit, I drove to a nearby town called Rayne. This cute little town has two claims to fame- It is the frog capital of he world and it has the only Christian cemetery that is layed out North to South.
The story has it that about 75 years ago, they moved the St. Joseph's Catholic church from Poupeville to the current site at Rayne and a cemetery was laid-out to the south of the relocated church. Christian tradition dictated that graves were to be laid out from East to West. The east metaphorically represented the beginning of life with the rising of the sun and the west metaphorically represented the ending of life with the setting of the sun. But something went wrong in Rayne. It's likely that the gravedigger did not have a compass and the priest was too busy to oversee the work of a common laborer. Whatever happened, by the time the mistake was discovered, too many people had been buried. It would have been very costly and disruptive to the relatives of those burried so the citizens allowed the cemetery to remain as it had originally been placed. I have walked many graveyards and had never noticed the East-West alignment. Apparently anything different is such an oddity that Robert Ripley included the St. Joseph's Cemetery in his famous newspaper cartoon early in the century. Even recently, the graveyard was filmed as an attraction in "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" and people come from around the world to see the only cemetery in the Judeo-Christian world that faces north-south rather than east-west.
The cemetery seemed small compared to Rayne's frogs. There are frogs everywhere - murals, statues, books, store names, and even a frog casino. It seems most every wall in town has a frog mural. I saw frogs leaping, frogs dancing and even frogs playing music. At one point in history, Rayne exported more frogs and frog legs than any other place in the world.
I met an old gentleman on the street and asked about the frog farms. He told me that most of the frog farms had closed down. His daddy once raised frogs, but other crops made more money. I had never considered frogs as a crop. Next year I may have to put more thought into my garden plans.
Most folks that know me, will know I like to get a haircut when I'm travelling. I've gotten haircuts in New Your City, Seattle, Mexico, China Town SF, San Diego, New Orleans and other destinations. I had been here 5 days and still hadn't been able to get a haircut. The same gentleman on the sidewalk point up a small street and told me there was a barber shop less than a mile away.
I drove up the street a bit and easily spotted the revolving barber pole. I could have stumbled into most any barber shop, but I found one called "Mullets". The sign on the front said "Business in front" and the back side of the sign said "Party in the rear".
I walked in and met Marquis, the owner. I told him I needed a haircut. He asked If I wanted a mullet, but before I could answer he said if I did, I would need a note from either my wife or my Mom. I sent out a text, but apparently Rhonda's fax machine is broken because nothing ever came in. Without the requisite permission paperwork, I ended up getting a great "regular" hair cut. It was a classic barber shop cut, with a lot of attention to detail. It took about a half hour and cost $12.
I drove back to Breaux Bridge looking pretty nice with my new haircut. It was outrageously humid outdoors, so I took a nice nap in the cabin with the AC on high. After I woke up, I sat inside the screened porch and watched the lizards catch the bugs crawling along the screen. The screen has a few holes so there were as many lizards and bugs on the inside as on the outside. I wish they would climb the trees and eat a few of the cicadas. These little insects are so loud at night. One will start and then another and another until it's all you can hear. They seem particularly put off by my guitar playing and can drown it out completely if they try.
When it cooled down in the evening, I drove into old town Breaux Bridge for dinner and music. There was a 3-piece Cajun band playing at Cafe Des Amis. I had spoken with the guitar player earlier in the day and he told me the food was incredible. Well, it was! I had the crabmeat stuffed Gulf fish - a fresh Gulf fillet stuffed with a creamy crabmeat filling then topped with a lime beurre. It came with bread, steamed vegetables and comfit tomatoes. The waiter helped me pair it with a nice chilled chateau-d'coorslite. For desert I had Gateau Sirop (Syrup Cake) - a taditional cajun sweet, spicy moist cake with roasted pecans and homemade vanilla ice cream.
I stayed until the band took their first break, tipped them and gave them some props on their music. I drove back to Bayou Tech before dark, so I could make sure to find the little place. I spent the evening on a bench by the bayou, drinking Gatorade and listening to the bullfrogs and cicadas.
Yes, as most of you know, I'm a bit afraid of the dark and being in the swamp doesn't help it any. Trust me, I had an LED flashlight, a backup flashlight and backup batteries.
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