Hoofbeats in the Theater

My Dad once told me the story of the time “Tex” Ritter came riding down the aisle of the local movie theater on his horse before the showing of one of his singing cowboy films.  I was a little skeptical.  I mean, that’s quite a stunt for the little beachfront theater in Bay Saint Louis,…

“I am the only Primitive Naive Acadian Artist.”

“I am the only Primitive Naive Acadian Artist,” she would always tell me.  Mrs. Mary Anne Pecot De Boisblanc was indeed the only known Primitive Naive Acadian Artist designated as such. Her art is classified as “primitive” because of its simplistic ethnic content. It is noted as “naive” due to the style in which this simple…

Life on Byron Street: Christmastime – 1960’s Style

Santa and me at D.H.Holmes in Delmont Village in 1967 Every Christmas season our little noses were pressed against the store windows of Delmont Village Shopping Center which was located just a couple of blocks from Byron Street.  We closely inspected every detail of the colorful, animated window displays. The mechanical elves slowly repeated their…

Life on Byron Street: Grandma’s House

We didn’t have to go over the river and through the woods to get to my Grandma’s house, because she lived right down the street from us.  That meant that I spent lots of time in that little red-brick house. I spent much of my time in her kitchen “helping” her cook.  As a former…

Life on Byron Street: The Fruit Stand

Right across a gravel drive from my father’s hardware and garden store on Plank Road between Byron and Evangeline streets sat Tony’s Fruit Stand.  This was very convenient for a kid like me.  I used to walk over there and plop my dime down on their counter and ask for “10 cents worth of grapes.” …

Life on Byron Street: A Tale of Two Stores

Me with my Pa-pa in front of his toy store (1962) Besides my house and yard, which were great places to play, I spent most of my time at the two stores of my father and my “Pa-pa.”  The close proximity of the stores to my house and the possibilities they afforded children with vivid…

Life on Byron Street

Life was good on Byron Street.  My father could walk to work every morning from our house to his store located on the corner at Plank Road. My grandmother lived down the street behind my Pa-pa’s store, which was connected to my father’s store.  The local fruit stand was next to them. I could walk…

“The Choo-Choo Train House” (1911-2005)

The Choo-choo Train House 1980s Box fans, window fan, ceiling fan, tuna-fish sandwiches, train horns, sand, donuts in the morning, the beach, seining, hot summer days, cold-water showers, afternoon naps, no TV, no telephone, sand, stacks of Reader’s Digest books, dart board, cards, sand, late-evening thunderstorms, crabbing, fishing, and oh, I almost forgot to mention…sand….