Louisiana writes a letter to her new friend from Alaska. This is her second letter to her.
Wednesday, August 4, 2004~
Dear Sikik:
Bonjour, mon ami! Comment ca vas? J'suis...oh, shoot, I forgot...you probably don't speak French, and here I go runnin' at the mouth again! I always start my letters that way! LOL Sorry about that!
Thank you for your latest E-mail; I love the picture you used on your letter! Beautiful! Makes me think of when I was in Alaska, but I didn't go to Barrow. Instead, I went to Anchorage, Sitka, and other places around that same general area, but we did NOT go to Barrow! One thing, I would have probably froze my Cajun *ahem* off! LOL My Cajun blood can't take the cold, no! LOL
This is why I am more of a spring or summertime gal. I have always enjoyed the warm weather because it was something I was raised with all my life, ever since I was a little bitty bebe' in Louisiana! I love winter, as it is so pretty, meaning the snow, but I don't like the cold; it makes me HURT! OW! Now, the fall is nice, the leaves and trees changing color is stunning, too stunning for words, and it is always so pretty here in Nashville!
I hope this letter finds you well; as for me, I have some free time here at work (it is a very slow day today, have but one patient I am taking care of, but that can change, which it usually does!), but before the s*** DOES hit the fan, I figure I'd better get y'all a quickie letter before all H-E double hockey stick breaks loose, if you know what I mean! LOL My husband is at his job at Wal*Mart (he works from 10 am until 6, and me, I work from 7 am until 2/3 pm), but the older kids are at home, babysitting the younger ones; and they know how to handle any emergency that may crop up. With my kids, emergencies are quite comomnplace, and you never know when one of the kids with special needs is going to crump on you and need an ambulance to come to our place. That is something I always worry about, especially if they are seriously ill or injured, and I can never rest or be comfortable until I walk into that front door and see that all is well and that everything is still in one piece!
I am not hurting TOO badly today: my joints, suffice to say, are behaving themselves today, but if I move wrong, my back does hiss at me and let me know that it is still there, and then I have to do something to relieve the ongoing pain that I experience in my back, and also in my legs. I have degenerative disc disease in my spine, and I also have sciatica, which affects the sciatic nerve (the longest nerve in the body; it goes from your lower spine, to your buttocks, and down the outer parts of both legs to the big toe), and at times the pain is absolutely HORRENDOUS! It feels like I am being continually shocked, and I wouldn't wish this h*** on ANYONE!
DARN. That's two dollars I owe the Cuss Jar...I have a rule about profanity, and here I go using it myself, me the big ole Christian lady! See, even I am not perfect; I make mistakes! That shows that I am only human! But I DO treat my employees out to pizza every month; the monies collected for cursing goes into the Jar, and every month, I treat my employees to pizza. It's just something I have always done ever since I came here to Nashville Memorial Hospital, and it is something that they have gotten used to (although they DO grumble a lot when I tell them to "fork it over!", meaning the money, and tell them to put it into the Cuss Jar!).
I hope you will like the picture I am affixing to this letter. It's of a Cajun crawfish. Crawfish are similar to lobsters, but they are a lot smaller (and I think a lot better tasting!). It is something I have learned to appreciate and eat, ever since I was tiny, and my kids (MOST of them, anyway) enjoy crawfish, too! Every year, in May (the first full weekend), we go to this HUGE festival in my old home town of Breaux Bridge, in Louisiana, and we always have the best time! We eat crawfish, and we listen to (and dance to) the music they have there. They have everything from country and blues, to rock and jazz, and everything in between, but at the Crawfish Festival, Cajun music RULEZ! Cajun music (and also zydeco, which is a variant of it; it's more rock sounding than Cajun; Cajun sounds more country) is King at the Crawfish Festival, and a lot of the big guns in Cajun music (and even some smaller guns, meaning the local or lesser-known Cajun acts) play there. My one daughter, Ronee', has played there several times--and she is only 11 1/2 now. She is a little powerhouse to be reckoned with, and when she performs, people take notice and LISTEN. She is good! (And I am NOT just saying that because I am her mama, but she IS! LOL) She plays Cajun music and sings it, too, but she also sings country/western which is her first love. She has been performing in front of people since she was very little, and she has really come a long way in her performing! I am really proud of her! She has always gotten a big kick out of it, and so have we!
Sorry about that. I got carried away. I started telling you about the crawfish, and I went into a guided tour of the Crawfish Festival and also a bio of my daughter, Ronee', and her singing! I hope you don't mind; but see what I mean that once I start talking, I can't seem to shut up?? It's like my mouth is the Energizer Bunny: it keeps on going and going and going and going and going and going and...LOL
Is the weather there cold or warm? I hear Alaska has been having a warmer than normal summer (drier, too), and it is starting to affect some of the trees and it may eventualy affect the wildlife. I hope not. Alaska has some of the prettiest scenery and animals I have ever seen, and I would hate to see all that disappear! That would be a travesty!! If it is warm, I hope it cools off to the levels you are used to! Here, it's been hot at times, but other times, we've been in the 80's, which is nice; we can always use a break from the summertime heat! But then we can always cool off by going swimming. (We do a lot of that in the summer; in fact, today, as soon as I get home and take care of my brood, we are going swimming! Sounds fun! A great way to cool off and get the needed exercise and fresh air!) We have a pool in our yard, and it always attracts the neighbor kids; so our pool is always full of screaming, splashing kids!
Well, Sikik, I will let you go for now. Until later, you take care, and God bless! Have a nice day, and Laissez les bon temps rouler! AAIIIEEE! :D
~Love, your Cajun Tennessee friend, Louisiana Mayrah Therese' Sandusky. :D
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Wednesday, August 4, 2004~
