Louisiana-Bound (2008)

Part 28 of 40 - Before Dinner at the Arabie's

We soon stopped at a lovely house. Mr and Mrs Arabie greeted us on their front deck. Excitement abounded! I think Winston Arabie, Dan's father, enjoyed being able to talk with a hearing seeing person at this time. So I came more into the spotlight.

A warm welcome indeed, and soon we were invited into their home which Dan calls a mansion. Vern also was visiting. Her husband died about nine years earlier. Mr. Arabie used me to convey information to the group at times. It worked fairly well. They live in Lafayette Country which is not far from Lafayette. Vern, also an elderly lady lives about five miles away.

It was my finest hour of the trip and all in all, a great evening. The meal was super. Though Mr. Arabie was retired, he was a busy man at times. Picture him cooking 600 pounds of crawfish for one meal, the picnic meal. It must have been a labor of love.

Dan's father told us that a bag of crawfish weighs about 32 to 36 pounds. They are cooked in large pots, which I think might hold one bag of frozen crawfish. But it could be two bags as I am not sure how large the pots were. I wanted to see one, but didn't figure it was a good time to do so. Once the water is boiling, the dark little devils (crawfish) cook in five minutes. As best I can tell, a crawfish is four to five inches long when stretched out. But don't put it past me, I would measure one if I got the chance, though grabbing one off someone's plate and trying to find a ruler would present some obstacles.

We pretty much had all arrived at the same time. In all we totaled nine guests for dinner. Mrs. Arabie, (Esther), was a gracious hostess. Our group included Betty and Yenter, Mark Gasaway, Tom Peters, Dan Arabie, Melanie Bond, my wife and myself, Harvey. Maybe calling it a mansion is a little much, but it was a lovely house.

Esther offered us drinks and most of us accepted. I had a Coor's light, ah, my first beer in three weeks. Mr. Arabie showed us the Oscar type award which his wife, Esther received while working at the same company he worked for, Smith Corporation, I think, in Houston, Texas. The statue in front of the corporation was 18 feet high. The "Woman of the Year Award" was 18 inches high. It was a solid metal, nearly black, almost like a TV Oscar Award.

Winston was still deeply in love with Esther. He couldn't resist showing us the award. He told me to pass it around so everyone could see it. Talking to Vern was also exciting. She loved visiting Canada and had been to many countries in the world, including Paris, France. But we didn't have much time to talk. Dinner was just about ready.

I talked to Verne before the meal, by moving over to where she was sitting for a short while. She told me about going to Europe. Paris, yes, she visited there. But she hasn't been to Michigan yet. However, she loves Nova Scotia, the place of my childhood. She traveled extensively all over Canada. The Cabot Trail is on Cape Breton Island where I lived for the first 21 years of my life. Yes, she has been there. And also in British Columbia. I lived for about three years on Vancouver Island which is part of British Columbia.

Written by
Harvey A. Bond