What a beautiful day I had today in la belle Louisiane. Not particularly newsworthy, just beautiful and typical.
After my usual coffee and morning time I joined the second-grade immersion class of Madame France Trépanier of Myrtle Place Elementary. They went on a field trip to a local nursing home, where they have partners. This is serious business. Each child has a partner that they see every couple of months, whether to celebrate Christmas or Mardi Gras or (today) Poisson d’avril. They read to or ask questions of their partner. And today was the big enchilada: Bingo! I had a blast and afterwards got to eat lunch in French at a teeny little table in a cafeteria, surrounded by the sweetest kids, all fluent in French. And they kept playing April Fool’s jokes on me, which means they like me.
And tonight, after my class in Baton Rouge, I crossed the Atchafalaya Basin to arrive at a party late but still in time to play a little music. I was between two fiddlers and I had a fine accordionist next to me. When I screwed up the professionals smiled indulgently at me anyway. And we spoke French. When I go to heaven I want one fiddler on each side of me, with an accordionist next to me and a guitar player who knows the chords sitting across from me.
Oh, que la vie est belle!
