Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Cajun Queen postcard


I bet there are plenty of Cajun queens in New Orleans, especially during Madi Gras, if you know what I mean.

I think the Cajun Queen was the name of the sight- seeing riverboat we took a tour up and down the Mississippi River. It was very interesting. The tour guild pointed out many tidbits of shipping, the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

Until January of 1965 I thought that New Orleans was just inches from the Gulf of Mexico. Pssst! Don’t believe everything you see on a map!

Actually, via the Mississippi River it is many miles. It seemed it took forever when we came up it and down it on the USS NEWPORT NEWS. What might have made it seem longer than it actually is that I had not a good bowel movement in days, and I couldn't wait to get off the ship to set down in a private bathroom of a motel - In a way, I was dancing. I would guess it is very close to a 50 mile trip.

This is as good as place as any to work in my old friend Frankie. Frankie lived on one end of Manget Street and we lived almost on the other end – probably about ⅔ of a mile away. We ran around together in our becoming- teenage years and rode our bikes everywhere.

Frankie’s dad, named Francis, was transferred by the company he worked for to New Orleans.

After Frankie moved we communicated by mail, the old fashion kind. He was still curious about his friends he left in Marietta and I kept him updated.

As always with people that move away, Frankie, in time, adjusted to his surroundings, so our letters became less and less…….. then poof! No more.

In the early 1970’s when Anna and I went to New Orleans for a vacation I decided to look Frankie up. I looked up his father’s name in the phone book and his mother told me Frankie was in the hospital.

We visited him and had a nice visit.

Frankie, the last I heard was a proud deacon in the Catholic Church.

4 comments:

Deborah Wilson said...

Great looking post card, one day I want to ride a riverboat! I like the foggy postcard of NO below - spooky looking, isn't it? Your friend, Frankie, probably at some point was also hypnotized by the city's architecture - did he ever say what he liked best about the city?

Eddie said...

Deborah,
Reading all the "Mary"s with hearts all over Frankie's letters, I suppose he would love any architect shaped like a Catholic Church that had a statue of the Virgin Mary on the premises.

Michael Bains said...

I had not a good bowel movement in days, and I couldn't wait to get off the ship to set down in a private bathroom of a motel - In a way, I was dancing. I would guess it is very close to a 50 mile trip.

This is as good as place as any to work in my old friend Frankie.


I can't help wonderin' what Frankie would think of that segue... ;)

I'd love to ride a Riverboat m'self some day. Always thought I would've by now.

Eddie said...

Michael,
Opps! I didn't mean to place Frankie in the next paragraph from pinching a loft, but what I meant was that the postcard might be the last New Orleans postcard, so to keep with the New Orleans theme... well, whatever.
Michael, you would appreciate Frankie, he thinks more of the Virgin Mary than any female in the world - or maybe, anyway.