It’s Friday. And it’s frighteningly hot today. September has brought snow to Colorado and fires to California but here in the deep South, summer heat continues unabated. No change since May. It’s just hot everyday. It’s too hot to concentrate on long posts, so i am going to write short snippets, five in number, for your reading pleasure. I took a drive around town, and I snapped a few pictures of things around Abita Springs, Louisiana, that I thought may interest you.
1. One of my favorite town landmarks is the gorilla that sits in front of a dentist’s office. For some unexplained reason, he wears a shirt advertising the local chiropractor, although he clearly is standing in front of the dentists’s office. Maybe tangling with a gorilla is more likely to cause back problems rather than dental work? I don’t know.
2. Many towns and neighborhoods sport tiny libraries. The idea is for patrons to enjoy books with the rule of take one, leave one. This box stands outside of the Abita Springs hotel. It’s a bit more decorative than most tiny libraries, I think.
3. On the outskirts of town there’s a highway heading toward the Mississippi state line. Along the way, there are several large estates, some of which come with signage. I have never seen the house called Beauregard, as the wooded driveway completely obscures the house. It might be fancy, or not. Who knows?
4. Next door to Beauregard, as you head back into town, there is Neau Regard. Again, one cannot see anything but a sign and a wooded drive leading to a home. Is the home worth no regard? I don’t know. Is the signage indicative that the estate is for a relative of Beauregard? Probably Neau Regard is the home of the black sheep of the family. There’ s no regard for such people, usually.
5. I know that I live amongst authentic and intelligent folk. What else could be the explanation for this excellently decorated home in Abita Springs. This home makes me happy every time I pass by.
That’s Friday five. Enjoy your weekend.
Gumbo Ya-Ya 
There is a good reason Faulkner’s eccentricities are pure southern.
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Yup. Abita Springs is full of eccentric people like any good southern town. I am re-reading a book of short stories by a southern woman, Bailey White. The book is Mama Makes Up Her Mind. It’s full of southern eccentricities.
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An old farmer has painted “Dump Trump” on the side of his old family home on my Mom’s road. The house was built during the depression, 15 or 20 kids were raised there in the 60 years it was used as a house. It is used for farm chemical storage now. The windows and doors are all blocked up, it makes a dandy billboard this election season.
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Good for him. Dump Trump! Yes, indeed. A good use of paint in my opinion.
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