Cajun Gold New Edition

I just published a new edition of my novel "Cajun Gold." Written under the pen name of Cliff Madison, it's about a Cajun who finds 200 pounds of gold buried in the woods near his house. Lots of laughs as he tries to hide it from his neighbors, his wife, and the local news media. As the cover says, finding that gold kind of "messes up his plans for the weekend."

To order a copy of the book, CLICK HERE.

Ruth's Roots Retreat

On a side street behind the Hancock County Courthouse in downtown Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, is "Ruth's Roots," an island of tranquility in a place that is already pretty tranquil. The plot of land, almost adjacent to the train tracks that cross the bay, offers a wide variety of flowers, animals, paintings, and best of all, places to sit and enjoy it all. It is a community gardening opportunity that has lots of friends and supporters.

Here are some pictures of the hidden retreat, but enter at your own risk. The overwhelming sense of nature and and peace of mind might just make you forget your cares and worries for a while. 

Click on the images to make them larger. 

 

Painted doors serve as part of the fencing

 

There are a variety of flowers

 

There's even a dragon in the middle of it all

 

 

A chess board awaits

 

There are chickens and rabbits

 

A waterfall

 

A large seating area for informal meetings

 

A water-carrying statue

 

A very colorful alligator

 

Sidewalk paintings of sea life

 

A portrait of Ruth in the center patio

Butterflies and bees

 

 

And then, there is the wildly-painted piano 

HERE's A LINK to the Google Maps location of Ruth's Roots.

Ruth's Roots Facebook Page

According to the Facebook page, Ruth's Roots is a community garden that can serve the community’s youth through enrichment and is located at 130 Court St in Bay St Louis, Mississippi. Teenagers who need to provide community service hours are used in the maintenance of the garden, and various community service organizations also take part in the care of the place.

Porch With Hanging Baskets

An old house in Covington

Dale Family Portrait

The Dale Family in Abita Springs was kind enough to sit for a family portrait for me one day many years ago. 

Mackahatchee Map

Going through my map files the other day, I found this map of Mackahatchee, Florida. I don't remember ever doing a map in Florida, so this was kind of puzzling. Interstate 10 is shown on the map, with Hwy. 74 intersecting it north to south, so I went to Google Maps and looked along Interstate 10 from Florida's west boundary all the way east to the Atlantic Ocean. No Mackahatchee, no Millington. Doing a Google search brought up nothing. 

Here's the map. 

It was, for a few minutes, the Mackahatchee Mystery Map. Then I started reading some of the store names:  Bob's Motel, Jerry's PacNSac, Gary's Gas, Harry's Big Dome Arcade, and Howare'you Johnsons. It dawned on me that this was a "practice" map, an illustration I did to show what could be done for Interstate Exits.

Too bad Mackahatchee isn't real. It looks like a fun place, what with the beer joint, pizza palace and Zephyr Cafe, not to mention the Burger Barn.

Posters From Imaginary Festivals & Conventions

My collection of posters advertising Imaginary Festivals and Conventions has now been included in my Pictorial Maps book. To order a copy, CLICK HERE.

Slidell Map 1985

Here's a copy of the Slidell map that I drew back in 1985, some thirty-three years ago.

Click on the image to make it larger. 

The Pictorial Map Book

I just published a collection of my cartoon pictorial maps from over the past 35 years. It's interesting to see some of the maps as they were printed back then, the towns, the downtown business districts, the parishes, counties, and even some individual buildings. 

The book measures 8 1/2 by 11 inches and runs 50 pages, many of which are in color. The maps were originally printed 11 x 17 inches on up (as big as 3 feet by 5 feet), but they have been reduced in size to fit in the book, so some of the map printing will be pretty small. The book aims to give an overall review of the maps. Most of them are out of print in their original sizes.

To order a copy of the book, CLICK HERE.

The Three-Story People Map

In 1988 I was working for the Cullman Times newspaper in Cullman, AL, and just for fun decided to do a map of the entire three story building complete with photographs of the faces of everyone who worked there, placed on top of cartoon bodies. Here is the map. Click on the image to make it larger. 

What made it interesting was that no one knew why I was walking around the building taking pictures of them.

The Weekly Bread Runs

Back in the early 1990's, my dad Lamar Barthet was attending weekly church services at Fairhaven Children's Home and learned that the person picking up day-old bread at Delchamps Supermarket in Covington and bringing it to the children's home each week would no longer be able to do so .

So dad had a truck and was agreeable to going to Delchamps every Thursday morning, around 7:30 a.m., to pick up the expired bread and anything else they were giving out and take it to Fairhaven. 

As it turned out, there was so much of the bread and baked goods that he not only supplied Fairhaven, but since he had a sign painting shop in Slidell, he also took the extra items to the Slidell Christian Community Concern, where they were distributed to needy families. 

So I would meet him at Delchamps each Thursday morning and help him move the dozen or so large cardboard boxes of bread and baked goods (pies, cakes, pastries) from the big freezer at Delchamps back door to the truck. Then around 8 a.m. he would head out to Fairhaven for the first drop off and then on to Slidell for the second delivery.

After we finished loading, I would then go to work at the St. Tammany Farmer newspaper office, hoping he would make the trip okay. He was using a very old Isuzu pick up truck loaded to the top with boxes, and he himself was in his mid-70's. But he did this every week for years, that is until Delchamps decided it could no longer give away the expired bread, but had to throw it all away in the garbage each week. Something to do with liability and insurance, I think.

Portrait of Sandy

This portrait photograph was taken in 1974.

Then comes the magic word "Smile..."