Smiley Anders for Sept. 19, 2012
Mary Louise Rainey, of Walker, is a New Orleans native and was a Chalmette resident until Hurricane Katrina caused her, like so many others, to move up this way.
She brought with her some colorful sayings I haven’t heard before.
Here they are, edited for content:
“When someone is giving you a line of bull — ‘If bull.... was music, you’d be a whole orchestra’ (or ‘a brass band,’ if anyone remembers what that is).
“When someone doesn’t understand what you’re trying to explain — ‘What don’t you understand? It’s as simple as a goat’s behind going up a hill.’ ”
Busy work
Jeanie Barnett adds to our collection of colorful sayings:
“I love the way Southerners are delightfully and visually descriptive.
“While a Yankee might say, ‘… as busy as a bee,’ we will use phrases like: ‘… as busy as a hen with one chick’ or ‘as busy as a one-armed paper hanger.’
“Now we can use a new one: ‘as busy as Bobby Jindal’s sign language interpreter.’ ”
Strudel alert!
After a reader nominated for “Best Baton Rouge German Restaurant” A Taste of Bavaria in Ponchatoula, I heard from an “anonymous fan” who reminded me that Horst Pfeifer of Middendorf’s, a few miles down the road from Ponchatoula, puts on quite an Oktoberfest.
Since the restaurant just reopened after being flooded by Isaac, I checked with Dawn Drago and found that the German feast is still on.
Starting Oct. 3-4, German dishes will be served every Wednesday and Thursday through Nov. 7-8.
Dishes change from week to week, but include schwaebischer hochzeitsbraten, schupfnudeln, schweinshaxe and the ever-popular schwarzwaelderkirschtorte.
(Pardon me, just having some fun with my editors and spell-checkers …)
Cool threads, man
Joan Hall says my mention of S&W Men’s Store, home of Saltz the Tailor, “brings back old memories.
“Way back in the early 1970s, when Baton Rouge still had all of the old original department Stores — Goudchaux’s, D.H. Holmes, etc. — it was Saltz The Tailor that had the blue jeans all the kids wanted: straight-legged Levi’s jeans.
“They were the designer jeans of the 1970s; at least that’s what the kids thought.
“As soon as we heard he had a new shipment in, we could not get there fast enough before he ran out.
“Oh, the good ole days. No bell-bottom pants for the cool kids who didn’t like bubble-gum music.”
Angel sighting
MJD, of Gonzales, thanks “my two angels who helped me after Isaac damaged my home.
“One was Elmo, who cut my neighbor’s tree that fell on my power line, pulling the meter pan from the house and cutting off my electricity and cable.
“Two young men passed by and wanted to charge me $150 to cut the tree. Elmo charged me nothing.
“The other angel was Stevie, who changed my meter pan on Labor Day for no charge.”
Literary morning
If you’re not doing anything constructive Saturday morning at 10:30, you might want to pop by the Zachary Branch Library, 1900 Church St., where I’ll be telling stories, some of them true, from my new book, “Smiley! A Laughing Matter,” and signing copies.
Golfing morning
All past members of the Baker Golf Association are invited to a “reunion golf outing” at 8 a.m. Saturday at Fennwood Hills Country Club in Zachary. Call Ronnie Seaton at (225) 325-5433.
Got trophies?
Kathy Duplantis has “a box of bass fishing trophies that I know someone can recycle.”
Go to kfduplantis@cs.com.
Special People Dept.
- Pauline Kerr, of Golden Age Nursing Home in Denham Springs, celebrates her 100th birthday Wednesday.
- Judge C. Lenton Sartain celebrates his 92nd birthday Wednesday. A World War II veteran, he took part in six European battles.
Grin and bare it
Ralph Drouin says my racy story, “Fifty Shades of Old,” reminds him of a tale that’s going around.
It’s about the older gent at the grocery store checkout counter who is told by the clerk, “Strip down, facing me.”
He then tells us, “When the hysterical shrieking and alarms finally subsided, I found out she was talking about how I was supposed to run my credit card through the machine …”
“They need to make their instructions to us seniors a little clearer!”
Matter of priorities
I’m hoping Kathy had her tongue firmly in cheek when she sent me this note:
“It really scared me when I saw the front page headline ‘LSU falls 6 places in college rankings.’
“I was so relieved that they were talking about LSU education — not FOOTBALL!”
Please, dear, tell me you were only kidding …
Write Smiley at Smiley@theadvocate.com. He can also be reached by fax at (225) 388-0351 or mail at P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821.