BAR NONE
For that perfect call-out favor or Mardi Gras gift, Bath Essentials by Delacruz has created fleur-de-lis embellished bath soaps in a subtle fresh linen scent. Crafted by the Rev. Bill Melancon of Carencro, these beautiful soaps come in two sizes...
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Written by The Independent Staff
BAR NONE
For that perfect call-out favor or Mardi Gras gift, Bath Essentials by Delacruz has created fleur-de-lis embellished bath soaps in a subtle fresh linen scent. Crafted by the Rev. Bill Melancon of Carencro, these beautiful soaps come in two sizes - a petite petit-four version with green, purple and gold layers topped with a 3-D fleur-de-lis, and a cream-colored bath-size adorned with a bold seasonal design. Affordably priced at $6 for the large and 50 cents for the teeny-tiny, these unique bars are available at Teche Drugs & Gifts, 505 Jefferson St., (337) 235-4578. - Lisa Hanchey
DRONE ON
The 40,000-year-old traditional Australian instrument of the Aboriginal people, the didgeridoo (that's DIDGE-er-ree-DEW), is making its way to Lafayette by way of a new service called Diges I Doo, created, owned and operated by didgeridoo enthusiast Raymond Howard. Essentially, the didgeridoo is a tube that can be played in a low tone or drone with a relaxed buzzing of the lips. Its construction is very simple - a termite-hollowed trunk of a tree that is harvested and finished to varying degrees, sometimes painted, and sometimes with a beeswax mouthpiece attached. Howard crafts many of his didgeridoos from local hardwood. "Pecan is one of my favorites now to work with," he says. The cost ranges from several hundred dollars for a hand-made, hardwood didgeridoo, depending on its finish and aesthetics, to a simple plastic didgeridoo of roughly $45. Howard says his rates - subject to change - are basically $1 per minute of one-on-one playing and instruction for relaxation ($50 for a one hour session). For more info, visit www.betterfly.com/DidgesIDoo or click here. - Wynce Nolley
WRITE STUFF
The 2005 hurricane season was a tough one for Sister B. DeRouen. Then retired and facing poor health, the native New Orleanian who spent her adult life teaching at schools in southwest Louisiana saw the cultural corners of the Bayou State battered. What's a Carmelite nun to do? Write. DeRouen began pouring words onto pages - austere poetry and plain-spoken prose - sacred, mainly, in topic with wisps of secular reverie. "The longer I live, the more clear it becomes to me that we are called to be ONE, to love and shepherd one another, to lead each other home," she writes in the preface to Glory to Glory, a collection of nearly 60 works DeRouen produced in the intervening years since the tumult from the Gulf of Mexico forever changed so many lives in Louisiana. Glory to Glory is $15 and is available through Lulu Publishing (lulu.com). - Walter Pierce