This former Monroe hotel is now a home with a view.

The boys and I have been reading Little House on the Prairie. They don’t seem to notice any similarities between themselves and the pioneering Ingalls children, but me and that Mrs. Ingalls? We could talk. We could definitely talk.Take the…

Mystery of the blue crawfishExperiments on the effects of prolonged light exposure on Louisiana crawfish have Northwestern State University researchers rubbing their eyes, for after only four months, six out of 10 crawfish turned a permanent royal blue in color,…

I once thought I was going to be a fatality while I was in Breaux Bridge. There were neither maladies nor criminal intents involved; it was just that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The place…

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Winter in the South can be a wonderful season to travel. The weather is mild. Crowds and prices are often at a minimum. Winter travelers can take advantage of some great opportunities to explore across state lines and discover some…

Remember the glory days? When you didn’t wear out the keypad connecting to a real person? After a four-year stint as a restaurant review columnist and a customer-support/quality-control manager with IBM, I consider myself the Queen Bee in recognizing quality…

Cabahanosse Bed & Breakfast and Antiques & GiftsDonaldsonville “Wake up in a quaint bed-and-breakfast, and go downstairs to visit a unique antique and gift shop with 18 vendors who offer surprising treasures. Located in a restored 1890s building in the…

Our readers have spoken. Our Spring and Summer issues contained self-addressed postage-paid ballots with which readers were asked to pick their Louisiana favorites in many categories. In tallying the results, we only included those places for which there was a…

Luderin Darbone, the acclaimed Cajun-swing fiddler who co-founded The Hackberry Ramblers in 1933, died on Nov. 21 at Calcasieu-Cameron Hospital in Sulphur. He was 95.Darbone was born in Evangeline on Jan. 14, 1913, and raised in Orangefield, Texas. He taught…

From the back deck of her boathouse on River Road just north of Lake Charles, Raejean Clark has a commanding view of the Calcasieu River and the seemingly incongruous city skyline in the distance. A saltwater gate that prevents brackish…

Like an orchestra hitting its crescendo, the third annual Acadiana Symphony Decorators ShowHouse created its own excitement. Located in Vintage Park in Broussard, the event attracted thousands of visitors who came to see the very latest in building materials and…

For my husband’s birthday last October, I ordered the memoir by former LSU football player John Ed Bradley, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium. For purposes of secrecy, I had the gift shipped to me at my neighbors’ address. I…

New tribal center is home to treasuresThe Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana is preparing to cast a long shadow into its future. Opening in 2009 is a Cultural and Educational Resources Center that promises not only to house the tribe’s hard-…

Northern Louisiana Jan. 3. Twelfth Night Celebration. Bossier Civic Center, Bossier City (318) 741-8900. Jan. 9. Sobek Bal, 7 p.m. Riverview Hall, 600 Clyde Fant Parkway, Shreveport (318) 673-5100. Jan. 10. Sobek Parade, 1 p.m. Fairgrounds, 3701 Hudson Ave., Shreveport…

Here’s a tip: The next time a general comes riding through your town with an army marching behind him, do not fix him an omelette. That, according to legend, is what the people of Bessières, France, learned when Napoleon Bonaparte…

PROFILETributeIn my family it was a standing joke each hurricane season that whatever location my mother wished to evacuate to for a storm always indicated its actual landfall in Louisiana. She wanted to go to Lafayette for Carmen and Baton…