Rob Perillo is the Balm

Rob touches the comet Pan-Starrs without getting burned.

Rob Perillo is our Chief Weatherman on KATC TV 3 in Lafayette, Louisiana. People around here really love to know about the weather. They live close to the land, and Rob is always a reliable, even jovial source of weather news and lore. Not only that, Rob always has some trivia or something creative to say and tells you about comets, meteors, blue moons, hurricanes, local folklore, as well as the exact time and direction of the passing of the space shuttle at night. Sometimes I hear these little quips and put them out on my Prairie Femme Twitter account...and I usually tag +Rob Perillo, too, or otherwise troll him on his social media... so he knows how much we appreciate his wordsmithing and weathermaning! 

Like this one time I commented on his status update about his use of the word "balmy", he "liked" it on Facebook (!!), then later on the news, I heard him emphasize the word- "Ladies and Gentlemen it's going to be a BALMY evening..." Just sayin.


I love when it rains and Rob says that it's "good sleeping weather". 

"A smokey haze tonight. You can smell the sugarcane burning."
  
"The fragrance of ligustrum in the air..."

Rob says he's not just going to "overtly forecast fog for tonight." That's why we love you Rob!

Rob says that tonight's lows will be in the "sultry low mid-70s"


I love when Rob says "Let's kick it upstairs and put the radar-satellite composite in motion, baby" (I added the baby, but hey! He might have said it/might say it if he reads this.) (Bonjour Rob!!)

OR he might just say: 

"Let's kick it upstairs and look at the radar satellite composite! "

"Moisture lurks in the Gulf"  yes it does.

"Nice looking cumulonimbus canopy shrouding Acadiana this afternoon. System already raining itself out...slowly..."

"It's gonna be rough out in the Gulf of Mexico so batten down the hatches!" 

"No pipe issues tonight."

"The air IS juicy."

"Cirrus clouds painting pretty pastels..."
  
Rob Perillo just sang, "The sun'll come out, tomorrow." Details at 10.

Rob Perillo is talking about the crescent moon and Venus in the western sky. #swoon.

@robperillo recommends that you recline on a chaise lounge chair a few minutes before 8 pm in order to see the space shuttle in the western sky.

"Do expect a sultry one tonight."

"A steamy one tonight!"

"A sultry summer night and the mosquitos are certainly in play."

"Don't say Perillo didn't warn you!"




Follow Rob on Twitter

People Love Rob! Street Art, Downtown Lafayette

(Warning: This is where the CajunNet and the Internet collide with results as accurate as Rob's eight day forecast.)

Tasse de Café Reunion Part Deux

I went to the Tasse de Cafe Radio Show Reunion in Ville Platte, where people who call in to the program get together and have a live, more raunchy version. I was at the first one last year and it's sad: people who were there are now in the hospital (Get well soon Mister Allen!) or no longer with us anymore (RIP ROGE!). I went early and set up my recorder by the speaker.

 I sat at a table between Mrs. Rose Soileau of Belaire and Mrs.Verna Fontenot of Tate Cove. They were flanked by their husbands, Mister Elvin "Soup" and Mister Gerald, famous Creole Cowboy and Godfather of the Tournoi. We were joined by Mister Don Fontenot. Miss Rose started telling me about her friend who had just passed away. Elle se couchait bien gaillarde, et le lendemain, le Bon Dieu l'a pris. Mister Don immediately told me he liked the way I spoke French, but I still needed some lessons! lol. That was true, and I was about to get a few...

But First, ROLL CALL! initiated by Floyd Soileau:





Mister Jim began with a Hail Mary in French. Click here to hear it. Mister Elvin started teaching me old words like un serpent bambara - black egg snake. He talked about the difference between a ti peu of something or a ti brin of something. Both mean a "little", but he said, and le monde agreed, that they were used at different times for different things. I always thought they could be used interchangeably. He said he used ti brin most often with cheveux, (un poil, a little bit of hair) and un ti peu with things like ice (un ti peu de la glace) ou kekchose...as his fingertips grasped his shirt, a napkin, the air. Mister Don asked me if I knew my prayers in French. I said I knew four. He said he had a packet of them and would drop it off at the station for me. How nice!

Mister Floyd Soileau, conteur des contes told a couple of great stories as well as racy contes. Click here to hear a dirty joke in French.

The best was when Mister J.D. Soileau, who always has some uncommon words, got up to talk about how he searched all everywhere on the Internet for a word:




... about what a jambit/jambee, or scarecrow was. It sounds kind of like a Hatian Creole word to me. I wonder about its origins, sounds a lot like ZOMBIE doesn't it?

Mark, Jim and Charlie

Nick's on Main

JD talks Zombie

The Soileaus de Belaire Cove and Don Fontenot

Mister Floyd reads in English, translates into French.

white socks and black shoes are an Evangeline Parish signature style

I won the doorprize and left with a medium Evangeline Special Pizza under my arm...

Journal from the Past

I have kept pretty detailed journals my whole life. Here are a few pages from the one I was writing in ten years ago this week. It was the week I met my husband.

Traiteurs

  

Mark:

If there's anybody in our local area that still does the treating, like the old time des traiteurs.

Charlie:

Oh yes! That's a dying art!

Bonjour qui tu parles?

Madame Reed:

Hey... I know about a traiteur.

Ok.

I went to- I had- Ma- The top of ma foot was hurtin', so I went to de foot docta. I had a spur right on the top of ma foot, so he says, you mustn't lace ya shoes right dere. He says, I can cut if off for you. I said, but I'm on blood-thinners, he said well, we can't do surgery. So I found out about dis man in Opelousas, I went over dere, he treated me and until today the spur don't bother me one bit. And you know we had an old man in Ville Platte, Mister Alcide Gallo, he treated for anything. He treated me for high blood pressure...

Is he still alive?

No, he died, he was 102 years old. He was in the nursing home the last time he treated me for high blood pressure. 

-wow and he helped, huh...

...another man in Port Barre that treats, too. I was treated a lot, me. You know what? I talked to my doctor about dat because he's from, outa state, Watemale ou quek-chose. I told, I said hey, Dr. Alverez, did you ever hear of a... I had forgot how to say it in English...he said, I said, did you ever hear of a traiteur? Yeah, he said, I know what's a traiteur! He said I know exactly what's dat- dey have dat where I'm from! 


Dr. Tim:

And about the traiteurs...Dr. Alverez said is right...Nobody has the gift to heal unless it's given to 'em from above whether it be a doctor, therapist, or a traiteur. To some extent we all traiteurs.  So even if he denies it or not, the gift comes from God. 

No money- if you wanna make a donation, fine, but-

They don't ask for anything. It's a gift freely given to them, so they give that gift freely, too. I've never known a traiteur to accept any money, other than someone reaching in their pockets and say, here, lemme...

...yeah, yeah.. if they give... they don't ask for no payments...they don't... that's right...they'll accept a donation just like you accept the healing, you know?