Introduction in Order

I’m Pat Marcantel,”Mama” to the owner of this blog.

I am “Mama” to the owner of this blog. She left for Rainbow Bridge on December 10, 2013. Of course, I promised her that I would tend to her blog. Her name is Cindy Lou Who and she was an Otterhound mixed withTerrier.   Sweetest girl you could ever hope to meet. You know, the “never met a stranger” kind.  She and I “communicated” right from our first meeting. She wanted to have a blog because she was concerned about all the things that enlivened or tried to embitter me. She was very philosophical and loved to see things resolved. I shall try to represent her well. If ever an animal had not only a heart but also a soul, Cindy did/does.

Perhaps you want to know a bit about me? I can hear your thoughts: “Okay, is this woman sane? She’s having a deceased dog as the ‘owner’ of the blog? What’s going on”?

I think I’m still sane, although at age 81, it’s sometimes hard to tell, even
for me. I’m a mom, grandmom, greatgrandmom, retired schoolteacher and mental health and substance abuse counselor. If that’s not enough to drive anyone batty, I don’t know what is. Especially when you find out that I reared six children (four BOYS and two girls) all by my lonesome. Er, well, not exactly. God was in the mix.

After retirement I designed programs for the parish (county to most of you) schools. One was a substance abuse prevention summer camp for at-risk children, and others were dealing with aiding sensory learning. I taught them art and writing for two-week periods during the school year. At that time many of our schools had no art or music teachers.

In my “spare time” I attended art workshops and studied writing and writers. This was after I graduated from college with a BA in high school education. Oh, and the book. I compiled a book about my home town. I interviewed wonderful older people who remembered so much about our past. That’s about it about me.