Friday with Friends: Lori Leger talks Cajun
Friday with Friends
Welcome! Thank you for stopping in and joining me. I’m happy to share this time with you. I’m having a Bloody Mary and Crab stuffed Okra Poppers.
There’s no better way to mark the end of the workweek and kick off the weekend than by celebrating with friends with an adult beverage, yummy food, and good conversation. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the French made salons fashionable. A host gathered people to amuse and share knowledge with one another through conversation, “either to please or to educate” is the English translation of “aut delectare aut prodesse est.”
In keeping with my French heritage, well the French-Cajun part, welcome to my salon!
Each Friday I will introduce you to a friend, hence Friday with Friends, and I hope you will be amused or introduced to something new, or both.
As for the adult beverage and yummy food, please share what you’re partaking of and feel free to post recipes to share. I hope you’ll join in the conversation with my weekly guest…and I’ll pass the boiled peanuts your way.
I’m pleased to introduce you to Lori Leger ~ Fictional Romance with a Cajun flair/Owner of Cajunflair Publishing
Lori, the floor belongs to you.
Bon jour! Let me begin by explaining how to pronounce my last name. It’s French, so it’s not LEE-ger as you may suspect, but LAY-jhay. I’m from south Louisiana, where all of my stories take place, and Cajun roots run deep in my family tree. As a result, some of my books (particularly the La Fleur de Love series) are brimming with examples of my beloved Cajun culture, from foods such as seafood gumbo, etouffee, and crawfish jambalaya, to names (Broussard, Hebert, LeBlanc, Mouton) to dialect, and Cajun French phrases. Some Day Somebody has particularly strong references and contains a section dedicated to Cajun phrases, translations and pronunciations. I’m extremely proud of this book, as it’s the one that started the ball rolling for me.
So, what exactly is a CAJUN?
It started back in the early 1600’s when our ancestors left the cities of France to pursue better lives for their families in New France, which is now the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia) They travelled west by ships across the North Atlantic Ocean and settled in Acadia (Nova Scotia). The hardworking French people befriended the native Mi’kmaq Indians and thrived by learning their hunting and fishing techniques. They called themselves Acadians, shortened over centuries to become ‘Cajuns’.
As France and England were constantly battling for control of the provinces, the Acadians always fought alongside the Mi’kmaq to thwart British control. England finally won control, but the Acadians, all devout Catholics, had no desire to swear an unconditional oath of allegiance to the British king, head of the Protestant Church of England. Nor did the Acadians want to anger their friends, the Mi’kmaqs, and risk attacks on their villages. As a result, the King confiscated the land settled by the Acadians, burned their homes and crops, and had nearly 12,000 people deported on ships to the coastal colonies, from New England to Georgia. Families were separated and shipped to different locations … some back to France, while some died at sea. Many families were never reunited.
Longfellow’s famous epic poem “Evangeline” is a sad telling of a similar situation, where-in Evangeline waits for the return of her beloved Gabriel, searches for him for years. She finally settles in Philadelphia, and as an old woman, works as a Sister of Mercy among the poor. During an epidemic, she finds Gabriel among the sick, and her long lost love dies in her arms. There are two sculptures depicting Evangeline waiting for her love. One is in Grand Pre’, Nova Scotia at the National Historic Site. It was sculpted by Louis-Phillipe Hebert, which just happens to be my maiden name. See? I told you I was Cajun!
Louis-Philippe Hébert’s sculpture of Evangeline, Grand-Pré National Historic Site, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The second is in St. Martinville, Louisiana. It was modeled after the Mexican silent film star, Delores del Rio, who played Evangeline in the 1929 movie filmed in Louisiana. In 1934, the film’s cast and crew donated the statue to the city of St. Martinville, where it still remains to this day. Monument to Acadians, St. Martinville, Louisiana
Thank you, Lori. To everyone, I hope you enjoyed Lori’s insights of history. While Lori and I are connected through our Cajun culture, and we are surely cousins several times removed, the sights, sounds, flavors of Louisiana are available for all. Laissez les bon temps roulez!
If you’d like to know more about Lori, her company and her books, here’s where you can find more information. 
La Fleur de Love series: (Contemporary romances bustling with loveable characters, interesting storylines, and a little bit of Cajun flair)
Book 1: SOME DAY SOMEBODY
Book 2: LAST FIRST KISS
Book 2.5: HART’S DESIRE
Book 3: BROWN EYED GIRL
Book 4: HEAVEN IN YOUR EYES
Halos & Horns series: (Sparks fly between Louisiana Saints and Texas Longhorns)
Book 1: GREEN EYED TEMPTATION
Book 2: SARAH SMILE
Book 3: MEAGAN’S MARINE (September 2013)
Seasons of Love series: (Sweet and sensual seasonal anthologies to warm your heart!)
Book 1: HEARTS, HEARTHS & HOLIDAYS (InD’tale RONE’ 1ST Honorable Mention)
Book 2: SPRING PROMISE
Book 3: SWEET SUMMERTIME LOVE
Here are the links:
http://amzn.com/e/B0075RWKLS (Link to Amazon Author Page where all of my books are available for purchase)
Website: www.LoriLegerAuthor.com
Blog: http://Cajunflair.wordpress.com
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/llegerauthor
FB Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/lorilegerauthor
Twitter: @lleger641
CajunflairPublishing http://www.CajunflairPublishing.com
email: cajunflair@LoriLegerAuthor.com / lleger641@yahoo.com / CajunflairPublishing@gmail.com
Thanks again for stopping in.
And, here’s how you can reach me:
Website: http://www.linda-joyce.com
Blog. http://lindajoycecontemplates.wordpre...
Facebook Author Page https://www.facebook.com/LindaJoyceAu...
Twitter: @LJWriter https://twitter.com/LJWriter
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Fresh Fiction: http://freshfiction.com/author.php?id...
Pintrest: http://pinterest.com/LindaJoyceWorld/...
