Every so often — more often if you are truly blessed — there come nouns (people, places, and/or things) in our lives that make us smile out loud. Success, loved ones, Baby Scarlett — whatever they may be, there is some thing about them that causes the right chemicals to release in our brains, and joy erupts. The Haeuser house in Robert, Louisiana has become one of those things for me. Jamie & Bob Haeuser, along with their children, Hance and Katie, have opened their home to a few of the entertainers, crafters, and other rennie-type folk. For six to seven weeks of the year — more if travelers chance to happen by — their spacious seven-bedroom becomes a second home for quite a few of us.
Scarlett can play Piano with her Butt!
Jamie heads up Poetry Night
Bob preps for Thanksgiving in the Bayou
There is a dormitory-for-actors feel that comes with living here. At any moment, discussions on history, politics, or Shakespeare and the arts might erupt with a hammered dulcimer or lute being practiced lilting in the background. It is not uncommon (at least once a year) that impromptu concerts and music jams be held in the living room. I've enjoyed everything from poker games to poetry readings to clay pigeon shooting. A veritable cornucopia of pleasure. And, if anything happening at the moment is not your bag, just wait thirty minutes. Something new will come along soon enough.
Jef and I are thankful for our day off
Pigtails taste of Chicken
The Tortuga Wives Club
This atmosphere has had a profound effect on me. It has turned my experience of working at the Louisiana Renaissance Festival around from something I had to do at the end of the year to something I look forward to doing. This hit me the other day when I walked into the house, back from some errand or other I had been about. Looking in from the foyer to the living room and the rest of the house, I broke out into a wide grin. There was no one there — only a strong sense of home and belonging. I was happy just to be there in that space.
Liquor in the Front ...
...Poker in the Rear
Misty & Marc share a tender moment
Hotel Haeuser — as Jamie, Bob, and the myriad people who have stayed there have affectionately named it — has a definite "Waltons" flavor to it. Especially at Thanksgiving.
ATF = Alcohol, Tortugas, & Firearms
On Thanksgiving Day, people from all over the country, and sometimes the world, gather together under one roof to give thanks for all that they have been blessed with in this life. There is laughing and singing and food aplenty. Football and parades add ambience via the TV in the living room while conversation graces the lips and ears of those sitting at the kitchen table. A sneaky few loom 'round the simmering pots and pans in hopes of pre-meal nibble or two. All the while, the wine is flowing, the mimosas are tickling noses, and newcomers are greeted with smiles and genuine affection.
Outside some people are playing with the dogs while others are pulling wood and setting up for the bonfire this evening. And then, there are the guns.
We have a holiday tradition here at Hotel Haeuser. One that involves firearms, bottle targets, and rennies. (And, sometimes Canadians, too, if you can believe that.) Bob Haeuser is a hunter. Every Thanksgiving he will break out pieces from his gun collection and offer we peaceful people the chance to shoot. (This only after some instruction on gun safety and operation, of course.) This year the big hit was his elephant gun — fun to shoot, but packs a wallop. Ronn even has the sizeable bruise to prove it.
Everything that happens, all the fun events and goofy games, are only foreplay for the main event: the Thanksgiving Day feast. The dinner table extends from the dining room, to the foyer, and almost (though not quite — maybe next year) into the study. It is here that the sense of everyone belonging to the same family pervades. It is here that 26 people, often hundreds of miles from their friends and loved ones, find that they are never alone and that home truly is wherever the heart is.
My Thanksgiving Day Family
Excellent Grindage and My Drink of Choice
It is my and the hope of all the Tortugas that you had a fun-filled, happy-family Thanksgiving holiday this year. Know that, though we see you for only a short time every year, we are thankful for you. Thank you for your smiles, laughter, and for getting most of our silly jokes. So much so that we have been able to fashion a life of making others happy. God bless you — every one.
Uncle Tortuga
