Bayou Gal

In 1965, Hurricane Betsy made landfall in Louisiana, the first year that Nelda Stidham-Woodruff and her family moved back to the subtropical state. Having just moved from California, their family was hit hard. But that was just the beginning of their crazy life in the hot, humid state of Louisiana. Though Nelda was born in New Orleans in 1952, she did not live there until 1965, when her family moved not too soon after her father's retirement. Her family has lived in many places, including Japan, the Philippines, and various states within America, but it was the great state of Louisiana that held her heart. With everything else Louisiana has to offer, from southern charm to Cajun cuisine, Nelda would gladly take on the heat any day. She has taken on the many hurricanes coming from the gulf and learned that there are caring, loving folk that would do anything to help during these terrible storms. Over the years, Nelda's mother continuously asked her to write a book about her and her ancestors that lived off the land of the Louisiana swamps, and for years, Nelda had refused. However, ten years after her mother's passing, she came across a box of her things, which contained a story she had written about herself. Nelda knew then that it was time to write about her mother's legend. Beautifully woven together, this memoir shares the stories of both Nelda, her mother, and their ancestors. Nelda tells the story of her life living on the land and swamp of Bayou des Allemands, where the fun began. Enjoy her stories mixed with "lagniappe," a.k.a. a little something extra.