I have been traveling the past month. I attended a museum board retreat at Hemingbough in St. Francisville. It had been a long time since I had been there. I always see the ads in COUNTRY ROADS magazine for all the cute shops.

We arrived late in the day at Hemingbough. That place can really get scary at night. We stayed at the guest house. There isn’t any plantation house on this site. All of the structures are newly constructed. The grounds are beautiful during the day. We ate at a local restaurant.

I was not really impressed with St. Francisville. I guess I expected more. All the shops and the few restaurants are really spread out. My point is we really take for granted that you can walk to so many restaurants and shops on Railroad Avenue. We truly have a unique shopping and dining experience located in our Historic District. We need to continue to get the word out.

Kevin Kelly stated at the ASHA Banquet we need more shops. Now I agree with him. Having shops and restaurants centrally located is an asset to draw in the tourist dollars.

I also visited Key West for their annual Fantasy Fest 2006. I can honestly say I thought I had seen everything. I am a veteran of Mardi Gras. This was something else.

Key West is very liberal in its lifestyles. Many of the residents have re-located there to escape the cold winters up north. Very few residents are actually from the Keys. The natives are known as Conchs.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon. This was my dog Keno’s third trip to Key West but his first airline flight. Much to Peter’s dismay, Keno handled to flight just fine. No need to leave him at home ever again providing our stay is “pet friendly.”

Different restaurants and bars hosted theme parties. The proceeds for these parties fund different charities. Wednesday night was the Red Party at Fogharty’s on Duval Street. Everyone, including the staff, was wearing red. The costumes were mainly small pieces of red fabric and a few red feathers. Some merely had red body paint.

Thursday night was a toga party at Sloppey Joes. There were togas of all shapes and sizes on Duval Street, some with little left to the imagination.

Friday was the walking parade. This parade passed right in front of the bed and breakfast we stayed at. Our place handed out free beer to the participants so we got to get an up close view of the parade-goers. These parade-goers consisted of people from all over the United States. It was truly the politest bunch of half-naked people I have every met. They all said “please and thank you”.

Saturday is the big day of Fantasy Fest. It did rain for most of the day. The people with the body paint had to seek shelter or invest in large umbrellas. Body paint is used as a costume for Fantasy Fest. And it doesn’t take a beautiful body if you know what I mean. It is amazing the people who are walking around with watermelons painted on their chests. Some had their entire bodies done. Most of these were attractive young women who always seem to have an older gentleman with a big wallet at her side.

Over 60,000 people flock to this tiny island for the parade held on Saturday night. The sponsor for this year’s festival was Captain Morgan of the Captain Morgan Rum. His float was pulled by a Ford Expedition with Blain Kern Designs, New Orleans, Louisiana on it.

There were over 60 floats and walking troops in this parade. I think everyone that lives on the island must participate. Some floats bellowed confetti into the crowd; others had bubbles. Live music is big in Key West. Other floats had live bands on them. Clothing was optional for some.

And of course there were beads. People everywhere hustle for these cheap plastic trinkets. What mystical power do these beads have that will make people expose themselves? Don’t forget this crowd is a lot “more mature” than the average age crowd you find in the French Quarter for Mardi Gras. The sights are not always pretty.

The island returns to Key West “normal” on Sunday. Just about everyone has clothes on by then. We took a taxi to the marina to an all-the-lobster-you-can-eat restaurant. The taxi driver wanted to know where in Louisiana we were from. I told him a small town between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. He persisted in knowing the name. I told him Donaldsonville. He turned to look at us and said my father is a Daigle from Napoleonville. I told him my dog, which was on my lap in the taxi at the time, was from Plattenville.

Now I know you are all wondering if I let the merriment take over me and experienced the body painting. I did give some thought to having a Fleur de Lies painted on my chest with “rebuild New Orleans” on my new belly. In today’s times with digital cameras on cell phones I was too afraid I would end up on the internet. I remained sober and fully clothed.

Giving Financial Gifts? Know the Rules

It’s the holiday season. This year, why not give your loved ones something that will last long after the festivities are over? Specifically, consider giving stocks or other financial assets.

Before you do, however, brush up on the rules governing financial gifts.

First and foremost, you can give up to $12,000 to an individual in a tax year without facing any gift tax consequences. If you give stocks, make sure you know what you originally paid for your shares, how long you’ve held them and their fair market value at the date of the gift. The recipients will need this information whenever they sell the shares.

As an alternative to giving stocks, you could give your loved ones money to increase their investments in their IRAs.

Whatever you give, your generosity will be appreciated - for years to come.

Thump, thump, thump, thump...no that’s not my heartbeat, it’s the sound of my favorite sport beginning. Basketball season is upon us and I am very excited about our local teams, as well as LSU and the Hornets. Donaldsonville High is coming off of an exciting season in which Coach Greg Hill led his team to the Top 28 in Lafayette. The Tigers did graduate an outstanding group, but the young players coming up have seen what it takes to get to the top. I look for big things again for this Tiger team. ACHS is coached by Ed Burns and he graduated an outstanding group as well. The 2006-07 versions of the Bulldogs will be very young and inexperienced. One thing we know for sure, this team will play great defense and hang around. The LSU mens and womens teams are both coming off of Final Four trips and they return great players in Glenn “Big Baby” Davis and lady Tiger tower Sylvia Fowles. Both of these teams are ranked in the top ten and will have legitimate shots to return to the Final Four. The Hornets are off to a 4-3 start as they split time between Oklahoma City and New Orleans. I think the Hornets will finish with about 45 wins or so and sneak into the playoffs.

I haven’t forgotten about football... Our DHS Tigers hosted and won a playoff game over Episcopal for the first time in some time. The Tigers are slated to play the University of John Curtis in the regional round of the playoffs as of press time. Good luck Tigers!! The ACHS Bulldogs have completed their season and have already begun the off season program. Look for good things for the Dogs in the future. LSU has rebounded after losses to Auburn and Florida to stand at 8-2 going into its final games of the regular season with Ole Miss and Arkansas. No one had Arkansas winning the SEC West, but it looks like they will. LSU has a chance to finish at 10-2 and possibly get an at large BCS bid if the cards fall right. Our beloved Saints have cooled a bit, but still stand at 6-3 and are on top of the NFC South. I predicted the Saints at 8-8; I still think that anything above that is a success for Coach Sean Payton’s first season. The Saints have tough road games at Carolina and Atlanta down the stretch. Both teams are currently one game behind the Saints in the division.

I want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there and please remember to support our local teams and high school athletes. Local High School sports can be heard on KKAY 1590AM in Donaldsonville. I can be reached at troyleboeuf@hotmail.com.

Still More Quality Web Content Ideas

Just when you thought we had exhausted the possibilities for quality content for your website, here’s some more great suggestions.

AN ADVICE COLUMN. Much like expert interviews, an advice column can provide people with information related to your business in a simple, familiar format. By addressing common areas of interest, a regular column is great way to relate to individual customers and anticipate their online needs and questions.

WINNERS OF THE MONTH. A great way to keep a site current and develop regular visitors to your web site is to create a to personalize the customer-business relationship.

VIDEO TUTORIALS. Another way to offer information to your potential customers is through the use of video. An extra source of income can be video tutorials focused on seminars.

E-NEWSLETTERS. Send out a monthly newsletter offering your own tips, tips from customers, sale items, holiday ideas, the winner of the month, etc. Encourage readers to post their ideas to the blog. Post past newsletters on your site for more content. Use your newsletter as an opportunity to educate people about your business.

COMMUNITY PAGES. Create a community-related page if your Web site is local. Include places and events in the community that might be of interest to your customers. For example, you could discuss local restaurants, little league baseball, school openings, etc., or include upcoming events in the area that customers might enjoy.

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