There Was A Time: Stories From My Louisiana Life

by Catherine Blanchard, Cindy Hudson (Editor)

When Catherine Blanchard tells people, "I was born before plastic," they have a hard time picturing what those days were like. In this collection of stories, she writes of her life in a small Louisiana community during the 1930s through the early 1960s. It was a time when folks washed clothes by hand and bathed in a wash tub. Doctors made house calls, an ice man delivered blocks of ice to use in pre-electricity ice boxes, and an ice cream man walked the neighborhood with a cart, tooting a whistle to let children know he was on the way.

Blanchard's wit and devotion to the people and times of her life shine through as she offers a glimpse into a not-so-distant history that nonetheless is firmly in the past.

113 pages, Paperback

Published July 20, 2025