Shared Illusions

Yesterday, Wednesday, we walked around Lake Martin. Initially the walk is on a road which ends at the beginning of a trail. We walked the length of the road and entered a quiet, leafy, trail that ran between Lake Martin on our left and a desultory canal that didn’t look like it had much life in it to our right. I can imagine that in the height of summer this walk would be neigh unendurable due to heat, humidity, and mosquitos. On this day though it was quite pleasant.

The loop around the lake was 6-7 miles. About two-thirds of the way around was a Visitor Center which in the past had been a Creole house. It had a beautiful mural of the trees and birds of Lake Martin. A photo would not have done it justice. There were also a couple of alligator skins to touch along with other items. One of my favorite was a binder with feathers collected from the variety of birds making their home here. We did see lots more birds on the walk – tons of small blue heron, white egrets, snowy egrets, and flying overhead, one roseate spoonbill!

Post hike, we went to Bayou Teche Brewery outside of the town of Arnaudville. They have a very creative pizza menu; we selected the muffuletta pizza, a take on the famous New Orleans muffuletta sandwich. What might that be, you ask. Basically a round bread – sort of a cross between a focaccia and ciabatta with lots of sesame seeds, loaded with olive salad and Italian deli meats, and provolone cheese. So, the pizza had the olive salad, andouille sausage, and the usual mozzarella cheese and red sauce.

Wondering about olive salad? It’s delicious for one thing – and so good soaking into the bread. Recipes vary, but pretty much all of them contain chopped olives; chopped pickled celery, cauliflower, and carrots (giardiniera); garlic; olive oil; and vinegar and maybe capers.

Wednesday evening and the first night of Festival Internional Louisiana! Only one stage and just two bands. Band one, was local, traditional: Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band. Lots of fun to dance to. Band two, Chris Ardoin and Nustep Zydeco, was also local, but he infuses his zydeco with soul, reggae and hip hop. The place was packed with mostly young folk who knew the lyrics. We thought it was boring and left.

Thursday morning was gloriously rainy with a wind chill factor of cold. I put on several layers (including a sweater, t-shirt, and leggings I bought at Costco on Monday, that cold-ass day) and still needed a blanket wrapped around my legs. Having the appropriate “gear” for the weather makes all the difference! I was able to sit on the hanging bench under the car port with my coffee and a good book, thoroughly enjoying it all. After lunch the sun came out, and we walked into town for rolled ice cream. It was delicious and too rich. Upon reaching home we fell into a mini coma and took naps. And then it was time to head into the Festival.

Have you heard of Lauren Daigle? I hadn’t, but if you’re Christian, you may have and if you’re Christian and live in Louisiana you most certainly have heard of this singer/songwriter. She was the closing act on the large stage at 9 p.m. and a local favorite. Born in Lake Charles and grew up in Lafayette. People were there saving space by sitting on the hard top and just packed in. No chairs allowed for this act. We were at the stage for the 7:45 show Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba from Mali. Most of the crowd clearly wasn’t there for them as they were paying no attention. We were leaving because it was too hard to hear, but as we got further away from the stage and the crowd the sound was better. To finish the Lauren story – that area was at max capacity for her. We didn’t return to check her out as we knew it would be impossible. I did check her out of youtube and she has a husky voice. I can see why she’s popular.

It was an early night for us as ADG7 was meh and not much else happening. Might be that next year we come for Friday-Sunday. The thing is, I really love Louisiana in April, so hanging out here and exploring surroundings is a plus.