Category: Louisiana

Lake Arthur is a beautiful lake, described by locals as being merely a wide space on the Mermentau River. Wide space or not, it’s really beautiful, and we’ve loved the several occasions we’ve been on it. Paul Cassity, whom we met at the Yacht Club the night of the Gumbo Regatta, dropped by the following Friday after the Regatta, staying till nearly midnight as we went over his photos of Peru. We are intensely interested as we’ll be going through there sooner than later.

Paul invited us to sail with him the following week. We very much wanted to do it, because when we hit the islands in a few years, it has been suggested that we learn to crew on boats in order to get around the islands and up the island chain. We are clueless when it comes to boats or sailing, and we’ve been wondering how we can get educated.
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We’ve known about the Omelette Festival ever since we met Elray Schexnaider in Abbeville. We’d seen a short video on it, and then Elray showed us the full chef’s suit that he wears. He had told us in detail the history and development of the festival, and of his and his family’s participation in the festivals, both here and in France. It’s one of the biggest events each year for both the Schexnaider family and for Abbeville. When Elray discovered that we were still here, he was shocked to think that we would leave only a week or two before the big event. So, always up for an adventure, we delayed our departure.
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Frog legs, errands, and adventures

We’d really enjoyed Heuetta, but hadn’t had any time to really talk, so she invited us over to dinner the first week of October. Kenneth and Heuetta’s daughter Erika was there, with her two kids. Her cousin Peggy was there with Peggy’s mom, too. We had a quiet time outside talking till dinner was ready – Heuetta cooked potatoes, onions, and an assortment of fish, frog legs, and alligator, all deep-fried outside. It was another big first for us – we’ve never had frog legs before (yes, they do taste like chicken). We’re old hats at eating alligator by now.
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The Hair family is a local extended family that feels like they must be our own extended family. It’s worth giving them their own blog section because there are so many of them, and we’ve done so many things with them. You know about Jane Hair – the curator of the museum – she was the first one we met (read the “Gueydan the people Part 1” blog). Then on our first Sunday at church we met Millie, Hansford, Lynn, Lea and James. Millie is Jane’s sister-in-law, and Millie is also Hansford’s mom, and Lynn’s mother-in-law. Lea and James are the kids belonging to Hansford and Lynn.
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Our latest big news is that we are leaving Gueydan and southern Louisiana in less than three weeks, after an unbelievably wonderful 4 months in this area. As always, we are very excited about moving on, and we can’t wait to have all those new adventures we know are awaiting us. At the same time, we are going to terribly miss all of the amazing and kind and generous people we have met here.

Sometimes Chelsea and I just shake our heads in amazed and delighted wonder at the way people have welcomed us into their lives and hearts and homes here – we’ve had movie nights with a family at home; we’ve been taken to music concerts, out dancing, out to dinner; we’ve joined in family parties and been accepted as part of the family gathering; we’ve gone to local boat regattas, seen alligators skinned, and toured local hunting lodges. We’ve gone flying in ultralights, done a loop and a roll in an aerobatic plane; had burgers and sweet potato fries and chocolate shakes at the local drive-in, just hangin’ out; and we’ve done laundry in real washers and dryers where the clothes come out really nicely. We’ve attended openings for new collections at the museum, and gotten to know the curator well enough to love hanging out with her; we’ve gone out to wonderful lunches, done yard work and roof gutter cleaning; we’ve become honorary citizens and met the mayor; we’ve had a great article about us in the newspapers.
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Hansford has been a member of the Lake Arthur Yacht Club for many years, and even though he has sold his sailboat, he’s kept his membership current. The Yacht Club is a small group, and is pretty informal by many standards. They hold several events each year, and one is the annual Gumbo Regatta. Whoever shows up participates in the sailboat race(s) around the lake, and meanwhile there’s a contingent of folks back on land who start a huge pot of gumbo. After the races, the sailing crowd and family members hang around and eat and chat.

We arrived with Lea after the start of the races this year, on October 18. We had fun walking around to check out the boats, quietly chatting with those we met. The lake is so pretty and peaceful! The crowd arrived en masse after the races ended, and we had meanwhile volunteered to help with making the gumbo and the huge pot of potato salad. The food was great and the conversations were great. We are still amazed at how friendly everyone is! Shortly after eating, the owner of a big trawler invited us onto his boat for a cruise around the lake. By the time we threw off the ropes, nearly 30 people were on board, fortified with big ice chests full of beer, wine, and water.
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We really hit it off with Peggy after meeting at Heuetta’s, and during the week Peggy called to see if we’d like to spend Friday night at her house after going to see Zachary Richard (pronounced Ree-shard) at Downtown Alive in Lafayette. The next day we’d be going with her and Heuetta to Fred’s in Mamou for Cajun dancing in the morning, then we’d see the Festival Acadiens et Creole in the afternoon. Sounded good to us!

Peggy picked us up right on time (coming all the way from Lafayette to get us), but she needed to check on her mom first. Peggy’s mom’s house is only about 5 blocks from where we are, so we went over with Peggy. We walked in the door, and 6 heads turned to look at us…all women in their sixties and seventies. I will never forget all those heads swiveling to look at us, and my feeling that they were related. When Peggy had to step outside I couldn’t resist asking, “So are ya’ll related?” They all nodded, and I asked, “Sisters?” They nodded again. Peggy later told us that her mom has a number of sisters, and that they always came to Lafayette for the Festival Acadiens. This year was no different.
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We’re back to riding again, and wow, does it feel wonderful! Hurricane Ike blew in a cold spell that turned into the Louisiana fall. Weather is drop-dead gorgeous – it’s about mid 80s during the day, dropping down to the 60s at night, with low humidity and 5-10 mph winds. We’re up before dawn every day, in the pitch black, and we’re out the door by sunrise. We are doing two separate rides, alternating – one is 16+ miles, the other is 22+ miles, in a big square around Gueydan, five to six days a week.
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Chelsea’s and my relationship with alligators extends back to 2002 when we started kayaking the Loxahatchee River. It was common for us to see alligators, and after 4 years of weekly all-day kayaking trips, we got to know a lot about alligators in the wild. We saw them hang out in their favorite spots, we knew the moms and we’d track the nests and the babies, and we’d see them grow or disappear over the years. We knew when they hung out together (very unusual) and we knew the ones that had some kind of deformity. At least half a dozen of these gators were clearly identifiable personalities to us over the years. We got really good at spotting the gators in the water, and we knew where they’d usually hide.
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Hanging out at the Museum before Gustav, we chatted with one old timer who kept referring to the hurricane as Faye – one that had missed us earlier. Jane gently corrected him each time, and finally he heard her. He thought for a moment, and said “Well, Gustav is a guy, and I’m not into guys, so maybe I will leave town”. We also had a wry comment from a member of the congregation who saw us ride up on our bikes on Sunday, when Gustav was supposed to hit that night. He commented, “These folks from Florida…cruising around so blasé…”. Locals had expected that this was our first hurricane, not knowing that we had gone through our own intense hurricane experiences, and more of them!
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