Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico: A Flash Back

Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico

Elephant Butte State Park isn't far from the New Mexico town, Truth or Consequences.

Elephant Butte has suffered from the recent drought. Hopefully, the big rains in 2013 and rains in this year's monsoon season will go a ways to restore its traditional depths. Mm, doesn't look as good as one might have hoped.

Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico

 On a pass-through in May 2013, I saw a fair number of quail. Can you find them in the photo above?

Outside Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico

In 2010, my mother and I passed by Elephant Butte on a road trip.

Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico. 2010.

This trip included a side jag over to the Spaceport. To get to the Spaceport, we dead-ended at the ghosty town of Engle, New Mexico, and we hung a right through cattle land.

Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico. 2010.

 
In fact, we didn't even know we were headed to the Spaceport. We turned right on a whim rather than backtrack. Over at City of Dust recently, the author wrote about Engle.

Between Elephant Butte State Park, New Mexico, and Spaceport America. 2010.

Entrance to Spaceport America, New Mexico, 2010.

Lafayette Neighborhoods: Twin Oaks ~ Oakview

As I mentioned here, Lafayette has dozens of small neighborhoods stashed behind the main arterials. They are gorgeous.

This past spring, I was lucky enough to be invited to a King Cake party in one such neighborhood, which includes Twin Oaks, Oakview, and Green Oaks.

I may have gasped when I saw this:

Lafayette, Louisiana

And how can you not be charmed by this:

Lafayette, Louisiana

There's a large website that attracts people who are planning a move to Lafayette. Visitors invariably ask which areas in Lafayette they should consider, and somebody always mentions River Ranch. Now, River Ranch has its place in the scheme of things, but I'm amazed at how many respondents are silent on the grace and beauty of the old, established neighborhoods.

I can only shake my head in wonder.

Eunice, Louisiana: Crawfish Etoufee Cook-Off

Eunice Crawfish Etoufee Cook-Off, March 2014. 

March brings the Eunice Crawfish Etoufee Cook-Off. The 2014 event was the 29th Annual, sha.

Eunice Crawfish Etoufee Cook-Off, March 2014. 

It's extraordinary to smell the fragrances of  muddy bayou, spicy crawfish boil, and cinnamon buns all at once. I couldn't decide if I loved it or felt repelled by it. Attempts to come to a conclusion required many careful inhalations, to no avail. 

Eunice Crawfish Etoufee Cook-Off, March 2014. 

The cultural fusion depicted below is pretty astounding in its complexity, even though it may appear kitschy on the surface. Everything means something: the colors, the courir de Mardi Gras mask and hat, the more urban Mardi Gras crown, the use of the crawfish as a totem; the beads, the gold coin, the fishing basket.  At least some features date back more than a thousand years. 

Eunice Crawfish Etoufee Cook-Off, March 2014. 

There was a woman at the festival selling handmade dolls for the Wishing Doll Project.

Eunice Crawfish Etoufee Cook-Off, March 2014. 

The Wishing Doll Project sells the handmade dolls to support enhancements in high poverty, high performance schools. The current drive is for an outdoor reading garden at Eunice's East Elementary School.

Do you think I loved this t-shirt? It really made me laugh.

Eunice Crawfish Etoufee Cook-Off, March 2014. 

The KBON radio guy kindly posed for me so I could get a good pic of it.

Of course, there is no southern Louisiana festival without music and dancing.

Eunice Crawfish Etoufee Cook-Off, March 2014. 

And here's a slide show:

#30

Rootless Review: Looking Back

2013: July 14 in New Mexico: Trains and rain

Leaving Raton, New Mexico. July 2014.

I wrote about my drive back home to Alamogordo from Raton.

What is it about trains and song?


2012: July 13 in Istanbul: Bandana girl and leeches at the Spice Market

 The highlights of the Spice Market in Istanbul were the bandana-girl thief and the jar of leeches.

Leeches at the Spice Market, Istanbul, Turkey. July 2012.

2011: July 14 - Caucasus Georgia

Three years ago today, I was getting ready to leave the U.S. for Caucasus Georgia.

Racha, Caucasus Georgia

The day before a year-long adventure.

I've been very lucky.  

Lafayette: 2nd Saturday Artwalk: June 2014: The Trash

Gosh darn it, the Astra Modern Market always surprises me with some artsy trifle that catches my fancy on the 2nd Saturday Artwalk. 

To wit: The Trash.

Astra Modern Market, Lafayette, Louisiana.

Louisiana: A Government on Posts

Cameron Parish, Louisiana

It is a peculiar sight to see bricks and mortar government buildings atop posts.

Cameron, Louisiana

Somebody got this sparsely-populated area a lotta money to construct these government buildings.

Cameron, Louisiana

The population of the all Cameron Parish is less than 7000 people. Fewer than 2500 households. Looks like 1600 or so people under the age of 18.

Cameron, Louisiana

Not all the buildings are new.

Cameron, Louisiana

I love the ubiquitous Louisiana port-a-potty, this one owned by the sheriff's department. 

Cameron, Louisiana

 Cameron gets hammered regularly by hurricanes.

In 1957, Hurricane Audrey killed 300 residents of the town of Cameron.

In 2005, Hurricane Rita blew through.

And in 2008, it was Hurricane Ike that wreaked destruction.

About the money

An excerpt from a 2012 news report:

Horn says the parish is still working on a new $12.6 million jail. She says a $5.5 million courthouse annex including Police Jury administrative offices should be completed in August. Horn says the courthouse basement had to be flood-proofed, the outside repaired and windows replaced, among other work.

From a congressman's website in 2011: 

Congressman Charles W. Boustany, Jr., M.D., (R-South Louisiana) released the following statement today after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced a grant totaling $4.7 million was awarded to Cameron Parish to replace contents damaged throughout its library system during Hurricane Rita ...

A coastal protection project from 2013: 

The restoration project mines sand from federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico and transports it onto the Cameron Parish shoreline, restoring a beach that was eroded to the point of threatening the only east-west highway in the parish and one of the main routes for evacuations, State Highway 82/27. ... The $45.8 million project is being paid for entirely with state funds set aside for shoreline restoration

The new high school, from a 2010 New York Times article   

  .... new $28 million building with two gyms and three elevators.


Coastal restoration - I get that. A major investment in Louisiana's future, benefits reaped by all. But these big new government buildings for a parish with so few inhabitants? I don't know. I'd like to understand the reasoning along two lines: 

• Decisions on how to allocate finite financial resources for the greatest good; and 
• Decision to rebuild in a location that regularly gets decimated by forces majeures.

Louisiana: Sabine Wildlife Refuge

Wetland Walk, Sabine Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana

Do you know that when you're walking on a trail where there is tall grass between you and the water channel, so you can't see the water, that when you hear a sound like a glub-into-water right next to you, and it makes you jump a little bit, that you don't know if it's an alligator ker-plopping into the water from the bank, or a boat drifting by with fishermen, with water slapping against its side?

Wetland Walk, Sabine Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana

Louisiana's so flat that you have to build a rise.

Wetland Walk, Sabine Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana

 Once you walk up that long, long plank to the raised deck, you feel a cool, restorative breeze. Then, when you walk back down the plank, you descend into the heavy, heated air of sea level (or, in the case of Louisiana, perhaps below sea level - sad laugh).

Wetland Walk, Sabine Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana

Lafayette: The Mardi Gras Tree

Mardi Gras tree, Johnston Street, Lafayette, Louisiana

The parade route for most of Lafayette's Mardi Gras parades is long.

Mardi Gras tree, Johnston Street, Lafayette, Louisiana

So there are actually a number of  "Mardi Gras trees"  along the way. 

Mardi Gras tree, Johnston Street, Lafayette, Louisiana

One of them is on Johnston Street between St. Mary's and Cajundome. 

Mardi Gras tree, Johnston Street, Lafayette, Louisiana

Year 'round, the beads remain on the tree, with a new accumulation at each Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras tree, Johnston Street, Lafayette, Louisiana

Mardi Gras trees. They don't grow just anywhere.

Rootless: On Getting a Puppy

It's not really a puppy, but kind of like a puppy

No, I haven't got a real puppy. But I have aquired something like a puppy. I've got to learn its ways, train it, and be trained by it.

I've got to keep track of it, so it doesn't get lost or stolen. I can handle it playfully, but not roughly.


It's not really a phone, but it's called a phone

It's a smart phone, my first. Only to call it a smartphone is a misnomer. It is a mini computer with a phone application.

This is not just semantics. How I view my new puppy affects how I socialize it with the world.

With my soon-to-be-old "dumbphone" - let's say my pet "turtle" - I could:

• Make and receive phone calls;
• Laboriously write texts and check email; and
• Make limited forays onto the internet. 

I had little concern about privacy boundaries or theft or malware because the dumbphone itself was like a turtle. A built-in shell for protection, by dint of its limited features, and thus easily monitored or caught if it meandered off, too humble to attract unwanted attention from strangers.

It's an entirely different story with my mini-computer.


Why did I get this puppy?

Being rootless, why would I want to be tied down with a puppy? Sheesh, now I've got to worry about dropping the damn thing or the glass will crack. It's cute and sweet and thereby attractive to strangers who might like to adopt it for themselves, so I've got to always have my radar on to make sure I know where it is. And it requires so much training - for the little one and me - to become true pals.

There are several reasons why I went this route: 

1. My turtle phone was on its last legs - that reliable, albeit limited, $30 phone I've had for years, with the cute little teeth marks on the top left-hand corner.  
2. My laptop is getting on in years and it could go belly up at any time, and I need a sophisticated, on-the-spot back-up to turn to for my work. 
3. I'll be headed out of the country again soon and I want an unlocked mini-computer that can run by wifi or a data plan. 

An invisible fence

When I bought my little puppy, I was still thinking of it as a phone. A phone with a lot of very cool enhancements. Consequently, I was startled by the decisions I had to make right away. Such as:

• What personal bits about myself - my data exhaust - did I want to have on this device? 
• What apps did I want to download - and what information was I willing to share in order to get these apps? 
• How could I enjoy all the benefits of a mini-computer without leaving a trail of personal me everywhere I went? 
• How many ads - if any - can I tolerate in exchange for a "free" app? 
• What data am I willing to lose if my mini-computer falls into the hands of strangers? 
• Like a puppy, I'm not willing to let my little device sit in a hot car for hours while I'm off canoeing or swimming or doing something else that puts it at risk. So do I change my habits and just leave it at home for such activities? 

Some decisions I've made (and it might make sense here to note that I've bought an Android device): 

1. Thank God, I have more than one email address (hehehe), so I chose one of my little-used accounts to be the email account on my device. I can put some distance between this account and me-central.
2. Do I really need to download a free game that requires access to my contact list? Hell, no! No games for you, little puppy! 
3. Do I need to download Kindle to my mini-computer? No, I've got a kindle e-reader, and I don't want to connect my Amazon account to my device. If I want to read, that's what my e-reader is for. Or an actual book. 
4. Do I want to stay signed in to my Skype account on my device? No; I've only got it on there as a back-up, and I don't ever want to make another mistake call to a work-related client.Whoops. (The lil' puppy is so eager to please, it tries to anticipate what you want by going to fetch somebody else's paper. Bad boy.) 

I'm trying to find the right balance between security and maximum fun + utility.

Again, it's all about safe sex.


What'd I buy? 

Short answer: Moto G 4LTE.

Longer answer: It was all about: 

• Excellent reviews;
• Budget; 
• Long battery life; 
• Unlocked and GSM for international use; and
• Android operating system. 

  

Louisiana: A Woman Without Her Own Name

In The Louisiana Story, the mother is played by E. Bienvenu, aka Mrs. E. Bienvenu.

I was reminded of this when I saw the tombstone at a cemetery outside Abbeville, on Highway 82.

Cemetery outside Abbeville, Louisiana. Highway 82.

Louisiana: Watch Out for the Stobor

At the end of the Blue Goose Trail, Sabine Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana

In Robert Heinlein's sci-fi classic, Tunnel in the Sky, the professor warns the survival-class students: Watch out for the stobor.

The students assumed the terrible stobor were large, fierce beasts such as lions or dragons. So the students chose their survival gear with these threats in mind. Little did the students know that the stobor were actually .... well, I don't want to ruin it for you.

I had feral pigs and alligators in mind when I packed gear for my tiny foray to the Sabine Wildlife Refuge south of Hackberry, Louisiana. I had a long stick and I had my knife.

But neither pigs nor alligators were the stobor. .... the stobor were the dratted flies that plagued my face, hat, and neck! Thank God I brought my bandana! And now I know to invest in more earplugs because all I thought about as I swatted and swore like a crazed woman was that my ears were exposed.

Louisiana: The Yankee Chank

Before I tell you what a "Yankee chank" is, I have to tell you what chank is, or more specifically, "chanky chank."

Chanky chank

Back in the day, chanky chank was a derogatory term used to describe Cajun/Creole (and early zydeco) music.  Go here for a thorough explanation in an article, From Chanky-Chank to Yankee Chanks: The Cajun Accordion as Identity Symbol, by Louisiana music ethnomusicologist, Dr. Mark DeWitt. The article is from the book, The Accordion in the Americas: Klezmer, Polka, Tango, Zydeco, and More! edited by Helena Simonette.

Dewey Balfa. Source: Smithsonian Folkways

Chanky chank gained some prestige when: 

In 1964 [Dewey] Balfa and his band were asked to perform as last-minute replacements at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, a premier event in the world of folk music and a top outdoor venue. Friends in Louisiana knew that he would be playing the old-fashioned Cajun music they called "chanky-chank," and suggested that the group would be laughed off the stage. Instead, Balfa received a standing ovation.

Source: Encylopedia

Yankee chank

I'd never heard of chanky chank until I attended the last in a series of discussions about how documentaries have portrayed Cajuns, beginning with The Louisiana Story.  Dr. Barry Ancelet, a folklorist, facilitated the series. Don't remember how we got on the subject, but we talked about how sometimes transplants to Acadiana are stern arbiters of the right way to dance Cajun or zydeco. (These are referred to generally as dance nazis, who are by no means exclusive to the Cajun and zydeco genres.)

Dr. Ancelet immediately said, "Yankee chanks."

I love this.

Yankee chank refers to people from outside southern Louisiana who play the Cajun and zydeco music, especially accordions. Meant somewhat derisively at first, perhaps, it looks like at least some of the targets of this label have now embraced it with pride. Also, I should note that at the Saturday Cajun jam at Vermilionville, the emcee always introduces and expresses appreciation for visiting musicians from outside Louisiana.

Source: Yankee Chank

Louisiana: Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014

Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

The Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival!

Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

It's always the first weekend of May, and in 2014, the town celebrated its 54th festival.

Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

Bags checked at gate - not even a bottle of water alllowed in.

Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

Fabulous music. Fabulous.  Six months ago, I didn't know these people existed, but today, I can tell you it is very satisfying to see venerable musicians such as Ray Abshire and D.L. Menard in person.

Ray Abshire and company, Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

I filmed Mr. Menard's performance (with the band Jambalaya) of his famous song, Back Door, here. How I love this song! I'm not wild about the quality of my video, though, so I invite you to watch the superior video below, which someone filmed at the 2009 Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival:

It was also fun to see people I "knew" from having watched videos before I went to the festival.

Like this good-lookin', good-dancin' couple below:

Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

I first "met" them in the much-viewed video below from the 2009 festival:

Now look at that still photo again (above the video). See the slender guy on the right? In the flappy-eared hat? Well, that's Leon of Cafe des Amis renown, and you can watch him dance in the video here, taken by a visitor to that cafe:

Note: Leon's dance partner is doing a damn fine job herself.

It's pretty hot and sunny in BB, Louisiana, and as I have learned from watching southern Louisianans with parades, they know how to attend a festival. It's first come-first serve at the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, but you can bring your own shade tent and set it up in permissible areas. This is a life-saver when you're at the festival for the long haul. 

Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

Of course, everyone has a chair.

Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

If I were staying longer, I'd definitely invest in one of those folding chairs with its own awning.  Below, you can see one or two of these awning-chairs, but otherwise, you'll see a variety of umbrellas:

Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

I never tire of watching people dance, especially zydeco. It's fun to see the same people at the different venues. You get to know their styles, their signature moves.

Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

(Between you and me, though, I've learned that a lot of people dance whatever the hell they want to zydeco music, especially the jitterbug, the two-step, some form of swing, or just whatever the spirit moves them to do.)  

As my dance teacher said, as long as you're moving to the beat, it really doesn't matter.

DL Menard with Jambalaya, Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival 2014, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana

Lake Martin, Louisiana: In Lotus Bloom

Lotus, Lake Martin, Louisiana

On Father's Day, June 2014, the lotus are in bloom on Lake Martin.

Lotus, Lake Martin, Louisiana

The lotus leaves billow like baby elephant ears when they stand alert from the water.

Lotus, Lake Martin, Louisiana

 When flat on the water surface, birds use the lotus leaves as momentary resting spots.

Lotus, Lake Martin, Louisiana

In the boat, we glide through a field of lotus and dragonflies.

A slide show below, which includes scenes from Lake Martin in June and April 2014 and of January 2012:

#30

Rootless: Life-Work Balance Out of Whack

In his book, The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge used the analogy of a kitchen faucet to make a point about the lag time between making a change and seeing the desired results. Well, it was about more than that, but I'm going to borrow it for my own purpose.

Say you want some warm water. You turn on the hot and cold water handles, but the water remains cold. So you open up the hot water handle some more, and the water's still too cold, so you close up the cold water a little bit, and then all of a sudden the water's too hot, so you have to adjust the hot and cold handles again til you get the temp where you want it. There's always a lag time between an action and a reaction.

I wanted more EFL students so I could increase my income ... and little by little I got more. Yay!

Then came this one night when I realized that even though I'd completed my last class a few hours earlier, I was still doing related administrative work. About the same time, I was wondering, damn, what's happening to my creative life? 

You see what happened is this: I suddenly found myself with too much of a good thing! (I love teaching English online.) There wasn't much administrative work with my online teaching job, but what there was hadn't grown incrementally, it had grown exponentially, with the result that my work-personal life was completely out of whack.

But fortunately, the Universe looked kindly upon me. Because almost to the day that I realized my predicament, a hand reached out to me with an enticing invitation to consider a professional zag from my current zig. I accepted that invitation and one week from tomorrow, I will be working full time and yet have more personal time for creative, tourist-in-residence pursuits than I do now.

I'll still be in the EFL world, but not as an EFL teacher. I am wistful about not teaching, but enthusiastic about my new role. 

For now, I'm looking forward to a resumption of balance.