Week 34

OK, OK, I know I always say we've never seen this much water, but really, this morning was SO wet!  The storm came in about 4:30 am and rained for only a couple of hours, but the amount of water was incredible.  When we went to church, field after field looked like rice and crawfish ponds instead of plowed fields.  Couldn't even see the tops of the furrows.  Some yards were completely under water, and the Red River was back up to the level it was in January when we'd had weeks of rain on and off.  (Year-to-date, we've had 26" of rain.)

More like lakes than fields

Red River Rising

The fun highlight of this week was the swamp tour.  We had intended to do that last week to celebrate our anniversary, but the weather wouldn't let us.  This Friday was beautiful, so we headed south to a town called Breaux Bridges, a little way past Lafayette.  There were only eight people on the tour boat, and the tour guide, Allen, was fabulous.  I'll apologize in advance for all the pictures; they really don't do justice to how incredibly beautiful the swamp was.  (This is one of those things young missionaries are not allowed to do, but seniors can--there have to be some benefits for being old, wise, and sensible.)

The word 'swamp' conjures up images of stinky, murky water but that's not how it was.  A swamp is a flooded forest--it generally starts with a bayou (a slow moving stream) that eventually enlarges to lake-size.  The main trees that grow there are cypress, and they can live to be 2000 years old.  The other main tree is the gum.  It only lives for about 60-80 years, but its leaves ward off mosquitoes.  Hanging from most trees is Spanish moss.  It isn't a parasite, but rather an epiphyte (lives on air) and it actually benefits the tree.  The moss helps keep the air clean, and grasses help keep the water clean.  Over a lot of the surface of the water is duck moss.  It is actually like teeny tiny water lilies with a flower beneath the surface.

One of the purposes of a swamp tour is seeing alligators, and we saw lots of them.  They lay eggs in June and December, and usually go to the same area to nest.  The guides get to recognize some of them.  They call one mama gator Stella, and I said our granddaughter would be happy to know a nice alligator is named after her.  When we got near her, she raised her head (an aggressive gesture) and shortly began hissing.  It was really quite a menacing sound.  The guide said they only do that when guarding the nest or the eggs, and he quickly backed us away. 

After a while we came to an area where there were several baby alligators.  Allen said they are six months old, and the mother has been leaving them more and more.  The babies have to feed themselves from the time they hatch, but the mother stays around to protect them for about six months.  She was not anywhere near, and we got an up close and personal look at the little ones.

One area of the swamp is closed to tour boat for several months because it's a sanctuary area for migratory wading birds.  We couldn't go in, but we could get close enough to see so many great white egrets, great blue herons, little green herons, spoonbills, and many others as they flew around. 

OK--here come the pictures:

Cypress with Spanish moss, Asian hyacinth, dead gum tree

Baby alligators

Mama Stella on top, two others along the way

Red lichen grows only on north side of trees; duck moss

Various critters (notice the turtle covered with duck moss as he surfaces)

Cypress knees--roots that help stabilize trees as they grow, but they don't become trees themselves

Egret, heron, anhinga (snake birds), and an osprey 

After our two-hour tour, we went into Lafayette to each lunch.  I picked a place called The Blue Dog, and was surprised to find that it had been started by George Rodrigue--the artist famous for the blue dog paintings.  He was born in New Iberia (not far from Lafayette) and started painting scenes from his neighborhood.  His blue dog paintings started as an attempt to capture a Cajun legend of loup-garou.  The restaurant is full of his paintings, and the food was excellent.  Kerby had crawfish enchiladas, and I had shrimp and grits; both outstanding!

Blue Dog

We had a pretty successful day finding less active members in Marksville this week.  We needed to wait a short time to go to one house, so we stopped at this historical spot--the DeFosse House.  It's the oldest home in Mansura, circa 1790. Isn't that sort of amazing??

At the prison this week we discussed several parables (as per Come Follow Me study guide).  When one prisoner read the parable of the prodigal son aloud, he and another inmate got choked up.  It was so tender--these men have surely felt like the prodigal son and already have learned or are learning about the deep measure of the Savior's grace and mercy.  It touched them and it touched us.