Showing posts with label Coushatta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coushatta. Show all posts

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Take a Trip to Coushatta, See the Lawnmower Man, and a Crop Duster

Living in the deep South has its advantages sometimes.

I will probably never have enough money to travel to Europe or take fancy cruises around the world and that's fine; I've always been pretty adept at making the best of where I am.

I'm reminded of how beautiful Louisiana can be whenever I drive Highway 1 south.  Steve and I drove down to Coushatta today for our annual pilgrimage to Ed Lester Farms and as is our way, we eschew the interstate and take the back roads.  Not that Highway 1 is exactly a "back road," but it is less traveled now that the folks in a hurry use I-49.  We are never in a hurry.

Long time readers may remember my 2010 post down this same road.

And 2011.

And 2012.

You get the idea.

Anyway, as we drove today you could certainly tell that we have had good rains this spring.  Everything is lush and green.   There was water in most of the roadside ditches and naturally we saw some guys crawfishing in one of them; they were pulling up nets filled with squirming crawfish.

Speaking of lush and green, when you get to Ed Lester's you're tempted to stay a while.


Take a seat among the caladiums, listen to music, and people watch.


We loaded up on peppers, tomatoes, corn, squash, cucumbers, and a bushel of pinto beans.


Oh and potatoes!


Not everything has come in yet, so I'll make a few more trips down there before summer is over.


From there we made our obligatory stop at Bailey's for big, greasy, delicious burgers.


We always end up sharing the picnic table with someone and today was no exception.  We met a nice couple from Shreveport who had hooked up their pop-up camper and hit the road.  We sat and ate our lunch together, had a nice visit, and parted ways.


Steve and I hit downtown Coushatta...


...and we went into an antique shop where I bought a nifty Murano whale.  His tale has a little chip so he only cost $10 but I don't care.  I liked it.


There was an odd mannequin:


We visited with the show owner for a while, pet the shop cat ("Pie") and then headed over to Nichols.  If you've never been to a Nichols, it's like a small town WalMart except everyone is friendly and the store is clean.  You can buy shotgun shells, baby clothes, and galvanized washtubs.  Steve bought weedeater string and some 30w motor oil.  I bought a gift bag and some super glue.  I love Nichols.



It was time to head back home so we made a pass through town and past an old school to get back to the highway and I had a "True Detective" deja-vu moment.  At this abandoned school there was a guy on a riding lawnmower cutting the grass, riding in a big circle.



We had to circle around the block several times before I could take the picture and I never did get it just right, but when I first saw him, well, it looked right out of "True Detective." (pay no attention to the red arrow; it's the only picture I could find that looked like what I saw).  I am easily amused.


The old school was neat, though.


I guess you had to be there.

There's a new funeral home in town; Now Open.



Good ol' Shakey Ray is still in business.


But, we had to get home and shell pinto beans.

What is it about driving over a river that makes me always want to take a picture?


Crop duster!


That was pretty cool.


Sometimes you have to take pleasure in the little things.  Like a lone tree in a field.


Or a swamp.


Or a relic from another life.


The corn looks good!


And, of course, there are cows.  I like cows.


Once back in town we stopped at Bergeron's for boudin balls and smoked chicken wings to go with our veggie dinner.



And you know, if you looked back at the posts from years past of this same trip, it seems that I always take pictures of the same things.  Vegetables.  Cows.  Bailey's.   And that's okay...I guess that's why I'm content and happy where I am because I always look at things with a different perspective or a different eye.  Sometimes we over look the fun in our own backyard as we look for loftier things.

Would I like to go to Italy or to Oktoberfest in Munich?  Sure, but meanwhile, I've got Coushatta!

Tomorrow we are going to a friend's birthday party.  The invitation said we would grill burgers and shoot skeet!  When I asked what I could bring, the answer was "Bring your gun and whatever you want to drink!"
Like I said, living in the Deep South has its advantages.  Where else would you get an invitation to bring a gun and alcohol to a party?

Gotta love it!



The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:
Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to the Fourth Annual Barksdale AFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to the Third Annual BAFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation
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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Take a Trip to the "Going Green on the Red River" Festival


COUSHATTA:  Steve and I headed down to Coushatta today, daring the rain, for the third annual Going Green on the Red River festival at the Coushatta fairgrounds.  You know you're in rural Louisiana when you can stop and buy raccoon meat at the market.

As I understand it, this is the third year for the festival and it's still growing.  The guy selling boudin told us that this was the best attendance he's seen in the three years he's been there.  The organizers at the Red River Chamber of Commerce worked hard to pull everything together this year and it turned out to be a really nice little festival.

Alas, not everything was perfect!  We knew the day was in trouble when we went by Bailey's for our favorite greasy hamburgers and it was closed.  The sign said they were closed due to a family emergency so I'm going to pray hard that everything is okay.  They are nice people there and serve a great burger!  This is what I wanted for lunch:



We were meeting friends Gary and Kay for lunch there before the festival so we had to scramble for an alternate plan, finally deciding just to go on to the fairgrounds and eat at the festival.

That  turned out to be a good plan.  We ended up getting BBQ from Jackson's Bend BBQ at the festival grounds.  I got a sausage plate (so much for the diet) and Steve got a rib plate.  Excellent!


Yes, that's Chicken Feet on the menu.  I took a pass on that.

Steve and Gary clowning around waiting on our food:



I was pretty thrilled to get to hear Micki Fuhrman Milom singing as we walked up to the bandstand today.  I've always loved her voice and she is a sweet, sweet lady.


She was sitting in with Airhart for "Red River Valley":


The art contest winners were announced and there were some happy winners!


One of the bands, Twang Darkly, had some unusual instruments, including a handmade electric gourd:


After lunch and a little music I had to walk around a little.  There was a Kids Zone with a bounce house and other activities to keep them entertained:


This cute fellow was flying his kite:


The rain was holding off so we felt pretty lucky.

This was a popular booth for the kids, too:


Of course I had to shop at the jewelry booth:


Some pretty cool birdhouses caught my eye:


The crowd came and went through the day; this picture made me laugh because the first thing I noticed when I looked at it was all the folks pecking on their cell phones.  This is especially ironic because cell service there was minimal at best.


The day started off with a car contest, a karaoke contest, and a treasure hunt before we got there.

I thought this kid was cute with his little friend perched on the edge of his table:


The Matthew Davidson Band played about 6:00:


Matthew Davidson is a wonderful guitar player, especially for his age, and will go far.   He's a very polite and personable young man, too.  There's a lot to be said for good manners these days!


We were holding out for the headliner Soulfish Blues Band to come on at 9:00 but as luck would have it, storm winds blew in and they had to call the festival before the last two bands came on stage.  Nobody was interested in getting hit by lightning out there.


That lovely blue sky in that picture is nice but to my back was a bank of black, ugly clouds and lots of lightning so we all packed up and moved out.

Storm or not, it was a nice day in Coushatta and we enjoyed the festival.  We will go back next year and watch it grow!  It's a nice, family friendly event that seems to be getting better each year.


The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:
Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to the Fourth Annual Barksdale AFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to the Third Annual BAFB Oktoberfest 
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation
Take a Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Oktoberfest at BAFB
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Monday, April 22, 2013

Going Green on the Red River

Steve and I will be heading to the grand metropolis of Coushatta this Saturday for their Going Green festival!

They've got a fabulous musical line up!  The Matthew Davidson Band is fabulous!

Why don't you make plans to come join us?

And look!  At 9:00 the Soulfish Blues Band is playing! Woot!

Can't wait!
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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Take A Stocking the Freezer Trip to Ed Lester Farms and Find a Cool Truck!

Ah, summer!

We're on baby watch around here - NO not me!  Horrors!  My beautiful daughter and her husband are expecting my first grandchild within the month so we are not getting too far away from the house these days in case we have to throw a suitcase in the Jeep and drive over to Texas for a few days.   Here she is at about 24 weeks in - I like this picture.


We are very blessed that things have gone smoothly so far!

Baby watch.

So, keeping close to the house but wanting fresh veggies from Ed Lester Farms, Steve and I headed down to Coushatta today to start stocking the freezer for the winter.  I love having fresh purple hull peas or butter beans year round (although Steve is about SICK of purple hull peas now).

Once at Lesters I could hardly pay attention to the produce because I kept looking at this gorgeous 1952 Chevy truck sitting there:


My goodness but that thing was gorgeous!  The interior was spectacular!  Beautiful!

I did finally manage to focus on the task at hand and starting picking up veggies:


This trip we got new potatoes, sweet corn, tomatoes, a bushel of purple hulls (already shelled!), pinto beans (not shelled), yellow squash, okra, cucumbers, hot peppers, and peaches.  We're going to make at least one more trip down because the butter beans aren't in yet, there's more corn coming, and I like the larger freestone peaches that are still to come.  And always more tomatoes!

We can never go to Coushatta without our regular stop at Bailey's for a big ol' greasy cheeseburger.  They have other things, too...


...but I do love those burgers!

After we ate we checked out a recently opened antique shop on Front Street:


It's in a grand old building and check out that tin ceiling!  Love it!  I bought these funky glass candlesticks for $10:


When we got home Steve and I set to work shelling pinto beans...


...some of which I cooked for dinner:


I love summer!




The SIGIS Take a Trip Series:
Take a Trip to the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at BAFB
Take a Springtime Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden, LA
Take a Trip to Logansport, Louisiana
Take a Trip to the Lock and Dam on Red River
Take a Trip to the 2012 Barkus and Meoux Parade
Take a Christmas Shopping Trip to Second Hand Rose in Minden
Take a Trip to Grand Cane's Fifth Annual Pioneer Trade Day
Take a Trip to the 2011 Highland Jazz & Blues Festival
Take an Autumn Trip to Jefferson, Texas
Take a Fall Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to the 8th Air Force Museum at Barksdale Air Force Base
Take a Summertime Trip to Grand Cane
Take a Trip to Desoto Parish
Take a Summer Trip to Second Hand Rose Antiques in Minden
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Melrose Plantation 
Take a Trip to Ed Lester Farms and a Random Antique Stop
Take a Trip to the Norton Art Gallery and the Masters of Cuban Art Exhibit
Take a Trip to Natchitoches to See the Christmas Lights
Take a Trip to Natchitoches and Oakland Plantation
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