Showing posts with label True Detective. Show all posts
Showing posts with label True Detective. 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, March 8, 2014

Checking In


Sometimes life takes us in the strangest directions, and sometimes it takes you exactly where you somehow knew you were meant to go.

Cryptic?

A little, I guess.  Things have been so busy at school this week: some of it truly work related and some of it self-imposed.  We are gearing up for our standardized testing soon and that's involved a little extra time this week, what with meetings, in-service training, and coding sessions.  Wednesday was just crazy: I had duty before school and at lunch, a meeting during my planning period on testing, taught three classes, and had a meeting across town after school.  Thankfully, that's not a typical day.

The self-imposed part comes from the fact that I'm behind in grading papers and research papers and grades are due next week.  That's my fault.  Ever since my two friends at work got me tuned in to HBO's True Detective, I got lost for about three weeks getting caught up on past episodes and then down the rabbit-hole of the internet in all the conjecture theories.  It's been a truly fascinating ride and as much as I'll hate to say goodbye to Rust and Marty tomorrow, in a way I'll be a little glad.  Maybe I can get back to my life!  True Detective is an absolutely brilliant show: the writing is amazing.  Just mail the Emmys to Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrellson, Nic Pizzolatto, and the cinematography people.  That's a lock.  Best show on TV.  Maybe ever.  I'm serious.

Anyway, life goes on.

I've picked up a weekly paid blogging slot at Da Tech Guy's place and so that's another item on my list of things to do.  I'm honored by the invitation and am looking forward to getting to know some new people there.

And finally, I'm in the very early stages of a new project.  I don't want to jinx anything by talking about it much just yet, but I'm very excited about it.  It's a good fit for me.  It will be a quite extensive project and take a lot of time and focus, but it'll be worth it.  And as a very wise woman once said, "you can't tell what you can do till you do it," we shall see!  I'll fill in more details as things progress.

So, if the blogging gets a little slow here, don't give up on me.  It's not burnout this time.  That same wise lady I just mentioned also pointed out that "you can't serve two masters!"  And so I may have to slow down here to keep focus elsewhere.

Have a happy weekend and light a little candle for me as I venture down this new path.  I'll be checking in.

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Thursday, February 20, 2014

"Let's make the car a place of silent reflection from now on."

Are you watching this freakin' show?!  True Detective on HBO?

I'm so damn addicted!

No spoilers - I'm catching up to the most recent episode, but oh my gosh Matthew McConaughey is mesmerizing!  For those who have no idea, this show is about two Louisiana State Police detectives who were investigating a serial killer in 1995.  The show is framed around current day interviews with the two detectives who are obviously no longer on the job.  They are being interviewed about the case (separately) because supposedly all the files and records were destroyed in a hurricane.  The then-and-now intertwines and intermingles and soon you realize there is more going on here.  The acting is phenomenal, the writing is airtight, and the photography is stunning.  I haven't been this excited about television since The Sopranos.

A couple of friends at work told me I needed to watch this show:  "It's the most tightly written show I've ever seen!", one said.  The other told me she's had to watch episodes a couple of times to catch everything.  I find this to be true.  I'm so caught up with the photography, the scenery, and the filters they're using I miss dialogue.

It is just so Louisiana.  My friend said, "That's what is so cool about it.  It IS Louisiana; it's the flower in the swamp."

From Shane Ryan at Paste:

This is McConaughey in long hair, beat down by life, trying to convince himself and the detectives interviewing him that whatever state he finds himself in is a kind of “victory”; he knows himself, he says, after years of toil he has resolved that he’s a drunk living in the middle of nowhere, waiting for death. But the charisma of this man … this is where words begin to fail, if they haven’t already. McConaughey is almost too goddam massive for the screen. Watching him act, as latter-day Rust, is one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had with TV. He’s beaten-down, but he can’t hide the life force that struggles to emerge. The medium can barely contain him; he belongs in a spaceship among alien beings. There’s something bursting out, and when he delivers certain lines—“start asking the right fucking questions,” for one—the experience is so visceral your own blood starts to pound. And Fukunaga, who, thank God, is directing all eight episodes, knows the weapon at his disposal. He lets the camera linger on Rust’s face at length, allowing McConaughey to dance from emotion to emotion with a word, with an expression. Working in tandem, they only need a moment to devastate.

I'm kind of like this reviewer: I'm almost speechless about this show.

If you aren't watching this show, get HBO, find a friend with HBO, something, but watch.  It's amazing.  But don't leave any spoilers in the comments if you're already watching!  I'm going now to get all caught up.
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