Lake Charles, Louisiana

When I was young and driving from Baton Rouge to Houston and San Antonio with my mother and grandparents to visit family, we always stopped at Lake Charles to walk on the beach.  Sometimes we stayed by the lake long enough to eat lunch on the picnic tables by the beach. Our picnic lunches were usually sandwiches wrapped in waxed paper with a toothpick, carrots in Saran Wrap, water in a jar, Fritos and Moon Pies. 

I am continuing the tradition by stopping in Lake Charles to walk on the beach when I drive through.  Instead of picnicking on the beach I am making a list of restaurants to try in Lake Charles, La Truffe Sauvage is at the top of my list. If you have any recommendations let me know.
lisa@lisaqualls.com

I am teaching a paper and surface design workshop at the Masur Museum in Monroe, LA.  If you are in the area think about attending.  It will be fun!

Space is limited, so registration and payment are required in advance. The workshop will be held Saturday, November 8th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (with an hour for lunch). $60 per student.

About the Class:

Students will make cards, envelopes and paper ornaments using papers that they have designed with mixed-media techniques.  To create surface designs on the papers students will use encaustic media, gelatin plates, silk screens and stencils.  Glitters and collage materials can be used to embellish the surface designs.

The workshop will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with one hour for lunch.  Students are welcome to work through lunch and bring their lunch with them, or leave for lunch. This class is for high school students and adults. Space is limited, so payment is required in advance.

All materials will be provided. However, Students are welcome to bring their own paper ephemera, favorite paints, brushes, markers, pencils, etc... to use in the workshop.

To Register:

Space is limited, so registration and payment are required in advance.

Contact Jenny Burnham at (318) 329-2237 or email info@masurmuseum.org to reserve your space in the class.

Pointe Coupee and Ernest J. Gaines

I have been thinking of Southern writing a lot lately.  Traveling through Pointe Coupee has inspired me to reread the work of Ernest J. Gaines.  One of my favorite novels The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and the wonderful actress Cicely Tyson who starred in the film version of the book introduced me to Gaines' work.  Interesting that Gaines and Tyson were born in the same year, 1933, during the Great Depression. I look forward to reading more of Gaines' novels including Catherine Carmier his first novel.

Ernest J. Gaines was wonderfully inspired by the people of Louisiana. He and his wife live in Oscar, LA on HWY 1 on part of the old plantation where he grew up.  I must have driven by his house the other day and did not realize it.  

A short biography of Gaines here.  Below, Gaines in 1995 near River Lake Plantation where he was born and raised and where his ancestors lived as slaves and afterward as sharecroppers.

A Stormy October Day

On October 13th I drove to Baton Rouge from Monroe completely missing the storm and tornado that hit W. Monroe and Monroe.  I left Baton Rouge as a heavy thunderstorm was hitting there. Just north of Baton Rouge and up LA Hwy 1 I drove through miles and miles of vivid green landscapes and glowing stormy skies.  

I drove up along the False River, through New Roads, near the Mississippi and later by Old Raccouri River.  This bright little Piggly Wiggly store was in Mansura.  The drive along Hwy 1 is beautiful. Beautiful farms and stunning old houses including Parlange Plantation are visible from the highway.  There is such rich visual material and culture in the area that it will take days to explore. Since the drive I have discovered a book put out by the University of Louisiana Press, New Roads and Old Rivers about this area, Pointe Coupee Parish, one of the 64 parishes in Louisiana.

Note:  Parlange Plantation is privately owned by can be visited.  Parlange Plantation is located on 8211 False River Rd./Hwy. 1 at New Roads. It is privately owned, but open by appointment only; there is a fee charged. Please call 225-638-8410 for further information.

Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Black Bayou Lake

Visitors Center

The gravel trails and wooden walkways are well maintained and clear with the occasional  horse apple or maclura pomifera.

A visit to Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge will take you just out of the city to a wooded area around the lake, the lake itself and the visitors and education centers.  The Visitors Center is a residence built around 1885 by Lemuel and Ann "Mattie" McLain.  Modifications were made to the house in 1900 and in 1998 it was moved to its current site from 1/4 mile away from its origin. The house was part of the Richland Plantation owned by Mattie's family. The area and town had been known as Crosley, LA.  Lemuel oversaw the farming on Richland Plantation and he and Mattie lived in their "country house" and their house in the city of Monroe.  

Cotton was farmed on this land until 2001.  Since then the forests have been replanted with native hardwoods that would have been in the virgin bottomland near the lake.

The visitors center is run by a friendly and knowledgeable staff and group of volunteers.  The displays are well-done and very informative.  They have information about the hardwood forests, wildlife and plants.  There is a small display of archeological items, tools and potter shards dating 2000 years ago and older.  A display with recorded songs of local bird is done very nicely.  Another audio kiosk has information about different areas and animals.  The gift shop has some wonderful finds: cookbooks, t-shirts, finger puppets, jewelry, laminated guides to birds of Louisiana, fish, snakes, etc...

Next door a historic barn houses displays of live animals: snakes, small alligators, fish and turtles including a glass wall aquarium between the displays and the classroom.  

Gravel pathways and wooden walkways take visitors around through a prairie area, around the lake and out into the lake.  There are several trails and distances to choose from.  A separate parking lot has easy access to a boat dock.  

Information about the refuge can be found here:
http://www.fws.gov/northlouisiana/blackbayoulake/findus.html

More information about Louisiana wetlands:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetlands_of_Louisiana

The Biedenharn Museums in Monroe, LA

Front and side of the Coke Museum

Street View of the Bible Museum

Biedenharn House, Bible Museum and Coca-Cola Museum on Riverside Drive in Monroe, LA.

This wonderful complex of museums is on the edge of the Garden District and next to Forsyth Park. My first surprise was how reasonable the entrance fee for all of the museums is, $6.  Guests are invited to buy a coke for 5 cents vintage nickel coke machine.

The tour starts at the Coke Museum with an excellent video on the history of coca-cola bottling by Joseph Biedenharn, next a very informative talk by the soda jerk at the soda fountain about the the history of the bottles, syrup, bottling in different parts of the world and onto the displays with Coke products and packaging.  The gift shop has a wonderful array of items such as Coca-Cola Christmas ornaments, magnets and other things. Glass ornaments, textiles and gift items that relate to the gardens and the Biedenharn House are also available in the gift shop.

The Bible Museum is located two houses north of the Coke Museum.  This collection and presentation was a wonderful surprise.  Ms. Emy-Lou Biedenharn was an avid collector of illustrated bibles, pages from antique bibles, ancient coins and artwork relating to the bible.  Among the many incredible objects in this museum are some beautiful Russian icons, a book illustrated by Jacob Lawrence and a collection of antiquities - coins from the Bible and oil lamps. There are also items in the Biedenharn home that relate to this collection such as the Bible illustrated by Salvidor Dali.

The Biedenharn home and the garden are spectacular.  The gardens are maintained by three full time gardeners and have areas to sit and to walk.  A European arrangement of formal shrubs is near the house.  Crepe myrtles, Japanese maples, an assortment of azalea varities as well as tropical plants and flowers border the expansive green lawn.

The house built by Joseph Biedenharn and modified by his daughter Emy-Lou sits facing the Ouachita river.  The levee now blocks the view but originally the view to the river was unobstructed and access to docks on the river an easily walkable distance.  Each room in the house was treated like a separate gallery and decorated uniquely by Emy-Lou.  What once was the front porch has been closed in and made into a open and light filled entrance to the house with a tiled floor and a fountain. Downstairs are the formal living room, a music  room, dining room, kitchen and lounge area with a view of the garden.

Upstairs are high ceilinged bedrooms, a paneled study and a bathroom disguised as a starlet's dressing room.

Some highlights in the house are hand gilded hallway and ceiling, hand painted wall paper, hand painted porcelain collections, an heirloom bed from Vicksburg and bamboo bed and unique chandelier and a room full of Emy-Lou's opera memorabilia including a recording of her singing.

http://www.bmuseum.org/

View of the Biedenharn home from Forsyth Park

View of Elsong Garden from the street

Rear wall of garden with street lamps and mossy field

Cooley House, Monroe, LA

Front and side view of the Cooley House 

I was invited by Helen Vanderhoeven to meet at the Cooley House at 1400 South Grand Street in Monroe, LA with a group of wonderful women.  Laverne Bodron and Jorenda Stone spoke to the group about the Cooley House.  The talks covered the background of Monroe in the 1920's, the Cooley family and the architect Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion Mahony Griffin who was also an architect.  The talk included a tour of the house which is currently being restored and is on the National Register of Historic Places in the US.  The house is especially significant because it represents a mixture of Griffin's designs in the US and in Australia.

http://www.cooleyhouse.org/

Walking along the levee in Monroe.  Yachts and houseboats docked here and there on the Ouachita River. Here someone's meditation spot nestled in the lush landscape.

Findings from walk. The smell of pine needles, birds chirping. Spider lillies and chestnut hulls. Spider Lily bulbs were brought to United States from Japan in 1854.