Friday Photo

Ginger and I made a trip to our local Wildlife and Refuge Center at Black Bayou this week. It's one of my favorite places to go. It's hot out there right now and trying to get there when the light is right for taking pictures is hard for me. It's not that far away, but nothing is a straight route in Louisiana. Most roads wind and meander around rivers, bayous and creeks. Very little is laid out in neat squares like you see in the Midwest, where I originally hail from.

My friend Margaret and I used to eat lunch there when we were still working and before she passed away from cancer. It was the most peaceful place to be and we saw lots of wildlife and plenty of the natural, swampy snake and gator infested waters of our area. We also stopped at a couple of other locations along Bayou Desiard for some shots. Not surprisingly, I chose pictures from that outing to post for today's Friday Photo.

 

This first picture is of Ginger sitting on one of the benches on the pier where Margaret and I used to have lunch. We saw several boaters and some fishermen (and women) while we walked the pier. I encouraged her to jump up so I could get pictures of her and liked this one where she is reacting to the sun in her eyes.

 

This is a picture of the arboretum, which sits near the Learning and Welcome Centers. I just think it is a neat structure. There are so many talented photographers in our area who take pictures here that I feel what I'm posting doesn't do justice to what's there.

 

This picture was taken on Bayou Desiard behind the CenturyLink building where I used to work before I retired at the end of 2003. It was CenturyTel back then. I used to walk this road back to the Wildlife and Fisheries buildings on the other side of the bayou for exercise or as a getaway from office routine. 

This young man, along with some other people who I assume were family members or friends, told me he was fishing for whatever he could catch. He said the only thing he had caught up to that point was a turtle, which he released. There were always lots of turtles in the water and sunning on the stones that braced the embankment for this small bridge when I walked down this road a few years ago. 

It's not uncommon to see fishermen (and women) along the roadsides here, fishing in the bayous or even seining the ditches for crawfish when they are in season. I've had some wonderful conversations with a few of those people, most of whom were very pleasant and interesting. I certainly enjoyed talking with this gentleman and his group today.