12 LIVING HERE 2021
LIVING HERE: 6 things bayou residents can treasure 1.
2.
[HOUMA AREA CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU]
4.
[THE COURIER AND DAILY COMET]
5.
[THE COURIER AND DAILY COMET]
[THE COURIER AND DAILY COMET]
3.
[THE COURIER AND DAILY COMET]
6.
[PIXABAY]
Keith Magill Executive Editor The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made some of us, me included, take a step back and consider what Living Here really means. Restrictions on crowds aimed at limiting the deadly virus’s spread have canceled many of festivals, crawfish boils and big family gatherings that help define the place we call home. Let’s take stock of some of the things that make our place in the world special. This is not an exhaustive list, nor is it a ranking. These are simply a few random things I hope will resonate with you. Here’s to Living Here. 1. EACH OTHER I didn’t know a single person when I arrived in Houma fresh out college more than three decades ago, but within a few weeks, someone invited me to a family boucherie in Montegut. I remember how carefree I felt as we danced to Cajun music on their carport, the sun setting in orange, pink and purple over the marsh. This family I hardly knew made me feel at home, which is what I call this place now. You hear it from tourists who come from all over for a taste of the joie de vivre they have only heard about. This way of life — a combination of hard work, strong ties to family and place, and joy despite life’s inevitable ups and downs — is so ubiquitous that it sometimes takes an outsider’s perspective to help us understand how lucky we are. The pandemic has limited our ability to gather together for a festival, a family reunion or a fais-do-so, and that is one of the reasons I treasure such celebrations even more and look forward to their return. 2. THE FOOD The earliest settlers made the best of what they could
gather from the land and water around them, and the flavorful cuisine that resulted is now considered some of the tastiest in the world. As children, we learn how to peel shrimp, crabs and crawfish; we know what makes a well-dressed po-boy; and the man of the house is often as good a cook as the woman. We also know that authentic Cajun cooking is less about hot and spicy than it is about the holy trinity — onions, bell pepper and celery. 3. THE FLORA Bald cypress and live oaks draped in Spanish moss. Bayous lined with lavender irises, white lilies or purple hyacinths. Fan-shaped palmetto waving in the swamps. And those stunning, multicolored sunrises and sunsets over the marsh, a lake or the Gulf of Mexico. Anyone can savor the beauty of the bayou free of charge. Just stop and look around. 4. THE FAUNA The variety of wildlife that surrounds us is breathtaking, and you don’t have to take a boat trip to enjoy it. I’ve seen bald eagles soar over the Gulf Intracoastal
Waterway near my house in Houma and roseate spoonbills (pictured) lounge along the roadside in Cocodrie. While driving, I’ve spotted turtles sunning themselves in Bayou Lafourche, great blue heron flying overhead and those opportunistic egrets walking in procession behind grass-cutters to snatch bugs in the tractors’ wakes. I’ve fed bread to an orange-toothed nutria that emerged from a canal in a friend’s backyard, water-skied among the alligators and waded past snakes and eels covering hurricanes that swamped the community. I don’t recommend that last one, but you get the picture. 5. THE BAYOU Just look at this picture. Or go outside and gaze at the real thing. This is our part of the world. This is the bayou. 6. OUR LIVES Many of us have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Others have suffered severe illness themselves or know others who have. The pandemic has shown residents here and around the world how fragile life is and how it should never be taken for granted.
