by While my most recent posts have been about sights, people and places near Lafayette Louisiana, I am not there. The weather became extremely hot and overwhelmingly humid so about two weeks ago I left and am now in Tucson.
In Tucson–also very hot, but dry–everyone is waiting eagerly for the monsoon to begin bringing welcome daily rains. The monsoon is late this year, 2019.
In Southern Louisiana, on the other hand, everyone was dreading the arrival of Hurricane Barry with good reason. The rivers and bayous already approached flood stage because of floodwaters from the upper midwest. H. Barry could bring a disaster which some weather forecasters claim could be comparable to H. Katrina.
New Iberia murals before the storm
So I decided to post a few photos of murals in Lafayette and New Iberia that will be battered by Barry. I hope they survive intact. More than many other small towns I visited on my travels, New Iberia was clearly making an effort to remain a viable city, not just a place for tourists. (True confession: New Iberia is my favorite southern Louisiana town.)
This distinctive mural on the side of a building in New Iberia represents the “wealth” of the area. From left: sugar cane, music, gumbo, salt, Tabasco sauce, (I’m not sure what the next one is–something French?) and on the far right the Mardi Gras celebration. The simplicity of the graphic design is unusual for a mural. It seems that, usually, when a muralist is given a large space to work with, he/she fills it with complex images, not something as clear and crisp as these figures are.
Facing onto a little-used parking lot, the alligator mural, above, is in New Iberia about two blocks from the Bayou Teche, left. The water in the bayou was about 2-3 feet from the top of the floodwall. The predicted rainfall could push it right over the top.
Murals in Lafayette
This mural on the theme of automobiles is on the side of the tall building that houses the Louisiana Oil Producers group. I love the reflection in the hubcap of two old-time Cajun musicians in a swamp. There are other reflections of local Cajun life in the bumper above it.
Even crawdads celebrate Mardi Gras on this transformer box in downtown Lafayette.
This is one part of an utterly exquisite mural in a parking lot in Lafayette about the life in the swamps of Louisiana. It is about a half a block long and I could not photograph it all in one shot, so here is part of it.
Now these next three photos were also taken in downtown Lafayette, where music is a part of life. As witness: Sola Violins on the main street next to banks and other commercial businesses.
May all of these–and others–avoid serious damage from H. Barry.
A Follow-up After Barry: Lafayette received less than 5 inches of rain but had wind speeds of 60+ miles per hour as Barry passed through. During my stay in Lafayette there was one storm that dropped well over 6 inches of rain–but didn’t have those winds nor an official Weather Service name. I hope all the outdoor art survived. (Note: it did.)
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