Panorama of South Louisiana, by Gypsy Damaris Boston

This is a road trip from North Louisiana to South Louisiana, represented in an essay called “Panorama” by Gypsy Damaris Boston, and narrated by her granddaughter, Katy Hobgood Ray.  The essay is from her collection of published nature observations, Dear Louisiana, Love Gypsy.

Gypsy's mantra has always been, "Stop, look and listen.... Nature is at work for you." Some excerpts from this essay:

From the pine-covered red clay hills of north Louisiana, to the moss-draped live oaks of the black and coffee grounds-land of south Louisiana, I watched Nature’s pageant of beauty and look at our state with pride and delight.

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The rains that caused so much trouble made everything lush and green. The water hyacinths are beautiful!

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Young boys tell of filling sandbags to protect the levee. When the water would wash the sand out of the bags, bags of shells were used to slow the water and the sand bags were placed behind them. An additional problem developed when the continuing winds pushed the tides inland on the bayous and would not permit rainwater to drain anywhere.

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I look at a small pirogue hewn out of a cypress log. I am surprised to see it painted…It is shallow, slightly pointed at the end, and the smooth walls look no thicker than a bread board. There is a trick to paddling a pirogue.

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I eat seafood gumbo cooked as the French do and served with French bread. The loaf weighs only eight ounces but it is over 30 inches long.

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