Opelousas Road Jambes de Pluie

 

OPELOUSAS ROAD

 

Opelousas Road

Qui a pendu les cornes de la lune 
Sur l'Opelousas Road? 
J'suis parti ‘oir un cœur si noir et 
Bleu comme l'indigo 
Quand la demie lune sourit 
C'est dessus la terre de Tate Cove 
Et j'suis parti 'oir un un cœur si noir et 
Bleu comme l'indigo 

We drive that lonesome highway 
After we've had a few 
And if you can see clearly 
The caution light will wink at you 
J'rentre dans ma paroisse 
Là-bas la lune me semble si croche 
Quand la Plaisance est à ma doigt 
Quand la Prairie Ronde est à ma gauche 

Opelousas Road

Evangeline Parish Moonrise, Ashlee Michot 2015

Opelousas Road

Qui a pendu les cornes de la lune 
Sur l'Opelousas Road? 
J'suis parti ‘oir un cœur si noir et 
Bleu comme l'indigo 
Quand la demie lune sourit 
C'est dessus la terre de Tate Cove 
Et j'suis parti 'oir un un cœur si noir 

Comme le chemin àyou j'rode

We drive that parish highway 
After we've had a few 
And if you can see clearly 
The caution light will wink at you 
J'rentre dans ma paroisse 
Là-bas la lune me semble si proche 
Quand la Plaisance est à ma doigt 

C'est la Prairie Ronde qu'est à ma gauche 

Who hung the horns of the moon
On the Opelousas Road?
J'suis parti ‘oir 

Les yeuxs si noirs

Gros comme des socos

La lune est bien trop croche  

Je passe le chemin de Zydeco

Et j'suis parti 'oir et 

 -guette vos guard 

Prairie icon on Opelousas Road

Opelousas Road Madonna

Opelousas Road

Opelousas Road Good Friday

Allen Joubert's Feed Store

Rainbow Opelousas Road at Plaisance

Pray Opelousas

Femme à Goldman

Opelousas Madonna

On the Opelousas Road

Shop Rite World

Opelousas Road Rider

Praying for the World at the Prairie Ronde Shrine

 I was driving the Opelousas Road today and had a few hours to myself, so I decided to turn off on the Prairie Ronde Highway, a road that despite having passed easily ten thousand times in my life, I had never once traveled down. People ask me if I've photographed the Ave Maria Shrine out there, so I thought today was the day. I traveled the broad turns through the prairie communities of Andrepont and Frilot Cove, places that despite their proximity to my hometown, I had never seen.

It was very peaceful out there on the Prairie Ronde and I could immediately smell the citrus scent of the rose bushes planted around the perimeter of the shrine. I was surprised to find the shrine bustling with people, there were ladies and men holding rosaries and speaking in English and French. 

There was an open air metal pavilion with benches that protected the inner room of the Shrine, and there was a fine mist all around from small tubes piped to spray cooling water on the faithful. It was very misty indeed, and the metal benches and prayer cards got damp if the wind was right, but it was so pleasant and cooled us in the mounting heat of a June afternoon.  In the small central room is a replica of the Fatima statue carved by the same family as the original in Portugal. I spent a good 20 minutes alone in the little shrine listening to the group singing and praying the rosary. It was very cool, and very, very calm in there. The statue in the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima is the most beautiful and peaceful I have ever seen.

I met a Mrs. Soileau who said that I happened to be there on the first Saturday of the month, when it was promised that, if this shrine was built on this "Holy Land" of Prairie Ronde, the Blessed Mother herself would come there for five minutes from 6:00 until 6:05 to take the petitions of the faithful to her son.

Well it was 5:00 and if the Lady herself was coming in an hour, I was sure to stick around. I learned that the group had been there since 3:00 (and really since 1996), praying the rosary repeatedly and also saying the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, which I had never prayed before, and found it to be quite beautiful. I sat on the metal bench praying the rosary and listening to the voices of the women and men, feeling the cool mist and watching trucks and old tractors pass on the road. 


 

For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

At one minute to six they began to ring a bell, and rang it more loudly when the hour came, when a younger man in a blue work shirt opened the door to the shrine, and as if divine light spilled out, everyone fell to their knees and the whole scene went into a silent prayer-scape. The scent of roses again was in the air; all you could hear were the bird songs of the prairie, and the soft hum of the mist, which covered us like dew.

Spray Paint Plaisance Mary

Plaisance Seafoam Mary and Shallots

 
Here is the most beautiful homestead and Mary statue, in my opinion, on the Opelousas Road (Hwy 167) at the village of Plaisance. I always see this man outside doing things, so I stopped on November 1, La Toussaint. I think I was emboldened by the fresh air and the connection with people both past and present that we celebrate today, so I asked to take a few pictures of his statue. When I pulled up he barely stopped cleaning his green onions. The fresh La Toussaint air around his chicken yard was onion-y, you could not escape it, it smelled like the same color of the house. His onions were so clean and white. He was so nice, cleaning and bunching his shallots on the tail gate with a little metal knife. He let me take the pictures of course, saying "go 'head, have ya fun," and told me that he'd just moved the statue from an arbor he made that was destroyed in a storm, so he had moved her next to the house. That made sense, because I had never seen the Mary there until recently, and I had been obsessed with the colors of the beautiful sea foam house next to the Zydeco Festival sign since forever. He showed me an ice chest full of the prettiest, greenest "mustards" you ever saw... that sharp, onion smell was in the air... I thanked him profusely, and left him to his pleasurable work. 

Tasse Cafe- les Bus Drivers des Annees Passees

As heard on the Tasse Cafe Radion Program at kvpi.com

Les Bus Drivers des Années Passées

On va quitter ça comme ça... (We gonna leave it like that...)

ti dis ti viens de la campagne? (You say you come from the country?)

le bus à Monsieur Lee Fuselier, il nous a ramené sur le chemin d'Opelousas (Mister Lee Fuselier's bus brought us to the Opelousas road)

Ça c'était eine autre affaire dessus ça  (That was another thing (on that))

let me tell you, dat Belaire don't mess around! You didn't tchiquailler around with him, no, he'd leave you!  (Let me tell you that person descended from Augustin Belaire Fontenot (b. 1798) did not mess around! You didn't waste time with him, he'd leave you!)

Écoute, mon premier bus driver quand j'allais à l'école... ( Listen, my first bus driver when I went to school...)

le premier school bus moi j'ai ride à l'école c'était le bus à Monsieur Doux ( the first bus I rode to school was Mister Sweet's bus)

Mister Doux was always ready to drive the bus somewhere. If you needed something you always could call Mister Doux, cause he was always ready to "do" it!

Oh yeah, he lived right there by slap ya mama.

"Downtown L'anse Belaire" ( Downtown Cove of the Belaires)

Ça fait, on est gone charrer pour le K and B grocery, ça c'est au but du grand chemin... (So, we are going to talk about K and B grocery, at the end of main street...)

j'vous embarrass pas de trop, hein!? ( I don't embarrass yall too much, huh?)

allons parler pour Family Hair and Gifts, àyou tu peut trouver tout les bebelles t'après garder pour...( Let's talk about Family Hair and Gifts, where you can find all of the little play thing you are looking for.)

moi j'ai ride dans bus de Monsieur Le Pipe et là, je drive le bus à Pop à Theophile Road ( Me I rode Mister The Pipe's bus and now I drive the dad's bus on the Theophile road.)

on est gone charrer pour Ardoin's Salvage, mais c'est connu comme le Burn Store. Mike, lui, il a hâlé tout les artiques dessus ça... ( we are going to talk about Ardoin's Salvage store, but, it's known as the Burn Store. Mike, him, he hauled all kinds of articles on that...)

La chasse? Ouais, on a fait ein à la Grande Prairie et ein à la GoYo...le Goyo c'est entre Washington and Grand Prairie, you know the Grand Prairie school? Mais, across from that, that's the GoYo... ( a hunt? oh yeah, we made one at the Big Prairie and one at the Goyo. The Goyo is between Washington and the Big Prairie...)

Ç'etait pas les chemins gravaille, non! Ç'etait ein chemin de terre..(it wasnt gravel roads, no! It was some dirts of earth, dirt roads.)

Les Jambes de Pluie

It was the rainiest summer in a long time, it seems, at least out here in Prairie. It rained before and after (and on in most areas) St. Medard, the 8th of June, and then it rained for more than forty days total afterward, with maybe a two week break in there. There were lots of chances to photograph les jambes de pluie, the legs of the rain.

les jambes de pluie marching across the millet fields of the PDF on the eve of St. Médard

jambes on the Opelousas Road

jambes to the southwest

les jambes de pluie sur la plairie

jambes a Whiteville

Jambes à Lanse de Tate