Beach walking pays off again! In July of 2021, I made it to the Gulf Coast of southwest Louisiana. The purpose of the trip was actually to deliver some furnishings to an Episcopal day school in Lake Charles, a task completed by noon. After lunch, I made a beeline for the coast, traveling straight south on La. Highway 39. Highway 39 is also known as the Creole Nature Trail, and when I have business in the southwest corner of the state, driving the Creole Nature Trail is a must. On this occasion, I drove straight south from Sulphur, La., to…

Lake D’Arbonne in northeast Louisiana is huge: 15, 250 acres. It is a fishermen’s haven: bass, crappie, catfish, bream. On a clear, warm day in April, fishing boats criss-crossing the lake–from jon-boats with small outboards to streamlined bass boats with twin motors–is a constant. Thus turning my kayak to face the oncoming wakes of passing boats was also a constant. Interestingly, the slow jon-boats that sort of wallow through the water rock a 12-foot kayak much more severely than a high-powered bass boat on plane, with only a few inches of propeller actually in the water. Exploring a lake that…

Hooboy, February last year must have been a humdinger. Going through my archive, I find just two photography outings and neither of them amounted to much. I was at Camp Hardtner, but for a meeting and as I was leaving, I stopped in my car on the road to take 6 shots of a flock of robins in the trees along Fish Creek at the edge of camp. Mostly, they showed me their behinds. And I visited Black Bayou Lake NWR once and made about 10 shots, none of which are worthy of standing for the month of February. But…