PART I: LOUISIANA

“C’est bon?”

my paternal grandmother would ask after setting down our plates of food.
“C’est bon!” we’d respond while scarfing down rice and gravy or another of her cajun meals.

Ma Grace's House in Kaplan, LA, pen and watercolor 11x14"

Ma Grace lived in the same house (above) for 50 years where she raised 4 sons, including my dad.
Forever the sweet, earthy smell of a fig tree reminds me of her.
She froze the figs from her yard and we ate the thawing, juicy fruit at the big table in her small kitchen.

Ma Grace with her sons in the kitchen, 1975

My brother and I with my dad's parents, early 90s

The motel my family stayed at when visiting Louisiana. [Sunnyside Motel Sign, colored pencil on toned paper 8x8"]

Haystacks in Maurice, LA, pen and watercolor 6x18"

The rice mill my paternal grandfather worked at, as it looked in 2019. [Rice Mill in Kaplan, LA, pen and watercolor 18x24"]

“Teet crote!”

my maternal grandmother exclaimed when I was behaving bad. It means “little shit” in Cajun French.
She lived on a corner of her parent’s cattle farm (below) and raised four kids, including my mom.

Family Farm in Abbeville, LA with an inset photograph of my great-grandparents, pen and watercolor 18x24"

Family Farm in Abbeville, LA with an inset photograph of my great-grandparents, pen and watercolor 18x24"

Granny always took an afternoon nap. The house would be dark and quiet.
I’d sneak into the pantry for a Little Debbie cake to eat while I watched Bob Ross in the playroom.
I now have a chair in my living room that was in that playroom. When I sit into it, the smell of her house wafts up.
Even though I’ve had the chair for 10 years, her scent still persists.

Granny's kitchen, she's standing at the stove

Granny's kitchen when I was growing up (I'm in the green shirt)

My mother's parents, photo taken in the late 1940s

My greatgrandparents who owned the cattle farm

The memories of my grandparents are what come up when I think of Louisiana.
Despite us moving to Texas when I was 5, we always stayed connected to this place.

Three Blue Silos in Louisiana, pen and watercolor 18x24"

Three Blue Silos in Louisiana, pen and watercolor 18x24"

The Roadtrip Show

“C’est bon?”

“Teet crote!”