Abbeville: Big Art Toy

Mural in progress, Abbeville, Louisiana. March 2015.

It's cool to see a mural in the making. Makes me think of how many eons we've been doing such things, going back to caveman times.

In this case, the muralist is Robert Dafford, being assisted by another accomplished artist, Craig McMullen, aka Whoojoo, on a mural in Abbeville, Louisiana.

Mural in progress, Abbeville, Louisiana. March 2015.

Mr. Dafford's project in Abbeville is to .... "depict the musical heritage of Abbeville as well as popular local seafood, both of which continue to be major draws for tourism. An oyster can currently be seen on the mural with work on an accordion about to be painted on city hall." (Source: VermilionToday)

Accordion, accordion ...ohhhhhhhh, I see it now!

Not to take one little thing from this lovely mural, but I was completely impressed by the lift machine Mr. Dafford used to maneuver himself and his colleague into place. The video is here:

Here is a collection of Mr. Dafford's work from around the world.

Mural in progress, Abbeville, Louisiana. March 2015.

The artists were kind enough to give me a wave as they left "the office" for the day.

Louisiana: A Woman Without Her Own Name

In The Louisiana Story, the mother is played by E. Bienvenu, aka Mrs. E. Bienvenu.

I was reminded of this when I saw the tombstone at a cemetery outside Abbeville, on Highway 82.

Cemetery outside Abbeville, Louisiana. Highway 82.

Abbeville, Louisiana: Saint Mary Magdalen Catholic Church

St. Mary Magdalen Church, Abbeville, Louisiana

The interior of Abbeville's Saint Mary Magdalen Church is a visual feast.

St. Mary Magdalen Church, Abbeville, Louisiana

Lush jewel tones. Pascal pastels. Gold leaf. Zodiacal-blues. Alabaster-like carvings.

St. Mary Magdalen Church, Abbeville, Louisiana

The leaded-glass and stained windows tell some stories I'm not familiar with.

St. Mary Magdalen Church, Abbeville, Louisiana

 I sure like that parquet floor in the window above.

St. Mary Magdalen Church, Abbeville, Louisiana

 
The relative grandeur of the church in this small town bespeaks a lot of money invested in it by the community.

St. Mary Magdalen Church, Abbeville, Louisiana

The pews are somber, quiet, amidst the surrounding color.  

St. Mary Magdalen Church, Abbeville, Louisiana

Abbeville, Louisiana: Steen's Sugar

Steen's Sugar, Abbeville, Louisiana

You know how a shot of alcohol or caffeine can hit you right away? I didn't know that sugar - make that pure cane syrup - can pack a similar wallop.

Steen's Sugar, Abbeville, Louisiana

The Abbeville visitor center docent gave me a spoonful to try. Hoo-doggies.

Steen's Sugar, Abbeville, Louisiana

My friend and I would have enjoyed going on a tour of Steen's Sugar Mill in town, but it was closed.

Steen's Sugar, Abbeville, Louisiana

I like its commercial art.

Abbeville, Louisiana: Broussard

Yesterday, one of my cultural interpreters and I - let's call him Landry - entered an Abbeville shop that had just opened (more on the shop later), and we met the vivacious Gail.

We started talking about Cajun surnames and I noted how there seemed to be a fairly small stock of same, and Gail went and got the Abbeville phone book, and gave it to me.

Her husband, Billy, said that Broussard was the most common Cajun surname.

Sure enough, there are more than three pages of Broussards in Vermilion Parish, which has a population of 58,700. There are ~ 79 Broussards listed in each column of the phone book, for nine columns, totaling 711 Broussards.

This means that one in 82 Vermilion Parish residents is a Broussard. And really, that's not right because the phone book only counts adults.

Furthermore, 26% of Vermilion Parish residents are under age 18, so I'm going to throw out a wild ass guess and say that one out of every 70 Vermilion Parish residents is a Broussard.

You  may be surprised to learn there are: 

• 10 Paul Broussards
• 3 Pervis Broussards (and a Perfay)
• 5 Pressleys (or Presley) Broussards
• 3 Shane Broussards

And this is only Vermilion Parish. Acadiana encompasses 22 parishes.

According to this source:

By the time of the first census in 1671, there were 47 Acadian surnames (that left descendants).  Many of today's Acadian-Cajuns go back to these families.  These earliest Acadian settlers to leave descendants are in the following table.

The prolific Broussards appeared in the 1686 census.