Otherworldly

This morning I headed to Aldi. I think this is the first week in a while that I’ve actually been able to go on Friday. I stopped on the way there to pick up some cream at Kroger. When I arrived at Aldi, my homeless buddy Charles was there and he greeted me with great delight. I saw some other people had already gotten him some snacks, so I just got him a nice cold bottle of Gatorade. It was a hot day.

And when I was in Aldi, most of the way through I was in close proximity to a mother shopping with her two young boys. She was very sharp and impatient with them, constantly telling them to stop doing whatever they were doing. They weren’t being bad. They were just two lively young boys. She was so harsh with them. I felt sorry for all of them. She was just trying to get a job done as efficiently as possible, and they were just trying to enjoy it. Nobody got what they wanted.

Except me. I got my groceries and got out of there! Once we had the food put away, I could finally have my glorious morning mug of tea. I will still have coffee sometimes, but not on a Friday.

Tomorrow is our anniversary, so I thought we should do something to celebrate, although obviously whatever we do can’t compete with our last anniversary in Zambia! I looked at a few East Texas towns we haven’t yet explored, and then I hit upon the perfect plan, which happened to be a bucket-list item for me. I made reservations to go on a boat tour of Caddo Lake this afternoon.

This meant driving for almost an hour to Uncertain, Texas. Some people think we’re kidding when we talk about Uncertain (population 84). There are some conflicting stories about how it got its name, which makes it even funnier. But anyway, it’s on the shores of Caddo Lake.

For those of you who aren’t from East Texas, Caddo Lake is a unique treasure that is practically on our doorstep. It’s the only natural lake in Texas (there are many manmade lakes). It also happens to be the largest cypress forest in the world. It’s been used as a location for many movies that take place in swamps, including the most recent Star Wars movie (The Mandalorian). There is nowhere else like it on the planet. I have viewed it from the banks before, but I’ve always wanted to get out onto the lake itself, and today we did.

Our captain and tour guide was Captain Ron of Captain Ron’s Swamp Tours. We and several others had seats on his 28-foot pontoon boat. It was a very hot day, but the boat was shaded, and floating through the cypress trees was shady anyway. And I also had this:

A neck fan which I bought at Aldi last year and never used. I got it charged up and took it with me. It was surprisingly helpful, though much louder than I expected. Fortunately the boat’s noises were even louder so I wasn’t bothering anyone.

Floating through the towering cypress trees was like being in another world.

Most of the trees are draped with Spanish moss—this is the northernmost extent of its range, and it grows here due to the specific conditions of a very large, very shallow lake and warm climate.

And I learned something new. Spanish moss turns green when it is wet! So after a rain, it is all green for at least a few minutes.

Another thing I learned is that lily pads repel water. He had a girl pour water onto several lily pads, and it just beaded up and rolled right off.

So fascinating! Also, there were no mosquitoes anywhere while we were on the lake. The cypress trees repel them. I approve.

Most of the lake is only 2-4 feet deep. Ron said if you ever fall out of a boat on the lake, just stand up!

There are deeper channels, and we followed one that was dug out for the steamboats that once sailed to Jefferson from New Orleans.

We learned that the houses (and the land they’re on) are the full property of the people who own them, unlike many other area lakes. No HOA. We passed some very creative structures! This one was called to our attention:

It’s the “bad mood” tower. The guy that owns the property built this little tower right on the bank of the river. When he finds himself in a bad mood, he climbs the stairs to the top of the tower and sits in the chair he has up there. According to Ron, it doesn’t take him long to lose his bad mood, sitting up there and watching the life of the lake.

And yeah, there are plenty of gators, but they are rarely seen. They perform the valuable service of keeping the snake and turtle populations from getting out of hand. We did see a couple of turtles and a rather blurry heron:

I had my telephoto lens on and it was a mistake. Since we were moving, I didn’t have time to focus it on things that were closer up.

It really was a most enjoyable tour, made a little weirder for me because Captain Ron bore a striking resemblance to my maternal grandmother and her brothers, and talked like them too.

We’re tempted to go back for one of his full moon night tours, if we’re around long enough. That place is spooky enough by day—I bet it’s downright eerie at night.

Once back on dry land, we detoured to Jefferson before returning home, so Walter could pick out some nonstandard soft drinks for him and Jasper to enjoy. I may have dozed off in the car for a while.

However, once we got home, I had to go into overdrive to get supper made. I got potatoes roasting in the air fryer and then cooked the discounted steaks I bought the other day. I didn’t want to eat out because the last time we did, the cost of a steak just about gave me a heart attack. This way we could have very good steak for about one-third of the cost.

Strangely, shortly after we returned home my left hand started hurting for no reason. I can’t figure it out. It feels like a repetitive stress injury—like that time 45 years ago when I pruned hedges all day for eight hours straight, having never done it in my life before. I hope it’s in better shape by tomorrow.

So all in all, it was a pretty good day. I think the only place I’ve ever been that was more otherworldly than Caddo Lake was the reef off of Belize. Today’s tour was well worth it.

Joy Spark: Well, most of the day was a joy spark! But this morning in Aldi I happened to run into my friend Wanda from homeschooling days (I taught a couple of her kids). That was a nice surprise.

Parting Shot: