Below are "hers" and "his" hats woven of palmetto by Marie Dean, a member of the Houma Indian tribe from Dulac, a small community south of Houma. Grandpère's hat is called a planter's hat. We wear them on special occasions, not for work in the garden.
The large basket with the handle pictured below was made by Sam Harris of the Harris family from split oak strips.
The basket on the left is woven of white oak by ____ Bradley, (the given name is worn off) a Native American Cherokee, and was on display for sale at the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. The fair was labeled a flop by the vicious local press, but it was actually quite nice. We visited several times and enjoyed ourselves immensely. The folklife area was great fun. The smear by the local newspapers and TV news, which soon spread throughout the country and the world, kept people from visiting the fair, so it ended up being a flop with respect to numbers of visitors and finally went bankrupt.
One benefit of the World's Fair was the revival of the Warehouse District in New Orleans, a mixed residential/commercial neighborhood. Many of the old warehouses, which were in a run-down condition before the fair, were converted into condominiums and offices and were followed by several fine restaurants in the area. I wouldn't mind living there myself.
The covered palmetto basket on the right is also the work of Marie Dean.
Admiring once again the fine workmanship in the hats and baskets, taking the pictures, and writing about them cheered me up quite a bit.
