We are coming up on 4pm. At 2:45 the eye wall passed near us at Zachary, LA. It has been pretty bad ever since. Strong winds plus huge gusts. Lots of limbs down - one whole pecan tree over and a front window got blown that G and his dad had to board up. But they got the generator going which is running the fridge and TV. This is worse here than it was for Katrina because the storm is west of us - Katrina was east. But all in we are fine.

12:44pm and we just lost power. The wind has picked up with some pretty strong gusts. The wind is coming from the east which means the eye is due south of us. A steady light rain and just some small branches down. Now is when things get boring but I will take boring right now.

It is just after 9am here at Linwood (name of my in-laws house) I was just going to write it has been quiet, just a steady breeze with a little bit of wind, but the first gust just blew. We feel fortunate we still have power - we are out in the country with plenty of trees. We know it is not IF the power goes out but when. We are prepared. I got a full night sleep and long hot shower, but feel drained from a week of travel and the last couple of stressful days. But I can relax for now. Maybe I will plug in my computer, download my trip photos and write up some notes from my trip. Or maybe I will go sit out on the gallery and watch the wind. Or maybe take a nap.

I did want to do my "national news is crap" rant. If you really want to know what is going on in New Orleans, log on to NOLA.com or Google "New Orleans news" and check out the local tv stations' web sites. Turn off CNN and Fox. Watching them after Katrina I can tell you they make stuff up or pass off speculation as fact.

We are exhausted but safe and sound, relaxing at my in-laws house, enjoying a glass of wine. When we left, New Orleans was a ghost town, crawling with police and National Guard. I have been on the go since 4:30am - oofa! We are north of Baton Rouge in a house that survived the Civil War and many hurricanes. We rode Katrina out here. This time around we have a generator and a window unit - woohoo. Luck has been on my side. The airport was being locked down when I arrived. It was packed and the look on the people's faces when me and the other 25 people walked off the plane was "you guys are nuts." I think I got the last taxi cab too. I gave the driver a very generious tip. He said he was staying. A couple of our neighbors are staying. For our evacuation drive, we stayed off the interstate and made very good time. Most people had already left and traffic was light. Wish us luck and I will post more when there is something to report. Now it is wait and see.

My road trip has been quite a blast, and those of you on Facebook have had some idea of my travels. I was supposed to fly back to New Orleans Wednesday, but with Hurricane Gustav bearing down, Dorie and I left Amarillo, TX at 5am in hopes I could catch the 11:55am flight out of Albuquerque. We made it to the airport in time, around 10am, but there were no more flights. I'm not exactly sure why, something about no more connections from Dallas to NOLA. I am now booked on the 6am flight out which gets me into New Orleans around 11:30 am Sunday. If I don't get home before the storm, I'm afraid it will be another week before I can. So now I'm at Dorie's trying to sit tight.

G and I will probably evacuate to his parents' house north of Baton Rouge if the storm doesn't turn. So that's the news from here, I'll keep you posted.

I will say, the iPhone rocks! The maps saved our butts a couple of times and the internet access has kept me connected and in the loop (maybe too well).

The one weatherman I trust, Bob Breck, has a blog now, which I will be keeping a close eye on.

Tonight I plan on going over to Tipatina’s to check out the “battle” of the high school marching band that’s part of the Instruments A Comin' initiative. I was in band in Jr. High (flute) and loved marching band. The bands are one of my favorite parts of Mardi Gras parades and college football games. I was very happy to read that one of my fav musicians, and fellow Floridian, Tom Petty, donated a sizable chunk of change to the effort.

I think this quote from John Summers sums it up well:

"When you put a horn in a student's hands, you've taken him off the street for four hours," Tiller said. "And when he's done (with rehearsal), he's so tired that he's going home and going to sleep. If every band has 100 kids, and you've got 15 high schools, that's 1,500 kids off the street.

"We're not just making music. We're saving kids."

One week until I leave for my road trip!

I’m bummed I’m going to miss Rising Tide III but I will go to the meet n greet at Buffa’s Friday night.

We have our route roughed out, but it isn’t hard and fast and no real time line, except we must be in Albuquerque by Sept 2. I’ve got my AAA Camp Books so we can find camp grounds and my AAA maps for GA, NC, TN, AK, OK and TX.

August 23 Dorie and I will meet in the Atlanta airport and fly into Augusta and spend the night with her sister and bro-in-law. Sunday we will drive up to visit her parents who are at their cabin in the Smokey Mountains. Because of this detour we won’t be going through Chattanooga, but heading to Nashville. From Nashville, we’ll hop onto the Natchez Trace and take that down to Tupelo and then over to Memphis. After Memphis it’s I-40 all the way, with detours of course. Hot Springs, AK is one, for a hike and a soak. We’re thinking we’ll just drive straight through Oklahoma unless someone can come up with something else besides the Cowboy Museum. The Amarillo area will be our destination, home of the Cadillac Ranch and the “Grand Canyon of Texas.” After that’s it’s the home stretch to Albuquerque. If time permits and we still want more hiking we’ll go to 3 Rivers Petroglyph Site south of Albqu. September 3 I fly back to NOLA, refreshed and relaxed (I hope). Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Prospect What?

Maybe I’m out of touch with the New Orleans art scene but I haven’t heard anything about Prospect.1, except from a couple of clients who are gearing up for it.

Prospect.1 New Orleans will be the largest international exhibition of contemporary art ever presented in the United States, showcasing the work of 80 artists from around the globe while establishing New Orleans as a major center for contemporary visual art exhibitions.

It seems to me this will be a very big deal for New Orleans. It puts it in the same league as New York, Paris, Venice and other “art” cities. Is it because it’s still 3 months away? Or because Saints/LSU/Tulane football season is around the corner?

With Prospect.1 New Orleans' policy of free admission, extended hours and daily guided tours, and through significant outreach efforts, it is projected that more than half the people visiting the exhibition will come from within the state of Louisiana. Within New Orleans, a full-time education coordinator will organize free bus transportation and age-appropriate docent guides to the exhibition for all public school children K-12. It is also anticipated that thousands of art lovers will visit New Orleans for the opening of Prospect.1 New Orleans, and thousands more to see the exhibition during its eleven-week run (Saturday, November 1st, 2008 until January 18, 2009).

So mark your calendars art lovers.

Sometime earlier this week, Wall Arch at Arches National Park in Utah fell. An arch is a natural formation made by wind and Arches NP was full of them, hence the name. Some parks may have one or two arches, but Arches had them all over. It was like being in a Road Runner cartoon. The dessert really looked like the cartoons, which was a bit of a surprise for me, having grown up in Florida. I visited Arches in the summer of 2000. It was to be the first of future annual hiking trips with my friend D. We were a little over ambitious, this being our first trip and all, though we still had a blast.

I flew into Las Vegas and D and I packed up Big Red, her pick-up, and drove the 452 miles to Moab, UT. I don’t think we realized how long the drive was. I remember it being very late, like 11 pm when we rolled into town. It was too late to find a campground, but we did find a hotel, that looked like log cabin, to crash for the night. The next morning we drove the short trip to Arches. It’s a huge, sprawling park and you can see quite a bit from the comfort of your car. But not us, we wanted to hike! We picked the “Devils Garden” trail where we saw Wall Arch along with Navajo, Partition, Landscape, Double O and Private Arches. Devils Garden was a 7.2 mi hike and it was blistering hot so the name was appropriate. There were cool narrow ledges and fins to walk on and of course, lots of arches. The next day we took a rafting trip on the Colorado. It was perfect after a long hot day of hiking. We spent more time out side the raft, drifting along the gentle current (much calmer than down by the Grand Canyon). It was hot and because we had to wear life jackets, all you had to do was bob along. There were a few rapids, which made for some excitement. Next day we were back at Arches, visiting Delicate Arch. Not for the faint of heart or those afraid of heights. Our next destination was Horseshoe Canyon where the promise of spectacular petroglyphs awaited us. It’s in the next park over, Canyonlands NP, but in a remote part not accessible from the main park. It was a bit of drive, off the highway and across unmarked, unpaved washboard “roads.” We met with our first primitive campsite. There was a vault toilet and nothing else. Our previous two nights of camping was at a cozy private campground with a store, pool, showers, etc. so this was quite a change. We were the only people there in the middle of nowhere. Things were fantastic until after sunset. Then we got a little freaked. We didn’t sleep much so we were up bright and early for the hike. A ranger was supposed to be leading a hike that day but we got started before they arrived and only saw two other people the whole day. The next day we spent driving to Bryce National Park where we spent a day or two. (See what I mean about being over ambitious? We now spend each trip at one park.)

R.I.P. Issac Hayes

Weekly Photo Challenge: "Ephemera"


I got this packet o' crap for the City of New Orleans last month when I went to the "Mayor's Round Table for Neighborhood Association Leaders." The Mayor was a no-show, he had an "emergency" and couldn't attend. It's probably better he wasn't there, he'd be a distraction. There were representatives from every imaginable city department. Brenda Hatfield took the reins and made the opening remarks for Hizzoner. "The recovery's going great, blah blah blah" then opened up the floor for questions. Everyone was very patient, answering questions, except Veronica White. She needs to work on her people skills. She made it clear that this was a waste of her time. One person asked about garbage collection at a neighborhood park. Parkways picks it up and they are very underfunded and understaffed. The person asked "why can't Richard's pick up the trash when they come through the neighborhood?" All Ms. White would say "It's not in their contract." She refused to explain or even converse with the man. Someone else stepped in to explain it to us peons who do not understand the clusterf*ck that is city hall. Hmmm... that sounds bitter doesn't it? Overall I didn't think the meeting was a complete waste of time. I thought is was good the city was reaching out to us, so we could spread the word to the people we represent. And I want to thank you Mr/Ms tax payer for the finger sandwiches and cut veggies we snacked on. Lilette's would have been nicer but I guess after the credit card hoo-haw they thought better of it.

I have lost all confidence C. Ray and as I said before I'm glad he wasn't at the round table he called, like everything else he'd be a hindrance not a help. I think the Gambit put it perfectly in their Commentary "The Feckless Mayor":

No, Mr. Mayor, you need to stop. If anyone is hurting New Orleans' recovery, it is you.

Maybe throw in Blakeley too.

Like I need another distraction.

I now have a new G3 iphone. Humnahumnahumna

I’ll tell you what, it ain’t cheap and it ain’t easy. My business partner and I decided to get them and ditch the office landline. You’d think we were buying plutonium or something. We couldn’t pay for the two phones on the same credit card – only one phone per person. Then we have to wait almost 2 weeks for them to be ordered and arrive. My business partner’s out of town and even though I have the receipt from her phone I couldn’t pick it up for her because they have to see a picture ID. But wait, there’s more. You also have to pay a $300 deposit on each phone that gets returned after 12 months. But it sure is pretty and fun to play with. I’m not going to get any work done today. This may even cut into my Facebook time – oh no!

Road Trip!



One month from now I will be on the road with my friend D somewhere between Augusta, GA and Albuquerque, NM. D is buying a car from a family member in Augusta and she lives in Albuquerque (a.k.a. "Duke City" - betcha didn't know that?). I love me a road trip, it's been a while since I've taken one (jaunts to Houston do not count). D is my hiking/camping buddy so we are going to stop along the way to hike as well as see the sights. I turn to you, oh glorious readers, to solicit suggestions of places to go/hike/camp and stuff to see/do/eat/drink. We have the option of going through either Birmingham Al or Nashville, TN on the first leg. We then go through Memphis. D's never been to Graceland so that's a must-see. G and I went many years ago. I see now that there is a "Heartbreak Hotel" near by you can stay that looks pretty tacky (as it should. Any rug on the walls?). After Memphis, it's all I-40 through Little Rock and Oklahoma City. We are all for interesting detours. I think I'd like to hit Hot Springs AK. Oklahoma I know nothing about...

So come on people. Tell me what you know. Thanks!

UPDATE: Talked to D... we decided to take the northern route. After getting through Atlanta, we'll head up to Chattanooga and Nashville. Then we'll detour and take the Natchez Trace (we explored the southern end back in January) to Tupelo then head towards Memphis.

Two Freret bus line posts in a row?

Why not. As I left my office and drove down Freret, in hopes of seeing the Ferret bus again, I decided to stop and check out the new, funky bus shelter at the corner of Cadiz. I was curious about it and so went to Google. Turns out it was the summer project for Design Corps.






I think the orange and yellow colors were inspired by the colors of the signage for the Freret Market. The shelter has a place to post notices, a bike rack and those colored squares on the back side spin, which I'm guessing is for bored children to play with while waiting. It even has a potted plant. I love the metal roof that identifies Freret Street and the direction of uptown and downtown. It provides a shady place to sit and wait, though I don't it would do much to keep you dry in the rain.

My Google search also pulled up a blog by a young lady who spent 3 weeks in New Orleans and I think she did a lovely and insightful post.

A picture's worth a thousand words...

But I wasn't fast enough. I was driving down Freret Street today and passed one of the new, groovy bio-diesel city buses. I was admiring the bus when I noticed the route info said it was "FERRET" Cracked me up. Maybe I'll go track it down...

Cellphone popcorn?

This is crazy! You can pop corn with the use of a couple of cell phone. I gotta try it.

Téléphone Portable + Maïs = Pop-corn - Videos humour

UPDATE: It's a hoax. Damn.

Weekly Photo Challenge "Music"

I had to go through the archives for this one... I came across some JazzFest shots but that's too easy. I looked further and came across some photos I took at the funeral for Ashley Morris. I wasn't sure about posting it but reconsidered. Jazz Funerals are such an unique part of New Orleans culture. And it makes a great lead in to plug the "FYYFF Black and Gold Forever" fund raiser for Ashley's family Saturday, July 26.

So I present to you the Hot 8 Brass Band taking five at St. Louis No. 3 Cemetery.

Oh Streetcar!

This month’s “Babes, Booze and Books” book club meeting will be one to go down in history for us. This month’s selections were Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and Music for Camelians by Truman Capote. Our fearless leader J had a smashing idea one night while out drinking with K, another Babe. She said we should discuss the books while riding the streetcar. She promised me we wouldn’t be “out all night” because she had a busy day the next day. We all gathered at J’s house. We started out with Brandy Cassis cocktails since Capote drank a lot of Brandy. J first proposed we eat after the streetcar ride, but a couple of us decided we need to eat before we drank so we helped ourselves to fried chicken, potato salad and the mirliton and shrimp casserole. We saved the red beans and peach cobbler for after the ride. (Our meetings are potluck and we are damn fine cooks if I do say so.) J then made a round of “Streetcars” – actually they were “Sidecars” but we rechristened them for the evening. Eventually, we made our way to Canal Blvd to catch the streetcar. We had to wait for a little bit, so J broke out a bottle of wine and plastic cups. There were nine of us and I’m sure the other people waiting there for the streetcar to ride to work were not amused. We encourage them to all board before us, since we had to finish our drinks before we could board. We sat in the back and started talking about “Streetcar.” We also took silly photos of ourselves, and I took the opportunity to shoot some video. I love the sounds of the streetcar.



We got off the streetcar and headed to the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Monteleon. Supposedly Tennessee wrote in the bar. I had never been, though it’s been on my list of things to do in New Orleans. Well, it’s a bar, and it looks like a carousel. The people sitting around the bar rotate, while the bartender stays stationary. The staff was great – the bartender cheerfully made nine cocktails with much flair, and the bored waiters were dancing to the lame disco that was playing. It was hard for all of us to talk together, so we ended up chatting in groups of three.



J then ordered us to get to-go cups because it was time to move on. We walked back to Canal to catch the St. Charles streetcar. We had to wait again, so J broke out munchies. When the streetcar arrived, it was packed! The driver kept picking more people up and they just had to cram themselves in. We had to physically pull people through the aisle when we came to their stop. Finally enough people got off we were able to sit. We got off at Louisiana Ave and walked over to the Delachaise. It too was packed and they had only one bartender working. If you’ve even been there you know how trying it can be to get a drink. J got frustrated, and was also upset to be told that Chef Chris no longer worked there (I hope that’s not true). She remembered we still had wine with us, so some of us drank that while a few who didn’t want wine waited (and waited, and waited…) for their cocktail. One of the babes pointed out it was after 10 and she has to be at work at 7am. We walked back to wait for the streetcar. And wait. A man who had come out of the Rite Aid told us to be careful walking on the streetcar tracks then asked where we were from. He didn’t believe were we locals until he and J started talking about cooking. Once again, out comes the wine and we shared some with our new friend.



By the time we got back to Canal Street to transfer to the other line it was 11:30. J asked the people waiting if they knew what time the next car would arrive. After midnight? TAXI! We took cabs back to the start. When we got back to J’s a few babes left but the rest of us dug into the red beans and sausage and the homemade peach coddler with ice cream. I got home at 12:45. So much for not staying out late.

Weekly Photo Challenge "Mundane"


When in doubt... post a cat picture! Sleeping cats are pretty ordinary in our house.

Happy Independence Day.


Independent from what I’m not sure any more. I for one plan on expressing my love of ‘Merica by stimulating the economy (‘cause it sure does need it), laying out to work on my tan (cancer schmanser), finally doing a blog post (incite the masses) eating and drinking to excess (the land of plenty) and lighting illegal fireworks (rebellion). Today I’ll drive over to Gretna and smuggle illegal fireworks into Orleans. Gee, I hope the cops don’t track me down from this post. Maybe they only troll MySpace pages. Actually, I’ll probably just get sparklers.

I’m glad to have a long weekend in which I am staying in town and have no big plans. Things have been busy around here with work, going out of town and neighborhood stuff. Along with the above I also plan on catching up reading blogs and answering email. It going to be too hot or rainy this weekend to be outdoors for long.

Speaking of neighborhood stuff…the POS house across the street is finally being renovated. And work is being done to Lyon’s park to take up the trailer park infrastructure up and return it to a field. I have to applaud city council for standing up to FEMA and getting them to get to work and lay sod at all the parks.


Looking up the weekend weather I noticed there's a TS out in the Atlantic. It's far off, but I was amused by the computer model that has it heading due east back to Africa. Add to the list this weekend: go through "disaster" kit...