Katrina Update #55Katrina Update #55Extra Special best wishes to our niece, Lindsey DeFreese, who had her appendix out last night!
Bizarre New Orleans Redux
Yep. That's the same limo I published pictures of in Update #43. It has been moved aside so it is easier to get through the intersection, and decorated for the season. I had something else I wanted to show you, but I waited too long to get the picture. Ever since I returned on October 3, 2005 there has been an abandoned car sitting at the drive through window of the local Wendy's on Claiborne avenue. This was on high ground, and probably had only minimal flooding, but the strange thing about it was that it was parked at the drive through window as though somebody was actually placing an order and then decided to abandon it. Anyway, I went to take the picture this morning and it had finally been removed.
Of Boats and Men – Part Three
We went out to Shell Beach again this week, this time with Doc Schaeffer so he could see where his boat was. Coop came along and we also looked for his boat. We found it – sort of. What we found is where it used to be. Apparently someone got to the boat before us and decided it was just the kind of thing they needed. We know this because we found Coop's boat motor and several things that were in the boat scattered around where it used to be.
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They actually had to cut down several trees
to remove the boat. |
The Dry Box and motor from Coop's boat.
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Where Coop's Boat was.
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On the way back from Shell Beach we stopped by A-1 Outboard Motors. Lo and behold, there is my boat!
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The "Partner" sits outside A-1 Outboard motors.
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The water line came up to the gray stripe, which
means the motor probably wasn't under water. |
The motor still needs work, and no telling what shape it is in after sitting the past four months, but perhaps I'll be fishing again before too long! I'm thinking February.
Dork
That's what we called it, anyway.
You have probably heard of Turducken, which is a chicken, inside a duck, inside a Turkey. Glenn Cozzi has his own variation, which is a pork loin stuffed inside a duck, along with some seasonings, and then baked in a 400 degree oven for 2 to 3 hours. "Duck stuffed with Pork Loin" seemed like way too much to say, so we shortened it to "Dork."
It was delicious. We also did two more deep-fried turkeys, bringing our post-Katrina total to 13 (we're doing another tonight at Coop's Place for his annual Christmas party). This time, we had about 20 people over and all we had was meat. It never made it off the cutting board, and once again, we had no left overs. We are thinking about doing Dork again for one of the Mardi Gras parades.
We have some sad news to report. Kathleen "Mama" Barrow had a mild stroke while at the dentist this past Thursday. She is having a little difficulty with her left side, but is otherwise OK. She will stay in the hospital through Christmas and will need to go through some therapy to regain full use of her left arm. A group of us are going over to the hospital to visit her tomorrow.
There were two stories on the local news in the past week or so that I thought I would share with you. They epitomize all that is good about Christmas while also driving home that Christmas in New Orleans this year will be a very different experience for many of its residents.
All I Want For Christmas Is…
I am sure you have heard the song "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," and we have all seen countless pictures of kids telling Santa what they want for Christmas. In fact, here is one from 1962 of Janis, her brother Matt, and sister Cathy (Janis is the one standing):
Your classic "Deer in Headlights" gaze.
Even though New Orleans has less than 20% of its former population currently living in the city, the areas surrounding New Orleans have actually grown in size. In fact, according to the local news, many national chains are reporting their New Orleans area stores are leading the nation in sales. Many retailers are reporting they will have their best Christmas selling season ever. This is a good thing for our local economy, of course.
Along with the Christmas selling season comes the obligatory Mall or Department store Santa Claus. Something interesting happened in the New Orleans area this year. Many children – of all ages – got on Santa's lap and wished for their home to be repaired, one girl wished for "a two story brick house" because she was tired of living in a cramped one-bedroom apartment.
I hope that when these kids become parents themselves they retain these memories and preserve a less commercial view of Christmas for their offspring.
And a little child shall lead them…
But the one that will really get you is the story of a seven year old Ponchatoula, Louisiana girl and how she helped make Christmas better for kids in St. Bernard Parish. And it is this story I leave you with this wonderful Christmas eve:
It was around Thanksgiving when a little girl living in Ponchatoula asked her mother, "How will Santa find all the boys and girls who aren't in their homes in New Orleans for Christmas this year?" Her mother thought for a while and answered as best she could, "Because Santa is like God, honey. He will find you no matter where you are."
And that was that — until a couple of weeks ago when the little girl saw a story about people whose homes were destroyed in St. Bernard Parish, who now live in tents. One particular little boy's face caught her attention. He had a such a look of despair and helplessness that she just had to do something.
"Mama," she said, "what if Santa can't find these kids because they are living in tents, and even if he finds them, they have no chimney's for him to come down, how will he get them their presents?"
Her mother had no answer to this.
So the little girl decided to do something – just in case Santa couldn't find the kids in St. Bernard Parish, whose homes were destroyed; or just in case even if he could find them, that he couldn't leave presents because there were no chimneys in the tents they were living in. This seven year old girl decided to do something to make sure the kids of St. Bernard Parish got something for Christmas.
What she did is this: she went to her school and told all her friends about the kids living in tents in St. Bernard Parish. She told her teachers. She told everyone to go out and buy presents for these kids. She told them to wrap up their old toys they didn't want anymore, and to wrap up all their clothes that didn't fit anymore. She told them the kids living in tents in St. Bernard Parish were going to get something this Christmas, just in case Santa couldn't find them or couldn't leave his presents because there were no chimneys in the tents.
And this is what happened: everyone in the school got involved. Hundreds of presents were wrapped up; and this little seven year old girl, accompanied by her friends, parents, and teachers took them to St. Bernard Parish, to the kids living in tents.
The children in St. Bernard Parish were overjoyed. Their parents were moved to tears as they learned of the little girls successful efforts to collect presents and bring them down for their kids. Many said they were worried that their kids wouldn't get anything this year – that Santa wouldn't come – because FEMA doesn't provide for buying anything but necessities, and even if they had the money, they had no transportation to get to a store and no place to hide the presents.
So, as you spend time this Christmas with friends and family — as we will do here in New Orleans — take a few minutes to think about the little seven year old girl from Ponchatoula who made it her mission to see that perfect strangers had Christmas this year. Pause briefly to ponder this, and feel all warm and toasty inside to know that this world we live in will be OK as long as there are people like her in it.
Perhaps Louis Armstrong said it best "What a wonderful, wonderful world." Oh, yeah.
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