Well, folks it just about time for the big party. Tom Parker is giving me a big birthday party tonight with friends coming in from New Orleans, Lafayette, Friendswood, Katy, and New Waverly. My friends from Houston. will also be here and we will all be celebrating the "OLD" man's birthday.
It's going to be a good time for the old man who turned 71 on August 25, 2009.
But also
Our memories of this day, August 29, 2005
Four years ago!
The day all our lives changed forever.
Katrina over land
Also, today, being August 29, 2009, we will be celebrating surviving Hurricane Katrina, the storm that hit New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast so hard, destroying so many lives, and leaving so many without homes and wondering what would they do next.. It seems like yesterday that we were placing a few things in the car for a short journey to Baton Rouge to wait out Katrina and planned to be gone for about 3 days. So many friends like I, thought it would just be another hurricane and we would come home in 3 or 4 days, make a few repairs to our homes and/or businesses and go on with our lives, just as we had after the many hurricanes that had come and gone before.
Well, folks that storm turned a lot of lives upside down, including my own and so many of my close friends.
Katrina, a killer storm
Fortunately, I didn't lose a lot of material things and my pictures and personal papers were OK.....but I did lose the little house I was living in, because the landlords wanted it back to do repairs, etc. Today, I live in Houston TX again, where I had lived in the late 70's, early 80's and I am surrounded by friends from those days and new friends I have made since moving here.My dear friends from New Orleans come to visit and I occasionally visit NOLA and see the rebuilding of a great city. It is a city that will survive, but will never be the same old place for so many of us. We are thankful for the memories that we have of all the good times and good friends. We miss those who have died because of this storm and we are thankful for the fond memories of them. May there souls rest in peace.
Devastation everywhere and lots of rebuilding to do.....
My friend Jane's house after the storm where that was water standing for weeks up to the roof line.
Bedroom
Kitchen
This was in Lakeview near the break in the 17 street canal levee. Jane lost everything and is now rebuilding her life with her mother, who lost everything in Chalmette, in Metairie.
My friend, Charles who lived on Robert E. Lee Blvd lost everything and is now living in Dallas. Again, he and his mother, who also lost everything in Chalmette, are moving on with their lives in new home of Dallas, TX.Charles' house on R.E. Lee Blvd. New Orleans after the storm (r)
Interior of Charles's house
And then Mississippi.......
some before and after pictures
Beauvoir
Home of President Jefferson Davis, CSA
Still standing, but look at the damage to this home on Hwy 90 along the beach.
Street Scene before and after
Tourist shop with Shark Mouth Door before and after
Nothing left but the steps
My friend Alan's house in Bay St. Louis
Alan's house, moved off it's foundation and was stopped by a tree. The flood water estimated at 30 feet, and the house and contents were ruined, memories of a lifetime. He has since rebuilt a house, which is up in the air many feet and hopefully, he won't have the same problem again.
Folks this is just a few examples of the loses of my friends and there are so many more stories just like these. Memories and lives lost by one storm.
Beware, always leave, you never know what the next hurricane may bring.
Thanks to the people who time out of their lives to help the people of the New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to rebuilt. Thanks to Brad Pitt and Harry Connick Jr. for the great ideas on rebuilding houses in New Orleans and all they have given to help many.
Thanks to everyone who came to the rescue of those in an hour of need, in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast.
and GOD BLESS each of you
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