Almost Quit

To be honest, I quit this blog two weeks ago.

I am just not getting to the computer enough these days to commit and well, I wasn't sure that anybody was actually looking anymore (due to my own spotty posting, of course).

Then I was at the Big Easy Roller Girls bout last Saturday, walking back to my viewing spot fresh from a receiving a pleasantly loud and good earful of the Bruisers,

The Bruisers, by David Olivier
(click his name. Durn picture won't post)

when one of the derby girls skated by, screeched to a halt and said, " Are you Nikki?"

I don't know how she recognized me, but she did- from my blog. She told me that she understood about my Little Edie Halloween costume (which meant a bunch to me, really) and that she looks at my dog posts. I was totally shocked by the exchange and kind of flattered. It is weird that people "know" me but have never met me. I am sure other bloggers have experienced this.

Well thank you, Sophie Nuke 'Em!
(picture from Roller Girls website)

Then a started t receive complaints from others about the eternal hot dog in the water post....

So alright, I will continue...if not everyday, at least a few times a week until my to-do list shrinks up.

I have actually been taking photos and will now post an installation of some from my experience at The Porch's (no website!) 7th Ward Fest last weekend, where I got super close to a bunch of Mardi Gras Indians. But first, an article by my husband on the subject.

Ruthie Monday XLV

photo by Miranda Lake

Houses of Yscloskey, Louisiana

By request, I will explain my Yscloskey postings:

Billy and I went out to St. Bernard parish on Mardi Gras day to see what was up out there and to take some photos.

So this is what it looked like in Yscloskey on Mardi Gras day, 2007; still trashed, yet still emanating it's character...

Houses of Yscloskey, Louisiana

I'm-a post these houses until I can spell the name of this town without double-checking

Houses of Yscloskey, Louisiana

Ruthie Monday XLIV

We went out to Alabama to visit a friend last weekend and took Ruthie swimming. She is REALLY good at it. Miranda Lake took these photos for us.

we walked out a fair bit -for a wee pooch to swim

the launch

Yay!

Yscloskey, Louisiana 2007

Ruthie Monday XLIII

Well, I cannot find which box I packed my camera in, so here's a fun but blurry stock picture!

Down in New Orleans

My husband's book is up on the UC Press website!



Yay, Billy!!!!!

From the website:

"Billy Sothern's Down in New Orleans illustrates, in very human and heartbreaking ways, how the horrors that emerged during and following Hurricane Katrina existed long before the storm. These beautifully composed stories not only reveal the dignity-and amazing grit and grace-of the hurricane's survivors; they also illuminate larger truths about the urgent issues of our day. Sothern magnifies the urgency of creating a government that really serves the common good-and a society that protects its poor and vulnerable."--Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor & Publisher, The Nation

"Billy Sothern is the only writer in the world who can simultaneously convince you that the forsaking of New Orleans is so much worse than you thought it was, and also that you should move there immediately. The smartest, most in-love-with-the-world book yet written about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina."--Rachel Maddow, host of "Air America Radio"

"As much as Down in New Orleans is a damning account of everything that went wrong after Katrina struck, it's also a deeply soulful and eloquent tribute-part paean and part eulogy-to a place [Sothern] loves almost despite himself. It's essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the past, present and future of this indispensable city."--Dave Eggers

DESCRIPTION

"Post-Katrina New Orleans hasn't been an easy place to live, it hasn't been an easy place to be in love, it hasn't been an easy place to take care of yourself or see the bright side of things." So reflects Billy Sothern in this unforgettable insider's chronicle of the 2005 disaster and the year that followed. Sothern, a death penalty lawyer who with his wife, photographer Nikki Page, arrived in the city four years ahead of Katrina, delivers a haunting, personal, and quintessentially American story. Writing with an idealist's passion, a journalist's eye for detail, and a lawyer's attention to injustice, Sothern guides the reader on a journey through post-Katrina New Orleans.

CONTENTS

Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue

I. Heading Straight for Us: The Days before and after Hurricane Katrina
II. This Could Be Anywhere: Katrina's Immediate Aftermath, Late Summer 2006
III. Personals: Departures and Homecomings
IV. Against the Ropes: New Orleans's Unlikely Recovery

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Billy Sothern is a staff attorney at the Capital Appeals Project and codirector of Reprieve (US), which is based in New Orleans. He is a graduate of New York University School of Law and has written for The Nation, the New York Times, and Salon, among other publications. Nikki Page is a photographer, painter, and art teacher living in New Orleans.

Just Outside of Chalmette

Mardi Gras Day, 2007

Moving House

Now that we finally finished our very first renovation project (which took four years), we went and bought what we hope to be our first "last house". We figured that since we are a double public-service-worker family, (i.e. no-retirement-package-state/fed-program-jobs), renovation is pretty much the only way we were going to get one of those grand New Orleans-historic houses we love.

So we worked our way through the massive renovation at Carondelet -which, by the way, had only the support walls and the floors for the second level left (yeah, no electricity, plumbing or anything like that) by the time we got to it- oh- and a staircase. We moved in on our first wedding anniversary, before the sheet rock was finished or electricity was hooked up. We took showers at the gym and ate meals at every fair priced eatery in town (over and over and over) until we were hooked up with gas and electricity. We lost track of the true color of our dogs due to the constant film of sheet rock dust that covered all things living or not. Not recommended living for good health, but sometimes you just have to work with it.

I am very fond (proud) of our lovely Carondelet home, but it is a little small (four live-able rooms) for us now. I teach at our dining room table and Billy works from home from a desk at the top our stairs.

So, we found the Jackson house, fell in love and went to work finagling our way to buying it. It looks great on the outside and in the first two rooms, but as with every old house...the trouble lies within the walls. The ceilings were caved in, the windows and roof leaked, causing many icky problems and a few sills were snapped, causing a lovely six inch dip in the dining room and back building that would allow a marble to roll through these rooms at a disturbing velocity.

In all though, these problems are very few compared with the job we did at Carondelet and especially those that people from flooded areas have had to deal with over the past two years, so we very lucky to be able to manage this project.

We are moving into what will eventually be the rental apartment this week, which I will hopefully finish up in the next few days (ha!). At least the plaster/sheet rock dust will be contained in the main house!

Some pictures of our dream house:

A small glimpse of the work:

Water Damage (but a beautiful stairway!)


Sill Damage

Which causes sinking and a need to jack 'er up:

Someone stuck CARDBOARD under plaster!
BUT, why we love the pain:

The double parlor with huge, WORKING pocket doors. (The owners snagged the mantles)

FOUR basically in tact medallions!

We are so lucky and super-excited!

Ruthie Monday XLII

This was not a set up. She sleeps with her favorite stuffed cheerleader, which she has had since she was even wee-er and drags with her everywhere.

Freezing Rain

Wha? Why's it so durn cold?

So I'm Watching T.V....

So I was watching the television in my studio -in fact, I was watching Funniest Pets and People (no where near as good as AFV) and....THWUMP. Did I mention that my studio is ON THE SECOND FLOOR??!!







er, I think he just fell.

AAAHHHHHHHH! Invasion of Stinging Caterpillars!!!!!

The is convention for all kinds of stinging caterpillars at my doorstep. We have counted four different kinds. They hang by threads from the trees and I have to duck and swerve to get to my door...Then,. I have to unlock it. The door sticks, so I have to kick it....
And I also have to take out the trash....excuse the picture quality, the caterpillars were chewing so loudly and dropping so quickly from the trees that I could not concentrate.
I generally like bugs, but not right now. They are crawling into my bedroom and looming over my bed. I feel creepy crawly!!!!!!!

Ruthie Monday XLI

Someone's getting might looooooong....

St. Bernard Parish, Mardi Gras Day 2007

Ruthie Monday XL

Don't Even SHOW Me a Photo Booth

'Cause I'll drag ya in...

Bikki

Sarah O, Nik, Zack and Ana (-they are getting married today!!!)

Nola St. Paddy's 2007 People II

Nola St. Paddy's 2007: People

Erin and James' Balcony

Random people from wanderings:

New Orleans St. Paddy's Day 2007

This week I'll post pics from my wanderings on Saturday.

This first are a few of creepily coiffed, wee little girls dancing the Irish dance.

a must click-on pic

Ruthie Monday XXXIX

Dog sitting for Me-randa. Things got a little hectic.

The whole gaggle:

A durable air mattress makes a great communal bed for a pack of dogs.

Cajun Bonfires I

Finally, picking up where I left off before things got crazed.