Family Resemblance

My sister keeps talking about how much her daughter, Violet looks like me. I have been promising her that I would post some baby pictures of myself next to those of Violet (taken by her Mom) for comparison...here they are:

Family photos:

Jess, Manna and Violet

Dad, Ma and Moi

Wee Violet

Me

Me, again

Vi

Vi

Me...

And here a few for the future...

Don't Shoot and Drive

I don't recommend this technique, but look at that gate! Had to tweak the photo as it was not of the highest quality since I was whizzing along and shooting from the hip without (of course!) taking my eyes off the road...very stupid, I know, I know.

Monster Trucks on the Road

Has anybody else been seeing monster trucks on the road in Metairie? I sure have. This is the second one -the first scared the living be-jees-ums outta me when it shot four feet of flames out of the gate-door right over my hood. Couldn't take the kamikaze shot when that happened.

I think I would have lost my eyebrows but for the windshield, no exaggeration.

Ruthie Monday XXXII

New Orleans Kind of Trash

Killer Kitty

Ruthie Monday XXXI

The Stretch and Shake

Close Encounters with a Real Big Grasshopper

A Dancin' Fool and One Hella Focused Dog

Look at what Ms. Amy's old cowboy boots can do:

Never underestimate the power of the pointer fingers

The dog who loved his ball.

Jugglin' Fools

Hayden learned the basics of juggling.

The fear of dropping the ball...

Thanksgiving in Sonoma I

Here we go with the family posts. Three days worth, I am afraid...

My brother-in-law lives in Sonoma (yes, he works with wine) and since he has produced the newest addition to the family, we all went to him.

We did the usual things like eat, play football, soccer, etc. There was some juggling and some very, er, interesting dancing. To start with, here are a few photos for the fam (how did we not get in a family shot?)

Hayden was the ball boy

Amy, Phoebe and Miles

Winnie, Miles and Me

Hayden, a contraption, a Miles-blurr and Sponge Bob

Amy, Eric and Phoebe (making her signature face for the camera)

Just returned from a California Thanksgiving, during which I got the stomach flu. Lovely timing, too, as the vomit flew RIGHT after my brother-in-law cooked a delicious dinner. Nothing says thank you like vomit.

So sorry, Eric. The food was delicious.

We'll see what pictures came out tomorrow...

Ruthie Monday XXX

Katrina Doldrums...Still?

I have decided to share. I realized that I have been greatly comforted by those bloggers who have put very personal feelings out there; I refer specifically to those feelings that are a result of the storm. So much time has passed, it seems unnatural to still be grieving. So I am going to share how I am feeling; below is a small illustration of my everyday life as one is incredibly lucky to have been, materially, relatively uneffected by this storm.

I have been remiss in my posting duties (really, since late summer). I chalk it up to a serious case of what I call the Post-K doldrums, which seem to hit at unexpected times, and (strange to me) with huge gaps presenting between jags. And damn it, it has been so long -and I think these bouts will continue to hit for as long as this backward-ass government chooses.

It hits as a feeling of exasperation, and of being overcome by a type of block (for me, blog-block, among other things). And oh, the empathetic sadness.

This feeling is best illustrated by the pursing of the lips while expelling (with great, but controlled force) a long stream of air from the (tight with anxiety)lungs. A pfffbd sigh.

It hits, for example, when I open the paper. I know it's bad because I am avoiding it lately. Or at election time -I don't know how overcome I am until the flabbergasted sigh hits (like when I am pressing the poll booth buttons -I feel like a monkey in an observation booth with a fake poll panel The audience says, oh look, she's democrat. Oh look, the monkey votes for women. Isn't that nice? Then they move on).

Or, as I travel around with my husband, taking photos for his book about the storm. I've met people who, right now, as we speak, are sleeping in tents inside flooded homes in the ninth ward -and it is frickin' cold out now. I am thinking of Albert right now, who I met this summer:




I was in a sculpture studio last Thursday, and a woman tells the story of a life-sized sculpture that she had made for her home in Waveland. It was to arrive from the foundry on the day the hurricane hit. She said that the sculpture was meant to be a proctectoress against storms for the coast. She started sobbing, saying it was just a day late-it didn't get there in time. It was immediately clear how much emotion she had put into the piece before the storm and how she now has given it special significance since it hit. Her home, of course, was obliterated. The statue is now, finally, standing on the porch of her home in Mid-City --which flooded to the gills and which took forever to get back to. I mean, this woman was sobbing. And I could tell she felt embarassed for it.

One cannot just go through life and ignore what's going on, no matter one's priviledged status (like mine -I live on the alluvial plane. My roof was blown off, but we raced back to town and replaced it before the rush. Others are just now getting construction crews to BEGIN. See Slimbolala).

People everywhere are uncapped and oozing all over. Still.

Well, I am leaving for the holidays tomorrow and will not be posting until the next Ruthie-Monday. I will leave you all with a cheerful series of photos. A secondline popped up on my block the other day. That's the best.

Ruthie Monday XXIX

It is getting chilly so I cut up a sock for Ruth-Anne. She likes it. It has a hood.Excuse the ghost eye.

Ruthie Monday XXIX

Ahhh....more beautiful weather.