WE HAVE ROOF !

As You can see by the attached pictures , we are no longer in the blue roof club.
We now have a real roof thanks to Nick and Suburban Roof, I've enclosed some pictures of
the mold farm on my ceiling. The orange one is quite dramatic,, it talks. .
Theres' nothing like opening the closet and going for a shirt and find mold dripping off it.
I only had 2 feet of mold, some people had mold to the ceiling. I was lucky.
It's coming around, finished floating my bedroom today.
later
gary

Well , Well, Well,

In 1965 I was sitting on tubular kitchen chair whose seat was covered in light green vinyl,
my black high top tennis shoes rested on the linoleum floor dotted in purple and red flowers except on the ridges of the floor planks that were a brownish non colored color. The old black and white Motorola TV set struggled to show the Long Ranger and Tonto, a light dotty snow enhanced by the rolling horizontal bar , it was exactly 15 seconds from top to bottom.
The window fan sucked in hot humid air, sweat covered my thin well washed white t-shirt and
the fat creases in my arm were lined with dirt beads. During the Meritta bread commercial
I scanned my pocket to find a dollar and ten cents in change, my life' s savings.
I wondered what am I gonna be when I grow up.
I looked around the room and realized then as I do now that all paths lead to here, no matter where here is, it's not a choice it's a path, you can try others , the scenery may be different and the trek may be different but the journeys end is always the same.
So here I sit in 2005 and as I watch the Long Ranger and Tonto on a new Digital Motorola TV
( yes, their still on ) , I wonder what am I gonna be when I grow up, knowing dam well that all paths lead to here anyway.... That my friends is "HOPE".
Those of of us that are blessed are born with it and ultimately die with it.
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In other news, Neil sheetrocked the bottom of the master bedroom, and Kevin helped
me do the hall and the closets and Marie helped me do the master bedroom closet.
Still waiting on a roof , still trying to set up the rest of the sheetrock work, but we have movement. All the debris in front of the house has been removed.

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Rode 25 miles this morning , went to Audubon Park, looked great, like nothing out of place except a few live oak branches were trimmed back. Cool temperatures. felt great.
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Dove across the lake for weekly granddaughter visit, she's doing great, gaining weight,
pretty as ever and developing an attitude like her mother. Feisty.
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Later
gary

Took the tour

Couldn stand it anymore, rode down to the quarter today, toured midcity.
Stopped by the house I grew up in and the one Marie grew up in , there would have been no wading, it would have been a swim for your life. I saw water lines in midcity that were 8 ft off the ground. The quarter looked clean, unscaved, smelled like the quarter, and had a few tourist around, I didn't see any visible damage to any landmarrks and the riverfront looked great.
I even saw some buggies working. Wow! those mules can swim. First picture is Sacred Heart CHurch.
Looks like thier still needing to hook up utilities in a lot of places but the smell was better than I found in Lakeview last week. I think there always be a watermark from the flood of 2005.
The old light house at the lakefront is leaning on one leg. Canal Street looks pretty normal,not good ,just normal .
It's gonna be alright.
later
gary

I wonder

I wonder what it must have been like to have been Tennessee Williams , to wake up and have breakfast on a Bourbon St Balcony, as you eat to taste the sounds, the sights , the smells,
the sun bringing to life the quarter, it fills up your senses and activates inspiration.
He probably sat at a small wooden desk near a window so he could stay in touch with the heating cement, the green post holding the balconies, the black lamp post, their the guardians of the pavement that carries the life of activity that ebbs and wanes as the day progresses.
I close my eyes now and can see Stan Kowoski tearing at his wife beater undershirt and screaming "Stella" with passionate perspiration dripping down his strained face.
I think the lack of air conditioning gave life to life, air conditioning has robbed us
of the confrontations of living passionately. I remember going on dates and wearing my wife beater undershirt until the last minute before putting on my shirt as to minimize the sweat factor. Sometimes I almost looked fresh when knocking on my dates door. 2 hankerchiefs
one for the nose and one for the sweat. Blanche Dubois would have been too comfortable in air conditioning, her character would wither without the passion of dealing with the heat and humidity. I think life should be one passion after another yet that attitude leads to one anxiety after another. So how do you balance the two, I don't know yet..
later
gary

Recovery is such a long process

Brake a bone in a second , 6 weeks to heal and recover..
Have an operation in hours, take months to heal and recover.
Have a hurricane in 8 hours , take years to recover.
It may take years, There isn't enough roofing , sheetrock and furniture
made at this time to make the necessary repairs. .
At least the waters all gone. Most of the trees are cut and being towed away.
The trash and refuse in front of houses is slowly disappearing.
Things get a little better every day..More and more traffic.
Me personally. I'm on the schedule for a roof, now I start the quest for a sheetrocker.
Being homeless is a bad feeling. Even though you have a home, if you can't live in it, your homeless, and no matter where your staying there 's no place like home.
I'm lucky I'm only blocks from my home , others have no more home or are hundreds of miles away. Is that lifes simplest term, "luck", who 'll be pulled away from the campfire by the sabre toothed tiger tonight, is it a matter of luck , chance? I want to believe that we have a tiny bit of control but now I have doubts about that. You just can't control all that surrounds.
later
gary

Turning the corner...

Hopefully we have turned the corner,
Grandaughter has inherited my genes and
is gorgeous, we may have a new roof in 2 to 3 weeks, and Frank and I have been doing a little biking. Maggie is doing great, she kicks those legs non stop, and has learned to cry both day and night.. She gaining weight and and has already been to Walmart twice. Wait till the Esplanade Mall opens back up , Stacy and Marie will be Maggie shopping non stop. . .................................................................................................................................................................................
In other news.. .
2 Days ago I drove3 into Lakeview and along the lakefront, its like going to another planet. Everything under 8 feet is brown and covered in dried mud. SOme of the most beautiful neighborhoods in New Orleans are a muddy mess. The shelters on the lakefront are half in tack and the lighthouse at west end is on a 45 degree angle. There's a smell in the air , pungent and acidic, the first blocks of Veterans toward the 17th street canal are littered with boats. Thank God we received this beautiful child to remind us of what life is really about, life , not things...
You don't have to look too far to see how lucky we are. .
I hope my beloved city survives this...
later
gary