We stole over to friends’ house to watch Episode 2 and 3 of Treme tonight after Tin went to sleep. We’re getting a little more hooked. Stay tuned. Love seeing our favorite musicians as actors, who can really act. But as we approach the 5th anniversary of Katrina and despite Mayor Landrieu trying to organize an international commemoration, the scenes of the houses, the dead, the heartache just all hit a little too close.
Louisiana – Word up on the oil spill is that a recent check of the birds shows little damage – some tidal activity from strong winds and the alignment of the sun and moon have washed some eggs away but we’re not seeing oil yet. So far gulls, pelicans and egrets not showing up oily. Some areas of the Gulf look good yet there are some unconfirmed reports of oil sightings that are being checked. There are reports of people gathering downtown stuffing stockings with fur and hair to create a shore barrier.
Alabama – report is that all clear around Ft. Morgan and Gulf Shores, no sign of oil, no foul smell, wildlife appears normal.
Florida – don’t know.
What we have here is a ton of oil being sunk in the deep ocean – the effects might not be known for years – and right now the dumping of massive amounts of detergent into the sea is the lesser of the evils (that doesn’t sound good). But the worse part of this mess is that the oil continues to spew out of the pipe – BP has not capped it yet. That’s downright scary.
Trying to find a source for renewable energy these days – namely mine – but I’m not sure it exists. I keep thinking if you just speak honestly what you feel and think that things will work themselves out and get better but sometimes I’m not sure. Right now, I’m trying to understand how a demanding job (why is it that no one seems to give you any slack when you have a job that is stressful – is this just too common an excuse these days?), demanding family (everyone here at the LaLa seems to have their own agenda which is orbiting another solar system), and a demandingly nagging feeling that this is one more day in my life, a Wednesday, and I started this pristine new day wanting to skip through the park on my walk or rather hop like a Hari Krishna with cymbals on my ankles giving into joy and yet by the time I was back at home, I wanted to run through the streets stark naked screaming at the top of my lungs.
Whatyagonnado?
Tin is cutting four new teeth at the same time – good grief, when it rains it pours. He already has four teeth so suddenly one day he will have exponentially more teeth. It is going better now that most of them have broke through the gums. But I’m starting to get concerned not about his teeth but about his looks – people keep telling him how handsome and beautiful he is all the time – I think I’m going to put a paper bag over his head because he’s also sweet and funny and good natured too. Emily Dickinson said, “Beauty is not caused. It is.”
But would you look at the size of these teeth!
Here is a shot of Heidi with her new Swanky Pet collar. She came to us with a floral collar that was ready for a replacement so you must admit how good she looks with the floral design.
Recall, we got Loca’s collar at Swanky Pet and picked the retro design. Loca finally got her own collar after two hand me downs.
I have a very fond memory of my mother sitting my sister and I on the picnic table that was our kitchen table when we lived on Louisiana Avenue and teaching us how to blow a bubble with bubble gum. I can picture that moment as if it just happened. We were all laughing and very focused on learning this important skill.
Yesterday, I was rocking Tin on the front porch after giving him his bottle in the late afternoon and I began blowing bubbles with my gum and he was hooked. I have never seen him look with such intensity at something and in particular, because he was almost trying look inside my mouth, I had a bird’s eye view. We did this for about fifteen minutes till our mail carrier came up and then the conversation shifted to hair.
We were watching a CNN show the other day, we seem to be watching more CNN than we care to as T’s mother is addicted to news. Which seems odd that older people watch so much news since news tends to frighten and alarm me and elder people grow increasingly frightened and alarmed – QUIT WATCHING THE NEWS, but that’s another story.
CNN had a show about, yes, you guessed it, aliens. And had Dan Akroyd as an expert on the four person panel. At first I thought it was a joke, but it wasn’t. Now of course I believe there has to be life on other planets, but who knows what that means, maybe advanced life is a single cell and we are primitive humans.
Just think if tomorrow an alien showed up at your door and explained some of the mysteries of life. Wouldn’t that be just about the most amazing thing in the world?
In the merry merry month of May, I was taken by surprise by …
Seven herons walking across the meadow
We found out yesterday just as I was so authoritatively telling a neighbor that Shepherds don’t like water that Heidi does! Loca had jumped in the bayou and Heidi trailed in after her and they romped around, splashing and jumping. Wow, they’re going to LOVE the beach.
But I digress, this morning, on our walk through the park, we happened upon seven Great Blue Herons chuking across the grass. I read that these Herons have lost all fear of humans, but they seemed to have no fear of two big dogs lumbering down the lane either and generally I see them on the banks of the lagoon, but they must have been worm shopping.
The day began exceptionally, I woke to birds singing outside my window and the sun is out but not intensely hot yet. We broke down last night and turned on the a/c as it was 80 degrees in our bedroom.
Heidi and Loca have found their groove together and were walking in tandem with Heidi occasionally licking Loca on the cheek – she’s a big kisser.
What was running through my mind as we walked was that my 51st birthday I saw an 84 year old Blues legend bringing down the tent at Jazz Fest – not a bad vision of aging.
Life’s good.
I asked my friend, a marine biologist who knows Louisiana wetlands better than most to comment on ProPublica’s article about the oil spill – his response:
Where do I start? Use up the worlds supply of a material they don’t like employing? Ok. Headaches, nausea and repro issues in high doses? Tequila? Valdez? Cold water ecosystem vs Gulf of Mexico dynamics? Take a swim… Next!
What do THEY suggest? Criticism is easy. Better ideas are few and far between. It’s a big giant in situ study taking place. Any new guesses? Take a shot at it. Nothing is good about this with the exception of learning by mistake or success. The tuition may be quite the pill to swallow but no gasoline, plastics… You decide!
I saw a sign being towed behind an airplane flying above Jazz Fest protesting drilling. What the fuck? Aviation fuel… daaaaa! Plastic sign… get real.
The answer? I’m waiting for it too. Oh, I got it. God’s will!
The new perspective: I was telling someone something that just happened and they responded, “At least it’s not an oil spill.” There you have it.
What is this spill and what is going on? My reliable source, a scientist and someone who knows these waters more than most, tells me that it is still way too early to tell what is going on and that this could be larger than the Valdez accident or much less so and that anyone who tells you differently right now does not know what they are talking about.
On a micro level, we’re headed to the beach and are getting reports the beaches in Alabma are pristine, no noxious odors, nothing in sight. The media is saying the chemicals being used to disperse the oil and keeping it from coming to shore are worse than the spill itself. The sea meanwhile is shifting, the winds are changing, and so far nobody, I repeat nobody, knows what the results of this tragic spill are, not even the ones who caused it, BP.
The one thing I do know for certain is that the oil spill has taken the heat off the Pope for now.