Where Did They All Go After New Orleans?

American diaspora - Katrina

Interesting map of the diaspora.

Bay St. Louis Photos

Rough day as we drove past house after house destroyed or saw no house at all. I'm amazed at how far the water came up from the Bay. The front street properties were swept clean with mountains of debris pushed back a long city block from the water.
Incredible. Sad. So much suffering and loss.

What I Saw in Bay St. Louis

Do Not Remove Steeple or What I Saw in Bay St. Louis

Here Is My Yard

First, understand that I show these photos to give you an idea of what the aftermath of a Cat 4 Hurricane looks like several miles inland. Second, I have a home which is habitable; most lost their homes. We are fortunate and know it. These are views of my backyard, the shed is held together with dirt dauber spit and cobwebs. How the shed remains standing is a mystery of the universe. The debris piles are tiny when compared to what they were at first.

Pee Pee Puppie Debuts

Here's the youngest Casserole pet. He's in the courtyard chewing on debris.

No Land Line

Family, the land line went out yesterday morning because the debris trucks messed with the lines. Call me on my cell.

The phone company won't fix the line because the debris is in the way. The debris removal trucks won't move the debris because the phone lines are in the way.

Still able to laugh,
St. Casserole

Preacher's Coffee Group

The Preacher's Coffee group met yesterday in a new location. Our previous location, a brew pub where they fixed us coffee as they cleaned up the bar, blew away in the storm. The group met at the hospital for two weeks then moved to our new location at the Mexican restaurant. Seven of us met Wednesday morning; six are homeless. I mean homeless as in either a)home blown away with only slab for evidence that home existed, b) three or fewer walls remain of house, or c)structure remains but is gutted and even spiders won't go inside. Lord, have mercy. These are the caregivers for over 1600 people and they have no familar place to rest their heads at night.

Still, despite the losses and wearing either donated clothing or storm damaged-then-bleached senseless stuff, they gathered to laugh and talk. Some senior UMC officials met with us and spent the time on their cell phones. No criticism here, just giving the sense of urgency/workload of everyone who is trying to help us.

President Bill Clinton came to my community. He met with the Turnkey Community first and made the instant personal connection he is known for. How I wish that he was my president during this disaster. When Pres.Bush spoke in New Orleans at Jackson Square, I heard his words (well-written speech) but saw in him the monitor reading un-connected affect. Clinton comes and hugs people, talks with them about what they want to talk about and makes the human connection. We need Clinton, not Bush now. Sorry if you don't like this but when people are in trouble, they need a person not a robot. I knew Bill was down here but couldn't get to him. I'm so glad he came to see all this. God bless him. A woman asked him, "Will you come back to check on us?" and he said he would.

Coming out of the grocery store parking lot Wednesday, the traffic backed up as it does all over the Coast these days. As we waited in traffic, the woman in front of me jumped out of the driver's seat, pulled open the back door of the car and began slapping a girl in the backseat. Tempers are very frayed here. You can't go many places. The traffic stalls constantly. People don't have enough money. People don't have homes. People are frightened. We have a curfew at night because the streetlights are gone.

Mr. C's pastor lost his home, too. His wife moved to Georgia because the mold and air quality here makes her sick.

Here's what the UMC's did for their pastors: sent each pastor a helper to handle all the relief effort phone calls and work and to make sure the pastor has what she/he needs.

I don't know what the PCUSA pastors have for support here. I wasn't notified of the meeting last week of our pastors. I found out about some aid when I contacted our EP.

I'm just telling you. If you are upset that I mention politics here, think about who you would want to comfort you when your world is destroyed, a person who will listen or a person who has to be told how to respond to your pain?

I'm going to rant about the insurance industry soon. You may want to ignore me for a few days.

Love,
St. Casserole

Wednesday Morning

For another perspective on Katrina, go to: http://homepage.mac.com/reillymorse/iblog/index.html

We laughed at Geraldine Granger, the Vicar of Dibley on a Neflix of "Vicar of Dibley: 10th Anniversary Christmas" dvd. I had to spell check "laughed" as I have not known the word for several weeks. I'm serious.

I cried with my LLS late yesterday afternoon. She helps me. LD is doing great in school and happy with new friends and in the loving company of the Aunts. LS spoke roughly to me so that I felt depressed although I understand that he is letting out his upset by blasting me. Oh well. Life is life and life, according to God, is good.

I'm sure the Pee Pee Puppie will be photographed today. I can just feel it.

St. C

I was a full-service blogger before Katrina. Now I blog about the Storm. Big Hurricanes are marker events for those who live through them or with the aftermath causing the world/life to be divided between before and after. Marker events are the big moments of one's life where life shifts into a new reality after a change like marriage, birth of children, injury, illness, death of a loved one, new job, etc.

For me, the marker events are typical: graduations, marriage, arrival of children, illness, miscarriages, death of parents, job changes. Marker events, in retropsect, pushed me into deeper maturity as a Believer. Sounds pious, doesn't it? Taking St. Paul's idea that whatever befalls a believer (and he used himself as the example) one hangs on to God and comes through with God's grace.

Katrina is a marker event and not just for me.

Believe me when I tell you that I am stunned at the number of people who went through hours of pitch black darkness with little children, old people and pets who held onto this life by sitting in a Boston Whaler they swam to in rising water then held onto the gutters of a neighbor's two storey home to wait out the storm. Jean, my young bankteller, swam out the second floor window of her apartment with her seven year old son. She broke the window and swam with her child to the safety of the roof. She climbed out the window into cold rising water with her child to try to stay alive. Rachel got into her attic with her two young children, husband, mother and dog to try to stay alive. People I know and strangers I meet did dramatic things to stay alive in all the water. We don't even live in a flood area. The water came up so high that Catfish let out his lines on his shrimp boat in the Back Bay 40 feet by swimming to the lines in the hurricane winds to save his boat. Strangers tell me remarkable stories of swimming to a neighbor's home for safety. I am stunned. These aren't young athletic kids. These are regular people who wanted to stay alive in a situation no one could predict. It is extraordinary that more people didn't drown.

Monday Morning

Thank you for sending money for our Humane Society of South Mississippi. I visited with Larry Ray yesterday to see how he fared and to greet his fabulous dogs. He and the dogs are doing well. He was writing notes to thank those who sent money to help the animals. The Storm came when the old shelter was on it's last gasp and the new shelter not quite ready to take care of animals. Assumpta and Dibley thank you for your kindness to them.

Andy is recovering from his post-hurricane injury. The vet didn't know what happened to him after checking for a break in his front leg, cuts, punctures, etc. Andy gets antibiotics everyday just in case. I think he sprained his wrist/ankle. He ate a big breakfast this morning and told me all his troubles. He says that the puppy (oh yeah, a puppy came to live with Mr. C and Junior C while I was gone) is worse than the kittens and that life has gone to the litterbox since Big Rusty left. I sympathized and reminded him that he is the Alpha Cat/Alpha Animal now. This perked Andy up and he sauntered off to check for squirrels.

Mr. C. and I sat on the back porch surveying what used to be our immaculate back yard while we drank coffee and read the newspaper. We started laughing thinking about the Martin House (for birds) which resided over the back back yard. The tall pole holding the house is gone and the house is on the ground. We were hooting that the Martins are trying to contact FEMA for their 2K for rebuilding and wondering how to find the Red Cross help. The Red Cross is doing a great job, I'm sure but durn! they move around so much that people can't find them.

Here's the best part: Ruby didn't move to Chicago and I'm going to see her today. Oh, thank you, Lord! I'll take her around to see what kind of aid is available to her. She doesn't drive so she can't get out to get her errands done. I spoke with her yesterday. She's fine but has no work, no income coming in and needs all the services the good people of the US have to offer. I can't wait to see her.

There is a great deal for me to do here at my amazing-still-standing home after two men, 2-4 relief workers and a pee pee puppie lived here for a month. However, my day is for Ruby and for our dear pal whose church was destroyed and his people gone.

Yours,
St. Casserole

Elation!

I drove my usual road to the Church watching for debris piles fallen onto the pavement. Trees down, houses with blue tarps covering ruined roofing and too much roadkill on an empty stomach provided the pictures for my drive.
The Little Town is damaged but, excuse me for saying this, not as badly as my area. The storm surge didn't reach that far but tornados, torrential rain and great wind did.

I was so glad to see the Church that I sat inside my car at the curb and stared. The roof damage is easy to see although the roof pitch is high like old-fashioned churches. The trees took heavy blows but the Carpenters for God in Orlando cleared the grounds. The Elders said of this fine work crew, "It would have taken us a year to do what they did in a few days!" Another church, way up North, sent boxes upon boxes of pump sprayers (to kill mildew/mold), toiletries, toothbrushes, underwear, socks, t-shirts and shoes. The congregation looked at the stuff. I told them it was for them and if they didn't need it, would they please give it out to their neighbors. With delight, they took most of the stuff saying, "I could use some new drawers...", and "Look!,these socks are MY size!" It's not easy for self-sufficent people to accept things they enjoyed going home from church with new, clean, never worn underwear,etc. All the toothbrushes left, too. Nothing like fresh socks, clean drawers and a new toothbrush to spruce up a hot October day after the Big Blow.

I stood in the pulpit and looked out at every single person on my roll, minus 2. Everyone was in worship! I felt as happy as I've felt since the Storm seeing my folks. We sang, prayed, had the Lord's Supper (note to self: keep looking for grape juice, you will find it. Thanks for not taking the grape fanta soda in for the service)and loved one another.

We got on a list to have the roof repaired. We updated our needs assessment for the congregations who have "adopted" us out of state and prepared for the next group who is coming to help us.

I am elated. Thanks be to God for allowing me to return to my people and find them well and able.

Thanks to you, too, for your prayers.

With Contentment,
St. Casserole

Aftermath

After a damaging storm, I observe the following:

Survivors tell their stories even to strangers.

People try to make money from the misery.

People who never have to ask for help find themselves receiving help and feel uncomfortable.

The street lights are gone.

Debris makes driving on city roads difficult because it pokes out into the street.

Everyone's car is filthy inside and out.

People tell you sad stories then talk about how lucky they feel to be alive.

People think that other people have it worse than they do even if they are standing on the empty slab of their home or business.

People need community whether it be their neighbors or church or bar much more when the world is unrecognizable.

People make quick decisions, often bad decisions, because the stress level is high.

People get sick from the stress, the heat and bad food.

Old people die because they can't face re-building or living through these conditions.

Losing one's mementos hurts.

Either tempers are hair-trigger or kindness spills out.

Pets are stressed.

Fragile people become even more fragile. Strong people begin to lose it.

Religious nuts have a field day.

Children have nightmares, get sick, act out and stop feeling safe anywhere.

Concerned,
St. Casserole

Here are pictures of what was a lovely renovated gray two storey old home adapted as office space. The office was furnished with antiques from my family and treasures from estate sales. The firm used the new office for less than a year before it blew away.

The picture frame on the steps is a sweet story. As the LH walked around the property, he picked up pictures from the debris and placed them on the steps. As days went by, people took their pictures from the assortment. One picture remains. One of the bittersweet things about great loss from a hurricane is the loss of pictures. A flat screen tv can be replaced, for example, but a picture of your Mama taken by your Granddaddy can't be replaced.

I began to see bent over trees, broken off about a third of the way down, miles before I reached home. Then, advertising signs blown off, telephone poles tilted and further along blue tarps on roofs. I thought the ocean blue color of the tarps was pretty until I saw too many covering pitiful houses by the time I arrived home.

Our trees are gone. Our neighborhood, the pine grove, now looks like the ground was scraped clean of all vegetation and new homes built. Except that homes are piles of debris, or tilted, or turned around or God knows what.

Here are the pictures of LH's office. He drove me around to see the damage to our part of the world about 2 hours after I arrived home. He said I needed to see the damage and not wait any longer.

I am home

I arrived home this afternoon. I've seen horrible damage from the hurricane.
I have much to say but will wait until I've rested.

ReverendMommy, I drove home so fast that I didn't call. Sorry I said I would and didn't.

I drove Bernadette the Turtle from NC to Montgomery, Alabama for a friend. Bernadette lost her front legs and was found in the woods defenseless. J brought her back to health then sent her to a Turtle Lover in Montgomery. Bernadette was good company on my drive. She has great listening skills. I have a picture to post but can't seem to up load it.


Love,
StCasserole

I begin the drive South tomorrow morning. Rain all the way down the East Coast is predicted so I may be splashing toward home.

Still unsure about which lectionary passage I'll use for my sermon Sunday. I've read each passage several times but will decide en route. Driving alone gives me quiet time. I've got THE KITE RUNNER on CD for entertainment, too.

More later,
St Casserole

Homesick Magnolias, Camellias and Such

I liked seeing Ellen DeGeneres wear a magnolia pin at the Emmys. If a magnolia is the symbol of Hurricane Katrina, that's fine with me. Magnolias are great trees but take up a great deal of space. Where I live the trees grow taller than homes and their leaves drive my neighbor nuts. Fallen magnolia leaves are large and crunchy so raking them up takes a good rake and both hands. We don't do much magnolia bloom picking as the blooms are high up on the branches. Want to know what a bloom smells like? Go sniff "Diorissimo" by Dior.

Camellias are a good symbol of the Gulf Coast, too. In a few weeks, if the bushes aren't destroyed, we'll have camellias. I have five different varieties, or did have in my yard. If I was half the Southern Gal I think I am I'd know the names of each type of camellia in my yard but I slept through that Garden Club meeting. I have pink, double pink, whitish, dark red and dark pink. Lovely. I hope the bushes survived because mine were older established plantings.

The free health clinic here is great. Clean, new and staffed with pleasant people. I got my tetanus shot and saw my name go into their "Hurricane Tetanus" file on the counter.I wish I could bring the clinic home with me. Our health department scares off young women with rudeness. More than 70% of all births in Mississippi have some contact with the health department. We could learn from the staff here.

I received another call from a church somewhere offering help to my congregation. I can't tell you what it means to me that people reach out to us. I told the caller I'd get back with her about our needs but that the church could pray for all the people of South Mississippi and Louisiana.

Love,
St. Casserole

* Happy birthday to Wilford Brimley, actor and Oatmeal intake encourager.

*The GUARDIAN published a Katrina map which showed Mississippi mis-drawn and labeled as "Arkansas." I understand they corrected the map the next day but not before school children learned that Arkansas is on the Gulf of Mexico.

*Thank you, John Grisham, for your essay in the Sunday New York Times about the strength of Mississippians. I read the essay twice for encouragement. He's correct, we Mississippians will "not just endure but will prevail" (quote related to Wm. Faulkner)

*I'm getting shots today so I can return home. Is that grim or what?

*Your kind comments mean a great deal to me. Many thanks for your prayers and concern.

*I drove to see an older pal in another county yesterday. She's an evacuee from my area. We clung to each other in greeting. We talked about mutual friends who lost homes, ruined businesses and what is means to be displaced.

*I hope Mississippi isn't forgotten in the re-building of the Gulf Coast. Our state leadership has a history of ignoring our needs.

*St. Casserole

Several Things...

Mr. C.: Thanks for your guest blogging. Our LLS returned from Scotland and got me online with the help of her super-duper secret password. You did a lovely job in her absence. Have you considered getting a blog of your own? You could be a revgalblogpal, too.

Hurricane Rita terrorized Louisiana. I'm praying for the citizens there as they deal with flooding, fire, wind damage and no electricity. Texas didn't have an easy time of it. Did any of you see the picture of the nursing home patients being evacuated who were stacked up in a cargo carrier on shelves. The picture gave me the creeps. Isn't there a better way?

Texan evacuees were allowed to take their pets and some household items. I hope this will be the norm when providing shelter/transport for evacuees in the future.

I'm here in beautiful NC for a few more days until I begin my drive home. I cherish the time with LD, LLS and LSiL. I love them. Now my heart is calling me back home to my LH and LS. Mr.C calls LS "Junior C." That is SO funny to me.

I plan to lead worship Sunday with my congregation. I'm eager to see them.

More later,
St. Casserole

Guest Blog II: Morning has broken

Mr. C again.

Mrs. C became worried about Hurricane Rita's path and called to check on me and Junior C. Much appreciated except that the call was made at 5:46 a.m., which at my home was 4:46 a.m.

Things for people to think about:

a) even though Rita passed us by(and we feel for all South Louisianans and Texans), there are thousands of homes covered with tarps and blue plastic here. I am sure that from a satellite photo it would look like a spider web of blue for 50 miles;

b) the ground is so saturated with water that rain just puddles on top of the grass and some areas had renewed flooding from the inch or two of rain we had;

c) some people, like my family, are lucky and have the amenities back (as of last night), others still live under tarps, some live in houses that were flooded, some live in the non-damaged second floors, and some have left our Coast never to return. Is the word diaspora?

Hopefully, Mrs. C will return to her daily internet epistles soon,
Until then,

Mr. C

Many of you, like me, enjoy waking up to my Mrs. C, St. Casserole to the world, and reading her thoughts. The other day, LD, somehow managed to change obviously important settings and now the East Coast compound for Casseroles has no computer for a day or two.
So, a guest host. Mr. C.
It is a cloudy day here along the Coast. Sprinkles remind us of Hurricane Rita’s presence to the South, which also makes people behave strangely. Yesterday, a rumor had FEMA confiscating all gasoline. Obviously, FEMA did not do that. What did happen was that a FEMA official said it would be prudent to fill your gas tanks because of Rita. Every gas station had long lines (queus to our British readers) until gas ran out. Rain is a bittersweet friend. Its cools us off. A wonderful thing as our trees are gone or leafless and the heat is so strong. Rain also scares those thousands who have temporary tarps or roofing and terrifies those living in tents.
Mrs. C’s older cat, Andy Roddick ( a stray appearing during last year’s US Open), started limping the other day and, though I saw nothing then, he was bleeding today. Andy is smart and street wise. He saw the cat carrier and hid, but I had the crack cocaine for cats–Tuna–and lured him into the cage. He is now at the Vet’s getting help, complaining loudly, and speaking ill of all Casseroles, wherever situated.
Mrs. C called. She is fine. She is coming home next week. By then we will have all the basic house hold comforts. We got power and water and telephone the other week and, perhaps, cable this week (our internet source). I firmly believe that one key to a happy marriage is never having one’s spouse where there are no working bathroom facilities. There are other rules for a good marriage, but if your bathroom isn't working, one can't even remember the others.
Hope all is well with you, Bye.
Mr. C

Dibley D'Wayne Guest Blogger

I survived Katrina with my four humans, my sister Assumpta and my older brother Andy. My humans own cat carriers, a car and a bag of cat food. Not all pets were this fortunate. Many pets died in the water because their humans didn't know what a big hurricane was coming. Some pets got lost from their humans. Some pets were hurt by the stuff in the water and the big wind. I have a new home with four humans and two Cat Cousins. This is my Cat Cousin, the younger one. All the cats here are black except me. I am orange or as my British pals say, "ginger". I am playing in an office of my humans here. They let me and Assumpta run around the house. At night we have a cat party and everyone stays in the kitchen. The humans here don't want cats walking on them at night. Isn't that strange?
This is what I see when I look outside. This house has a screened porch! I can hear birds! I can smell stuff! I can see outside and feel the breeze! Is this beautiful or what?
Here is another picture because it is soooo pretty.

This is my sister, Assumpta, sticking her head through the bannisters. This scares my Mom so we do it often. I fell through the bannisters last week and my Mom screamed! I was fine but her heart beat fast and she kissed me 47 times.




This is a picture of my really great human I brought from my home. I love her. She plays with me and hugs me. I purr for her.
Andy went back to my old home to take care of the LS and the LH. He is in a safe place with clean water and food. I hear that he is happy but confused about why the trees are gone. He popped me on the head with his paw the last time I saw him.

At my home, before the hurricane, we were building a new home for the humane society. The old building was 50 years old and stinky. I was rescued by my family from this shelter. I liked the humans there because they took care of me and helped me find a new family. Now, Katrina destroyed the old shelter and the new shelter isn't ready yet. But all the lost animals are ready NOW for help. You can send a donation to Larry Ray, a board member of the Humane Society of South Mississippi (HSSM). You can write HSSM on the check. My mom will put the address in the comments section. She knows Larry and knows the good work of the HSSM.

I miss my old home but if I have my humans and my sister with me I'll be ok. I wish all cats (and even dogs) had what I have in my new home.

Dibley

I doubt I'll ever have this much idle time again. I have hours to fill with reading, cleaning this immaculate house, weeding the beautiful yard and watching the kittens and Cat Cousins.

I'll return to the Coast late next week, I hope. I want to hug my husband and stare at my beautiful 17 year old son.

Yesterday I went to Replacements, Ltd. in Greensboro. Replacements is the China and Sterling heaven. Every pattern of china and flatware on the planet in one large box building. I didn't buy anything as I have plenty of china and flatware although I wondered if I should buy dinner plate sets for my pals who lost their homes. I decided against it because I'd hate anyone to choose china for me. Replacements has huge place settings from not much money to over-the-top prices. My favorite item is the Spode Cat Dish at $49.99 in a blue/white classic pattern. Didn't buy it. Spode has a dog dish, too.

Back at my LLS's hometown, I wandered into the thrift store to dig through the junk. I haven't talked about junk much in the past three weeks but will later. My hometown is a pile of junk now. I hear the debris in front of my house is taller than a tractor trailer truck. Great.

At the thrift store I found two bolo leather neck things. I may bring back bolo-wearing to the revgalblogpal set, don't know yet. One bolo has a sterling disk, the other is a Laurel Burch cat thing.

The book section was remarkable. I guess if there are 15 Ph.Ds per square foot here, even the thrift store book section is catalogued. I found four "cozy" mysteries to send to LH's secretary who lost her house in Katrina and loves to read mysteries. Will mail these today.

I found a treasure trove of Covenant Life Ciririculum books from the old PCUS in the '60's. CLC was a watermark of lay scholarship for the Presbyterian Church then with great books for adult classes. I recall that the teen books were great, too. I studied The Worry and Wonder of Being Human by, I think, Al Winn as a teen.

I found a pristine copy of The Mighty Acts of God by A.B. Rhodes ! The CLC series was popular enough to be taught for years so churches had piles of the series. Over 40 years, the piles were tossed out and the books became difficult to find. Has a ThD studied the CLC to trace the series' influence on pastors and laity of the time? I'd read it.

God bless my traveling LLS today. She's in Iona. May God grant her the benefit of her pilgrimmage.

St. Casserole

Entertaining t-shirt on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com/Katrina-Survivor-T-Shirt-Men-or-Women_W0QQitemZ8334911826QQcategoryZ15687QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I looked at pictures of the Coast taken after Katrina this afternoon. I don't even recognize what I'm looking at. Landmarks are gone.

My down-the-street neighbor emailed to say that he was glad I was in NC because the neighborhood is such a mess and the creature comforts gone.

I'd like to see my people, though.

St. Casserole

What Makes Me Cry

I'm not a cryer. I mist-up or well-up. I don't hold back tears or save them up for later or stuff them. I just don't cry often. I haven't shed a tear about Katrina.

Until this morning.

My husband told me that Ruby is leaving the Coast to live in Chicago.
I lost it. Wailed. Let it out good. I'm in the house alone because everyone has gone to church.

I love Ruby. She is part of the weave of my life, a pretty part of what gives me a sense of place, sweetness and LIFE. I knew I felt this way about her but it never occurred to me that when I return home, she won't be there.

She told me the last time I saw her on August 25, "I'll see you Monday if the Lord says the same".
Who knew that was the last time we saw each other before the Hurricane?

I trust God for her care. I trust God for my care. I trust, I trust...

As my New Orleans relatives, Roman Catholics all, say, "Jesus Mary and Joseph!!!!" I am upset.

St. C

Arghhhh....

I was staring out into the backyard here then it hit me: where is the water?
I don't know where the ocean is frm LLS's home!!!
I know where the water is all the time at my home. I drive by it, I smell the salt air, I see signs.

In NC, I am not oriented. I can't find the ocean. I can't find stuff at the grocery store. I write down direction but can't find where I'm suppose to be.

Imagine how tough it is for evacuees in strange towns. If I ask my LLS or LSiL for directions to a place four times in two days, they smile and tell me again. They draw maps.

This business of not knowing where things are in grocery stores wears me out.

(I asked my LLS and the water is hundreds of miles to my right. whew!)

Why can't I smell salt water here? Where are the 'gulls and pelicans?

Turned Around,
St. Casserole

Friday Cat Blogging

Evacuee Zone Cat Blogging: Senior Cousin Cat interrupted while watching new Harry Potter film clip on "Good Morning America". Is this a good-looking cat or what? Sr.CC has a great disposition, too.

Missing LH

I miss my husband. He's down in the Pine Grove with our son. May I still refer to our neighborhood as the "Pine Grove" even though all the pines are gone now?

After my mother died, my LH spent three weeks at a professional school out West. I didn't know what to do with myself. We'd never been apart from one another for more than a week but I survived.

I'm not a clingy person. Really, I'm not. I'm just happier when I can see my LH every single day.
We talk on the phone when the phones work (our local phone company will be happy to repair our home service by the third week of November, let's give a 'shout out' for incompetency!).

My LH is my favorite person and the one whose perspective I rely on when life is chaotic.

If you see him, tell him I miss him.

Maudlinly Yours,
St. Casserole

Sing along with me...

Some people got lost in the flood.

Some people got away all right.

The river have busted through clean down to Plaquemines.

Six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline.

Louisiana, Louisiana.

They're tryin' to wash us away.

Randy Newman, "Louisiana 1927", The Randy Newman Songbook, Vol. 1, 2003

Is there such a thing as compassion fatique? Oh yes, of course. Empathizing and sympathizing from a distance wears on a person so that when distractions arise, one is cheered by letting the suffering go. Unless you are in the midst of the suffering. This trouble is long term. Many people cannot get back to look at their destroyed stinky homes in Louisiana and Mississippi so they imagine the destruction but can't actually deal with it.

I showed LD a picture of the beachfront McDonald's on the Coast showing a Ronald statue standing while the restaurant is piled debris. We laughed then looked at one another. Who knows what our home area looks like? We don't really know 1000 miles away.

I hear that people in non-profits are worrying that Katrina donations will siphon off funds given ordinarily to them. I don't think so. Most people have regular contributions for churches, institutions, AIDS task forces, Heart Association, etc. Donations to Katrina will be one-time gifts above usual giving. Besides, as a colleague says, "poverty thinking" by non-profits doesn't do anyone good. Americans are generous.

I wonder how individuals who live on the edge without cash reserves will survive in my area. I know help is coming but $50 here or there can be big bucks for those with little money.

Pop Quiz

Dear Students:
Thank you for your comments of pronunciations (see post below). Here is the pop quiz question:
How is New Orleans pronounced?

Correctly,
Saint Cass UH role

Pronunciation Guide

When discussing Hurricane Katrina, please follow this guide to pronouncing place names on the Mississippi Gulf Coast even if the word doesn't look as if it would be pronouncedt this way:

Basic Level Pronunciation Guide
Waveland Pronounce as one word
Bay St. Louis You got this one right! Congrats~
Pass Christian (pass Christy Anne or pass Chris-t ann)
Long Beach Correct again! Congrats~
Gulfport (guff' port)
Biloxi (Buh Lux Eeeee)
Ocean Springs Correct Again! Congrats~
Gautier (Go Shay)
Pascagoula (Pass Cah Ghoul ahhh/short "a"; or alternately "Pass Pah Boul ahhh"

Expert Level Pronunciation Guide

Kiln (The Kill) note: home of Brett Farve
Saucier (Sew' Shure)
DeBuys (Duh Bees)

Thank you for your attention to this guide. If I hear one more news person say Bil LOX eee, I am going to take them off my Christmas Card List forever. I mean it.

St. Casserole ( Saint Cass ER roll)

No Title

When bloggers explain why they blog or complain about blogging, I tune out. Reminds me of the dreadful '80s radio songs whining about how hard it is to be a rock star.

I think of my blog as either a conversation with my RevGalBlogPals or like a newspaper we wrote in pencil as kids to hand to our Moms or sibs. Blogs just are. I blog because I enjoy it.

Because of the hurricane, I blog to whine, weep and Lord I don't know. My family is alive. My church is standing. Congregation is accounted for, mostly. I have a home standing on the Gulf Coast.

I'm so durn sad. So worn out with the suffering down there. Not tired of caring but desparate with grief for the losses around me. I'm not there. I'm up here.

I can't get away (nor would I want to get away, really) from the loss, grief, horror of storm deaths, destroyed homes, orphaned children, dead pets.....

I'll be talking about this for a long time. I'm not asking your permission to continue. I'm just telling you what I'll be doing. I think you may wish to read other blogs about other topics than katrina aftermath.

Yours,
St. Casserole

Not Normal

Local paper lists missing. I know several of the whereabouts unknown-s. I can't stand it.

Lord, Into this night, give us peace. If there is no peace for us, give us a sense of Your presence. If that is too much to ask for amid the suffering around us, let us make it to daylight. In Christ's name, Amen.

A Sort of Normal Day

Thank goodness for a bit of routine. I met two clergywomen for lunch. I found a thrift store to look through. I tried to get some financial stuff going. I did laundry. I went to the grocery store. I dusted.

I got lost once, not twice today. I'm making progress trying to learn a new area.

I am not interesting at all which is just what I've hoped for the past two weeks. Oh! Your president went to what appeared to be a school in our neighborhood. He didn't know why there is a difference between flood and wind insurance coverage. I wonder why they didn't brief him on this.

Slowly but surely by God's Good Grace,
St. Casserole

PUP and Circumstance

So, did the Peace Unity and Purity task force make their final report? What did it say? I'm busy with other things....

Sweet News

Yesterday a 13 year old girl neighbor came over to meet LD. The house was filled with laughter. The chocolate cake disappeared. They messed with hair and make-up. LD felt happy!

Onion and Upward

I know what I feel like! I feel like all my skin has been removed so that I have nothing to protect myself.

If I feel this way then others who are THERE are pitiful, too. Like the little boy in the Shelter who had a bowl of rice krispies on his birthday. Like the elderly woman who found a piece of intact wedding china amid the debris. Like the woman who wouldn't leave her home because her dogs couldn't come with her. Like the man who let go of his wife's hand during the storm and never saw her again. My grief is real but is a puddle compared to the sorrows of those whose lives feel like a bottomless sea.

Two things: 1) When help comes to people on the Coast some will feel so odd receiving aid. Usually self-sufficent they will be surprised to be on the receiving end of help. They know how to give and help but not know how to be the needy. I cite the story of the Good Samaritan as a helpful text for them. If we read the story of the GS and put ourselves in the place of the hurt man, we see that it is often stranger who are the most help to us. Not our friends who are busy, nor the religious authorities who need flow charts to decide who gets a bottle of water but strangers who feel compassion for us. Further, learning how to receive is good for us. If we only give then we fool ourselves into believing we don't need.

2) If we trust God to be with us, that trust gives us "room" to feel what we feel. I'm not talking about multiple Drama Days or sitting around obsessing over our lot in life to the exclusion of serving others. I mean that trusting God gives us the richness in our lives to have time to be the Stranger in the GS story AND to be the injured person. Our days are in God's hands. I take Paul's (as in your Saint Paul) comment as my text for this. He said that in whatever situation he found himself in, he learned to be happy. Separated from loved ones, in a new place without directions, without a job, without a home, without possessions, in all those things he was God's and trusted God to work it out. *

*Note to self. Have now revealed that I never memorized that verse and am a stupid head unless I carry a Bible in my pocket. Hope readers recall the verse and that I haven't blown the entire meaning of it.

Tomorrow I will go worship at the United Church with Rick and Jill Edens.
Love,
St. Casserole

Friday Cat Blogging on Saturday

(Left) Here is a Cat Cousin who escaped from the front door. She is being a good pal to Assumpta and Dibley although she is teaching them to climb porch screens and hang off railings. In this picture, she wonders if her butt looks big in this pose. I say she is beautiful.

(Right) St. Casserole Toes Post-Katrina. My new best friend Jane and I had our toes done to cheer us up. We eschewed OPI Cajun Shrimp because all the images of shrimp from New Orleans are gross. Instead Jane picked an OPI Tulip Something color for us. She is the child of Presbyterian Missionaries to the Congo so without thinking about it "tulip" means something to us if only a nmemonic for how to remember Protestant Principles. Oh well, it was funny when I thought of it...

My feet are in battle worn Birks but my feet are on dry ground. God be with those who are walking through the flood waters on the Coast and those whose noses are filled with the smell of the dead. My LH took a tent to a Church in Biloxi yesterday after making a complicated route to get there. The roads are buckled. Trees are in the roads, wires down, etc. He drove along a street north of the railroad tracks off Division where EVERY home on both sides of the street had a black X mean a dead body or bodies was inside. The church people didn't know what the X means because they don't have televisions and their radio batteries are drained.

I feel so sorry for those suffering. I am bereft that I am separated from my LH as he deals with all this. We are such a team after all these years that it feels odd to not be there to share the load and process the pain with him. I spoke with him by cell phone last night and he told me three times to stay put and not come home now.

Our LD is settling into school here and attended a school dance last night.

The dissonance between what is going on with my people at home and what I do up here is awful. Awe-ful. I may need to so talk with a therapist or discerning pastor.

St. Casserole

When Pigs Fly

I took LD to a Mall to buy the shoes she's wished for since last year. We called them desert boots, she calls them Clark's and up here the shoes are known as Wallabee's. It was the least I could do. Good grief, if your comfort is a new pair of shoes, I'm with you on that.

While walking around the Mall looking at fabulous stores with beautiful things, I contrasted my environment with what my LH, LS and thousands upon thousands of my fellow Hurricane Americans experience. No power, no lights at night, no air conditioning, no clean clothing, no bathing and I'm positive many women have run out of diapers and tampons.

In a cute store with many useless but precious items, I saw a sterling silver pin of a winged pig.

This got me thinking. I believe I can say with sincerity that we are experiencing when pigs fly, when hell freezes over, and a few other "it will never happen" times.

As a Presbyterian, I understand that history is in God's hands. The End of many apocalyptic sermons is not at hand right now any more than the End of Darkness' reign is ending all the time. You may have to read that sentence twice. I'm not saying that the End is Near or even Close. I'm suggesting that from my vantage point, what was never to happen has happened.

I almost bought that Pig Pin. I've marked events with buying a piece of jewelry before. I just couldn't do it this time. I don't want to be living in a time when pigs fly. It's just not right, not normal, not how I wish to spend my time.

Stay with me, the ice seems mighty thin,
St. Casserole

Thursday

I met my new best friend, Jane, for breakfast this morning. She evacuated from NO with her two children. My LLS met her friend when registering the children for local schools. Jane is the one with the husband in Iraq. She called yesterday to see if we could meet. "I had a moment", she said, "I knew you'd understand." As one having moments about every five minutes, I do understand. We ate a hearty breakfast and talked about our children. I'm ok if they are ok. Include my LH in that, too.

Phone calls from the Coast reveal that generators, chainsaws and supplies are arriving but there aren't enough organized helpers to distribute the stuff. The LH and his new best friends, the Methodists, are taking the things around to anyone who needs things. Without regard to color, class or neighborhood. The LH is impartial. I tease him that he shares this attribute with God. I wouldn't be surprised if he jumps ship from the Presbyies to the Methodists because he likes how the UMC helps people.

This is what I'm really pondering:


What will my world look like when I return home? The lumberjacks have leveled the downed trees in the Pine Grove. I assume our property is a mess. I've lived with those pines, oaks and short-leaf pine trees for years. I plant according to the shade they provide. Now gone.

Before you betrate me for yapping about lost trees, recall that it is now dawning on me what the world will be like. I'm a tree gal. I love them. Albeit I hate to worry about them in storms, but I love them. My prayers for keeping them off my house are answered. There won't be any more trees.


and


According to the NYTimes this morning, "In Mississippi, History is Now a Salvage Job". Florence Williams wrote the article. The photos are by David Rae Morris, son of Willie Morris, I think. Willie Morris helped me ease into Deep South Life when I read NORTH TOWARDS HOME, YAZOO and later, MY DOG SKIP. David Rae's photographs take my breath away. Dammit Dammit Dammit!

Tullis-Toledano House, the historic Biloxi former Governor's Mansion, gone. I served on that Board for several years. My grandmother's horse hair stuffed Victorian sofa was part of the Tullis furnishings. I courted on that dreadful sofa (gorgeous piece of furniture in the quality sense but not comfortable) then donated the sofa to Tullis.

Brielmaier House, part of the Historic Biloxi restoration, moved to what became the Biloxi Visitor's Center to keep it safe. Gone.

Danzler House, used as a city building and as the Mayor's office during the restoration of the Biloxi City Hall. I went to many meetings there. Gone

Beauvoir, former home of Jefferson David. Scene of many great weddings. Where my garden club worked endlessly to restore the antique rose garden there. Gone

I understand that the Coast isn't recognizable.

Yours,
St. Casserole

Wednesday

I drove LD to her new school this morning for her first day of classes. She looked tense and determined. We practiced how to respond to insensitive comments from classmates: Why do you live there? Your're from _______, are you stupid/country/racist? She has a rather tart mouth (who'd she get this from?) so I think she'll do fine but I'd prefer that she blow off the comments without sass.

You ask what you can do for the Casseroles in the earlier post comment sections. We have what we need right now and I trust that my LH and LS will have power, phones and etc. soon. I think we will be fine although it will take time for my LH to build back his practice. I'm away for an indefiinte time from my congregation.

I'd like for you to find a refugee-evacuee family and tend to them. They will need clothing, household goods, a place to live, work, food and your concern. You can't do everything for them but you can try.

I am in good loving company here so my emotional needs are considered. I have a yard to dig in and a house to clean for my LS and LSiL so I have something to do. Other evacuess won't have the comforts we have here. If I've felt enervated and lost, they will feel this, too. I pushed myself yesterday to do anything. I struggle with grief every minute. You are needed where you are to comfort your "new" people.

On a lighter note (I hope I have many lighter notes in the days to come), having Assumpta and Dibley with us is great. Nothing like charming kittens to cheer one up. Both kittens sat on the LD's lap in the back seat of the car on the way up here. They slept and purred for miles. Now they are in a two storey home with inside steps! Now they have a screened porch so they can sit looking out at birds and bugs with their older cat cousins in the mornings. The older cats are eating the kitten food; the kittens are chowing down on Big Cat food. Everyone is getting along with a tad of hissing and only a few protest meows.

I am considering working on a sermon this week because I miss the routine of preparing one. I could just do the exegesis and some commentary surfing (0n the 'net because my books are at home) then make an outline of a sermon I won't preach.

Maybe you could send book gift cards to some of the preachers on the Gulf Coast who lost their churches. I would find it sad to build another theological library after all these years.

Thinking of you all,
St. Casserole

My church survived. All my people are alive. Many didn't evacuate. Some did and are all over the state and U.S. We've gotten an email from a congregation in Orlando who wants to come help us. I will contact them as soon as I can. The church lost several windows so the kitchen and bathroom are a mess along with trees down. God Bless us all.

You may wish to visit www.Katrina-Response.blogspot.com a blog set up for an emergency shelter in Gulfport, Mississippi. The posts tell a great deal but click into the comments to read what survivors say.
The Mississippi UMC disaster response teams are feeding hot meals along with comfort. The blog is offered to those who stop by who wish to tell their stories. I am weeping as I write this.

The LD enrolled in Middle School today. The school counselor was so very kind to spend time with us to set up her schedule along with sports and activities. He was very good with her and she feels excited to begin classes tomorrow. We will receive free school supplies and lunches for her. So very odd to be the recipients of other's kindness. It may make take more to receive than to give which explains why recipients sometimes cannot say "thank you".

Help is on the way in terms of military reponse and water. Otherwise, your television reports of the utter neglect is accurate. People in small towns in Mississippi and Louisiana are ignored. The situation in New Orleans beats anything I've ever seen or heard of but troops are there now. We met a New Orleans evacuation family at an ice cream place yesterday. This Mom and her two children have no home to return to in N.O. Nothing with them except what they could pack into their car. The husband is in Iraq. They are renting a home from a friend up here. What bravery! What determination! The ice cream place had a fund raiser for Katrina survivors because everywhere you look up here, someone trying to help. God Bless Them!

Future issues for survivors will be dealing with lost jobs, no household items, displacement their familar surroundings. Cash will be needed to secure clothing, furniture, meds etc. The need is overwhelming.

At the school this morning, a mother and son arrived from the New Orleans area. She had on a Red Cross T-shirt. I think this is the only clean clothing she owns. Her son was clutching a blankie.

I am on the East Coast with my LLS and SiL along with my LD. LD and I drove up from Florida on Friday morning. I intend to enroll LD in an East Coast school for the remainder of her 8th Grade year. I have no immunization records, no birth certificate but I do have her SS number. We will do our best with what we have.

The misery of all this for the people of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama is beginning to fray my heart so much that I feel like hiding under a bed in the dark. I've handled all I could for the past week, sustained I believe, by the power of your prayers along with those of our friends, etc. My LH is back at home sleeping with a shotgun nearby and guiding disaster officials around so damage to our churches can be assessed. He and our LS are getting a hot meal each day from the United Methodists who showed up before the Federal or State people to give out water, ice and encouragement. I can bear it that our family is separated but understand that I am needed to settle the LD, that there is no power, AC or supplies for me to be a home. I am comfortable here with my LLS and LSiL.

I am grateful that my family is alive. I've missed all of you and found myself during the odd or trying times of this week wanting to blog about the experiences. I could watch tv and use my cell phone every now and then but no internet. Depending on the television networks for news is a skewed view.

I have more to say but will say it later. Again, thank you for your prayers and concern. Mr. Casserole did his best to keep up with the blog (Good job, Sweetheart!) and I thank him, too.

Yours,
St. Casserole

more no news

Spent yesterday getting a UHaul, buying ice chests (large are hard to come by), getting water containers (hard to come by-found large storage containers at Walmart and duct taped them shut, bought $250 worth of gas for gas cans located, and found places to obtain ice for 10 ice chests. Will buy non-perishable food today if we can get home. We don't know what we can do at the moment. Can't get Mississippi highway patrol. Cell phones in Miss. are not working and can't get straight lowdown on roads. Friends email me to stay put, but it is hard not to go home and do what you can. At the moment, can't find anyone who can tell me how to get home. I can get to Mobile, and think I can get to Mississippi, but don't know if we can go South. We live between waters--the Gulf and the rivers-bayous. If bridges are out, you stop. What is really maddening is not being able to find someone who can definately say roads clear or roads blocked. The problem is enlarged by the gas shortage--- which is not having power at the stations and so cannot pump. So, if we leave and can't get there, we have to use our gas to get home. What a mess. As to SC readers questions: 1) good to hear Ric and Lynn are okay, but fear their church is down. The courthouse near that church had structural damage. 2) St. C's church is an unknown. Can't get anyone on phone, no news coverage, looked for it on the TV and see nothing. 3) At least three known historic churches are gone--one funded by Jefferson Davis family, another being an old and ornate Episcopalian church, and we fear, the oldest Episcopal church around. We think the local old Catholic Cathedral was flattened, but don't know. Saw pictures of a large Baptist church with walls down and debris inside. A large Presbyterian church has disappeared. Gone. Think about this-all government buildings (coast guard, air force and navy, highway patrol, several police stations, fed and state courts, many fire departments---all within 2 blocks of water and probably gone. Idea. Start thinking church project of getting crews to help rebuild churches. Bye for today. Mr. C

Hurricane Katrina

Hello from Florida and Mr. Casserole. St. Casserole is fine, sitting in a condo in Florida, and trying to reach friends and family in Mississippi on the phone. I, the husband, found a Wifi coffee house and called St.C, who wanted me to post note. Being somewhat unfamiliar with her blogging format, bear with me as I give the run-down. As an old hurricane hand , I was not frightened about the storm until it took the Camille turn, and ran up the 89th due North toward us. We packed, took some important personal possessions (never enough and never enough room) and headed to a friend's condo, who wanted to stay behind. The drive took 8 hours for what normally would be a three hour drive. 8 hours feels like 20 when there is mewing, moaning and groaning in the back... and, besides the kids, the cats were unhappy. We are all safe. On the other hand, we have little cell phone service with our area. We know our house is safe, though all the trees are down. We understand there is no water inside and a friend opened up the house and removed all the food. My office, just recently built, is gone. There are old concrete tabby steps and nothing more. We have rented a Uhaul, bought as many ice chests as we can, gotten lots of gas cans and water containers, and are intending to leave St. C and daughter here and take food, ice, water, gas and food home to friends, family and needy. I will pack up as soon as we can get home.

Right now, the roads are impassable. No power. Trees down. News is that my office area is flattened along with the tons of stuff that was meaningful to me as regards my career, my family history, and loving family here. Replacable in other ways. Not really important since we are all alive and well. But, sadly missed. Things are icons for one's sadness. Here is a wierd one: my shed is standing. this is a joke among my friends and family. I have been meaning to tear the shed down for years and just have not gotten around to it. It is an old corrugatged plastic greenhouse looking thing and is about 12 x 35. It is literally held together by muddauber spit and beetle dung. It survived 145 mile an hour winds when my building, expertly crafted by my beswt friend, a contractor, cannot be found. No phyme, no reason. Like why some people live and others don't; why some houses get nailed by trees and others are unscathed. No way to wrap one's mind around the whys and wherefores. We find out about friends in odd ways. Daughter is expert text messager and son has cell friends away from area. They seem to be able to send messages to people who send messages and get notes back. We hope all friends are safe. We know that some lost houses, businesses, places they loved. We know friends at churches who no longer have church buildings. We know food and water will be needed in days. We are nervous about staying here and unsure how to get back. We see friends interviewed on tv and they are shell shocked. Anyway, nothing to do but make lists, buy everything in sight that might help, and wait for the roads to clear. St. C will write when she has time I am sure. Mr. Casserole, from our evacuation spot in Florida.

Soggy Bloggy Update

Still here. With all the property and home stuff to board up, the work continues. I've packed up the family's clothing, meds, cat food, ice chest and walked around photographing the interior of the house along with pictures of the insides of closets, armoires and sideboards. The house is such a wreck that the pictures are a good history of what it is like to evacuate. The LH is exhausted. The LS has returned from his weekend away, helped us then ran to help a friend's parent's as they boarded up. Drills, electric saws and whining is the sound of the Pine Grove neighborhood today.

I'm ok as long as I don't watch the weather channel, the news from New Orleans or listen to the radio. The Apocalypse is planned for us tonight and tomorrow. Water, trees down, too much wind. Our good neighbors are planning to stay at home. I don't understand it. I suppose many of our neighbors will stay home as the motels for hundreds of miles are full, the shelters don't take pets and people feel that they can "sit out" the storm.

As for me and my people, we will flee slowly on clogged roads toward the East.

Thank you for your prayers for us and all those affected by the storm. The emergency people have a tough job. The Entergy trucks are poised to come help us restore power (when it goes tonight) and the FEMA, Insurance Adjusters and Red Cross better be taking naps RIGHT NOW because when Katrina hits, they won't rest for days.

Again, Grace and Peace,
St. Casserole (God knows my name so however you pray for me and mine is fine.)

Potential Soggy Blog Here

Reports are coming in about Katrina as a category 5. A five is almost unimaginable in destructive power. I've moved from upset to frightened to terrified.

We plan to evacuate. Those of you who know me will know how to reach me. For the rest of you: pray for us and all those in the path of the storm.

I'm not sure we can be safe staying in our boarded up house if 100 plus mph winds come. We have only a small area without windows so the four of us and three kitties would be together with no air, no room to sleep, etc.

I do not know what the homeless are doing. I know that getting to a shelter on foot or by public transport will be very difficult. I do not know what the elderly without family are doing. I suppose pregnant women have evacuated already as the lowered pressure causes the onset of labor.

Lord, Lord, Lord....

When I can join you again, I will.
Grace and Peace,
St. Casserole

From the NOAA Site

AT 10 PM CDT...0300Z...A HURRICANE WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THENORTH CENTRAL GULF COAST FROM MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA EASTWARD TO THEALABAMA/FLORIDA BORDER...INCLUDING THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS AND LAKEPONTCHARTRAIN. A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONSARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TOCOMPLETION. (italics mine)

I've made the Grace Solidarity Chocolate Cake for the hurricane preparation and will make a second cake tomorrow. Tons of dirty clothes are clean, folded and put away. I think it's silly to clean up the house before a hurricane but at least if we are blown away, the fragments will be fresh.

Oh, yes. Gallows humor begins.

I'm doing ok. Church as been cancelled tomorrow to keep me off the roads. New Orleans is under an evacuation order so the roads are clogged with fleeing people. I might be able to get to church in the morning but quite possibly have a hard time getting back home. And, if we decide to evacuate, I'll need to be here organizing and hollaring.

I bought groceries today to keep us snacking. I buy junk food for hurricanes that we do not eat at other times. I consider Oreos a must. I bought two bags.

I bought bleach which I haven't had to do in two years. A one gallon bottle lasts a very long time.

Flashlight batteries? Check! Candles? Check! Cars gassed up? Check! Cash on hand because ATMs don't work without electricity? Check! Cat food? Check? Cat Carriers clean and ready? Check!

Please excuse me while I cuss over having a Sunday off from preaching but am too tired to watch SNL or read my new book. (Sputter! Rats! CrabApples! HotBeans!)

St. C

Prayer During a Hurricane Watch

O Lord, Thou knowest that when thy servant, Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel, appears in one's general geographic area that one is in great travail. We have seen Jim Cantore on the television and web site and tremble before You. You who are able to speak in the great wind or still small voice, send Jim Cantore farther East by several hundred miles or West by several hundred miles, we pray You. Amen.

Sometime today the National Weather Service will tell us if we need to put the boards back on the windows and doors. Oh, yes! We might be preparing for another St. Casserole Weather Upset and Babble! Hardly recovered from the Dennis scare and now we may have to cope with my outbursts....

One thing for sure: I'll be going to the grocery store to get supplies for Grace's Chocolate Cake.
One other thing for sure: I'll be hoping you are praying for all of us. I'm praying for south Florida. I read that Key West had tropical force winds for over 24 hours. Talk about misery!

Walking by faith, not sight,
St. C

Friday Rant Day

Welcome to Rant Day. Heave the rant into the comments section. Rants will be double-bagged then treated, according to EPA guidelines, for your future protection. All at no charge!

Opening Rant: Why didn't we take the War money and use it to develop alternate fuel sources? Think how much money we'd have for research and development. We'd be less dependent on oil by now. But nooooooooooo......

Your turn....

Let us remember in our prayers our sisters and brothers taking the ordination exams today in the PC (USA) and all seminarians.

I'm praying for the South Florida people with the dumb ol' hurricane coming at them. Yuk!
I wish hurricanes would spin in the middle of the Atlantic without harming people or fish.

Can't believe it's Thursday evening. My week's flown by again.

We had dinner tonight, as we do each Thursday, with a group of friends. We meet at a neighborhood restaurant, bring children, whatever. If you can come, you come. If not this week, then next week. Very free-wheeling and pleasant to see our friends over good food every week. Our ages range from 70-something to 3 years old. Our children bring friends to join us which adds to the mix. If you're in town, drop by.

The conversation tonight was about ROTC which one of the children's pals does. I listened with one ear as the conversation at my end of the table was about raising teens. The three year old wanted to discuss toenail polish, especially mine (OPI light pink, very cute, can't remember the color).

I looked at the ROTC teen thinking that he is doing well in school, greatful for the comradeship of ROTC and excited about a college scholarship he'll receive. And, I see him and worry about him being grenade fodder. Can't help but worry that the War will continue until all my son's pals are drafted into this Iraq misery. It's noble that the kid at dinner does ROTC so he can get college money; it's ignoble that he is risking his life to achieve an education. I understand that he may be officer material and more safe than our other under-priviledged young men in the military but all of it upsets me.

At my end of the table we discussed the wild things kids do and how most of them can't keep quiet about their mis-deeds and the news gets back to us. Rather charming that they have the will and the way to get into trouble but not the discipline to keep it to themselves. Not that I want any additional sneaky teens. Or, parents go along merrily unaware of what their kids are doing then hear about it when the kids become adults. I recall hearing my LLS discuss some of her high school pranks with my mother. My mother didn't seem upset but I was very upset that my LLS got away with stuff I never even attempted.

Ya Know What I Mean?
St. C

Rachel Henderlite (1905-1991) A Prayer of Confession

We come to Thee, O Christ, confessing to Thee the fears that twist our lives and keep us from the inner calm and peace that come from Thee:
The fear of ourselves, that we cannot do what is expected of us;
The fear of being found out for our littleness and pride in ourselves;
The fear of being left out when joy and richness come to others;
The fear of not being ready when opportunities present themselves for service;
The fear of death, that when it comes our time to die, we shall not have done the things we would have done, because we were afraid to venture out.
We find ourselves shrinking back before the unknown, wanting assurance where we must have faith; We find ourselves hesitating to follow Thee, O Christ, afraid the cost may be too great, and life may pass us by. Give us the strength and peace that only Thou canst give. Amen

---Rachel Henderlite (1905-1991) Written for a service of worship at Montreat, North Carolina, July 20, 1954 from A Book of Reformed Prayers, ed. Howard L. Rice, Lamar Williamson, Jr., 1998, Westminster Press.

Spelling Foibiles, Spell Checkers, Comments and Curses

As PPB cannot spell "flue", I cannot spell "annoynymous." I don't think the word "annoy" is part of the word but my fingers and imagination fail me. It was two years into Seminary before I could spell "ressurection" with any confidence. It's part of that learning difference/dyslexia thing in my brain. Spell checkers with sophisicated dictionaries are a blessing to me.

Back to the point: I've changed how I receive comments on this blog by using the new Super Duper You-Know-What blocker. I hope that my legitimate annyonymous commenters will continue to comment and that all "machine" commenters will find their backsides frothing with runny warts.

Graciously,
St. Casserole

Worship went well yesterday although we were soaked in sadness. A former member died Saturday. Well-liked, active in church life and a character.

I opened the service then discussed his death and our grief.

One of his family members came to worship (the day after his death) which impressed me.

Close death shuts me down and I can't imagine "returning to normal" the next day. The family member said she didn't know what to do with her time and it was time for church, so she came to worship. Makes sense to me. We gave her hugs and told stories about the decedent.

I changed my comments section to include that new comments spammie thingie. Turns out that all the D'Waynes of the spammy world commented on Dibbie's post. (See previous post to decipher this paragraph.)

Devotedly,
St. Casserole

Saturday Cat Blogging

Dibley napping in front of Assumpta on chair. Two pairs of shorts, outgrown by LS, provide a comfortable cushion. Tapestry tablerunner from garage sale (what am I going to do with it?) on back of chair. On the far left side, you can see a bit of my brick courtyard outside my Study doors. Can you see the heat? Note small white paws with black toe pads behind Dibley.

Andy the Big Cat is sleeping outdoors recalling his ancestor's days in Egypt (origin of Cats). He is reflecting on Exodus 1: 8-2:10 when there was, "...a new king, who did not know about Joseph..."
(v. 8). Andy's world changed when the kittens arrived. He is pondering the verse as he thinks of his own life, wondering what went awry with his plans to be an only cat.

Thanks for the hits,
St. Casserole

I'm up early for estate sales. After checking the paper ads sales don't look very good for this morning although I've been fooled before. Just when you think a sale will be yukky, out pops an amazing item for $5.

Along with reading the sales ads, I read our local paper online.

Here's MY news for the day:

If things go well, I may top 10,000 visitors today. You could help me by dropping by several times. (Hint, hint)

The Full Moon illuminates my back yard with the prettiest light.

The kittens are showing signs of mature cat-osity in their faces. Ah! The young grow up so fast!

Mid-grade gas is $2.68 a gallon. We need a Democrat for President who will indict the current president and his cronies for messing with the oil costs for their own gain.

High oil is making our timber industry upset. Timber prices translate into all sorts of areas like home construction, pencils, paper and etc. Not good.

I got into my car yesterday with the temperature registering 113 in the interior. Yuk.

What's your news?
St. C

Weekly Coffee Drinking with Preachers Advertisement

Yesterday at the Preacher Coffee Drinking and Complaining Meeting (held each Wednesday at the same place, same time and same preachers, mostly) one of the preachers looked me in the eye and said, "One of the things I've learned from you is to be more gracious."

Boys and Girls, I am horrified.

I am my worst self at that group: confrontational, sarcastic, interrupting, cackle-laughing.

If my graciousness filters through, I am amazed.

The group is a place for each of us to tell what we want to tell, let down our proverbial hair and know that what we say stays in the group. Ok, so I quote another member above. I think this is ok.

My dear preaching pals, please find a group like this for yourselves. The steam I blow off at the group is safe with my group. Listening to other pastors helps me understand them and myself.

I go to group every week regardless of my schedule or health. Go ye, and do likewise.

In Harry's world, I'm...

http://piratemonkeysinc.com/quiz.htm">%20src=" Monkeys Inc.

About the PUP meeting

Slept well last night and woke this morning to organize my notes and reflections on the meeting last night of a group discussing the up-coming Peace Unity and Purity Task Force Report.

I wrote my blog entry for you. Too long but worse, would give many clues about my identity and location. I'm not prepared to lose the last bit of my privacy. This blog's mission statement is to remain private and general.

I am awash in dissonance. Meetings yesterday about budgets and nominations made me feel like an alien from the Planet Outofit. What I see and understand about Church isn't even close to what my colleagues see/understand. The PUP meeting, with people I love and respect, moved very quickly from the report to where do we go now that the denomination is exploding.
No wonder I came home, put on my jamas and zoned out. I couldn't take any more.

Today is a new day, thank God. Today we have another chance to be faithful to our calling as God's children. Let's trust God to help us find our way and ways.

Yours,
St. Casserole

Friends, as a pastor who has learned how to take it easy in ministry, today was a BEAR of A DAY. I plan to tell you about the PUP meeting after I sleep on what I heard. I hope I don't have nightmares.

However, my day began with a blast of my old pals, the Rolling Stones, from the bathroom radio. Mick Jagger was singing, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and I listened.

To my detractors who point out that I have lost forever my East Coast Lockjaw speech after years in the Backwater, I submit that the Mighty Mick Jagger says, "caint". I heard him. He says "Caint" for "can't".

I say it, too.

He says "git" for "get", too. The proper American pronunciation is "get" as in "pet- get" not "git". I say that, also.

Later in the song, he sings, "but if you try sometime, you get what you need." My mother must have whispered in his ear as he stood at the studio microphone. She couldn't stand hearing "lazy" speech.

Night, y'all,
St. Casserole

Cinderella and Bob

Hat tip to Rei:

Cinderella is now 95 years old.After a fulfilling life with the now dead prince, she happily sits upon her rocking chair, watching the world go by from her front porch, with a cat named Bob for companionship. One sunny afternoon out of nowhere, appeared the fairy godmother.. Cinderella said, "Fairy Godmother, what are you doing here after all these years"?The fairy godmother replied, "Cinderella, you have lived an exemplary life since I last saw you.Is there anything for which your heart still yearns?" Cinderella was taken aback, overjoyed, and after some thoughtful consideration, she uttered her first wish:"The prince was wonderful, but not much of an investor.I'm living hand to mouth on my disability checks, and I wish I were wealthy beyond comprehension. Instantly her rocking chair turned into solid gold. Cinderella said, "Ooh, thank you, Fairy Godmother"The fairy godmother replied "it is the least that I can do.What do you want for your second wish?"Cinderella looked down at her frail body, and said,"I wish I were young and full of the beauty and youth I once had."At once, her wish became reality, and her beautiful young visage returned.Cinderella felt stirrings inside of her that had been dormant for years.And then the fairy godmother spoke once more:"You have one more wish; what shall it be?"Cinderella looks over to the frightened cat in the corner and says,"I wish for you to transform Bob, my old cat, into a kind and handsome young man."Magically, Bob suddenly underwent so fundamental a change in his biological make-up that, when he stood before her, he was a man so beautiful the likes of him neither she nor the world had ever seen.The fairy godmother said,"Congratulations, Cinderella, enjoy your new life. With a blazing shock of bright blue electricity, the fairy godmother was gone as suddenly as she appeared.For a few eerie moments, Bob and Cinderella looked into each other's eyes. Cinderella sat, breathless, gazing at the most beautiful, stunningly perfect man she had ever seen.Then Bob walked over to Cinderella, who sat transfixed in her rocking chair, & held her close in his young muscular arms.He leaned in close, blowing her golden hair with his warm breath as he whispered.........."Bet you're sorry you neutered me."

Sunday Night

Good day for Worship at Little Church. Early this morning, I stood outside with my coffee mug considering the new day and wanted to stay home. Such a beautiful day to be tempted to stay home to dig in the earth, prune and weed. I finished my coffee and wandered inside to get ready to drive through the county.

Matthew 15:10-20 (Jesus telling the disciples that what comes out of the mouth is the problem not what goes into the mouth; Canaanite Woman with the sick daughter who SHOUTS at Jesus for help) provides many delights for the preacher. I was ready with my sermon, prayers and a happy heart to see my people. Having been in situations where "seeing my people" delighted me less than getting rabies shots, I’m grateful for a time of "happy heart."

We had visitors. I assume our new newspaper advertising, cleaning up our church directional signs and getting a telephone message giving directions helped them find us. Cute couple. She’s pregnant and I’d be willing to host a baby shower every month until the birth along with doing all of their ironing if we could have a baby born into the congregation. Old churches with old people seldom get the fun of a new baby. And, I’d be happy to baptize the baby along with providing an antique baptismal gown. I’ll keep these incentives/bribes to myself, but it would be fun if they joined the congregation.

I have a weepy person in the congregation. The person weeps during sermons and prayers, silently dabbing at eyes with a tissue. The weeping goes on most Sundays. Before you tell me that it’s the sermon and the prayers which cause her to weep due to low quality and excessive length, I’ve considered that already.

I understand what it feels like to cry/weep/mist in worship. Church is one of my favorite places to let grief out. Or to be overwhelmed with joy. I hope people who don’t "do" church have a place where they can weep in comfortable fellowship.

Have a good week, y’all.
St. Casserole

Expeditus' RANT DAY EVENT

Dear Bloggie Sisters (and Brothers),
At Expeditus' suggestion (see comments in PUP entry), we will observe RANT DAY on Friday, August 12. All rants and craw-stickers shall be shared. You may comment on this blog or on your own.
Have a rant you don't want to claim? Say that it's your "sister's rant" and we'll believe you.
Hesitant to rant because your usual temperment is sunny and perky? Take a day or so to really dig up a good one from the depths of your outraged soul.
Concerned that you might sound petty? No Worries! The more petty the better, Betty!

As small group leader, let me begin the rant-age by sharing the following:

I detest public whistling. SHUT UP!

Waiter, don't take away my plate until everyone at the table is finished eating!

Waiter, don't take my silverware off my plate and place it on the table when bringing a new plate. Bring me a clean set of silverware or don't open a restaurant!

If you are dis-satisfied with your preacher, pray about it until you can find loving charity or go away or just SHUT UP! (ohhhhhhhh that felt good!)

If you are over the age of 3, please chew your gum with your mouth closed. NO SOUNDS, EITHER!

......that's all for tonight. I need to save a few rants for the RANT DAY EVENT!

See you!
St. Casserole

Psalm 130 v.1-2, 5-6

Out of the depths I cry to you,
O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!

I wait for the Lord, my soul
waits,
and in his word I hope:
my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for
the morning,
more than those who watch for
the morning.

The Psalms contain the range of human feelings, don't they? All our hearts are somewhere in the
verses.

Yours,
St. Casserole

PUP Comm. Warm-Up Discussion Facilitation

The Presbytery is having a speaker to talk with us about the Peace, Unity and Purity Commission Report next week upstate. The PUP Commission report will be released on Septemper 15 and next week's meeting is to "facilitate discussion on the matter."

I will go. I dread it. I can't tell you how weary I am of discussions about how dreadful the national leadership is. We are the national leadership. We are presbytery. We are Synod. We are General Assembly. It's all us. And what do we do about a fuss with us?

Is it just a chronic Southern thing to be suspicious of guv'mint....national leadership? Maybe.
Do we only connect with those whose faces and names we know and those who know us?
Is our view of the church so small that church for us is only the folks we worship with on Sundays?

If some bad news is coming about the denomination, I'm not sure I want to hear it.

I don't expect you or the denomination to be perfect. I don't expect you to agree with me. I don't expect that we will be best friends. I do expect, if you are Christian, that we respect one another's commitment to Jesus Christ.

I'm not saying this well. Probably won't say it any better after next week's meeting.

Life is tough. Let's love each other as best we can then make sure we extend to one another the Grace Jesus gives to each of us.

I need a nap.
St. C

Things I Wish You Could See

1. Dibley, the Orange Kitten, on the kitchen counter in a loaf pan of pound cake eating cake with both paws resting on either side of his head, hind feet inside pan.
(Note to self: Blast older cat for teaching kittens to get on the kitchen counter; cover or remove any human food from kitten's grasp.)

2. The look on the LLD's face this morning when she showed me her "straight" hair carefully straightened with hot presser. She felt beautiful. I felt deja vu to my high school days when straight hair was cool and I straightened my hair.
(Note to self: Be glad I have "body" in my hair so that it isn't limp and flat.)

3. My back yard (or "garden" for transatlantic types) full of hearty greenery abundantly growing with great joy and fervor.
(Note to self: Weed backyard before plants take over house as in horror movies.)

Love,
St. C

As a teen and young adult, I swore I'd remember what it felt like to be that age. I committed to recalling the emotions, needs and impulses of youth so that I would NEVER forget. Being pooh-poohed (as in 'get over it' which wasn't said back then but a variation was) got on my nerves. I planned to grow up and still be able to relate to youth.

Oh yeah. I worked with youth groups for about the first ten years of my ministry. I was clever, creative and available to kids and thought of myself as aware of their interior lives, etc. I felt I "related" to them.

Now I have teens. The roles are reversed. I'm the big ogre of parental insensitivity. I have no understanding of what it means to be a young person.

I agree with my critics who often starch me with hot looks to show how ancient my perspective has become. My critics are searching, learning and full of themselves. They can talk endlessly about anything and know more than I will ever know.

The critics live in our home and are fed at my table. I wash their clothing and hand out signed permission slips and cash. I run their errands, anticipate their needs and am cook, nursemaid and cleaning woman.

Before I tear off into the tangent of being an over-worked, under-appreciated Mom, let me return to the intent of this post.

I don't understand. I remember, as I said I would, what it is like to be shy, unsure of oneself, what it is like to view time as one new experience after another. I do. What I don't "get" anymore is why it isn't easier for them to siphon off my experience and advice so that they can avoid the mistakes I made. How much easier it would be for them if they could.

I couldn't take my parent's experiences and use them for my own. My children can't appropriate our experiences. Not much, at least.

The difference between us is that I've experienced many things many times.

I don't care much about what I wear. If I look stupid, I can deal with it. I know how to pick friends and seldom get into problems with my friends. I know how to deal with teachers and authority figures. I know how to plan my time so I can get my work finished and have time to play. If I have to lead something, I lead it. I know how to tell someone to mind their own business and stay out of mine calmly. I'm not scared of girls or boys.

My prayer this morning is that I will be alert to my children's needs and interior lives to the extent I am able and that I will relate to them with love. I ask for wisdom, too, that I not dash hopes or stifle them.

Yours,
St. Casserole

Friday Cat Blogging

Assumpta and Dibley are settling into the Casserole Family with ease. We love these two!
Assumpta is thriving with regular meals. She looks glossy rather than gaunt. Dibley charms us all with his calm good humor.

Rusty died one month ago today. I didn't know as I said good bye to him that these two pocket kittens would come home with us. The kittens comfort my spirit and have eased my grief. Rusty's health worried me for several years but now I have three young healthy cats to enjoy. I miss my old pal who was my companion for years and I know these two little kittens are a Gift as he was.

I am sappy about cats. I love dogs, too but with our family cats seem to work better. If I rattle on too often about the cats, mention it to me. Some of my friends glaze over when I talk about my pets, you can do the same.

Purrifically,
St. Casserole

Worries on My Mind

I've got worries on my mind. I'm not asking for solace here. Really. I'm meditating on what worries I have on my plate and if it makes sense to worry. Beyond deciphering worries into manageable piles, I'm considering that my worries make complete sense.

Life is like this. We have worries which are silly and worries which make sense. I'm not even to the point of anticipating how to handle the worries if they all blow up into worse worries. I'm simply stewing in worry juice.

I suppose I'm not very good at worrying anymore. After going through fire-heaps of misery, most stuff sloughs off. I can shake worry not because I don't care or feel nothing but because I hold on to God, like Jacob, until I'm blessed or until the worry is appeased. Either one works for me.

My stomach is in knots and this doesn't feel very good. I'm so fortunate that I can feel the knots unlike someone with endless, constant worries who doesn't remember what before knots feels like. And, I have people I can talk with about my troubles. Thank you, God, for this!

We visited with friends tonight from our old neighborhood. We visited about who moved where, who was still on the old street and so on. After the visit, I realized that my stomach was relaxed and I'd forgotten my troubles. The comfort came from taking my eyes off my own full plate and recalling the lives of others. The warmth of the friends, including charming bouts of rapidly crossing themselves (making the sign of the cross) when death was mentioned, helped. We were one of the few protty couples on an RC street. Maybe my love of RC devotional piety items began there.

I calmed down. The children greeted us on our return home with all their scampering questions about school tomorrow, more laundry to wash, phone calls to return and so I'm sitting here tensing up again.

It helps when you pray for me. I remember you in my prayers, too. Sometimes in general and often specifically I tell God about you and ask for God's presence in your lives.

I'm not being coy or mysterious with this post. It's my own business and the details don't matter outside of my small circle. We are all fine and moving along with our work and lives so don't do any dramatic thinking about what is worrying me. I'm just telling you the process and asking for a prayer.

St. C

I'm drinking coffee in my NEW MUG.

The children begin school on Thursday. That's August 4th, folks. The LS's schedule is light because he worked hard last year with courses. He's signed up for physics for both semesters and is chomping at the bit to begin. LD's on her way to help new students with orientation today. This is the first "work" of being on Student Council.

I'm trying to put together writing samples for the local paper up County. I'm clear on what I won't discuss if I am given a column, not clear on what I will write. I think a column will be good free publicity for the church.

The BIG sale at Fancy Church is Saturday and oddly enough, I'm helping organize the stock on Friday. Isn't this fine ecumenical work? I make a pile as I help sort. Pal and I helped for the last two sales so we are considered regular helpers. I hope the Talbots-my-size parishoner heaves out a load of great clothing as she did the past two sales. God bless that woman for shopping so close to my taste then giving still fashionable clothing to the sale.

I got a phone call out of the blue from a woman who wants to talk about theology. I thought back to when I saw her last and remembered that I was wearing clericals. I suppose this is the push I need to continue wearing clericals during the week (when the weather cools). My LH says I need to wear clericals everyday because people need to see a "priestly helper" at the grocery store, out doing errands etc. He's correct but I've been lazy to put on the collar when the weather hits 80+.

Assumpta just now made a mess in my religious hallway grotto by knocking over one Mary planter, an Infant of Prague and two candles. Nothing was broken but she was frightened with the noise. I'll photograph the grotto to show you what my collection looks like.

Happy Wednesday,
St.Casserole

I've Been There and Bought the T-Shirt

The UPS truck showed up while I was cooking supper last night. My cafepress RevGalBlogPals t-shirt and mug arrived! If you see me today, I'll be wearing the shirt.