Guest Blogger Fish the Kitten

Ten questions for Fish

1. What is your favorite toy?
a toy fur mouse

2. What is your favorite book?
the catechism

3. What do you like to do?
beat up Whistle

4. Favorite place to sleep at night
in the hollow space behind lawyers bookcases in the study

5. Favorite food
IAMS kitten chow

6. Biggest worry
that stupid puppy

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?
a big cat like Andy

8. Who is your hero?
Andy the Cat who is big

9. What is your favorite color?
orange or ginger

10. Where is your litter box?
in my human's study

Regards,
Fish

Early Sunday Morning

In eleven days I will go to New Orleans, board a plane and go to Manhattan. This will be my eighth trip to NYC for the weekend-before-Thanksgiving. In the past, I've gone to shop, see shows and eat. This year, I'm going to get the heck-fire* out of Life Behind the Razor Wire**.

It is hard work living on the Coast***. Life returns to normal, if at all, very slowly these days. We have debris piles in front of our home. The LH has a hideous temporary office since his beautiful office blew away down to the brick pilings. Everywhere I drive, I see evidence of the misery of post-Katrina life. I teeter between hope and despair every day. I don't mean my peace of heart, I mean I swing timidly between hope for the Coast and our lives here and despair that we will ever re-build this community in ways that allow a good future.

I hear heart wrenching stories everyday. I watch people throw their shoulders back insisting that they are "fine". I see the exhaustion on my friend's faces as they wait for insurance adjusters, wait for construction teams, wait to see if they have enough money to rebuild.

I suppose Advent will have a new edge this year. A season of waiting for the birth of Jesus the season means a great deal to me. For years, I related Advent to the waiting of Mary for the birth of Jesus and my own waiting for a child. Then I related Advent to the waiting for a "new creation" in the world to be born in the birth of Jesus. Preaching Advent is my favorite liturgical season. I know something about waiting. I know about living between promise and fulfillment; living between now and not yet.

But heck fire rats!****, I didn't anticipate this kind of waiting or this kind of fighting it out with the Hope within me. They say it isn't what happens to us but what we do with what happens to us. I'd like to say I'm doing this well.

I may have to put aside my desire for successful living and instead hold onto God's hand through these kind of days. I've done this before and found God a good companion when life stinks. Hold on to me as I hold on to you, God, until you bless me.

I feel like bursting into tears at least once each day. I'm weary of this feeling.

Patty and I are going to NYC. This is my annual girl trip, no boys allowed, although Mr. C would enjoy the City. Patty and I travel well together and have been on several trips over the years. We are on the same emotional roller coaster so I suppose we will comfort each other over chopped liver at a deli; while we stroll around Barney's and at the theater. I will tell her, as I do every year, that I'm not sure I can sit long enough to watch a Broadway play. She'll say that if I want to leave, it's ok with her. Then I'll settle down and watch the stage.

I won't shop as wildly as I have in the past. Not that I was blowing money around in the big stores. The flea markets and second-hand shops are my favorites anyway. This year I will consider how my finances have changed and be circumspect about spending. I have enough money to have a delightful time anyway. I'll just not be loading up as I have on past trips.

I'm ready to leave right now.

Have a Good Sunday, y'all,
St. Casserole

*Appropriate cussing from preacher, cf. Preacher's Guide to Bad Language, 1974. CrabApple Press.
**We live north of the tracks. South of the tracks is fenced off with coils of razor wire and check points are policed by National Guard personnel.
***Please pronounce the word "hard" as your President did during the second debate of 2004.
****Emphatic version of "heck fire". Use of "rats" as an expletive explained in the renowned Backyard OED of Kiln, Mississippi, Vol.4, 1991. Beezus Press. Kiln.

Winner Announced

Ernest and Earnest Accoutrements have handed the envelope to the 2005 Cone of Humor Awards to me. My fingers tremble as I open the Crane's Heavy weight 100% Rag Cotton stationery which will reveal the name of this year's winner.

I put the envelope down to answer my cell phone. Rachel is calling to ask me to do something for her. I rush off to help her. After several hours, I return and spot the unread Award Notification. I pick it up to see who E & E evaluated as the 2005 Cone of Humor Award winner.

I hear a noise at the kitchen door. I open it to see C and P who've come to get some of our furniture for their temporary apartment. We bustle through the house to collect chairs, small tables, lamps and Kliban cat bed sheets. P talks about how much she misses having her cats with her. The cats are living in a shed at a friend's house because C and P had no where for the cats to live after Katrina destroyed their home. We chat. We carry stuff to their car. P and I watch the men load the car with the stuff in the dumbest manner possible. We know how to load a car efficiently and safely. Better than the guys.

I return to the house and load/re-load the dishwasher, wash three loads of clothes, put away two loads of folded laundry from yesterday, ponder the lectionary passage for Joshua and it's possible relationship to the Matthew lectionary passage for tomorrow, clean out the litter box, talk to LH, read a few pages of the The Subtle Knife (second vol. of HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy), play with the kittens, chat with several pals, stare out the window thinking about Matthew for tomorrow and then, it hits me! I rush for the envelope.

Without further delay, the winner of the 2005 Cone of Humor Award goes to ReverendMother for her story of the Pastor's Mama and the Usher. Congrats to you, dear RM, and to all of you who participated in this year's 2005 Cone of Humor Award. Billy Crystal will host next year, according to my latest issue of the Christian Century.

Thank you, very much.

St. Casserole

Announcing Friday Contest!

Here's your chance to tell a funny joke, make a happy comment or tell about an experience that made you laugh. Place your entry in the comments section.
The winner will receive a pinecone from the St. Casserole Family Pine Grove.
These rare pinecones survived the worst natural disaster in US History (according to dramatic exaggerators of TV and print).
The impartial judges, selected by Ernest and Ernest Famous Accoutrements will announce the winner (s) on Saturday.
Ready! Set! Go!

Ignoring Halloween Because The World Looks Like A Haunted House

I called P and C last night after seeing their son trick or treating. Their home was washed out (what we call it when the structure sorta remains but water has taken out the interior). They both sound depressed. She went to Bay St. Louis to clean out her Dad's home. His house was filled with 14 feet of water during Katrina. He's moved to another state and says he won't come back to the Coast to live.

P and C moved to an apartment after the hurricane with their two high school students. This weekend, they move to their own apartment. I offered to give them household things and etc. to help them feel at home. From the garage/estate sale hoard, I can fluff up either a FEMA trailer or temporary apartment with accessories and stuff.

Not that people want stuff anymore. The current mood is "I don't want anything that can be lost" which is a good indicator of depressed mood. Everything and anything can be lost. We know this. What we aren't certain of, at this point in the aftermath, is how we tolerate more loss.

A cell phone gets damaged. It is the link to outside because Bell South hasn't finished phone repairs. Losing use of the cell phone upsets into hysterics. The proportion of loss is impaired down here.

"I don't want anything that can be lost." Having an aged parent move to another state is a loss. Having nowhere familiar to lay one's head is a loss. Sharing office space because your office blew away feels like loss. It's loss.

The changes of everyday life overwhelm the grieving spirit. I see this every day. I see people grieve over small frustrations, huge disappointments (the Insurance Industry), unfamiliar physical landscape, unavailable goods (grocery stores aren't stocked as they were before the hurricane) and not knowing where friends/acquaintances are living.

This is such a weird time to be living. I suppose all times are this way but the abrupt Before Katrina and A K overwhelms my people. And, me, too.

Regular posting will resume when I finish reading Pullman's THE GOLDEN COMPASS unless I begin the second book of the trilogy which will delay bloggage further. Please direct all correspondence to Whistle or Fish, the kittens.

2 Months Tomorrow

* When I stood outside in the early morning light this morning, I looked at the sky and thought "how beautiful". I did not see a tree-less backyard. I saw a beautiful sky.

*The grocery stores down here get their supplies from the big city of New Orleans. Many stores seem empty, with a few items on the shelves. I went to a clothing store late this afternoon. The racks were empty. I asked a sales person why there were so few things for sale. She said, "We load the racks at night. People buy everything in the mornings and we don't have enough employees to keep the racks filled all day long." I'll be glad when things look normal again.

*A gracious Presbytery, north of here, offered to pay the difference between our insurance check and the costs of re-building the church. They want to paint the interior of our building AND provide two Sundays of supply preachers for my Fall Pilgrimage to NYC and Thanksgiving Weekend with LD home. I am doing the happy dance!
We will be able to do things at the church that we dreamed of doing.

*The LH is off to see LD. I miss him but am delighted he's gone to the Aunts Spa Respite House for a break. He'll enjoy being with his LD and seeing Assumpta and Dibley.

*I expect a house full of relief workers from the Carolinas and three Missionaries from Brazil this weekend. I like this.

*I am eating dark chocolate Hershey's kisses to celebrate the help of the Presbytery for my congregation AND to comfort my loneliness with LH away. (Note to Self: everyone sees through your rationalizations. Everyone)

St. C

RevGalBlogPals Advent Devotions

I am so proud of all of you!

A Light Blazes in the Darkness:Advent Devotionals from An Intentional Online Community

On Sale now for $9.99! down from retail price of $12.99.

Guest Blogger Whistle the Kitten

Hey!

I'm a kitten and my brother, Fish, is a kitten and we are kittens.

We were born on August 28, 2005 which everyone knows was the day before Katrina the hurricane. We were born in Picayune, Mississippi which we thought was a big city until we came South to live here.

We are ginger cats and both of us are orange. I am better looking than my brother but he disagrees. I am bigger, which is true, and I make noises like growls, hisses and meows. Fish is quiet but he purrs. Go figure.

Our new human is nice to us. You'd think she'd name us something like, "John" or "Matthew" but she said she was getting a bit tired of dealing with Matthew each week. What does that mean? When Mr. C. suggested "Mark", she said she had recovered from dealing with him last year.

Mr. C named us after a John Prine song. We have no clue what that sentence means. Not. A. Clue. We are kittens whose world view is Mrs. C's study where we keep our litter box, food dishes and furry mice toys.

Mrs. C told someone on the phone (we hear lots because there is a phone on her study desk) that this was the year that Rusty the Greatest Ginger Cat in the World Died and then Assumpta and Dibley (cousins in NC with LD now) came, a dog named "Governor" then the two of us. She said she is running a boarding house for Hurricane Animals. Assumpta and Dibley were from the Humane Society right before Hurricane Dennis.

Anyway, we like it here and Mrs. C gets all sappy and kissy with us. She must like cats. As my brother and I say, "if you don't like cats, what's with you???"

We have to go sit on her lap. She says we are a "comfort" to her and that means we have to pay attention to her. Fine with us. The food is good here and we each have a fur mouse toy.

Gotta go. We have a new cardboard box to jump in and out of. Really.

Regards,
Whistle

Biloxi and Gulfport Before and After Katrina

This is the site for WLOX news in Biloxi. Look for the Biloxi Before and After along with Gulfport Before and After videos.

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Katrina Video Coverage

Into your good care, O Lord, we commend our lives and futures. Amen.

Why pay insurance premiums if the insurance industry ducks it's policy holders on a quibble? I was told that I didn't need flood insurance by my agent. What's going on here? Why isn't there an outcry over the insurance industry's lack of fairness?

Send Out Some Love

This guy needs some comments to keep him going. Could you stop by his blog and say something encouraging? Thanks.

Hurricane Katrina - Mississippi Response

Setting the Mood

Fish And Whistle
©John Prine

I been thinking lately about the people I meet
The carwash on the corner and the hole in the street
The way my ankles hurt with shoes on my feet
And I'm wondering if I'm gonna see tomorrow.

Father forgive us for what we must do
You forgive us we'll forgive you
We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue
Then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven.

I was in the army but I never dug a trench
I used to bust my knuckles on a monkey wrench
Then I'd go to town and drink and give the girls a pinch
But I don't think they ever even noticed me.

Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
Eat everything that they put on your dish
And when we get through we'll make a big wish
That we never have to do this again again? again????

On my very first job I said thank you and please
They made me scrub a parking lot down on my knees
Then I got fired for being scared of bees
And they only give me fifty cents an hour.

A Shirt for Mr. C

Wireless Catalog - I'm Sick Of Being My Wife's Arm Candy Shirts

At this moment

At this moment, the National Weather Service shows Wilma pounding elsewhere.
Our local NOAA hazardous weather bulletin concerns the drought. Fire ban. No burning.
No rain.

Here in the Backwater, October is a dry month. How weird that the Largest National Disaster in the U.S.A where wind driven rain damaged just about everything that the flooding didn't ruint (please pronounce "ruin" with a "t" at the end. Gutteral grunt in a half-hearted fashion as you pronounce, y'all).

Dry here. Very dry. Hair does better with humidity as we have learned to look great in 95 % humidity. However, the World's Greatest Hairdresser tried out "a new color line" (hairdresserese for "new chemicals") on somebody around here. That somebody has nutmeg brown hair. She has taken to wearing her "Life is Good" cap pulled down to her ears. Brown hair? I doubt she'll adjust. She's a durn red-head.

Life is just tough here. You think you are working on your attitude and learning, as St. Paul urged, to be happy whatever because of who God is for us. Does that include the worst coloring fiasco one has ever seen?

(note to self: I thought you weren't going to blog about your hair. Isn't this blog supposed to be about uplifting numinous spiritual issues? Please go back and review your blog Mission Statement and Visioning Goals.---Ed.)

Busy Looking for Mission Statement...,

St. Casserole

A Light Blazes in the Darkness

A Light Blazes in the Darkness

Shout Outs!

*Love and sloppy kisses to the Angel up East who is sending boxes of books for our pastors!

*A big Quizzical Arched Eyebrow to the debris removal people WHO ARE BURNING THE DEBRIS SO THE AIR IS FILLED WITH SMOKE ALL DAY LONG as if we didn't have to cope with mold infested/rotting pork bellies, chicken parts and sewage odors while we clean-up. We are under a burn ban because Katrina was followed by a drought but the EPA is allowing debris burning.

*A big Shout Out to Aunts who understand the Power of Tinkerbell Costumes!

*Loud applause to the dreamers and visonaries who plan to start new congregations amidst the rubble on the Coast!

*Thanks be to God for the friendships Mr.C and I have with UMCOR workers!

*Growls and Hisses to the phone company who won't move their wires so our debris can be taken away AND to the debris removal people who won't pick up the debris because the phone wires aren't removed. Great tenacity of spirit thrives in this stand-off.

*The Get Out Your Cattle Prods and Find An Adjuster's Butt to all the insurance adjuters who are causing more damage by taking so durn long to get to homeowners and businesses. Take your vitamins! Get Moving!

*Shout Out to all those I love and all those who love me.

Love,
St. Casserole, More Herself Than She Was Last Week

I wrote the post below after I got a phone call from a pastor who introduced himself, said his board asked him to make contact with a person down here then said, "I have one question for you. Is it good stewardship for us to give you money?"

Hurt my feelings. I know how it feels to be a poor Southern slob who has to justify why my people need help.

Thanks, I wasn't completely sure how it felt to be humbled by someone offering a stingy gift.

Ministry Down Here: Not for the Faint-Hearted

Churches around the US are pouring love, people, stuff and money into our area. I've gotten calls from several churches asking if they may adopt or partner with us as we rebuild. All of the distressed area churches have received calls offering help and money. Day after day, I get calls asking if we need help.

The answer is "yes".

Several of our churches won't get enough insurance money to repair their buildings. They'll be indebted for years unless they get help. Several of our pastors are traumatized to the point of being walking dead. Pastors are homeless. Furniture, books, electronics, household goods are gone along with their homes. Their families are split up so that children can go to school elsewhere. Their spouses may or may not have jobs.

Pastors are trying to figure out how to do ministry with congregations traumatized, exhausted and broke. Many churches have lost 20% or more of their people. Church records are destroyed. Buildings aren't useable.

Whatever we planned for Fall of 2005 is shelved because their aren't enough church school teachers, youth programs are messed up and no one has energy for much of anything.

I'm doing ok. Our church can re-roof and make the necessary repairs. None of our members are bolting from the area. All of my people survived the storm.

I'm doing ok but my colleagues are suffering. In pain. Exhausted. Stressed trying to meet the needs of their people.

If you want to do exciting ministry, come on down. Give one of our pastors a break by offering to preach for a Sunday or two. Come down and start congregational redevelopment in one of our congregations where members left for new lives elsewhere. Come hold our hands, listen and offer the Hope you have.

I'm trying to do this, I really am.

We need more help. We aren't giving up. We are thinking of new ways to do ministry. We are praying for guidance as we use the gifts we've received so that we strengthen congregations for future mission. We are doing what we can with what we have.

Thank you to whoever popped me into 15K visits. Perhaps my own visits to see if anyone is reading my Tale 'O Woe did the trick. Anyway, I'd send a pound of Community Dark Roast Coffee to "Visitor 15,000" if I knew you. Thanks for coming.

St. C

Hurricane Katrina Images from Duke University

Hurricane Katrina Images

Worth a look to see the devastation of Katrina. Thanks, Duke University, for helping me understand the extent of the storm.

St. Casserole

Bittersweet

Every Fall, or what passes for Fall in the Deep South, we pick up beautiful pinecones from the yard.


When the children were little, we practiced serving pinecones with a tennis raquet into the giant azalea bushes. If golf was the sport of the moment, we drove the pinecones with a nine iron. The azalea bushes never seemed to mind being the dump for dozens of large pinecones.

Today I picked up the last crop of pinecones. I used the old lady grabbing tool sold by my neighborhood hardware store. The grabber is the tool of choice of all my antique neighbors for picking up anything they don't want to bend over to grasp. It's fun to use.

My trees are gone with a few scrawny exceptions whose pine cone producing days may never come.

Arrgghhhhhhhhhh All I ever blog about is loss! Oh, rats and double rats! Oh, my dear messy pinetrees gone to the street for the debris trucks!

Gulfport Storm Surge Video

Thanks to Seawitch for this link:
Ultimate Chase - Windows Media Streaming Video Library

The guys filming this are nuts.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss

Bill introduced to help homeowners - The Clarion-Ledger

Movie Review, Sunday Preview and Harborview

The LH and I drove to another city to the movies this afternoon. We saw "Wallace and Grommet" and loved it. Except....the cleric in the movie is useless, superstitious and silly. All characters are silly but I sting when I see clergy portrayed as useless. We are not useless! I ate popcorn and contemplated sending LH down for chocolate to calm my pastoral nerves but controlled my emotions instead.

Tomorrow's Gospel lection is Matthew 22:15-22, the "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" passage. Besides telling people that the State is to be given it's due (taxes, etc.) as much as a Christian in conscience can, the text demands attention to be paid to God's authority in our lives as first, with all other loyaties a far second. I don't use this as a stewardship season text to raise money. Been there, done that and I don't think it is a fair reading of the text.

Harbor views are difficult as Highway 90 is closed except to licensed contractors with ID and residents with ID. We don't see the Gulf waters anymore. So disconcerting to lose the view of the beautiful Gulf. When the highway is repaired, the residents property secured and when the governments feel darn ready, we will be allowed to see the water.

Everything is a mess here. Debris piles, plastic bags hanging from tree branches, trash on the highways and roads, businesses looking torn up and blue tarps on too many roofs.

Oh, by the way, I spent Wednesday night on Highway 61 going toward the Delta. For you Blues enthusiasts, this makes my blues creds top notch. Just call me "Blind Lemon Casserole."

Love,
Blueswoman St. Casserole Herself

RevGal Friday Meme

Thank you, Quotidian Grace who followed Songbird's lead with this week's meme:

1. The weather in your location: High today of 86; cooler here tonight. Clear bright blue skies!

2. Where are you typing this?: In my study at home. The room is filled with family history, bunches of papers, three bookcases and detritus.

3. Where you might like to be sitting if you could be anywhere: I miss LD. I'd be sitting with here with my arm around her.

4. A chore you have to do this weekend: Wash my car (can't take the dirt anymore!), clean up more of the debris pile in the front yard.

5. Something delightful you will do or would like to do this weekend: Go to the movies Saturday afternoon with my LH. One theater is open on the Coast. One.

RevGalBlogPals-sy yours,
St. Casserole

Positive Thoughts

I don't know how to title this post. Good grief! Please ignore the gallows humor, sarcasm and crabbiness.

*I am thrilled to leave for an upstate Presbytery meeting because I can get at least 200 miles from here. I want to take my LH so he can get a break but he's busy.

*Anderson Cooper, the CNN reporter, impressed me with his Katrina coverage. His anger matched mine although I didn't see his blow-up with Mary Landrieu, D-LA, who I respect.

*I can see the sky and all the stars at night because our backyard tree canopy is gone.

*It's getting cooler here. It was 88 yesterday as a high.

*I received my Sept.5 PRESBYTERIAN OUTLOOK and my early September CHRISTIAN CENTURY yesterday. Our mail is coming in bits and torrents. I read through the CC while getting a pedicure yesterday afternoon.

*The second Sally Lockhart mystery arrived from Amazon yesterday. Yippee! The Golden Compass trilogy, called His Dark Materials?, is now MINE!

*Our house is starting to look as if I live here. Laundry is up-to-date. Refrigerator has food and condiments. (when the power goes off, the refrigerator gets emptied to the bare walls. you loose your horseradish, garlic spreads, fancy pickles and raspberry preserves)

*Going to the grocery store is like a family reunion because I see everyone I know and I'm glad to see EVERYBODY.

*I saw a hummingbird in the courtyard yesterday. Saw a squirrel earlier and a cardinal...

*I have a new appreciation for the Central NC Baptist Men's group Medical Clinic in a church parking lot near our home. God bless them! They've treated all sorts of post-hurricane accidents and miseries for my friends. I'll be sorry when they take down the tent, roll away the RV and go home.

*The pine cones are beautiful this year.

Yours,

St. Casserole

Thank you, God

Gracious God, thank you for the gift of the Psalms. Thank you for the comfort I find in Your word. Like the people long ago who sought you through song and poetry, I cry out to you. Their words, by the hands of many messengers, come to me today and comfort me in my fear, frustration, anger, joy and longing for an end to suffering.
In Christ's name I pray, Amen.

The Embodiment of Evil in Our Time

I think the insurance industry in the USA is the incarnation of evil. Why should evil wear horns when it can mask disregard for human life with paperwork?

Example: I toured a home in my neighborhood yesterday. The home belongs to an older woman who moved away to live with her daughter. The home has mold watermarks up about four feet inside. This home, like a many in my neighborhood is not in a Flood Zone, therefore, no coverage will help the woman rebuild.

When you buy a home, the mortgage company requires insurance to protect your/their investment. You are made to buy what is needed to protect your home. You pay your premiums whose costs are added to your mortgage payment or billed to you directly.
You live on the Coast but are far from the Gulf, bayou, river, whatever so you do not have flood insurance. You have wind damage insurance but somehow, this covers wind driven rain but not wind driven flood water. You out of luck. You lose.

We have flood insurance at our home which did not receive any water. I called up the insurance gal and bought flood insurance several years ago after a tropical storm overwhelmed city drainage and we received about four inches of water. The water came entered then receded quickly but damaged my carpet, wood floors and nerves. We paid for repairs because we didn't have flood insurance. After this, I called the insurance gal and asked to buy flood coverage. "You don't need it," she said, "You aren't in a flood zone." I asked her if she'd forgotten that I called to ask for an adjuster when my home was filled with water. I proceeded to get flood insurance for $317 a year. She attempted to talk me out of buying the insurance.

Do you get it? Insurance people sell insurance. That's their business. If they think there is even a glimmer of misery in your future, they sell you a policy. Every. Single. Time.

Down here, behind the Razor Wire of our new lives, people are losing their homes because an adjustor comes by eventually and tells the shell-shocked sunburned people, "we don't cover flood, you don't have a policy for this."

Who decided the perimeter of the Flood Zone? The Army Corp of engineers and the insurance industry.

The insurance industry is attempting to do two things with us: limit their losses, save their own bonuses. We don't matter. Using ambiguous language they developed 30 years ago, insurance people are crushing the policy holders whose annual payments funded the giant growth of the industry.

Get out the garlic! Go get the crucifixes! Go get the silver bullets, stakes and townspeople! The Insurance Industry Vampires, Devils, Demons and Golems are inside our gates!

The Inscrutable 8-Ball Revealed

The Inscrutable 8-Ball Revealed

I thought this might give you a break from Katrina Aftermath...

Your Brain's Pattern

You have a tempered, reasonable way of thinking. You tend to take every new idea in, and meld it with your world view. For you, everything is always changing. Each moment is different. Your thinking process tends to be very natural - with no beginnings or endings.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

You Should Get a PhD in Liberal Arts (like political science, literature, or philosophy)

You're a great thinker and a true philosopher. You'd make a talented professor or writer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Things are getting better...

Life is moving toward "new normal" here. Restaurants re-open with crowds waiting to have a meal fixed in a kitchen and served at a clean table. It's a treat to have a break away from the clean-up.

Those who have homes are taking out the carpet and pad, tearing out the sheet rock so the walls are wood studs to be treated with chemicals. Wet studs dry to harbor mold which has to be coated, soaked and made safe for sheetrock WHEN the contractor arrives. With so many homes to be re-built there aren't enough contractors or laborers to do the work. How do you pick a contractor? Local and known builders are busy until next year or after with jobs and the out-of-state builders are unknowns.

Much of the debris is gone carried off by huge trucks. Piles of ruined carpet and sheetrock are piled on the street these days but this is progress as the tree debris is gone. We have tree debris at our house because the cleaners won't take the debris until the telephone wires are moved. The telephone company won't fix the wires until the tree debris is moved. The standstill continues. Our phones work great, regardless.

People around me look tired, aged, tanned from all the outside work and shell-shocked. Not much eye sparkle. Tense about money. Will the insurance company pay? Is my damage covered? How much will materials cost when I do get insurance money?

FEMA jokes are rampant as are fresh curses on the insurance industry.

The weather has turned a tad cooler.

Gulf Views

I saw the Gulf for the first time in over a month Friday. The Gulf road is closed to everyone but emergency personnel, debris removal trucks and property owners who can prove residence (or former residence since the homes are destroyed). The area is blocked off with razor wire and military check points. I viewed the hurricane damage from Waveland to Gulfport with a UMCOR worker with credentials. When I finally got to sleep last night, I had nightmares. Here are more photos.

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