Third Katrina Anniversary

Reprint for the 3rd Anniversary of Katrina


Rewriting the History of August 29th : A Prayer

Thank you for letting me understand homelessness,
living without power, without television ,
without cool air in the heat.

Thank you for letting me understand hunger,
the pleasure of dry clean clothes
and the relief of place to sleep.

Thank you for letting me understand
the deep and overwhelming sadness when forces,
beyond our personal control,
take the loved, the familiar, the usual.

Thank you for my needfulness
andThank you for my newfound empathy
for those were homeless before the storm and homeless now,
for those hungry anywhere,
for those in need everywhere.

Thank you for the opportunity
you provided to help my neighbor,
to be my brother’s keeper,
to serve food, to patch roofs, to clear yards,
and to start mending that which was broken.

Thank you for the chance to change ourselves,
from a reprieve from the normal commercial day,
for teaching us to make do, to get by, to improvise,
for drowning our conceit, complacency, callousness
for silencing the noise ,
for stopping the clock,
and for the chance to act our best when the worst occurred.

Thank you for the people who reached in pulled out the living,
cradled the dead, comforted the broken and torn apart,
wept for the splintered and uprooted.

Thank you for the people who didn’t wait
who came right away, who opened their homes,
who emptied their shelves, their closets,
who cleaned, fed , healed, held us,
who told us our spirit was amazing,and who keep on coming.

Thank you for people who measure
their faith by their actions,
and measure their action
by its consistency with their faith.

Thank you for all the people we have met,
who are new friends, new loved ones,
new brothers and sisters, new neighbors.

Thank you Katrina.
Not for wind,not for water, but for the appreciation
of the things no storm can shatter,
no water can wash away,
no wind can move.

---Written by R. and Mr. C

If you wish the correct attribution, email me and I will respond.

St. Casserole

This is post #1001 from St.Casserole.

We are watching Gustav. I have water, hurricane supplies and a heavy heart.

Our cars are gassed up. Pet carriers are clean and ready. Sister, the Best Dog Ever, went to the Doggy Spa last night for a bath. It's easier to evacuate a big "fresh" dog than a dirty dog.

Today is the third birthday of Whistle and Fish, our orange cat boys. Their mom gave birth the day before Katrina hit. Mom and kittens survived because a human watched over them.

Frequent readers know I don't do hurricane damage well. Here on the Gulf Coast, many homes and business are getting back after Katrina. Three years after devastation signs of Katrina's damage are everywhere.

The stress and grief from great loss remain with my people. Talking about our local paper's coverage of the three year anniversary of Katrina, the preacher group worries about the emotional lives of the population. One preacher said, "I asked a group of church ladies if they thought the church should have a remembrance service. One of the older ladies said, "No need, Pastor. We remember."

For a New Orleans perspective, you may want to go read the blog of LettyNOLA. She's adorable. Look for her here.

St.Casserole

Our area is under a tropical storm warning. This means we will get heavy rain, wind and flash flooding in the next 24 hours.

Fay drenched Florida with heavy rain. We are next.


I'll check our sandbag situation, trench in the front yard and pray that the new Methodist parking lot improvements won't force water into our home. I don't think the Methodists considered anyone when they paved a new parking lot several inches above the street. We are across the street from the parking lot.

The damaged storm drain beside our property caved in during Katrina. The City hasn't repaired it. The orange warning cones and orange netting warning of the giant hole have grown over with weeds (and a four foot tall Pine tree sapling)in the past three years.

It's not easy for a City to prioritize repairs. When the majority of the infrastructure is damaged, where do repairs begin? Our small disaster area hasn't received attention yet. I say "yet" because we've contacted the City, seen the City Engineer and are waiting for help.

When I write about hurricanes, I can't help but wonder if my readers on higher ground think we are nuts for living here. The answer is we live here because we live here. We aren't in a federally mandated move area. We survived Camille and Katrina (we were teens when Camille came and not in this house). Mr.C. grew up here, his business is here and our lives are here.

I would like to move to higher ground in retirement. I can't imagine kicking my walker along as I board up windows in my 80's.

Watching the Weather Channel,

St.Casserole

P.S. Someone stole our Obama sign. Mr.C. put the sign up, close to our home, far from the street in February. We thought no one would walk so far onto our property.

UPDATE: 11pm. CDT Looks like Fay, downgraded to a tropical depression, will bring rain tonight and tomorrow. We made our preparations, including stocking up on my Cokes and Mr.C's favorite beer. Not a drop of rain here yet. Blessings and safety to all those in Fay's path.

Week Three of the Empty Nest

Looking around the family room today, I noticed that one of my children left a message for me. The house was quiet, the kitchen sink empty, no tv's blaring out but, there up on the ledge on the high windows, I spotted one blue peanut butter M&M.

Good job, kids! I cannot get it down with the dust mop or the telescoping cleaning wand thingie!

I miss you.

Love,
St.Casserole, the Mom

How to Act Like My Cats

Want early morning company and a full cat crunchies bowl? Get Dubby to put his big extra-toed paws on a human face.If that doesn't wake me up, start purring loudly then lean over and bite a nose with tiny kitty teeth.


Need your water dish filled in the Study bathroom? Put both front paws in the bowl then wail as though your tail is being pulled by a Ford truck.


Wait a few minutes after we fall asleep, get Whistle to run into our bedroom and cry out with such misery and grief the entire Angst of the Planet is summarized.If asked "Whistle, what's the matter?", look surprised and saunter out of the room. Do this several times then leave the room and play with a toy mouse.Repeat every night for two weeks then stop for three nights. Repeat.


Pretend you are Fish. Refuse to eat your cat crunchies out of the nice, clean bowl. Pull a cat crunchy out of the bowl onto the kitchen floor with your paw. Eat off floor. Repeat.


Never allow the beds to have smooth covers. Crawl underneath the bed covers and sleep. Use your paws to lift the sheets so that new, really stylin' sheets get torn with tiny holes. Repeat.


If you see someone reading the newspaper while drinking coffee at the kitchen counter, either sit on the newspaper or stand with your tail over the coffee mug. Look surprised when asked to move away.


Is it dark outside? Are the people asleep? Find something to push off the buffet in the dining room, a bookcase in the study, the bathroom counter, just anything which will break. Ask yourself, what makes the loudest and most disturbing noise? Glass or ceramics are good, but a book falling to the floor works, too.


Be like Dubby and stand on the kitchen desk in front of the window. Wait until a car arrives. Framed by the window, you look adorable and welcoming.


Find a trashcan, any house trash can will do. Tip it over. Pull out the trash, doesn't matter what you find. Spread it on the floor. No one has put food trash in a house trashcan since 1983, but, still, you can search. Dream of the day they forget to put the kitchen trash can inside the cabinet.


Tired? Bored? Stressed? Find Sister the Dog. Climb all over her big yellow lab body. Clean her ears. Lick her face. Fall down next to her and nap. Solves. Every. Problem. Everytime.


Did someone go into a bathroom and close the door? Didn't invite you? Stand outside the door and howl. Then stand up on your back legs and try to scratch the door off the hinges. Howl more. Stick your paw underneath the door and try to get the person's attention. Howl more. If invited in to stop the howling, beg to get out of the room quickly. Repeat.


Hey! I love them anyway,

St.Casserole

The BLOGHER Reach Out Tour is coming to New Orleans October 25. Anybody want to go?
Want to have a meet-up? The RevGals need representation!

St.Casserole, ready to go to New Orleans

Little Church looks beautiful! I'm sorry I don't have pictures to show you the painted walls and ceilings, the front doors painted red, the front porch columns are fresh white and the steps are a safe grey with grit in the paint to prevent slipping!
Oh, we are getting so pretty!

After the carpet was pulled up, we saw beautiful wide plank wood floors! No piecing of odd wood or damage, just old wooden floors ready for refinishing! The acoustics this morning in worship sound crystal clear without the carpet. When the floor work is finished and the pews are returned, I wish we would ditch the pew cushions to keep the lovely sound in the sanctuary.

When I first met Little Church, the pulpit had a microphone for the preacher. I never needed it and, with wood floors, no one who knows how to project her voice will need extra help.

Our singing sounded better and filled the space with joy.

Much more work to do in the coming months but I see and hear progress!

If you shake out your pew cushions and see extra change, send it to us...

Love,

St.Casserole

I am happy. Lovely Daughter is home! I drove to Hub City to meet her ride and brought her home! She's full of dorm stories, loving her teachers and enjoying her new school. Wonderful.

Mr.C. flew off to Houston for a meeting. He'll be home this afternoon. Lovely Son is working.

Sister and the Cats went wild when they saw LD.

When LD wakes up, we'll search for dance clothing. No, not a dance dance but a dance class she attends each morning. Tights and leotards and whatever girls wear for the class. This isn't the dance class for the actors but a dance class. I'm confused.

She's in all AP courses, on the Ultimate Frisbee team and happy.

I'm happy, too.,

St.Casserole, the Mama

Non calor sed umor est qui nobis incommodat.

We have rain! Lots of pouring heavenly buckets of rain right now. Our brick back porch is flooding, a reminder that I need to trench new areas of plantings. Only rain shows where trenches or french drains are needed. The new landscaping, added over the past year, changed the terrain.


Traveling mercies to SB and MB as one goes to a conference and the other returns home.


I won't be painting the wrought iron chairs and table today. I bought a charming set for $2 at a garage sale Saturday. With new paint, new seats and a glass top for the table, I'll have a great set for...somewhere...not sure where I'll put these.


I found an office sized shredder at the salvage store several weeks ago. At 90% off, I thought I'd give a cross cut shredder a try. My table top shredder cost more and does less. The tiny pieces look like the cat litter the humane society uses for cats, so I'm adding hand fulls of shredded newspaper to the Cat Boys boxes. Perhaps this shredded paper will be my new cat litter source. At least the local paper will have a use.*


I saw the new paint yesterday at Little Church. The interior is sheet rocked, sanded, and primed. At first look, I couldn't understand why the walls weren't the color we chose. Then I realized I was looking at primer. New sanctuary light fixtures look great! We are all thrilled! Far from finished, we can see what will be, God willing.


I'm missing LD all day long. She phones home but is distracted with all the details of a new place and new people. I'll fetch her on Friday for the weekend. Can't wait!


In 2008 Books Read, I finished the fourth Twilight book by Stephanie Meyers on Saturday. Now I'm picking up Julia Spencer-Fleming's new book.

I miss you,

St.Casserole
*I sound like my Father. He crabbed about the local paper, too.

Yesterday was a "J" day. I bumped into my favorite children's teacher "J" during the few minutes she was in town. So good to see her! After we finished visiting, I heard my name and turned to see my local "J" and began chatting with her. Then, later in the day, I heard from "J" who I call by another name. We talked about kids, life and summer heat even when you don't live in the South.


Later on, while Mr.C. and I were watching MSNBC and minding our own business, I saw a crawler on the bottom of the screen. It said something like "in a poll, more women would prefer to carpool with Obama than McCain". Can I get a job making up polls like this one? I started laughing and wished the pollster would call me. I'd say for safety reasons, I'd rather carpool with a younger man with good physical reflexes. I'd rather carpool with a man who has an age-appropriate wife than one with a much younger trophy wife because I'd feel safer about his life choices. Finally, I'd rather ride with the calmer Obama than with McCain who has anger issues, according to his friends.

I'd like to give the Atwater Award this week to the Republicans who are criticizing Obama for being popular. Geez! In some ways, a one-eyed cat with few teeth running against the last eight years of our current POTUS would be more popular than a Republican candidate. What kind of wicked mind decides that being popular means one is a celebrity? McCain's personal wealth and history of grabbing attention is dollars and years ahead of Obama's.

That's all.

St.Casserole

2008 Books Read

Stephenie Meyer, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse Popular Teen Lit. LD read these first, then passed them to me.

Finished John Grisham's The Appeal. Very troubling story.

I'm keeping an eye on T.S. Eduardo. Follow along with me by going to the National Hurricane Center.

Eduardo is west of my home but worth watching.

God bless those in the path of the storm,

St.Casserole

Lovely Daughter is registered, moved in and THERE.


ARRGGGHHHHHH!


St.Casserole

Well.Hey.

Today we drive Lovely Daughter to her new school. New School, one of the State specialty high schools is 220 miles away. She'll live in a dorm room with two girls and these three roommates share a bathroom with three other girls. I doubt any of the suite mates have experience sharing a room or bathroom.

I'm not thinking of her adjustments to room mates. I'm thinking of our empty nest.
I realize adult and almost adult children return home but today is the beginning of a new portion of our lives.

I'm not happy to see LD go.

I waited my entire life for children. While I was unsure about how I'd do with marriage, I was clear I wanted children. When God blessed us with LS, then LD, my heart filled to bursting. Marriage to Mr. C. turned out to be a pleasure. Parenting with him suits me, too.

Now, they are leaving our nest. LS begins his junior year at University in a few weeks. He's moved to College Town and begun a job to get ready for registration.


I feel weak and whiney. Crabby and unsure.

We feel good about the specialty high school. She will be secure and safe there, at least, as safe as one can hope for these days.

The school requires auditions and a stringent acceptance policy. For the first time in years, she will attend classes with students who WANT to be at school. Her public high school here is filled with kids who are enduring classes to fulfill state attendance regulations.

Learning is better when students want to be in school.

We've thought this through. We signed the forms. We are ready.


But, I am not ready.

St. Casserole

Garden Report

The Courtyard garden squash-in-container experiment produced one yellow squash. The four new squash plants joined the Garden Triumphant after a bug attack. Watching these plants grow is a pleasure, seeing the plants wilted and attacked is not.


Verbena, the Courtyard Toad, stays in the pursulane where she thinks no one can see her. She sings at night in a deep toady key. Perhaps she is Mr. Verbena.


Sheep's Ear, hydrangea, begonia, herbs and tomato's are doing fine. My purple and blue theme looks great.


In the front yard, the bowling ball art installation looks great. Mr. C. is unsure what he thinks. The neighbors can't see the bowling balls behind the enormous azalea bed.

The potato vine thrills me! I've rooted many pots of the vine to give to friends.


The birdcage stuffed with tacky Christmas angel lights looks bad. Bad, I tell you. I have it hanging from a branch under the sculpted ligurstrum.

All the new bird feeders stay empty unless I fill them every day. My birds are delighted.

I water my courtyard pots once a day. The heat is despicable. We've had rain twice in the past three days. Thank you, God, for rain, plants, soil and time to enjoy outdoors!

St. Casserole, not really a vegetable farmer

filmAching invites me to a Meme

Thanks, filmAching for inviting me to play.
1. List these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

I like mechanical pencils.
I've preached in Scotland.
I'm growing decorative potato plants in my courtyard for the first time.
I don't know what the tiny ear flap at the base of a cat's ear is called.
I love laughing while reading David Sedaris' and Bill Bryson.
I collect vintage dime store nativity figures.
I use Anna Carter Florence's notebook method in sermon prep these days.

The third rule is to tag seven bloggers and notify them.
The eighth thing about me is my stubborness. As Bush's Dad, Old Bush, would say, "not gonna do it." I'm busy playing with mechanical pencils and reading David Sedaris.


Tag yourself and play along, if you wish,

St. Casserole

PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY
SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.


These words end NWS advisories for hurricane warnings.

I don't like to see those words.

I am praying today for all those in Hurricane Dolly's path in Texas and Mexico.

I bet Jim Cantore is standing in front of a blown over palm tree shrieking. I don't know because I can't bear to turn on the Weather Channel today.


St. Casserole

*Tropical Storm Dolly is in the Gulf. I check on Dolly and worry about Texans and Mexico.

*Verbena, the Very Attractive Toad in the Courtyard, moved from the Verbena pot to the Pursulane pot. She asks that I not speak, photograph or even think about her. Toad privacy is a big issue.

*I'm busy today with Preacher Coffee, Session meeting and etc.

*LD and I will fry an egg on the brick walkway soon. Photos to follow.

*My hairdresser said she has her face shaved when she gets a facial. Please explain this to me. She isn't talking about extraneous hair-age but her entire face. I cannot figure this out.

*I am making hand puppets with felted wool. These puppets look very silly.

*LD is off to specialty art high school in 13 days. I am not handling this well.

*LS moved to his University apartment. LLS commented he is young (a junior) to do this and she is correct. He called at 10:30 pm. last night to tell me his electric stove does not work and wanted to call the emergency apt. number. I suggested no one would come so late. He argued with me because I know nothing. I recall the days when I was the wikipedia and source of important information in the Universe.

*I am enjoying Summer but wilting from the dreadful heat.

*The kittehs are busy with bottle soccer, string play, popping each other in the head with clawy paws and naps.

*I'm listening to John Grisham's THE APPEAL audio book. I like unabridged versions of audio books. I'm on CD 7 halfway through the book. The story is compelling with all the classic Grisham totally good or totally evil characters, references to Mississippi towns and plot twists. The audio book reader is one of my favorites because he gets Southern accents right. I hope like the dickens Grisham's tale of bought and sold judges is fiction. The interference of outside groups to change the Courts to favor certain verdicts terrifies me.

*If you were here, I'd give you sweet iced tea and be glad to see you.


Grace to you,

St. Casserole

How Hot Is It?

It's hot. I wore street clothes instead of my lightweight alb in worship this morning. I've preached without vestments maybe 3 times in 30 years. I vest summer or winter, rain or shine, whether I look like a belted marshmallow or not.

The sanctuary air conditioner blasted Arctic chill but I was too hot to notice.

It's hot here, folks. LD and I drove north after worship to University Town. The Bank bill board showed the temp as 102 degrees. The sign is in the shade so I believe the car thermometer: 106 degrees. As we drove home, the temperature dropped to 97 degrees. Our Coast is several degrees cooler because of the Gulf.

Here's my question: is this the year I fry an egg on the brick walkway in our backyard? Every year I want to try cooking an egg on the bricks but I talk myself out of it by saying I'm wasting food.

Help me out here. Should I crack a raw egg on the back yard bricks or not?

I know that Sister the Dog will eat the cooked egg if I ask her. She doesn't get anything but dog chow for her diet although she has been known to have cat chow breath.

Please, your thoughts,

St. Casserole

Mama Mia! Loved this movie because of Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski and Julie Waters. Pure delight to watch! Beautiful scenery, great costuming, pretty people, amazing music. Loved it!


St. Casserole, seldom moved by movies