To Everything There Is a Season...

Bernadine Wegmann Proctor, 1917-2010 (photo taken Christmas 2009)

A Memorial Mass will be held at L. A. Muhleisen and Son Funeral Home, 2929 Metairie Road, Metairie, Louisiana, on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 12 noon. Visitation from 10 am until time of service. Interment will take place in Moscow, Idaho.

Hiatus

My mother has fallen and broken her hip, so I've spent the last 10 days in the hospital with her. I'll be posting again once things settle down. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who has wished us well.

Euphoria!

If you’re one of those people who is sensitive to the vibes of your fellow beings, then New Orleans is a great place to be right now. There’s a palpable buzz in the air, a smile on every face, a twinkle in every eye.

The city threw a parade for the Saints today, and no one does a parade like New Orleans. It’s carnival season right now anyway, so the parade route was already in place. The various krewes donated the floats, the marching bands added a few more miles to their already dizzying totals for the season. The air was filled with flying beads and the sound of jazz. And everywhere you looked were happy faces—black, brown, white—all united in joy and a poignant sense of relief.

I heard someone say today, “Katrina is finally over,” and it struck me as profoundly apt. Yes, the streets are still masses of car-swallowing potholes. Yes,a lot neighborhoods are still struggling. Yes, many of our houses aren’t finished yet. But that nasty air of gloom and despair that has hung over the city for four and a half years has lifted.

We’re New Orleans, and we’re finally, really back.

Crunch Time

I have a book due in a few months and I am so far behind it’s not funny.

My mother fell down the stairs and broke her right arm a few weeks ago, and that has complicated things. She’s doing great and will hopefully make a full recovery. But she needs constant help, which means that I won’t be able to go to the lake for the sessions of intensive writing that normally help me get through these crunches.

I’m trying not to panic. I’m trying really, really hard not to panic…

Who Dat?

Let me begin by saying I am not a football fan. I was born without the team gene. But...



Hey! The Saints won! They're going to the Super Bowl! I didn't watch the game but I knew the instant they won because the entire city errupted into a roar that lasted about an hour, complete with fireworks. This battered, bedraggled, clinically depressed place just got a much-needed boost. There used to be a saying around town, that hell would freeze over before the Saints went to the Super Bowl. Well...



(Thanks to Sphinx Ink for the image).