On Wednesday, Brianne graduated from Georgia State University with a Master's Degree in Reading, Language and Literacy. The ceremony was at 2PM at the Georgia Dome. We estimated there were 1500 graduates in attendance. We read in the paper the next day that 3350 had graduated. The graduates did not walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. They stood up as their college major was called and were declared "graduated." The ceremony lasted one hour. It took us that long to get out of the Dome, into our car and out of downtown.
We went to a favorite neighborhood pizza restaurant in Atlanta afterward because we were all hungry and did not want to wait until dinnertime. We got gourmet pizzas and they were delicious. After that we went to Red and Geraldine's house so they could see Brianne in her cap and gown. They were going to attend the graduation, but since Red was having a procedure done at the hospital the next day, they decided not to go because it was raining and cold.
After visiting with them for a while, we decided to head home at 7PM. The roads had become icy and we had to take many detours to get home because ramps and roads were closed due to the dangerous road conditions. It took us two and a half hours to get home. It usually takes around 35 minutes to get home from their house. The news reported that there were over 1000 car crashes that night.
Brianne is happy to be finished with school . . . for a while. She has gone straight through without a break since kindergarten. She is looking forward to not having to go downtown to class each week, AND the raise she will get in her next paycheck, too!
(This was an assignment given to all of the teachers at my school back in August. There was a template to use. The teachers are often given topics and write things. Then a bulletin board of the writings are displayed in the front of the school. Right now we have one with "I am thankful" entries.) I have held onto this one to put on the blog in honor of Mama's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mama!
I Am From
I am from a big family (10 people) but a small house (1100 sq. ft. house with ONE bathroom), an olive green potty chair outside the bathroom (Used by the twin babies of the family until they were seven years old due to the bathroom never being available when they woke up in the morning), one window unit air conditioner, a loud attic fan, a pink kitchen wall phone with a short cord which afforded no privacy for teenage conversations
I am from small backyard swimming pools, a swing set and lush Saint Augustine grass to run through or lay out on to work on a suntan
I am from ditches in front of houses, canals at the end of the block, lots and lots of children playing outside, running behind the mosquito truck in the summer, and neighbors loving to listen to my mother melodically sing out the names of her eight children when she called them in to dinner, even when some of her children were not playing outside anymore
I am from Ginnie who taught me how to manage working full time while raising a family and from Sam who taught me the love of cooking for family and friends
I am from “Waste not, want not”, “a penny saved is a penny earned”, "Oh me oh my I wish I could fly up to the sky", “Come to the table 1,2,3, Come to the table and you will see, Food for you and food for me, Come to the table 1, 2, 3” and “This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice”
I am from spaghetti and meatballs, Italian Salad, Stuffed Artichokes, Crawfish Boils, Fried Shrimp Po Boys and Sloppy Roast Beef on Muffaletta bread, Beignets, Tastee Glaze Donuts, penny candy from TG&Y, Pralines, Cokes in the little green bottles (only drank on special occasions at Grandma and Grandpa Ferrara’s house), sno balls, Doberge Cake, King Cake, and no meat on Fridays
I am from long car trips to visit my relatives in Minneapolis, Lion’s Club Recreation Park, the Fire Station next to Lion’s Club (Where I got a 10 cent coke in a cup from the vending machine after cheerleading practice), playing at Linda, Kathy, Donna & Deborah and Barbara’s house, Saints games at Tulane Stadium with my Daddy, touring Air Craft Carriers when they were open to the public, Pontchartrain Beach, my Aunt Myrt’s house in the French Quarter, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, CYO on Friday nights and the first pew in Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church
I am from parents who did an outstanding job of raising a large family - often with a shortage of money, but never with a shortage of love
Last entry five years ago today.
It’s Monday morning. I should be getting ready for work but there's no work today. New Orleans is shut down. Hurricane Katrina roars ashore near the city at about 6AM. She reaches CrabAppleLane in all her power and ugliness at about 7AM. The power goes out here and the anxiety begins. If you're a fan of big weather and you have no stake in the outcome, this is the ultimate event. The winds howl for about 8 hours. Trees all around the house are lying down. A tree trunk or a limb snaps every few minutes. You hear a blast like a gunshot when it does and you worry for a few seconds hoping it doesn't come crashing through your window or roof. Speaking of the roof, a piece of flashing keeps tilting up and down as the wind hits it. If it doesn't hold up, wind will be able to get underneath the metal panels. It holds up. When the storm is over, we have no power, the yard is a mess, and the phones are down but we're safe.
Almost immediately after the storm passes, we hear chainsaws. People are out cutting up the fallen trees on Highway 1083. CrabAppleLane is right off of 1083. We can hear the chainsaws until it gets dark 3 or 4 hours later. I figure they've cleared the roadway. There is always a tree or two down on Highway 1083 after a big thunderstorm. Hurricane Katrina was more than that so I figured there were 20 or 30 down. 1083 is about 5 miles long from Highway 40 to Highway 21. Those guys aren't even trying to clear the roadway. They're just trying to clear a path so one vehicle can pass. There are hundreds of trees down. There are trees every 10 feet. One tree sometimes but clusters of trees most of the time. It is an enormous undertaking. They are not done but they surely did a lot. What those handful of guys got done with their chainsaws in such a short period of time is nothing short of amazing.
On the south shore, there is street flooding in the places where it traditionally floods in and around New Orleans after a heavy rain. That's expected. There is an elaborate drain and pump system in place in the greater New Orleans area but it can't keep up with torrential downpours. After the rain stops, it usually takes a couple of hours for the water in the street to go down.
As night falls, we're in the dark. We have no TV because we have no electricity. A generator would get here two days later. After a major disaster of any kind, the reporting is pretty haphazard and, usually, wildly exaggerated. Remember the early reports of the San Fransisco earthquake of 1989, the early reports in the first Gulf war, the earliest reporting from 911? Katrina reporting was like that, too. People are calling into WWL (The designated emergency broadcast station in the New Orleans area) and saying some of the most ridiculous things that they'd heard or claimed to have seen. One thing was consistently reported, though. The water is rising. It should have been receding.
The water is rising.
I offer the two photos below that I took at work some three weeks after the storm. The city was still shut down. You needed a special pass to get off of the interstate. Once you were off of the interstate, it was the wild west. You could go pretty much anywhere you wanted but everyone except me was armed to the teeth. No one else is supposed to be in the city but people ARE in the city. Some are just trying to protect their property but some are up to no good. Many businesses hired security. These are not the part-time rental "mall" cops. They are very serious and heavily armed. The photos show both the start and the finish of Hurricane Katrina. The clock stopped when the power went out. About two feet above where the clock is hanging, well, look at the next picture.
I'm facing the north cinder block wall. The big roll-up doors on the east and west side of the building were blown in by the winds. Hurricane-force winds got inside the building and blew the wall out. Somehow, the clock remained hanging.
Five years ago: All Katrina, All The Time
It's Sunday. Hurricane Katrina is headed our way. She's a Category 5 hurricane and she is enormous. She's due to come ashore near New Orleans tomorrow morning. Most of the residents and businesses there have evacuated or are in the process of evacuation. We've made the decision to stay home and ride it out. Mom is coming up from Kenner to stay with us. CrabAppleLane is about 15 miles north of Interstate 12 and evacuation is voluntary. The area south of I-12 is under a mandatory evacuation order. It's very calm here. We're about as ready as we can be. We've been through hurricanes before. We can fend for ourselves for a few days. We expect services to be restored before we run out of anything. They always are.
Originally posted five years ago.
It was a Saturday five years ago today. I had guys coming over for a fantasy football draft on Sunday and I had a few things I wanted to get done around the house. I'd had a late night Friday and got up for the last time around 9AM. I was drinking my coffee and making some rounds on the internet when I got a call. One of the fantasy football owners was going out of town and couldn't make it to the draft. He was evacuating. Really? I didn't think it was that serious. As I was considering what to do about that, I got another call. Another owner, same thing. I started calling the other owners to tell them we'd reschedule the draft after Katrina passed through. After I'd made all of my calls, I started watching the news.
I'll be the first to tell you that I hate the dire rhetoric that public officials and the media use during these times. I admit it's a tightrope and a horribly unfair task. Warn the public but don't induce panic. It's like a bit of a twist on the "Cry Wolf" fable. The crier doesn't get eaten by the wolf, though. The town does. Cry "Hurricane", everyone evacuates, no hurricane. Cry "Hurricane" again, everyone evacuates, still no hurricane. Cry "Hurricane" a third time, no one evacuates, killer hurricane. I tend to watch the local guys. They've usually been through it before and tend to exaggerate less. The statements coming out of the not-easily-shaken local public officials and the local media was quite alarming this time. It unsettled me.
"Just evacuate. Better safe than sorry". We all hear that a lot. Evacuations are very stressful and expensive. Traffic is bumper to bumper as far as the eye can see. Will you be able to get gas along the way? Will your car overheat? Can you even find a place to stay? What will you take with you? Bear in mind that whatever you leave behind may be lost forever. We decided to stay. Most didn't. It is an intensely personal and difficult decision. It turned out to be the right decision for us. Two of our windows leak in horizontal rain conditions. I've never been able to find the source of the leak but it only does it during those relatively rare conditions. During Katrina, two more windows leaked. We were able to manage the leaks because we were there. Had we not been home, we would have had mold. That would have meant a remediation team, gutting the house, an insurance fight, and major upheaval. We were lucky.
I can't believe my baby is 2! He was born the day after Mother's Day two years ago. I was on bed rest so didn't get to go to Katie's house to celebrate. Instead, Phil baked a ham and macaroni and invited his mom and sister over to celebrate with us. My water broke early the next morning, 8 weeks premature. He had some developmental delays, all attributed to his prematurity and we were told not to worry because he should catch up by the time he turns 2 and for the most part he has. I can't wait to take him for his 2 year old check up to see how much he weighs. He didn't make the "normal" growth chart until he was 18 months old and even then he was only 5th percentile. I have no idea how much he weighs, it's been a really long time since he's seen a doctor. I guess I will forever share Mother's Day with him and eventually his birthday will probably be on Mother's Day. This year it's not until Wednesday (the 12th) but I'm not sure how we'll mark it since he's already blown out his candle and opened his presents! I would like to get a picture of him with a 2 year old sign but he's not very cooperative for the camera so we'll see.
We had everyone over here to celebrate. Phil grilled burgers and we had a seven layer dip, corn salsa, cream cheese with pepper jelly on it, and a fruit salad. The cake was from our favorite ice cream shop, Coldstone Creamery. Katie brought some of her delicious potato salad and Amy made cucumber salad. It was a delicious spread of food and a lot of fun to have everyone here. Jackson gave us a concert with his electric guitar. He's really starting to be a good player. Angela was here with just Samuel and Savannah, Joey stayed home with a sick Luke. David Clayton joined us after work. We had great weather and it was a really nice day
Jon Stinchcomb came to my school two weeks ago. His nephew (by marriage) is in my class and Jon was in town visiting his family so he decided he would come and visit us. He got his start here. He played at Parkview High (where Stephen will be teaching next year) and he played for Georgia. It was so much fun to have him at school. He was great with the kids and such a nice guy. He did a little inspirational talk to our class, signed some autographs, and took some pictures. I even got one with him by myself! He looks much chubbier on TV then he does in real life. He is very tall though! I was amazed by his height. What a great year to know him!
Tracy, Mom and I boarded the plane for New Orleans 3/7/10 looking forward to seeing all the cousins, Aunt Ginnie and sights of the city. None of us were disappointed! What an amazing trip it was. My mom (Aunt Catherine aka Cathy) thoroughly enjoyed her special birthday trip thanks to everyone who put their lives on hold to make time for us. My mom got to see her sister, her nieces, nephews, their children and various sites of New Orleans that she had wanted to see. Tracy and I were privy to an excellent tour guide (Katie & Kevin) to show us the French Quarter and 9th ward. Sue and her family made the trek from Atlanta to see us and that was an added treat, ‘specially for my mom. All in all it was a fantastic trip and your hospitality meant the world to us! Carol
Sue and I are in here somewhere. When the balloon goes into the stands, we're just to the left of it. We were maybe 12-15 seats over and at about the same level as the balloon's basket. I was wearing a black overcoat. I don't remember what Sue was wearing. The resolution isn't really good enough to make us out. This is the only Super Bowl I've ever attended and probably ever will attend. Sue and I were in that endzone, Mom and Dad were in the other, and I'm not sure where Bob and Ann were but they were there, too.
On Saturday, January 23, we celebrated my Mom's 80th birthday. It was a surprise for her. The weather was very snowy, mixed with freezing rain. Some weren't able to attend because of the bad weather (bummer!), but the rest of us met at Gary's cabin, and then went over to Mom & Dad's caravan style. Once there we filed into the house for the surprise, and what a surprise it was! Everyone brought food and cake for the festivities. All in all it was a fabulous way to celebrate 80 years of the best Mom ever. Here are a couple of photos of the day.
I think all of my photos taken indoors at Mom's house have the yellow tint to them. This was Stephen's first foray into sugar according to Sue.
