Seven Years Ago

For those of you who follow me, I suspect I will be a little incommunicado for the next couple of days or maybe more as I leave New Orleans while Hurricane Isaac approaches. By tomorrow morning, the low-lying areas like Grande Isle will be under mandatory evacuation. Both the governor and mayor have already declared a state of emergency. They have activated the Louisiana National Guard. As I drove through Uptown tonight every gas station had huge lines. Magazine Street was eerily quiet. There is already a noticeable police presence. Fortunately, I’m not going far. About four hours. Lexington, Mississippi. We’ll still get heavy rain and some wind, but we’ll have power. Isaac will make landfall on 29 August. Seven years to the day that Katrina blew through and caused such misery.

This picture. After Katrina, I re-located to Lake Charles, Louisiana. A couple of weeks later, along came Hurricane Rita. I headed north, all the way to Mountain Home, Arkansas we found refuge at a Best Western who allowed pets. Even though I arrived at 3am after an 18 hour drive, I was wide awake at 6am. When I arrived the parking was empty, by 6am the lot was full with cars from Louisiana. I decided I needed to take a walk. For me a walk means to look for pictures. There was an amazing garden in sort of a courtyard of the motel. This image is the first picture I made. It brought me a measure of peace.

For those of you who read this from Southeast Louisiana, I’ll say what I did seven years ago. Godspeed, y’all.