...intact...

with much less than the 5-8 inches of rain that was expected, jess and i have weathered yet another tropical storm here in algiers. power flickered several times, but never were we faced with even a minor discomfort. to all who worried, we are fine.

i believe katrina had already knocked all the limbs from trees and shingles from roofs that were willing to be knocked, and with the added rain, my yard looks even better than before rita's descent onto our coast.

on another note, at least five or six local groceries have reopened. lines are long at some but for the most part at least one can get the essentials. the cafe down the street, and two local bars/cafes appear to be reopened with bills of health from the city. petco, target, branches of hibernia, and several walgreens also appear to be open.

the freezer still vaguely smells of grim death, but we hope that that too will go away with time.

home

well. i'm back.

i have power, potable water, gas, sewer, cable, phone, high-speed internet access, DVR, HBO on demand, a fridge on my deck airing out, four trash bags of spoiled food in my front yard, two terra cotta ridge tiles sitting in my gutter, no shade in my back yard, a bunch of slanty plants, threats of possible evacuation in a day, another hurricane barreling my way, a dusk to dawn curfew, and helicopters constantly circling overhead.

nuff said.

return to the dead zone

well... depending on communications levels in new orleans (ie COX) this might be the last post for a few weeks. we are beginning our southward journey today; our goal is to arrive in algiers tomorrow morning as soon as possible and begin the dreaded cleaning of the fridge. we have face masks, vics vaporub, rubber gloves, a tyvek suit, gallons of vinegar and bleach, one spray bottle, two large boxes of arm and hammer baking soda, a bag of charcoal, two wisp air fresheners, lemon scent 409 disinfectant, lysol clean linen disinfectant, eight rolls of paper towels, a sac of old rags, 80 heavy duty contractor garbage bags, a roll of duct tape, and thats just the beginning. hopefully it will be enough to clean up the remains of the rotting duck and cornish game hens that are festering in the freezer.

but anyway, it looks like our journey is coming to an end. i will be working from my house as much as possible until the office comes back online downtown (a week or so). and then its back to business as usual i guess. thanks to everyone who has sheltered us in the past few weeks, hopefully next time we visit it will be under better circumstances.

the only mode of communicating with us is going to be our cell phones until cox comes back up. so if you need to reach us, you will have to either text or call one of those. i will post again when internet/phone/cable are up.

into the wild

after another short day's drive, jess and i have arrived safely at barbie and al's. but before that, i guess i should update on what has happened over the past few days-

on the home front, they say that power should be restored to algiers in less than two weeks at the latest (this was several days ago, so the time for possible return may be much sooner than two weeks from today.) the mandatory evacuation of orleans parish excludes those areas on the west bank, but they still are not advising people to return as there is low water pressure, and only a few areas have electricity as of yet. also the infrastructure that fuels our consumer lifestyle has not yet made its return. so until the stores open, we are waiting to go back.

the final days in charleston presented many more adventures for the two of us. friday morning, we got up and traveled the ten miles to folly beach where (after stopping to see karl's studio) we watched as the 'jacked up' surf indiscrimately tried to carry out to sea anyone daring enough to brave its waters. in the afternoon, jess and i grabbed some burgers at folly beach's snapperjacks, then met up with laura for a tour of one of the houses her office was renovating. that evening, while the three of us ventured to sullivan island's local watering hole Poe's (named for edgar allen), adrian and kari arrived at la pensionne smith/truesdale and took over the master suite recently vacated by our party. laura was gracious enough to allow us to stay at her apartment for the weekend so we could catch up with them and attend hal's play (which was a magnificent production of 'spinning into butter').

prior to the play on saturday, jess, laura, and i spent another day at the beach, followed by a fanciful dinner at cru cafe where we enjoyed such entrees as praline encrusted grouper on a bed of wasabi mashed potatoes, pork loin, and seafood risotto. sadly, the dessert had to be enjoyed in the car on the way to the play as were running later. as i said earlier, the play was magnificent. post drama, we drove out to james island to the cast party as hal's special guests.

sunday, we took it easy, caught a late brunch at vacary's, then stretched out on the couch to enjoy a days worth of watching tv prior to heading to hal and karl's for a small dinner party. once again hal's menu was in rare form: fresh handmade ravioli in a sauce (i know bacon was involved), followed by pork loin (with a cherry sauce i believe), sweet potatoes, and mixed vegetables. dessert, red velvet cake with white chocolate icing, followed a good hour of digesting.

today, we woke up and hit the road after saying farewell to A, kari,and the charlestonians. and here we are are, several miles outside of bryson city, nc--six miles up a windy mountain road, in a beautiful log cabin with a most amazing view of the mountains and lake fontana, a little sleepy, fat on stir fry and ice cream, at peace beneath a crystal sky, fractured with stars, listening to the locust and crickets. tomorrow will probably hold a day of convening with nature and the water, as it should be.

The Known

Well ladies and gentlemen, at least one thing is now established; our house is structured to withstand serious winds. Vlad and Anna made it back into the point today; and there is good news (at least for me). They were able to do a walk by the house and found that from the front - our palace was barely touched; it would appear that some ceramic ridge tiles were dislodged in the storm, but aside from that, they said the house appeared spotless. Fear for his life kept Vlad from closer inspection of the rear of the house as signs posted on an adjacent house stated that "trespassers would be shot on site" or some other such defensive warning. I guess someone has been in the area at least watching over our block.

V & A's house also braved the storm well; however, as we all will soon experience, Vlad said he almost fainted when he opened the fridge.

On the Charleston front--after a day of varnishing, Jessica and I met up with Laura last night for some really amazing sushi at the local 'Wasabi' (voted best sushi in Charleston or something). The rolls were clever and filling; I think even your average Scotsman would have enjoyed the TNT Roll (a variety of seafood smothered with spicy mayo wrapped in rice and seaweed, then deepfried prior to slicing--amazing). After dinner, we went to the rooftop of the local Vendu Hotel, and had a drink in the cool night air as local musicians played on in the background.

Today was another day that brought the good news stated above. And tomorrow too will be another day. I believe there is now talk of my office moving to abita springs instead of baton rouge; hopefully, soon I will know where I am going to spend the next month or two of my life. But until then, I will continue to wander from place to place until that day comes when, like the last flood waters from Katrina filtering south, I follow the runoff back to the Mississippi and to my spared home.

continued coverage

yesterday (labor day) jess and i celebrated the only way that makes sense, by working. we got up early and took a bike ride around the city, stopping for tea and window shopping along charleston's (i would assume) famous king street. then, in early afternoon we resumed painting at the new bar/restaurant in the charleston place hotel downtown. work proceeded as usual.

on the homefront, it looks like the good citizens of algiers are trying to arrange it so people can go in and get some of their things in order. who knows when this will happen, but from the look of things, it might be sooner than later. maybe by the time we return, we will be allowed in for a brief visit to assess the damage, and finish putting the house in hibernation (flip off the main breakers, and turn off the water heater etc). Not much else in the way of news -- the work and company have kept us away from staring at the news 24-7, which i guess is a good thing. at this point, the only good news is no news at all.

... and so it goes ...

Well. a few days have gone by. Thursday morning we bid farewell to Mabel, Shreveport, and Louisiana. Stripping down the luggage to a bare minimum (three suitcases, two sacks of shoes, a variety of books and magazines, and a blackbox of merlot), we set off with a full tank and a 5 gallon can of gasoline strapped into the backseat. It took about twenty miles to realize that a can of gasoline in the an enclosed space does not foster clarity of the mind; making a pit stop at a rest area just outside of monroe, la, we pulled out the bungy cords and strapped that sucker to the roof.

Oddly for the first two hundred miles, we did not look strange with our little hat precariously positioned on our roof; rather, perhaps we looked under-prepared. In mississippi and near its borders, dozens of Minivans passed with twelve or so gallon jugs strapped to their luggage rack; jacked-up trucks with old 50 gallon oil drums roamed the countryside of alabama, packing into every gas station we stopped at to syphon out the last remains of the supply. drifters like ourselves looked on aghast. The truck owners pointed at their watches and laughed as we waited our turn.

We made it though. Gas began to reappear somewhere outside of tuscaloosa. There were still lines, and of course, the prices were becoming absurd... but we paid-- there was no way to avoid it-- and we arrived safely in Birmingham where Corbett greeted us with cold beer and a gourmet dinner of grilled chicken, tomato pie, and fresh black-eyed peas,... refreshing. Later, we hit the 'garage' and met some of the local folks before turning in for the evening.

Friday morning, we awoke and said our goodbyes and good lucks (corbett is taking his first ARE exam on tuesday), and again strapped the gas tank to the roof of the car and set out for Charleston, SC. It was a really uneventful trip; for it being labor day weekend, the roads were eerily empty. We sped along and saw only one police car along the whole stretch of interstate from birmingham to augusta, ga. At augusta, we turned off down some backroad highway traveling through the beautiful countryside that is south carolina (reminded me a lot of tennessee) and reunited with six lanes of interstate about twenty miles north of charleston, arriving at Karl & Hal's house shortly there after just in time for dinner (or perhaps a little late). Dinner was marvelous as always when Hal is chef (chicken and mushrooms (tracie would love it) with slightly spicy habenero pasta were part of the menu) and was followed by an evening showing of 'a room with a view'.

Today, jess and i have been site seeing, and doing all we can to help karl with his job at the hotel. We still have much to learn as far as technique ... but we will continue trying our best in the coming days. we look forward to more days of site seeing and hard work, and hope to see Hal in his new play - opening this friday night.

I spoke to work today, and they have begun the process of reopening office in Baton Rouge. So we may be heading back west sooner than previously expected. but i am sure there will be more talk of that later as the facts come in..

the big uneasy....

sorry. i just had to post something with that title. sadly not even that title can begin to reflect the turmoil that i feel inside watching as the city turns into some scene from 'the city of god'.

anyway, the point of this posting.

if you want to be added as a team member to the blog. just email me, and i will set you up so you can make your own posts. this might be a better way to consolidate everyones goings on.

you know how to reach me.

the long road out

for those who need an update:

jessica and i left new orleans saturday night around 7 am on route to the arklatex. (shreveport).

later that night we arrived. later nelle, heather, and mike ballard arrived.

here we stayed.

yesterday, wednesday, heather left for huntsville. after fighting across the great gas desert, she arrived safely late in the evening crossing many bridges.

today, nelle and mike set out for nashville. have not yet heard from them. they were taking the northern route through arkansas hoping to avoid gas shortages.

tomorrow, jessica and i set off for birmingham. we are packing a full tank of gas, a 5 gallon reserve, and a gas guzzling midsized suv. hopefully we will make it.

from there we will take the straightest path to charleston where we will work as artisans with jessica's cousin karl. we will work there until the work dries up then move again westward, toward the fruitfilled fields; so overburdened with employment, that they might spare a taste to starving refugees.

whats everyone else up to? post comments. start your own blog and link to here. anything to keep the information flowing in these times in which cellphones wont work.