Katrina - A Decade Later

Nine years ago I created a website that shared our experiences related to the impact of Hurricane Katrina.

I started this site because all I was seeing on the news was what happened to New Orleans. While New Orleans experienced horrific damage and flooding, my little corner north of the city was virtually ignored by the mainstream media, as well as the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, which took a direct hit from the storm.

In the link above - my labor of love - I have collected pictures, videos and first person experiences from the storm.

We stayed for the storm ten years ago. With the help of alcohol. Damn, the results where something we could NEVER imagine.


The song ""It's The End of the World As We Know it" echoed in my head for two weeks.

The memories may fade. That's why I created my Katrina webpage:

If you have some time, please go thru it, it's full of links and pictures and videos, as well as links to NOLA bloggers telling their own stories.

Thanks for visiting.

Dauphin Island November 2011

I am a shoreline person. My blood pressure drops when I hear the sound of the surf.  I adore walking barefoot in the sand. I live within a mile of a bayou, I cross Lake Pontchartrain 2 times a day 5 days a week.  I have a thing for pelicans. My wonderful husband is the same way.  So we decided to renew a short tradition that began in 2003: spending Thanksgiving Week on Dauphin Island.  This tradition lasted only two years due to Katrina, and it was wonderful to get back there after 7 years.

I am happy to report that Dauphin Island is back better than ever.  She has a new West End Beach which is perfect for beach combing, walking your dog sans leash (if you are a responsible owner and your dog is not aggresive), bird watching, photography and just plain relaxing. 

We took thousands of pictures during our stay there.  We would arise before the sun and walk the block to the beach and then come home for lunch and rest and return to the beach about 4:30 for sunset.  I loved the daily schedule. 
We came home sunburned, happy and with a cooler full of beautiful seashells. 

I grabbed a few pictures that somewhat show just a fraction of the beauty and peace that we observed in our 7 days in idyllic Dauphin Island, Alabama


Our dog Deuce in dog heaven....look at all of those sticks!!



He chooses a stick that favors his breed an size and runs with it....



Deuce and his favorite human jumping for the stick



It's hard to believe that the first day we were there Deuce wasn't comfortable with the surf....he adapted quickly



One of my favorite part of the day was sunrise.  The pelicans would start to fly low across the surf looking for breakfast.  They are magnificent birds.



When we looked out of our screened in back porch we faced a lagoon.  During our week there we discovered that this lagoon was home to a beautiful blue heron.



Because I love the shoreline, I am so happy to find the shells that the tide brings in.  This pic shows my favorite of the shells, the ones I like to call 'ridged' shells. 



This shot shows the broken shells we were attracted to.  That holey one on the bottom sits on my desk at work.  It's my favorite.




Hubby caught this picture of a pelican doing the dive for food.  Isn't it awesome?  We sat for at least 30 minutes watching the pelicans eat lunch during this particular day.



I apologize that I didn't rotate this picture and can't figure out how to do it in wordpress.
Hubby spent 30 minutes slowly approaching this magnificent heron in the surf. 



tiny shorebird



We caught every sunset while we were there.  One night we caught this awesome sight.



I became obsessed with these fences, especially at sunset because the light changed everything. 




you can set your clock by the time that the pelicans go home for the night.  It was a magnificent show every evening about 5:10 PM to see flocks of the birds heading home.




This is an evening shot of the lagoon that faced our porch.  It was a wonderful sight which - if you paid attention - would attract a variety of birds.  I tried on several occasions to catch a kingfisher but he was too fast for me.


Another shot of the pelicans going home. 




I like this sunset shot




This is a morning shot of a pelican flying across the surf




A wonderful sunset shot when the waves were active




Our first night there I caught this shot of a blue heron walking along the beach, oblivious to the people fishing.  It gave me a good gut feeling to how the rest of the week would go.  And it did.  if only I could live there.  ;/




Here is a close up shot of the blue heron who lived in the lagoon across from our camp.  He became noisy if we got to close





I can't tell you how emotional I get when I see shrimp boats in action.  Weird, i know.  I find them so beautiful.  Another reason I enjoy Dauphin Island.....great shrimp boat shots.




My favorite shot of Deuce for the whole week.  He is magestic in this picture, despite the fact that we know what a big doofus crazy goofy puppy that he really is.

Up, up and away!

This blog post will be short on words and long on pictures to show what a wonderful experience attending a hot air balloon festival is.

I treated my hubby to a get-away weekend in Foley Alabama at the 7th Annual Hot Air Balloon Fest. Both the "glow" event and the flight of the balloons were equally exciting.

We arrived on Friday night to experience the "Glow Event". This begins with watching teams inflate their huge balloons and then light them up with the propane feed that eventually helps them fly. It was our first experience and I must say that I was as excited as a kid at Christmas watching all of the balloons come to life.








The "glow" happens as the balloonists open up their their propane valves to inflate the balloons. It's best seen right at sunset and it's an impressive sight.


This is what the igniter looks like



This balloon is glowing!









Some of the balloons took off that night and it was an awesome sight.



Saturday morning was to start right at sunrise and we made sure we'd be there to watch the balloons arrive at the festival grounds.



We arrived by 6AM and the moon was still up. There were rain clouds present, which made the arrival of the balloons run a little late. Balloons will not fly if there is a chance of high winds or lightening for obvious reasons.


So we bided our time taking pictures of the early morning light

The late running balloons made up for it with their beauty. Behold

































I think I may have found a new passion. It's a fantastic sport and one I can appreciate from the ground!!!

For anyone anywhere interested in attending a festival, here is a website for all hot air balloon fests. Enjoy!