Cold Spaghetti

Will did a super job. With Dad following him down the isle, Will walked slowly, looking up and down each row, saying “hi” to various folks, and flashing his shy, sly smile. He did pass me at the end of the isle, went directly to the door behind me, and opened it to go outside (he was quickly redirected before the bride entered.)

Even with our indoor location (the rain from Hurricane Dennis kept us inside for the ceremony), Will did great. It also didn’t hurt that PapPap and Daddy kept Will happily munching Cheetos.

More of Will’s first trip to the beach. 

Will’s FIRST visit to the beach! He approached tentative and curious; we were nervous he would be afraid of the strong currents and crashing waves brought on by the stormy weather. Instead, he ran into the surf, mouth open, pointing ahead. He had a great time getting soaked and throwing sea shells he found in the sand back into the sea. 

Action shot of Will at the rehearsal! He was a complete monkey and had a blast playing in and around the gazebo. Our current plan for keeping him under-raps at the ceremony? Bribery with Cheetos. 

Skip and Emily, at their beautiful rehearsal! The big day is Sunday…! 

Some of Cindy’s work in our neighborhood. This tree crashed through a fence and fell (luckily) between two cars, blocking the street. 

Our fallen fence. Our yard is on the right — with the beat-up looking out building (it’s seen better days.) A lime tree holds it up in the back of the yard.  

Cindy hit a little harder than expected. Trees down, debris spilling out of sewers and sidewalks, leaves and brush in huge piles everywhere, (new) palm trees down on Canal Street, no traffic lights, and no power. We lost power at about 11pm; it’s still out (it’s 10am here now). Margarita didn’t show (not unexpected, considering) and Paul can’t work without power, so I came into work (as part of the medical campus, we’ve got good power resources and backup.) Some good and bad things:

Good:
– Our ice maker had enough cold ice to fill up the cooler and protect some items from the fridge.
– We have a gas range.
– We still have half a fence.
– No damage to the house.
– It’s a relatively chilly morning at 79 degrees (what a treat!)
– Whole Foods has generators and may possibly have A/C to retreat to if needed.

Bad:
– Our backyard fence is down and mangled.
– We have a series of frozen gourmet meals in our freezer that were anniversary presents from Paul’s parents… how long can the freezer sustain itself with ice backup?
– The storm didn’t bring down those darn crepe myrtles (aka: crappy myrtles) which, although beautiful, reek havoc on our yard, sidewalk, and especially car — although the storm did rip off all blooms and even peeled bark off them.
– 11 hours and counting of no power…
– All traffic lights are out in the city.
– I now realize that if a major hurricane hit this beautiful city, it would be really, *really*, messy.

The adventure begins!

We’re experiencing Cindy right now. It’s pretty rough out. We’ve heard a transformer blow and a few loose things whiz past by. Someone’s drain is backed up; the street is a bit full. But all in all, it’s okay. I expect other parts of the city are having to pump water out like crazy. (Insider tip: New Orleans is shaped like a bowl. The nearer you are to Mid-City, the lower you are. We are by the levee/river, so we are actually on high ground… above sea level even!)

Dennis is the one we are worried about. Complicating factors we are thinking about:
– Skip and Emily’s wedding in Jacksonville, FL on Sunday.
– Getting to the wedding by air on Friday.
– My Dad driving out on Thursday (He is second in command of a shipyard in Mobile. Hard to leave the post during a hurricane watch.)
– Paul getting back to NOLA by air on Monday.