Monday Quilting and Katrina (10 Years)

I entertained the Handiquilter Tech this morning.  He made short work of re-setting the timing clearances and reassembling the part Margaret couldn't get back in yesterday.

Moon quilted today

Part of the quilting path done today

I learned a lot just listening to him.  I found out I was tightening the quilt too tight on the frame when I quilted.  It still feels strange to leave it so loose!

As he works he explains what that piece does and how it fits into the rest of the system.  Very interesting.

So after he left I didn't get a chance to work on my quilt until after my Physical Therapy visit.

FEMA Trailer City

Feeling better now, I came home and quilted down to the last 9 inches of my Krista Withers quilting without a single broken thread!  Oh, that felt so good!

Have you seen the multitude of specials on Katrina now that it is 10 years out.  Seems like yesterday I was sitting with my mother and her husband waiting for the worst to come.   It was a rough time for everyone.

I remember the incessant drone of the helicopters as they flew directly over our house bringing refugees from New Orleans to a staging area in Baton Rouge.  Weeks, they flew back and forth.  Black Hawks carrying people who lost everything.  


Frank and I worked the  animal rescue staging areas here in Baton Rouge which sheltered dogs, cats and reptiles (yes, snakes) brought in from the flooded areas.  Most animals were never reunited with their families.  It was just so chaotic.

Aunt Emma's House

Our families still in New Orleans were scattered to 5 states.  It took us two weeks to find Frank's St Bernard Parish family.  They had three houses just 3 blocks off the Murphy Oil Refinery and lost everything to the sludge from the broken tanks.  His cousin's daughter still suffers from neurological damage from the 8 hours they were allowed to go in and see if they could salvage anything in their homes.  She slipped and fell in the sludge and has never been the same.



My family spent the time in one of the tall hotels in Downtown New Orleans.

Everyone from both sides eventually ended up on the North Shore, not one of the lived to return to New Orleans.  A good friend lived just blocks from the levee break on the 17th Street Canal.  His house was found 3 miles away from its location.

Ray Nagin, the Mayor of New Orleans had a major break down, eventually locking himself into the bathroom of Air Force One.  They had to break down the door to get him out.  Kathleen Blanco, the Governor, was not much better.  Both failed the people of their city and state.  Nagin is currently in prison for corruption.

George Bush tried to convince Blanco to allow Federal assistance in, but she refused to sign the documents that the Governors of Mississippi and Alabama did. History has shown that she made some bad decisions.

There were also some amazing people who pulled their recreational boats down to the flooded city and saved thousands of people apart from the organized rescue efforts.  They were called the Cajun Navy.

So many of our family and friends lost so much in that tragedy.  When you watch the specials this week, think of my birthplace and know it is a survivor!