Happy Birthday To Kenny

January is a month of famous birthdays.  Elvis was born on January 8.  My brother shares his birthday with Elvis.  So I called my brother, bought a funny card and a present and went down to have lunch with him and Michelle.

We went to a small refinery town in southern Louisiana toward New Orleans from here called Geismar, LA.  Literally nothing but refineries and chemical plants and the people who work in them.



We also call it Cancer Alley.  But the food is good and Pam and Dale's Restaurant did not disappoint.






I took some pictures of the pipelines that run from plants, across River Road and down to the ships on the Mississippi River.

The first photo shows the river levee as it rises from the road bed.  The mighty Mississippi is on the other side!

The  second shows various pipelines crossing the road, an intricate web of pipes.






The third is a tank, holding who knows what, most likely some sort of oil in some stage of refinement.  There is a cat cracker on site that will separate the oil into various components.

Frank spent his career in these plants.  He has driven these roads for 42 years.  He doesn't miss it a bit!

My brother brought me a king cake.  And once


we got home and cut into it, Frank immediately gets the baby.

The significance of that is when you get the baby in the King Cake you are celebrated as King of the Day.  But, you must bring the King Cake to the next party!

Here is my brother and his wife Michelle.  He is like 6 foot 4 inches tall and fits into this Mini Cooper.

There really isn't anything Mini about Kenny!  But he sure does love that car!

Geez, but he looks like my dad...……...


 

The Big Party!

Yesterday was the Big Party Day.

I spent 5 days working on the house.  That schedule taped to my counter helped a lot.  I always knew where it was and could add things as they needed to be done. You always have last minute things you think of like the proverbial:

*%$(OMG! Why didn't I do that 3 DAYS ago?)*&%

It helped, it didn't completely erase those moments!

Diane, Carrie Jason Sawyer

One of which was the Fruit and Veggie Trays.  I ordered them from Albertson's and then I asked Frank to grab them when he went out for the ice on Saturday morning.  He comes back with a cereal bowl full of chopped fruit and a kid sized tray of carrots and broccoli with a tablespoon size of dip between them. 

Gary and Matt

Really?  This looks like a Veggie Tray to you?  So in order to allow my guest to have veggies if they wanted them, 

I resolved to only eat the brownies.  I made sure we had LOTS of brownies!

Matt and Sawyer

Other than that, things went really well.  I sat there thinking that these people will never get together like this again.  Rodney's Alzheimers is getting worse.  Ethan is starting his senior year

Karen, Michelle, Kenny

Gary, Carrie, Andrew

Kenny or my Dad (either way, same face)

Michelle

 in Denver, Matt just finished his Plebe year at the Naval Academy.  My brother's kids are getting scattered - one in Kentucky and one in New Orleans.  

It was a good time we were together, talking about the things we used to do.  Grandma and Aunt Annie and how they watched all of us at one time or another.  

Matt and Sawyer

The young cousins got to meet their youngest Cousin Sawyer and the oldest Rodney got to take charge of my kitchen and do what he loves best:  be the Chief Cook and   Entertainer.  

Ethan and Lucas were off somewhere with video games and the dogs  They are getting two golden retriever pups on Sunday for Jason's workshop.  

I hope the Bassets modeled good dog behavior examples.

I don't know why I don't have a photo of Rodney.  He was really enjoying himself.  He spoke in his Cajun French and flirted with me when I was drying the dishes he was washing.  He was out there working the grill to help Frank with those Amazing Ribs, He had a great day!

And the dogs were perfect.  Well, once you get over the first 15 minutes of :

+*&^%#    OMG PEOPLE ARE HERE 

AND WE ARE SO $%@ HAPPY TO SEE THEM $#%^*

There was even one time when  the front door was wide open and people were leaving and DiNozzo was just standing there waving goodbye to everyone.  He didn't even step out!  

What a good dog I've raised!

What a Great Party I threw.

And despite the fear that I was hiding the number of people I had invited and that 30 people would really show up, Frank survived too.

I asked him, if you thought I was hiding people from you then why did you get such a tiny bowl of fruit?

The Weight of Water

Here you go Carol

Some days are harder to get through than others.  And I know I don't have the issues like some of my dear friends do.  But sometimes molehills can seem like mountains.

We met my brother for lunch at Middendorf's.  Carrie and the baby drove with us and Uncle Kenny and Michelle got to spend time with Sawyer.  He was so good, eating everything in sight including french fries and fried catfish!  Good Cajun boy, that one.

Kenny and Michelle will spend the Easter weekend on their sailboat with their daughter Mary and her beau Mark.  Get this, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, hey.  Mary runs a dog rescue in New Orleans!  Right!

Since Crawfish is pretty traditional for Easter here in Louisiana, I decided I would make my dad's Crawfish Etouffee for Sunday at Carrie's.  Then I realized my recipe book with all his recipes, and the all ones my mother wrote had been in the drop shelf up under the cabinet and was never taken out when they tore the kitchen cabinets out after the flood.  Gone!

I lost it.  Just plain lost it all over again.

Still.  It hits me like that still.  After nearly two years.  Just one thing can knock you into an abyss.

And there you are.
 
I know others who feel this way.  And we know you really have to have been a flood survivor to truly understand it all.  Or some disaster I would imagine.  To get to the other side takes a part of you that people who didn't make  that journey can't really fully know.  It's not that they don't care, it's just that they don't know that piece of you that is missing inside.

And.......there you are. 

Since I don't celebrate these things, I will leave you with some really nice pictures of the things that surround the season.

And hope your holiday is beautiful.

The lilies are so pretty

My friend across the street who had the thistle I loved last year

showed me another she found in her yard.  She said she saved it from the lawn mower for me since I had loved the other one so much.  

 Carrie had some artichokes growing again.  This is the one from last year.
  They are pretty cool.  She didn't eat them, just looked at them.  I would have eaten them. 










And just in case you think I might be some kind of heathen or something, I actually know the Easter Bunny.

And her name is Martha.

And the aftermath begins.......

Just talked to my brother.  He ives in Laplace.  They were told to stay because they had no flooding in the area and the officials actually downgraded the flood potential to nothing.  And the worst of the rains had passed.  

Then an hour later, they were  standing in water that was rising so fast they had 10 minutes to get out.  They have two dogs who got in the truck, but the cats panicked and scattered.  Kenny figured they could get on top of things and would do ok.  So they turned their attention to Blossom the Pig.  Blossom was in sheer panic and would not allow herself to be put in the truck.  She hates riding anyway.

The water was nearing their knees in the next 10 minutes and they knew if they didn’t move at that moment they would not get the vehicles out.  So they had to leave Blossom behind.  

Just now, Kenny was calling from the house, he found her in her pighouse.  She didn’t make it.

And there is three feet of water in their house.    They stayed in Lafayette last night but have a friend who has an empty rent house they will use.  He is trying to see what he can salvage, in a skiff, in his flooded house.

I cannot imagine.