Hello!

Where do I start? I guess for those who do not know, I will briefly recap my year. In mid-March, my husband, my friend Christine, and I all went to New Orleans to do some hurricane Katrina relief. Before we had gotten there, FEMA had shut down a lot of the capacity of the "tent cities" so poor us, we had to stay at "Camp Sheraton" for the week. It was rough, but we survived. The rooms were generously provided by Sheraton for the relief workers, however, everyone had to have at least four or more to their room. Our fourth bunkie Jonathon graciously took the cot because he was such a gentlemen. Here is a picture of him. He also didn't seem to mind us badmouthing him, or piling all our luggage and souvenirs on him either...what a guy!

We got some down time from gutting houses, and took a tour of the lower ninth ward. Mind you, we went in March, some seven months after the hurricane, and it looked as though nothing had been touched. We talked to some residents who said it did look a lot better, but I cannot imagine having to live in these conditions day after day. A week was almost too much to handle. While in the lower ninth ward, we ran into none other than Ray Nagin! He stepped out of his car at the same moment Christine and I were walking by. He said a few words to us, but I really can't remember now what he said. Here is my pic of him. Umm... so I wouldn't make a good photojournalist...

More catching up coming...