we dare be brave

It's the end of my journey, I am filled with emotion of excitement, sorrow, and contentment. I would love to write more but it’s going on 12 AM and I just finished packing, my flight leaves at 6 AM so I have to be up at 3 AM. So sorry but I am going to try and shut my eyes for a bit. I will write more tomorrow when I get home and post some pictures.

Good Night!

It's 10:00 AM and it's already been a full day. This morning I walked over to Brian's to pick up his truck, then I loaded my bags in the back. For those of you who don't know, I am a bit of a heavy packer...but cut me some slack, I was packing for 6 months and didn't know what I would need. :-) Anyways, yesterday I had a friend to help me with my large bag but today, it was all me. I must say, I did a pretty good job. It didn’t take me long to load the largest bag (which everyone refers to as a dead body) into the truck. Now, I'm headed to Greyhound where I will ship them to Seattle.


I'm dedicated to the job that needs to be done here in New Orleans and am determined to get to work today even if it's only for half a day as it will be my last day of building. It doesn't really seem bitter sweet, just sad!

I woke up this morning at 8 AM and had another productive day of packing. I got 2 bags packed and had hoped to send them of on Greyhound shipping today but when I got there they were closed. Kind of frustrating because I asked a friend to take me and I called before hand to see what time they closed. The representative I spoke with gave me the hours of operation for the actual Greyhound transportation, not Greyhound shipping.

I will try again tomorrow. I'm hoping I can barrow my site supervisor’s truck but if not, I will have to catch a cab. I really hope the truck is available because I can't really afford the taxi.

My friend Jason treated me to a goodbye dinner. We called it an early night because we were both exhausted. It could have something to do with the fact that I only got 3 hours of sleep last night. I’m planning on another busy day tomorrow...I would like to work one last day but I am not sure if I can fit it in with all that I have to do. Probably won't know until the morning but I'll keep you posted.

It’s only 9:50 PM here but I am headed to bed. Have a great evening everyone.

It's going on 5 AM here and for some reason I'm just not tired. I've been in bed for a couple hours now but can't seem fall asleep.

Hope I can get some shut eye soon as my plan was to wake up by 8 AM to start packing. How frustrating!

I spent the day packing, organizing and taking care of logistics online. It was a pretty mellow day today, I actually didn't leave the house at all.

I can't believe I've only got 3 days left in New Orleans. I have to say it gets sadder and sadder as my departure date approaches. I am going to miss a number of things about New Orleans but most importantly, I will miss all the people I have met, and the friends that I have made.

This isn't good bye, I hope to return one day, even if just for a week long get away, or for Essence Fest.

We have some pretty stormy days in Washington, but nothing compared to the thunder storms they have in the South. Though ours may last longer, there’s seem to hit much closer, (no matter where it is, it seems close) brighter and stronger.

Here are a few shots of the clouds just before the storm hit down.

Today was a difficult day...I had a lot of things on my mind and Brian had me looking after a house and 4 volunteers. My body is sore and I'm pretty beat from the heat (energy wise). I have one day left.  Part of me wants to take the day off to get some work done and the other part of me wants to go build another house as I'm not sure which day will be my last.

I am still not sure when I will be returning to WA, though I would like to say Thursday of next week. I will let you know when I have more.

It was an amazing day, but ended on a bit of a sad note. I am emotionally spent so I am going to call it a night.

Sleep well.

It's going on 10:30 PM here in New Orleans and I am absolutely beat. A hot one again, with a heat index of 110 and another heat advisory. Though tired by the end of the day, I've really started to get used to the heat and the physical expectation of the day. Still every now and again, the heat hits...there was a moment today that I had to sit for a second while the heat stroke passed. After that, I was right back at it, helping to get a house finished for closing.
I just got home and can't wait to lay it down. Good night all, see you tomorrow.

When I woke up this morning, I felt heavy, like I had a lot of things on my mind. Considering all that’s going on I decided to take the day off to make arrangements and get things organized. After spending the morning planning I decided to get out and go for a walk. I walked just over 5 miles around Audubon Park which is a beautiful park across the street from both Tulane University and Loyola University. It was so nice to be outside (by the way, it was 92 degrees with a heat index of 102 today) and around nature.



My evening turned out just as lovely. I joined a friend for dinner at a restaurant on the Riverbend followed by drinks at the Monkey Hill lounge, (one of my favorite places in New Orleans).


Such a wonderful day in NOLA, I’m feeling much lighter and am ready for whatever tomorrow may bring.

After weighing all factors, I have made a decision. I have to change my plans and cut my New Orleans time short. I will be returning to the West Coast (destination is Seattle) sometime this week or next. :(

I spent most of this afternoon working on projects at home. It was nice, and I was able to catch up on things after getting behind from being in CA. It started out as a pretty nice day. But shortly after returning from dinner with a friend, I started to feel a little somber. I guess  I’m still not ready to leave New Orleans.

I spent the first half of the evening in a bit of a funk, but after hanging out with a friend I realized that whether I end up going home early or not, I want to spend the rest of my time here enjoying every moment.

Thanks to my new friend in New Orleans.

Good night everyone.

It was a very relaxing day today, which was nice. I needed that. After sleeping in til about 11:00 AM, I woke up fully rested and looking forward to the day. I went to lunch with a friend at Lucy's, where we were going to watch the World Cup. About 20 min. into the game, the satellite went out due to the daily storm in New Orleans.

It has been difficult to watch the World Cup series as I do not have a TV, so I was really looking forward to watching the final game. We decided to go to a bar around the corner. Of course I had been rooting for team USA, no longer in contention, so I was open either way (Spain/Netherlands). I had a blast watching the game and discussing it with fellow fans.

Reminded me of how much I miss the sport.

Even though things are a bit stressful, I still want to give 100%. I went to bed last night looking forward to going to work and this morning I woke up with the same feeling.

Today was a wonderful day. Yes, it was 110 degrees again, but I still had a blast. I enjoyed every moment, from cutting to running errands to teaching and celebrating.

When I got to work today we were told that there was going to be a dedication. The house being dedicated was the first house I helped build start to finish (with the interior and finishing work). I also had the opportunity to work very closely with homeowner Joy (not her real name) over the past few months. I even had a chance to work with her lovely daughters a couple times. I took a few pictures on Brian’s disposable camera. I will get them posted as soon as I can, along with Joy’s bio.

I'm so excited to be back in New Orleans.

I found myself feeling homesick around May. I didn’t necessarily want to leave New Orleans, but I was looking forward to returning to the West Coast. I enjoyed my time in California for the wedding, but was equally happy to come back to New Orleans for a couple of months. It all felt like things were (finally) coming together. I settled into my new place, recently met some new people, accepted the Southern lifestyle, and felt adapted to the work flow of building houses and really embraced it. I am truly excited to be here and I want to finish the work I started. I really hope that can happen.

But my journey may be cut short, and I feel devastated. I found out today that I may have to leave sooner then I expected due to financial reasons. I am not ready to leave, but after several days of trying to solve the problem, I have come to accept that I may have to go. I keep telling myself that it’s the Universe's way of telling me that now’s the time and something else is waiting around the corner. I hope so.

I'd like to finish out my time in New Orleans, but if not, I will go home knowing it's been an amazing experience and I accomplished much of what I set out to accomplish.

I just hope my time doesn’t get cut short--I'd like 2 more months of building.

Wow, these past few days have been busy. I have had little to no access to the internet, and not a spare moment to sit down and write. This is my first opportunity and I couldn't wait to write you.

To catch you up, I left New Orleans last Wednesday, headed to CA for a very dear friend's wedding. The wedding was a traditional Indian-style wedding, which is very different from the traditional American-style wedding. The Indian wedding is a 3-day event. Basically, it's a pre-funk hosted by the bride (Friday), followed by the actual wedding ceremony also put on by the bride (Saturday), and then a post party put on by the groom (Sunday). The women also attended a special women's night on Thursday, similar to a bridal shower.

It wasn't easy getting here but I am so happy it was possible. I had a such a wonderful time. On Thursday, I met up with a sorority sister of mine and an old college friend. The three of us decided to share a room, and we spent the rest of the weekend catching up and enjoying time together. We ran errands for the bride, prepped for the different events (Mehndi, Nikaak, Vlima), participated in ceremonies, and enjoyed amazing Indian cuisine, music, dress, dance, and eac hother.

I am so blessed to have been able to experience this amazing traditional Indian wedding and to have met all the beautiful people in my friend's life.

Congrats, Jah & I love you!

Pictures coming soon (swamp pics, too).

Sitting at my desk typing with the shades drawn to the backyard.  I glance to my left, look out the windowm and see a cute little gecko run up the table leg.

I wanted to take Amber on the ferry because I’ve heard nice things about the ride from a number of people. After our experience today, I’m not sure what everyone was talking about.


We’ll just say our trip to Algiers wasn’t exactly what we expected. As were boarding the ferry, which runs from New Orleans – Algiers – Gretna, I notice another ferry dock across the water. I jokingly said to Amber, “I bet that’s Algiers across the water,” and sure enough, it was. Our ferry ride was probably all of seven minutes. At this point we figured oh well, we’ll enjoy a nice lunch and then head back. Once we got off the boat, we realized we were surrounded by houses, there weren’t any restaurants in sight. A bit confused I was as when I looked into our trip to Algiers I read that we would dock next to an area with lots eateries and little shops. I asked a fellow passenger and he told us how to get to the 3 restaurants. Amber and I start walking and half way down the road we hear thunder, look up and see a very nice size black cloud right above us. Neither of us wanted to walk in the rain, so we decided to head back.  Though I was a bit disappointed in our day, we ended up enjoying the rest of it.


Once we were back in New Orleans, I took Amber to a restaurant called Dragos (a seafood spot),  famous for char-grilled oysters and I wanted her to try them. I was really impressed, she tried one and actually liked it. We had a nice lunch and then returned to the French Quarter to find some souvenirs. Finally, after 6 hours downtown we decided we were exhausted. We’re home now and getting Amber’s things ready for her flight tomorrow. We have to wake up at 4:45 AM. No New Orleans time for this--must be on time.

Amber and I decided not to take the ferry to Algiers today, so instead we walked around the French Quarter. I gave Amber a tour of some of the well-known attractions like the French Market, Jackson Square Park, Café Du Monde, Pat O’Brien's (and their fabulous piano bar, I wish Amber was old enough to experience it), and of course, the infamous Bourbon St.



We walked down Bourbon St. as we headed back to catch the street car. It was nice, not too crowded yet not empty. A couple spots on our way tried to pull us into their bars…I had to tell them she wasn’t of age. We returned home, had dinner, and fell asleep to 16Blocks.


Today we are going to catch the ferry and have lunch in Algiers. I need to start getting ready, but I’ll be back. Stories of our swamp tour and pictures of this week are coming soon.

The longer I’m here, the more I learn the importance of“The Value of Time.” I can honestly say that over the years, I have become worse at being prompt, so it’s something I’ve been working on. I have definitely grown a bit frustrated at times with the lack of timeliness here.
New Orleans is a very laid back city. I'm not sure if all of Louisiana is like that, but I have a strong feeling that it’s probably a trait statewide.


It’s don't know how anyone can rely on public transportation here as their main means of transportation because it ever gets anywhere on time. Yesterday, on our way to church, the street car driver stopped twice, once to have a mechanic come fix the coin machine and another to switch drivers. All in all,  we were stuck sitting in the heat for an extra 15 - 20 minutes.


I'm learning. I figure the key is to always allow for delays :-).

Amber and I are getting home from a long day in the sun. We had a great time experiencing new things and spending time together.  I'm very happy she's here. 

We found a Unity Church which isn't to far from us so we are going to attend there service tomorrow.  Have a great night and tomorrow I'll fill you in on our adventures from today.

So I fell in another hole today. Well, actually it was more like a big divot, and, yes, it was in front of people. I think I was in too much pain to be embarrassed--actually, I didn’t really care but I did try to play it off :-).
I’m not saying I'm getting old, but I’m not a young whippersnapper anymore. I feel all those years of playing goalie and throwing my body at every shot taken and slide tackling when on defense. My ankle is a bit swollen so I will ice it just before bed. We’ll see how it is tomorrow.

Yesterday we were sent on a bit of a wild goose chase. We were asked to purchase a kneeling board from Home Depot. As I don’t drive much around here, it’s kind of hard to get my bearings.  I am familiar with routes we’ve taken to and from work, as well as paths that I’ve walked…other then that, it’s kind of an adventure trying to get anywhere.


The Home Depot I am familiar with is on Chef Mentuer, however, they did not have what we needed. (This is Amber writing now.) They sent us to their larger store in New Orleans east, which was on Bullet Street.  Our GPS could not find the address and we were driving around for a while trying to find it ourselves.  Then Alicia called her friend to get better directions.  He gave us step-by-step directions to get to Bullet Street. After driving about 15 minutes, we still could not find the street.  He had given us very clear directions on what we would see on the way. After driving a while, we started to see the landmarks that Duncan (not his real name) told us about, but we did not see Bullet Street anywhere.  We had gone as far as we thought we should and the last street we had passed was Bullard, and as the accent is so heavy in the south, we figured maybe that was what they were referring to.  Alicia then called her friend once more and asked how to spell the street name.  He pronounced it Bullet but spelled it B-U-L-L-A-R-D.  At first, we were quit shocked as to how we were to ever find Bullet if it didn’t actually exist.  But, this, too, is the New Orleans way.  After a bit of searching, we finally found Home Depot and they didn’t have what we needed.  Though the day sounded unsuccessful, we ended up finding what we needed elsewhere, as well as returning to the job site to prep the porch banister.



It's Friday morning now and we're at it again. We’re getting a bit of a late start but in motion none the less. More soon.

Note to self, when going outside at night, be sure to check your chair before sitting down. When I went outside last night to call the airlines to check on Amber’s flight, I sat on a Gecko. Luckily, I didn’t kill the poor little thing, but it startled the shit out of me and felt really creepy.

Today was Amber's first day on the job site. It was so much fun having her see what it is I do every day. We probably had around 80 volunteers today. Brian was pouring concrete so he asked me to run to Home Depot to purchase a kneeling pad. We still couldn't find exactly what he was looking for so we decided to check the gardening section. I grabbed two kneeling pads from there as Brian never told us exactly what we were looking for. After returning to the job site, Brian tells us these were not the correct kneeling pads. Amber and I jumped back in the car and ran to Lowes, where we finally found what we were looking for. We stood in line for about 25 minutes as their system was down. Though the day was a bit out of the ordinary, it was great having Amber here. It was pretty hot by the end of the day and we were in and out of AC all day so it was hard to adjust to the heat. We are once again on a heat advisory for the next 48 hours.


It's going on 10 PM and Amber has been asleep since 7 PM. I also took a quick nap but needed to get up to post and to get us ready for tomorrow. We'll let you know how the day goes tomorrow.

Amber (my little sister) is arriving today. She will be staying with me for a week before she heads on to Indiana to spend the summer with her friend. I can’t wait to get her from the airport and show her what my last three months have been like.


More from us this evening.

So I’m a little concerned about the bumps on my forearm. They’ve been there for about two days now and but they just started itching last night. I had a couple look at it today and they thought it looked like nettles of some kind, or an allergic reaction. We’ll see, but I sure wish it would stop itching.

I went into the city today to take my camera to the shop. It started acting up the other day, I was hoping it was just the card but it turns out it’s my camera. I either have to get a new camera or send mine into the manufacturer. I will post some new pictures as soon as I can.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. We were out in the East and working on interiors.

We had about 30 people (volunteers, homeowners, and Americorps) working on 3 sites. It was really hot and the day started kind of sluggish, but as the day went on, I got more and more energy. I wasn’t really hungry by lunch, so I was just going to walk to the corner store and grab a fresh, cold drink. On my way there one of the homeowners drove by and told me to get my crazy behind in the car. You see, it was 101 and I was walking (she thought I was crazy). We ended up going to McDonalds so I grabbed some chicken nuggets. We dined in and talked for about an hour...I had such a great time talking with them.

When I returned to work I saw that some guys were trying to break up the sidewalk with a sledge hammer. I thought it looked fun and challenging and I wanted to try it. I asked them to show me how it was done, and then I gave it a go. I ended up helping break concrete for about 45 minutes. When I wasn’t sledge hammering, I was helping wheel the wheelbarrow to dump the concrete. The day was full of engagement between me and homeowners and kids from Americorps. It was hot but enjoyable.

It's been a really long day, my body is saying shut me down. The day started with work from 7:00 AM - 4:30 PM, followed by a quick dip in the pool and a night out with the girls.  It's now 11:30 PM.  I'll be back tomorrow with details about my great day today.

Sure wish I could sleep in today but I am up and atem already for work.

I got in pretty late last night from building, I was too tired to do anything.

Today was scorching and I was a bit off my game. We had a heat index of 99 at 11:00 AM, which reached 105 by day's end. Let me just say, it’s ridiculous, unlike any other heat I’ve ever felt (Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii). Though it makes the days a bit rougher and I’m usually dragging by about 2:30 PM, (sometimes 1:30 PM :-) ) it’s all part of the experience. It just reminds me of the Katrina victims, I COULD NOT imagine being in this heat with no food or water and no way to get out of the heat for 3-5 days.

We went back to the 8th ward today. The house was pretty much done and there were just a few things that needed to be finished or touched up, well at least that’s what we thought. The last time we were on Painters St. was about 2 weeks ago. We’ve been waiting for the carpet and linoleum to be installed. Yesterday Brian was advised that everything had been installed, so we were going to return to the house on Painters today to finish everything up in hopes of moving the homeowner in ASAP. After doing a walk through of the house this morning, Brian and I noticed that some baseboards and toe kicks had been pulled out by the contractors when they came to install the flooring. What this meant was that we had to redo the baseboard, but because we don’t have enough material, we had to fix it by filling in the gaps. This made measuring a bit challenging for me today. At one point I cut a base board perfectly, then tried to put it in place and it was too long so I scribed it, cut it, and attempted to fit it. I then went on to cope the baseboard. When I was finished coping, I went to put the board in and it was too short so I had to start all over. That’s kind of how my whole day went. We spent the entire day fixing and redoing parts of the interior. We will return to Painters tomorrow. Hopefully to get everything finished this time.

It was only 8:30 AM and I was already sweating like a pig.

I guessed right, we worked on stairs today (but I heard that tomorrow we're working on an interior). It was just Brian, Ray, and me today, so it was actually kind of nice. I was working on the stairs on the side of the house and they were in the front. First time I got to build alone, and I must say I truly enjoyed it.

So the weather didn’t exactly turn out the way it was predicted. It did not reach the triple digits here today…thank gosh…but it was close, at 96. I felt good today. I wasn’t too hot and I didn’t feel tired at all until 3:30 PM, right when it was time to clean up.

We haven’t been working with many other volunteers for the past two weeks. I’ve been to other sites and they have a handful of volunteers, not sure why we don’t. I’m guessing they figure we 3 are plenty to build stairs…now watch, when we do interiors tomorrow we will probably get some volunteers.

Am just getting home from the gym (a friend has been nice enough to allow me access to the gym at her apartment complex) and am going to bed.  I part with some pictures from today.




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Not much to post tonight.

It was a pretty slow day, but that's really nice for a change. I took a walk and did a bit of reading. I'm feeling re-energized and am ready to start the week. I’m not sure where we will be building tomorrow or what our focus will be on, but I bet it's going to be stairs. I wouldn’t mind another week or two of stairs, but after that I’d like to get back to some interior work. It’s been almost a month since we’ve done any interiors. I would really like to gain some more experience on interior work…not to mention we would be inside and out of the heat. 

I’ll keep you posted on what tomorrow's weather turns out to be. I predict it will be include stairs--and more stairs.

I fell asleep immediately after my post last night. I woke up to see Duplicity watching me.
The party went on all night but the noise only woke me once.


I woke up around 9:00 AM and had breakfast with a friend, then we went to see a movie. We spent the day in Harahan, LA, a cute little suburban town about 20 minutes north of New Orleans. I got home late afternoon, and have been relaxing ever since. I’m truly enjoying my day off!


Well, I’m off to (finally) watch Duplicity. Catch me again tomorrow... Good Night!

It's going on 11:00 PM and the party here is just beginning. Two of my roommates are celebrating their birthdays.

I love my new room!  I finally feel like I have a space where I can work, relax, and be cozy.

Today I sat at my desk and watched the storm outside my window for hours while I took care of some paper work.

It’s getting late, I should get to bed, but I wanted to show you some pictures of my new room. Sleep tight and I will talk with you tomorrow.

While I was getting ready to take a shower after work today, I started noticing things about the bathroom. I noticed my eyes catching little details about the finish or touch up work that was done. You know, things like caulking of the window sill if you don’t get your cut on the jig saw exactly right and filler additions on the base board. Oh no, another thing for my eyes to catch! :-)

Are you ever a little bummed when you miss one of your favorite TV shows? Sometimes I get really wound up about TV series that I like. I know, I know, such a silly thing to get bummed out about. Most shows I can get over not seeing, but ever since the first season, I’ve been hooked on So You Think You Can Dance. I think it’s because of how much I truly enjoy music and dance…I feel the artist’s passion and dedication to their craft.

My new place doesn’t have cable, or a TV for that matter, so I decided I was going to watch the show online (which I did last season). But for some reason, I couldn’t find a link that had the show in real time. Guess I’ll have to watch it in a couple of days. If any of you are fans out there, please don’t spoil the fun.

I’ve been nodding off at my desk for the last 20 minutes, so I’m going call it a night. I’ll leave you tonight with a few pics from last week's building efforts.

 
j

I got to work the other day and realized I’m pretty stripped. I've been getting tired, so tired that sometimes I wish I didn’t have to get out of bed in the morning.  I will say,though,  I never thought this journey would be easy.


There are a number of reasons I decided to embark on this adventure in New Orleans. When I set out, I had some goals lined out, as well as some additional things I wanted to try and tackle. I feel like some of what I hoped to accomplish isn’t getting done. It’s important to me to find a balance, so I decided to cut back on building by a day (now building 4 days a week) so that I can have one more day to focus on some other endeavors.


I’ll keep you updated as I get these projects up and running.

My new room is just around the corner from Brian’s place, so I can walk over and say hello whenever. The new house has a few more people, 5 including me to be exact. But so far, it doesn’t seem overly crowded. I live with 3 other females, 1 male, and 2 pups. Mandy, Kelly (not their real names), and I haven’t met the third female yet. We’ve also got Larry (not his real name), Jack (dog 1) and I don’t know dog number 2’s name. The day I moved in the bugger bit me on my calf. I think it’s safe to say I don’t care for him so much, at least not for now.


Last night the girls invited me to go see Sex in the City with them. I declined because I'd just seen it on Sunday. Very thoughtful of them to include me. I'm going to like it here.

Why is it that I run into connectivity problems at each place I stay?


Sorry for that bit of randomness. I’m sure you’re dying to know…yes, I moved…but I’ll get to that in a minute. First, I want to explain my absence.


As you read, my laptop has been having some difficulty recognizing the wireless network at my new place. I let my roommate take a look at it and three hours later, it was fixed. I’m back :-)


Now, the move. I decided that I wasn’t going to let the rain stop me. I mean I’m from Seattle after all! A friend I met at the hostel came despite the rain and helped me with the move. We got it all done in 3 trips. I furnished my new room with the dresser and book shelf that Ayni (roommate from the Marigny) gave me. I had been looking for a box spring and a desk for the past week. In my search, I came across a lamp I thought was really funky. A few days later, I found a desk & chair on craigslist and I picked up on Sunday as well. Even though I didn’t get it all set up and organized until today, it still felt nice to move in ready to make a place feel comfortable and warm.


The sublet is wonderful! I’m finally getting things put in their place. It’s minimal, but it looks so cute, and I’m loving it. 

These past two days have been pretty busy. It’s getting late, I should get to bed. Tomorrow I’ll take some pictures of the room for you to see. Good Night!

Last week I posted pictures of the wheel chair ramp we were building and a bio on the homeowner. I found out this weekend that he passed away (he recently had both his kidneys removed).

This morning Brian and I drove by the house to see the finished deck and just take a moment.

Here’s a picture of it completed (minus the concrete slab at the base). Unfortunately, we were too late. It was a pretty sad day.

(A friend is posting this for me.) I just wanted you to know that all is well--and that I haven't posted due to Internet problems. More soon as I am able.

I finally found a room to sublet, I'm so excited to move to a space that will feel more my own.

I was going to move today but have been delayed by a rain storm. Hopefully it will let up soon. Going to watch a movie in the mean time.

When I got to the park, I stumbled upon a lovely pond. I was supposed to be reading but I was to distracted by the animals and my surrounding. I couldn't stop taking pictures.

I love the guys I work with and I am grateful for my curring living situation, but I want to find a place that's more "me" and a little less like a guys' locker room. :-)

Grocery stores aren’t the easiest to get to (nothing is really :-)) but I do try to prepare my food as much as I can. I’ve been craving fruit as it’s so warm but produce is really expensive; it almost seems like a commodity around here (except for Strawberries which are grown in Ponchatoula). Preparing lunches for the work site isn’t easy either. I’m still trying to find a balance!

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Since being in the south, I have also tried crawfish. Yes, out of a trash can. :-) I was walking downtown and saw an out door cookout of crawfish. The gentleman offered me one to try, and I did. It was kind of freaky!

We started working on a wheelchair ramp for a new homeowner who recently had both his kidneys removed.