Endymion Parade, waiting for the arrival of the superfloat..
Anxiously awaiting The Superfloat, amidst the diverse crowd.
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Diary
We have a great school here.
And in back of it is a huge field where we host our annual Parish Fair.
Why, here’s a part of the field now… maybe half of it.
And here are some of our dedicated Parishioners helping with the immense task of Fair Setup.
I helped a lot by walking around taking pictures. It’s hard work, and someone’s got to do it you know! (Although one of our Parishioners is a photographer for the Times Picayune and takes phenomenal photos… but we’re not going to talk about that.)
Things get a little crazed at times…
… and then people start running across the roof.
Interestingly, the most sturdily built booth is the beer booth. But that’s because it houses several large screen TV’s which will be showcasing various football games and sporting events throughout the duration of the fair.
But I am really looking forward to all of the great food. In fact I’m not eating anything but oatmeal and Cheerios all week long before the fair starts.
With everything else going on in the world, I often consider that I should blog about the important events happening daily. But, our fair is a very important event you know, and it takes a lot of effort on everyone’s part to make it the huge success that it always is.
Hope to see you there!
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I love weekends. They’re on the long side with the work of the Church going on in full force at the beginning of the week every Sunday. But, they also offer a lot time to reflect and consider life.
And, every now and again there’s time to experiment with these coconut rolls that have been just begging to be made. This is the closest I’ve come to date; it’s almost where they need to be. Still these are great and someone asked me to fix 100 of them for a large party later this year. (I said no.)
And the weekend is a great time to practice close-ups of roses. I realize, one day I’ll look back at this and laugh, and wonder how I could have ever posted it. But for now, I’m thrilled with it. It’s a baby step in the right direction.
And the weekend is a time to take long walks. Feral chickens are all over the New Orleans area, and the park nearby has feral chickens aplenty. Here’s one with a local rabbit. The rabbit was sitting there minding his own business, and the chicken went over and pecked him on the head. Then they both stood there like this and looked at me taking their picture.
I think the heat gets to everything down here, including these critters. Walking around, or just staying outside for more than ten minutes, it’s easy to feel like a cypress tree standing serenely in the swamp, basking in the extravagant humidity. And the humidity here is very extravagant right now.
So much work to be done for the Lord; God grant us length of days to glorify you, and to bring honor to your holy name.
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I drove down to Fort Jackson today. It was a pretty pleasant drive aside from a dramatic rainstorm. The road along the Westbank of the river ends right past Fort Jackson, since the river ends a bit after that.
I was expecting a sign saying something along those lines, which I had read about in a book discussing the Mississippi River Bike Trail.
But there is no sign. The road just ends very unceremoniously, and very unattractively.
I hadn’t expected the ride to be such a potent reminder of Katrina, which was perhaps naive of me. At any rate, I’ll have to leave off tonight with this intriguing photo taken at the farthest point south on the Eastbank road along the Mississippi, shortly after Pointe a la Hache.
I’ll write about the whole trip in the next few days, surely there are some spiritual lessons to be had. Ciao.
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I attended a talk once by Judith McNutt; she described a disturbed client and then added that he was truly disturbed, ‘he wasn’t just neurotic, like most of us.’ I love listening to her talks, by the way.
That of course got me to thinking about the word neurotic. People use it jokingly, to describe themselves from time to time. And I have too.
So the other day I decided to look it up the word ‘neurotic’ before I go about using it randomly to describe myself, while it was on my mind. It causes strange looks from people at times.
FROM: Dictionary dot com
on “neurotic”
1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of neurosis.
~~~
and on “neurosis”
2. a relatively mild personality disorder typified by excessive anxiety or indecision and a degree of social or interpersonal maladjustment.
FROM Wikipedia
The American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has eliminated the category of “Neurosis”, reflecting a decision by the editors to provide descriptions of behavior as opposed to hidden psychological mechanisms as diagnostic criteria.,[3] and, according to The American Heritage Medical Dictionary, it is “no longer used in psychiatric diagnosis”.[4] These changes to the DSM have been controversial.[5]
So yes, I’m occasionally mildly neurotic. Continue on, please.
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Yesterday while discerning the will of the Lord I drove over to Bayou Segnette Sate Park for some photo ops.
It’s crawling with gators, but yesterday evening they basically just looked like logs in the muck and were not that interesting to photograph. Unless they started splashing and moving very quickly, in which case the last thing I was interested in was taking their picture.
But, you know how when you’re walking through the woods admiring the generically beautiful woodsiness of it all and then…. suddenly… you feel something like light fish wire across your face and realize you’ve walked through a woodspider’s nest and all you can do is imagine it’s huge gnarly body walking all over yours as you both scamper to be freed from one another as soon as possible?
I hate when that happens.
It looks just like this bucolic photo above.
But what’s really there is this.
Exact same view, different focus.
Ick.
Being 6’6″ I’ve walked through my share of woodspider’s nests, and I just don’t like it.
Here is a baby gator in the muck. Mama gator was nearby watching, with lots of other gator heads poking up amidst the algae. Sadly, National Geographic I’m not.
I felt like a pelican in the wilderness, a lonely bird upon a roof…
Still, it was a good side trip after a long day in the office.
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?”Thanks be to God, who unfailingly leads us on in Christ’s triumphal train, and employs us to diffuse the fragrance of his knowledge everywhere! We are an aroma of Christ for God’s sake, both among those who are being saved and those on the way to destruction; to the latter an odor dealing death, to the former a breath bringing life.”
I love the imagery in this quote from 2 Corinthians. We are as incense for Christ, of Christ… only much more profound.
In a profound change of imagery, this happened to me the other day:
Poor Jen. Whoever she is.
And in important developments:
- I joined the Catholic Writer’s Guild
- I made some plans for an upcoming trip I’m getting excited about.
- In fact, the trip is to the Writer’s Guild Conference. I’m hoping to go before they realize I’m not much of a writer and cancel my membership. I have things to learn, and am looking forward to it.
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And, I changed the name of my weblog once again.
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I like the word ‘chronicles’.
Via dictionary.com; “a chronological record of events; a history.’
And that’s about all this site is.
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Name changes drive ESTJ’s crazy.
Fragrance is very powerful, and often very subtle; a notion worthy of contemplation.
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Every time I come to this fishing camp I take a picture of this tree, slowly decomposing in the river. It fell over in Katrina, and has been a steady study in tediously slow decay ever since.
I would say it’s fascinating, but it’s not. Sometimes there’s just not a lot to see here, which can be one of the points of venturing out.
Although, this is new.
The iced coffee in the Tervis Tumbler about sums up the day. I had to reflect on many things.
For instance, what is the purpose of Facebook? And why do I keep a weblog? What is going to come of my brother’s mental health issues? What’s ultimately the cause of them? What’s going to come of my brother’s family, my niece and her daughter?
Are the things that have been irritating me really worth being irritated about? How can I better my Homilies? What is up with my exercise regimen and why is it almost non-existant? When am I at long last going to wrap up my very important office project so I can relax about that?
All of these are very important things.
But none of them are as important as prayer.
Somewhere along the way I was losing that focus to a degree. So I took some time out to make certain it’s the main focus once more.
It’s not always easy, but it’s simple. And it’s not always glamorous or attractive, but it’s fruitful.
And it pulls me out of my comfort zone right into the beautiful fray of life.
So, a late afternoon with some iced coffees and a pleasant sunset, after a long day of rain, … it was well worth it.
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Well, I would call it more of a Jazz Reception, but it was a lovely time whatever it’s name might have been.
Ain’t She Sweet? Families, kids and Volunteers showed up for a reception in honor of the feast of St. Mary Magdalen, which is actually this coming Friday.
Fr. Bob was there, holding court in grand style.
One of my old school friends, Melanie, teaches at our school. I was way, way, way ahead of her in school though; and I believe she must have entered high school just out of the cradle. Here she is with her daughter.
Fr. Nick is recovering quite nicely and was able to make it over to the Reception. It’s always great to see Fr. Nick!
The trio did a great job. I’m going to have to find out who they are, and recommend them again.
I was going to comment on the fact that you can tell women designed this lavender and pink cake, but figured that it would entail me being in charge of the cake next year and decided not to comment on that issue at all. Not a peep out of me about the girlie cake, mind you.
It was a fun time. And I’m sending all my photos to Susie, on the right here, so that she can put them in the Parish archives. Wherever that might be!
After that grand morning, it’s been raining all afternoon. I’m looking forward to a relaxing evening with friends, and blessed a night’s sleep.
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Today, on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, our Boy Scout Troop held a carwash.
It was great, seeing as the sun peeked out all morning, the rain disappeared and a long line of pre-sold ticket holders showed up for services rendered. (Beats the automatic wash at the Chevron, any day.)
This was also a chance to sort out a slew of hoses in the Rectory Garden, which had been dormant since Katrina. They all are headed to the dumpster after today’s work force declared them unsuitable for use. I readily agreed.
Here’s La Couronne, my beloved Crown Victoria getting her weekly bath. She’s lookin’ good!
And this went on until 1PM, whereupon as if on cue the skies opened and the heavens burst forth, drenching our area with a downpour that cleansed the earth anew. First time since yesterday.
After the 4:00 Vigil Mass it rained again. It’s been a beautiful week for rain.
Looking forward to the Jazz Brunch tomorrow after the 11AM Mass. Should be an amazing time. Ciao.
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Friday night our CYO walked all night long in the local Relay for Life.
The kids love it. They look forward to it with wild abandon and glee. And it’s a fun, safe, invigorating time even if it’s completely exhausting.
I have hundreds of pictures to post.
Even though I never actually post hundreds of pictures.
And then I wonder, why do I take so many pictures in the first place.
(And why don’t I resize them correctly?)
Some of these made my Facebook album. But Facebook is another dilemma for another day. (I have a thousand friend requests and am at the limit of friends for a long while now. So maybe I should have made a public person page. But… who am I to have a fan page?
(It’s not an overwhelming dilemma.)
But back to the Relay for Life.
Someone emailed me asking me if I was aware of this?
Yes, the American Cancer Society supports Planned Parenthood. Yet, it was with a stop-smoking grant, not funds for abortions.
So, I have mixed feelings about this. I have he feeling it will be an issue.
For now, this appears (to me at least) to be a relatively new concern. And if the kids are there and the Archdiocese is promoting the event, I will be out supporting them. As for the future of it, we’ll have to give this matter some more thought, prayer and research. No one wants to be supporting abortion rights with money raised to fight cancer.
At the same time, I support anyone and everyone who is trying to quit smoking. But that’s another story, for another time.
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Oh. Yes… This could work.
You know, there’s a lot you can’t write about as a Priest. For instance, a lot of what we do during any given day, be it working with the disenfranchised, counseling, Confessions, etc.
But when I’m not doing any of that, and I’m not reading, and I’m not at the gym, and I’m not in my office, and I’m not intently studying modern Church happenings, or doing laundry or trying to clean my room or sitting around with my feet propped up, or deep in prayer, I’m hard at work in the garden.
(This area needs a lot of work.)
(It’s going to be the Marian area.)
(In case you hadn’t noticed.)
That’s something I can write about. But it’s a work in progress, and definitely needs a bit more time. Still, it’s something to look forward to.
But you know, I just can’t bring myself to post the picture of the actual garden as it really looks. I think I prefer denial and the vision of what might be, what will be, to the cold, harsh realities of life.
On the other hand, what harm could there be in posting a picture of the back garden as a ‘before’ kind of thing, while anxiously awaiting the far off completion and the eventual ‘after’ photos?
Yes, that’s a very good idea. In fact, here is the garden as it actually looks with no Photoshopping involved. It’s very much better than it was before, and it’s a fair start to a kind of… hmmm.. why yes, that’s absolutely a very smart way of doing things.
AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!!!!!
::hyperventilating::
OK, yes, that’s much, much better.
Excuse me. If you need me, I’ll be deep in prayer.
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There’s nothing more American than watching fireworks on the Fourth of July. And there’s nothing more inane than me heading out with my camera trying to photograph them.
But we’re making progress here.
Obviously there’s a ways to go! But, a lesson learned: scout your location with more than a minute to go before the show. Electrical wires in the middle of the photos aren’t quite an artistic advantage.
Aside from that faux pas, I shot on complete manual, with a tripod. I ended up opening the f-stop all the way to 22 at times, then dialing it back down and playing with the ISO a bit for some of the brighter shots.
Also, I increased the contrast in several because I liked the brighter effect. But… that does kind of blow out some of the highlights.
However, I’m not trying to win a prize here, so… might as well have fun with it.
It’s not like we have fireworks shows every day.
And I have to confess, I’ve never really shot on full manual before. Here I did, and varied the shutter speed from 1 second to 5 seconds. It’s not that horrible for a complete rank amateur who knows absolutely nothing about photography, though there are obviously some things I have to work on.
But, the Fourth of July is a special day hereabouts, and fireworks are the order of the day all around.
We grew up with huge stashes of fireworks we’d set off on the front lawn, before they were illegal in the city.
After that, everyone else had them. Hahah, heheheh.
I almost really like this shot, if it weren’t for the wires.
Blowout!
Here is a shot just as the strobes started to go off and light the place up like… like… like daylight, for lack of a better analogy. I played with the aperture a bit, and the ISO setting. I think.
I remember after I had been playing music for decades, and people would tell me they were starting out with piano lessons. I encourage everyone to go for it, and recall the hours and hours and hours of practice that go into technique and artistry. Compared to my time behind keyboards (well, even without that), I’m a complete noob with a camera.
Here are the offending wires. I left for the show at 8:40, and found a spot on the levee a bit farther away than is good for these shots. Especially since it was behind the wires. I got set up right as the show started.
But all in all, a good exercise. I’d post the other hundred shots, but I’d rather go pray night prayer. I pray that the holiday was enjoyed by all.
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In between Masses today I could be found roaming the gardens looking with a furrowed brow at the ivies growing on fences, weeds taking over rose beds, and the plethora of rocks in the side garden. Utterly beset, I decided to take a picture of this small statue. It used to bother me since it was the center of attention in the main garden (which needs much, much work…) But now, there’s a statue of Mary in the center, and this guy’s off to the side in the cabana area.
Sheesh, spot the euphemisms in that paragraph.
You can see Mary in the background, but thanks to editing software you cannot see the ivies and other fence blight detracting from recent plantings.
Hopefully, I won’t be seeing it soon either. Spectracide and Trellises… come to papa.
Crepe myrtles are good trees, though the constant floating down of their tiny flowers forms drifts all over the patio on a daily basis in heaps and mounds. Still, the trees do provide some nice shade and a degree of privacy. I use a leaf blower to clean the soft carpet of flowers — the deep, deep, soft carpet of flowers, which collects all over the back area each day.
Well, I usually do it every other day. Sometimes every third day. At least once a week. It’s hot outside you know.
Then we have the flowering coleus. I haven’t grown coleus in awhile so I really am not sure wether to deadhead it or just let it be. Any ideas? Sounds like a quick google is in order.
After I watered everything thoroughly this morning since it was dry as could be with not a cloud in sight, we had a torrential downpour in the afternoon. But I had clipped some roses, and stuck them in with this parsley-in-a-glass. Parsley keeps longer with its roots in water, and it was a handy receptacle for the roses, since I had not cut a long stem. I also had been starting some mint and some coleus, which I had just placed in small glasses of water. Both stems sprouted roots fairly quickly (especially the coleus!), and I have them now in small pots so the roots can take in a well structured form for planting.
I made a brief visit to an oasis of a pool deep within the bamboo forests of Old Metairie. But you know how torrential downpours can be with lightening strikes and thunderclaps. This is about as close to the pool as I got today. It’s about as close as I usually get. But, that’s a long story for another time.
And tonight… fireworks!
I’ll probably revisit this in the next few days. It was fun taking pictures of them, since I’ve never done it before.
Which is evidenced here in this completely blown-out photo. I wonder how you prepare for the finale of a fireworks show when everything is bright as daylight, after your camera has been using wide open apertures and high iso’s.
Hmmm…. Something new to study. This could be fun…
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I was cleaning up some files this evening and came across these pictures on my hard drive.
At St. Michael’s Church outside of Sorrento, LA, there is a shrine in the back with these marble ‘Thank You’ / ‘Merci’ tokens of appreciation. I like those, and have often wondered why we don’t have more of them hereabouts.
A crawfish boil out back (literally!)
A house on River Road, loaded down with religious statues.
When I think of all of the camera lenses I’d like to buy, and sigh, I also think I could probably buy a piano like this for the same amount. I love a Mason and Hamlin piano. And this is one has a beautiful touch and sound.
An oddball house on the Mississippi downriver from New Orleans. It, and it’s twin, are right down bu the old Holy Cross school, which sits abandoned post-K.
Roses. It’s these shots which help me realize I’m not much of a photographer. Maybe one day…
And below is a shot of Le Mont Ste. Michel from my visit in 2009. Peace.
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This is my favorite old plantation home along the Mississippi. And it’s completely closed to the public, and barely out of a state of ruin. But glimpsed through the woods it’s almost ethereal. I drove by the other day, and had to stop for a photo op.
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Armed with my day off and an ever absorbed interest in the waters surrounding New Orleans, I set off once again to see all the hub-bub going on over at the Spillway. And, no photoshop involved! Well, except for simple resizing and rendering web ready through batch processing. But this is good.
To think I drove through here just a week ago…
And that in another week it will look just like the river does. Filled with brown muddy water flowing madly.
I actually spent time today riding upriver to see the Old River Control Structure. But that’s will have to be a later post.
It was pretty festive. I saw some major lenses out there from photographers, and was falling into envy and jealousy completely before catching myself. I’m pretty sure I saw one of the Times Picayune photogs out there with a Canon 5d mkii, and a 400mm zoom. I’m not quite sure if it’s the $1700 or the $7200 one.. but either way, I’d better learn to make the most with what I have. I spied a 200mm 2.8 zoom, and stood next to a guy who was casually shooting with a Nikon D3S and some Nikkor tricked out lense or other. Major drooling going on, which called to mind the Deadly Sins and the aforementioned jealousy and envy. Not to mention coveting my neighbor’s lenses! And then I thought… “Just take the picture already!”
It dawned on me the other day that I am not a photographer, I am a taker of snapshots. I like to think they’re getting better, but there’s a ways to go. Take it easy for heaven’s sake.
Kinda like these birds are doing. (But don’t be fooled. With all the fish flowing through these spillway gates, they’re there for the buffet.)
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A few trips to the spillway this week, the latest this evening.
The water has risen drastically in the past week, and it has a long way to go.
An interesting thought…
Always in the back of discussion here….
Is whether the river will change course.
And eventually flow down the Atchafalya basin; a much steeper decline to the Gulf.
Guess we’ll see.
If that happens…
Well… Guess we’ll see.
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We have here some overly photoshopped snaps (forgive me, it’s a learning curve thing; I was playing around with ‘camera raw’ and ‘luminance’ and, well, it’s definitely a different look;) I took the other day while driving through the Spillway. It’s always interesting to see how high the water is getting in the spring.
Perhpas I’ve got a low threshold of excitement in my life.
More info on the Bonnet Carre Spillway here and here.
C’mon, admit it. It’s interesting!
Most of the spillway has concrete walls this high. The river is right at this level at the moment, you can see water splashing over the top and down the middle where this board is missing. Behind you can see a sliver of a large blue and red ship that’s out in the river.
Towards both sides of the spillway the concrete is lower, and the river is already flowing in through the wooden planks. It’s a lot more water than it looks like.
I don’t know what I was thinking while I was playing with photoshop. And I don’t know what convinced me I had the time to play with photoshop.
But, we see here the water flowing towards the road, where it goes under in small rivulets.
Small rivulets that pack a mean punch. I’ve seen guys on the other side of the road where these come out, holding fishing nets to catch some of the many, many fish that flow downriver each year and end up swimming through the spillway. It’s unbelievable how many fish they get doing that. Stunning, I tell you!
The dirt roads into the interior are starting to be closed off. These birds don’t seem to mind a bit.
These streams pick up some steam as they head over to the lake.
A big question after Katrina was, why they didn’t open the spillway to let the water flow out of the lake?
The lake is lower than the river! Otherwise the spillway wouldn’t work very well.
A water oak… lovely and serene. The spillway’s a lively place. And it’s about to see a lot more water.
Oh, and here’re some great views from an experienced photographer:
Sigh.
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There’s a garden here at the Rectory which needs a bit of work.
But before we get to that, gaze upon this for a moment or two.
This is a view over at Laura Plantation, which is always good for inspiration on any front. Isn’t that a great porch? And it’s just the gift shoppe.
Say a quick prayer will you?
This is the garden which… needs a lot of work. I’m wondering how to swing a wooden wrap around porch.
A major thing I did was to pressure wash the entire area. Talk about a big help! (It took forever to pressure wash this, and my hands were stuck into claw shapes the next day at Masses, from holding the pressure nozzle valve for so long.)
Before that, the first thing I had done was to the right, where there is a cement pond (it’s very not like the Beverly Hillbilly’s cement pond.)
It was initially covered completely in ivy, which was cut away to a large degree. At first I thought it looked good to cut the ivy only up to the top. But it’s getting a new haircut tomorrow.
I didn’t even know there was a light fixture, or a small fountain, or a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, because it was so desperately overgrown. The pond had been covered with a screen to keep the leaves out, but within there are two water lilies still going strong.
Lots of possibilities, and lots of talk about roses. So, we’re getting some new roses going. White climbers for a small Mary garden which we’ll be getting to in the not too distant future.
And in the shady areas (there’s a surprising amount of sunlight,) I like this from Laura; ginger, taro, and coleus… The sugar kettle thrown in there is nice, but minus that and the taro I think we’ll still be fine.
This is rife with possibilities, I hear it was once covered in orchids. It was recently covered in mildew and dust, but now it’s covered in prayer, and perfectly clean.
The fans are being replaced; an aging Katrina casualty that has had to wait. Along with everything in the shed, there was no time in the months and years afterwards as it fell into neglect and everything else was dealt with.
We won’t be making any structural changes, and there are a few challenges ahead with it…
But it’s all good. And it’ll get there… eventually.
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