creative
yellowdoggrl and I were using our considerable creative powers for the common good as we mixed a little magic, some Mardi Gras beads, a few margaritas and a lot of hopefulness into our anti-hurricane shoo-box altars in anticipation of the 2006 hurricane season. I am missing my friend a lot this evening as I continue the tradition, conjured up at Jazz Fest, to prepare for the start of the 2007 season.I have added more items to the anti-hurricane altar including: an angel pin that my grandmother gave me not long before she died in 2002 which I recently found in the drawer of a piece of furniture that survived our flood; a 2005 purple Endymion doubloon I came across in the same piece of furniture; a "Welcome To Safety Town" clipart image that I found on the web; one extra bolt and screw from a new piece of furniture we put together for the house; tiny images representing the police, fire department and hospitals; a piece of our roof that was blown off during the storm and that we found lurking in the mud in our yard a few months ago; and a little hidden card that says "Safe, Happy & Dry" which is my wish for everyone on the Gulf Coast during the next six months.
This year my anti-hurricane altar has a permanent place to reside. Last year because our house was being renovated during most of the season, it was a refugee and got moved around a lot as I worked hard to keep it safe. It will stay in the office so I put up some meaningful pictures around it to add to the mojo. The pictures include: a New Orleans street scene from the local filming of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that says "Plauché Dry Goods" sent to me by the eagle-eyed
yellowdoggrl because that's our very Cajun last name and I want our goods to stay ever so dry; yellowdoggrl's original and eventually world-famous Rotten To The Corps fridge because it deserves a place of honor; the New Orleans flag because you can't have enough images of the fleur de lis; members of Rebirth Jazz Band marching because we are still in the process of being reborn here; and the corner of Orleans Street and Kenner Avenue because New Orleans is the city I work in and Kenner is the city I live in.Last but not least, a picture of the New Orleans Saints altar created by
yellowdoggrl on the day of the Saints playoff win over the Philadelphia Eagles. I found this picture not by going directly to her journal and copying it. Oh no! I was looking in Google images for anything "anti-hurricane" and in the middle of the first page shining like a golden beacon was her altar with the wording "anti-hurricane shoo-box altar" under it. Go ahead and look for yourselves! I took this as a very good omen and definitely had to include the picture in my tableau. So my dear friend though you may not be here in person, you are certainly here in spirit which is certainly proven by my fortuitous find on Google images.I say a prayer for all of my family and friends who might be in the path of storms in 2007. And I drink a toast of lime Perrier to Mother Nature for the calm hurricane season we had in 2006 and another toast in the hopes that we will be spared in 2007.
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