Mud again, then city
Saturday we did a half day - my crew went back to Bayou Sauvage NWR and planted a swamp. After the heavy rains on Thursday night, it was VERY swampy - up to our ankles in sticky clay mud, and we emerged covered with gray goo and stinky. But it's satisfying work - you can see the progress made, and see how well the grass we planted just a couple days ago has taken hold and stopped the erosion in those areas.
After return to base and a good shower, it was free time. Most of us went to the French Quarter of NOLA for a while. Even though this is my third year doing this, it was the first time I"ve been in the city during day hours, so I got to stroll the French market and flea market, and see some of the smaller shops that close early. Bourbon street is all alcohol and strippers and noise, but Royal street, just a block over, is mostly art galleries. So I got to poke through those and see the local artist scene. Lots of themes of gothic cemetaries and houses, vampires and skeletons, and of course, Katrina. Many, many flood pictures, but very individual. There was one of a saxophonist just playing under a streetlight, with the water washing everything else from around him. Another big theme this year is the old New Orleans water main covers, which were pretty elegant, with the crescent and starts symbol of the city on them. It looks like after the flood, they were all replaced with plain modern ones, and the old ones became collector items.
Ran some errands this evening. It's still amazing to me that 3 years after the storm, stuff is just beginning to get back to "normal". The traffic court building just re-opened this week. A lot of businesses (including one we were looking for) are still on the Internet, but do not exist in real life. Streets are still a mess, garbage collection is iffy, and pothole filling is apparently a very low priority. But people around here just adjust to it and deal with it all.
Today is Sunday, our day off. We're going on a swamp boat tour this morning to look at alligators, then to the beach up in Mississippi. Tomorrow morning we leave for home. It seems like an amazingly short time.
After return to base and a good shower, it was free time. Most of us went to the French Quarter of NOLA for a while. Even though this is my third year doing this, it was the first time I"ve been in the city during day hours, so I got to stroll the French market and flea market, and see some of the smaller shops that close early. Bourbon street is all alcohol and strippers and noise, but Royal street, just a block over, is mostly art galleries. So I got to poke through those and see the local artist scene. Lots of themes of gothic cemetaries and houses, vampires and skeletons, and of course, Katrina. Many, many flood pictures, but very individual. There was one of a saxophonist just playing under a streetlight, with the water washing everything else from around him. Another big theme this year is the old New Orleans water main covers, which were pretty elegant, with the crescent and starts symbol of the city on them. It looks like after the flood, they were all replaced with plain modern ones, and the old ones became collector items.
Ran some errands this evening. It's still amazing to me that 3 years after the storm, stuff is just beginning to get back to "normal". The traffic court building just re-opened this week. A lot of businesses (including one we were looking for) are still on the Internet, but do not exist in real life. Streets are still a mess, garbage collection is iffy, and pothole filling is apparently a very low priority. But people around here just adjust to it and deal with it all.
Today is Sunday, our day off. We're going on a swamp boat tour this morning to look at alligators, then to the beach up in Mississippi. Tomorrow morning we leave for home. It seems like an amazingly short time.