Mosaic Moon:

Wow...

Damn....that was moving. Thanks for sharing that.  In Santa Cruz the other night we passed by some bands that were set up along the streets and they were raising money for Katrina. 

I found myself thinking...wow. There still having problems? Duh...of course they are having problems. We need your voice. You are a writer.

Maybe you should document more about this. I honestly am moved by what you have written. I know it's painful and there are lots of memories tied to this event.

How can I buy a King Cake - can you let me know? I'll buy some and support the cause.

Thanks again Wordbird....getta writin Sister.

Steph 

Wordbird:

KINGS CAKES and other tasty stuff

Thanks so much for your fantastic response!

haydelbakery.com  and neworleansshowcase.com  are two I lilke. 

I went to my favorite bakery, Haydel's, which is family owned and has been there forever. I pasted here a message left on one of the sites, saying they cannot fill orders for fresh King Cake until mid March.  

Thankfully, our office was not severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, some of our suppliers are still closed or are only operating very limited hours with limited inventory. We need your business now more than ever as we attempt to rebuild from this disaster...

They go on to ask for prayers for all the people recovering from Katrina. So ...darn. The bakeries don't have enough supplies to fill orders for Mardii Gras locals and ship them out too, right now. When I was there all the businesses were having trouble getting enough supplies, not having refrigeration or good storage, or even labor to unload trucks.

BUT...go check out the sites. They sell beignets, jambalaya, Cajun Kringles and all kinds of good food, as well as pastries and cakes of other kinds. They are shipping King Cake mix, right now, if you want to try your hand at making your own. Otherwise....it's March, for us. Believe me they will be SO happy to get some orders in March.  You know New Orleanians love their food so much, when people go on vacation they bring along frozen local food. Yeh. So they won't go mad with craving for it. I brought a cooler full of spicey sausage back with me to the evacuation site, one trip. To put in gumbo. It's not that they have the "best" food. It's that it's local. You can't find it anywhere else.

Ok...I appreciate your encouragement I write more about this. I hesitate...the media stuffed people with all that horrible news, in such a horrible way, and then you don't hear much about the important things still happening, and not happening. You never hear the amazing rescue stories. Like a man who swam back and forth, back and forth, they don't know how many times, to save the Mardi Gras horses. Makes me cry to think of it. And then were dogs and a donkey and horses who saved people. One donkey swam up to a woman, let her grab him, swam against the flood, got them up on the highway, by this time she's passed out, so he walked for hours, to high ground. She wakes up dry and safe, still on his back. There were people who rowed their little boats or rafts over and over to their different neighbors, to help them off the roofs. Because it was five days until the gov't sent any help. your're right. Sometimes I can't even hear the words "New Orleans" ... but sometimes, like now, it's worth while, to face it, to share it, because those are tough, resilent, close knit people down there. To tell their story is really painful, but more inspiring, more amazing, more uplifting, than that. So how's about we celebrate together with some King Cake, in March?

Mosaic Moon:

Come on out...

Sounds like you should come for a visit in the magical Redwoods in March?

We can eat King Cake together and reminisce about good times.

Seriously...think about it. You would love it here. We can probably help with a plane ticket. I can  teach you all you need to know about iPods and iTunes.

Epiphany:

New Orleans

I actually worked for FEMA right after Katrina and through Hurricane Rita.  I was hired to be a compassionate voice on the other end of the phone while helping people fill out claims for aid. 

The job itself pretty much sucked, (it was FEMA, a government agency newly taken over by Homeland Security, what more needs to be said there?) but I fell in love with the people of the South through talking with them on the phone every day in the midst of horrible tragedy and loss.

I know the loss and devastation is far from being miraculously over even though most people not affected have turned to other flashy tradgedies due to our national ADD when it comes to this sort of thing.  Thanks for writing this.

~ E.