Friday, January 1, 2010

The End of the Oughts

Greetings to my faithful blog-followers (you know who you are) and to those of you who visit occasionally. It has been quite awhile since I've posted. The holidays kicked my ass this year, but mostly in a good way. Our Christmas week started at Joe Porto's housewarming party. Joe hasn't moved, but he has rebuilt his house from the ground up. Only one wall of the original house remains, so technically the project was a "remodel," but in reality he's living in a brand new, beautiful home. To celebrate, he hosted a swank dress-up party, just like a real grown up.



























The next morning, I was on the 6 am flight to New Orleans to visit Arly. It was my first trip to the city and I was completely enchanted. They value great music and great food, so you know it's my kind of town.



Among the many things we toured:
Tulane University Law School, where Arly studies.



























Cemeteries and lots of them. Madame Laveaux may or may not be lying where her grave is marked, but I left an offering of money and made the mark of the Triple X just to be on the safe side.









































Laura Plantation, where we got a tour from what looked like a 16-year old kid. I was fascinated by the slave quarters pictured here and appalled by their history. Intending to grow sugar but lacking the money to buy the full complement of slaves needed to work the operation, one of the ancestral owners purchased five women and two men and "bred up" her work force. Horrifying.




























Oak Alley Plantation. Note the 300+ year old Spanish Oaks.















Sunset on the Mississippi















Christmas Eve bonfires on the Mississippi



























The beautiful Garden District, where we had brunch at The Commander's Palace.














Bourbon Street and the French Quarter.
























The sadly devastated Lower Ninth Ward and their new, weirdly anacronistic Brad Pitt houses. Many wrecked houses still have the codes spray painted by the first responders on the exterior. We saw one that said "Dead Body Inside." In my mind, the Bush Administration's response the the Katrina hurricane is one of the most shameful episodes in the last decade.








































My beautiful, amazing family






















And, so much more, too many images to post here. I've fallen madly in love with the city and can't wait to go back. Arly is thriving there, and no surprise.

The last decade has been a roller coaster, hasn't it? I'm calling them the "oughts" for the number zero ("aught") and for all the things that ought to have been and ought not to have happened. Bush anyone? 9/11? Iraq? Katrina? Ah, but this was also the decade when I launched my two daughters into adulthood. We also elected a thoughtful, pragmatic, intelligent African-American as president. The good and the bad, campers, the good and the bad.

This last year has been a particularly wild ride, with incredible highs and lows. I'm deeply grateful for my many blessings, chief among them my beloved Sequoia and my brave, bright, beautiful daughters. No more oughts my friends! As we move into the teens, I seek to quit "shoulding all over myself." Time to accept what I can't change and change what I can't accept.

Happy New Year all!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year to the Smith-Piersons!
Love the pics from New Orleans and the wonderful prose and refelections. Great summary of the "Oughts" and best wishes for the new year and the new decade!
GO DUCKS!!
Patty Tracey

Greg J. said...

The car dealers don't get that we're out of the "oughts." They're saying their deals are "good through January 27th, OH TEN." Did we just start dropping one digit instead of two? From '09 to '010??? This has really been bugging me...