I was just lovin' my city today...I felt the community spirit-
7:30 am: Oak Street Meeting at Ms. Norma's Queen of The Ball (she's such the hostess...no fruit-stuft snoballs that early, but always coffee and donuts from Oak Street Cafe).
8:30 am: Thursday morning at Abeona House, sharing a watermelon picnic with the ONES
9:45 am: Shared a knowing smile with the Grant Administrator at the Greater New Orleans Foundation as I handed her our 501(c)3 letter. Could it be we are getting that $10,000 Starbucks grant???
10:20 am: Pow-wow with Cindy of Maple Street Children's Books about how we can possibly partner in support of family literacy. She'd taken it upon herself to order some books for our Home unit funded by the Junior League of New Orleans. I always feel like Cindy is in my corner. And I feel personally invested in her success. How can I get our families to shop there more? I also picked up a copy of Catwings (no, you cannot Search Inside! this one) the new chapter books my big girl Ana and I are reading. She's riveted for the first 40 pages. The last 10 are more challenging. But she wants to hear it all!
10:45 am: Strategic planning meeting with my boss at Rue and Gelato Pazzo. Panini lunches always make me smile.
1 pm: Back at work, meeting with our great Assistant Director.
5:30 pm: 2 mile walk pushing *gasp* the kids *gasp*. I'm going to have to get back in my morning routine after missing Wednesday, so I can go without the 80lb push. But I have to say, I was excited to see that the wild rabbits were out, and I could show them to Ana. She tried to approach one, but it bounded back into the woods. Elliot couldn't quite spot them, with the woods and brush as distractions.
On our way home, I ran the stroller down the levee toward the batture, and we walked through the woods by trail toward the river. There were 4 men and a woman there catching ENORMOUS catfish. One was about the size of Elliot! This yielded some interesting questions from Ana who had previously asked what we would do if we did not go to the store to get food or had no money (growing vegetables, hunting, digging in the trash--to her disgust-- were my answers. feel free to comment). She was excited to see some form of hunting in action. I rebuffed the gracious offers to let her touch the slowly suffocating creature. I can only imagine what her dreams will be like tonight.
6:30 pm: Long talk with Mr. Red, one of our favorite neighbors who lets Ana pick his kumquats, and Elliot chase his poodles
Lovin' my people today. I was recently talking to Cindy about being evacuated, and she commented on how many people she saw wherever she was. Our experience in Panama City Beach was quite the opposite. I remarked that what I missed most was seeing all those people who I kind of knew...my dry cleaner, book vendor, the girl I went to 5th grade with. Every where I went in Panama City Beach, my daily interactions were with strangers. I knew I'd track down my best friends, relatives, co-workers. But my missing network of community...I wasn't so sure.
Today I felt like I was home. Familiar strangers. That's what I love about New Orleans.
7:30 am: Oak Street Meeting at Ms. Norma's Queen of The Ball (she's such the hostess...no fruit-stuft snoballs that early, but always coffee and donuts from Oak Street Cafe).
8:30 am: Thursday morning at Abeona House, sharing a watermelon picnic with the ONES
9:45 am: Shared a knowing smile with the Grant Administrator at the Greater New Orleans Foundation as I handed her our 501(c)3 letter. Could it be we are getting that $10,000 Starbucks grant???
10:20 am: Pow-wow with Cindy of Maple Street Children's Books about how we can possibly partner in support of family literacy. She'd taken it upon herself to order some books for our Home unit funded by the Junior League of New Orleans. I always feel like Cindy is in my corner. And I feel personally invested in her success. How can I get our families to shop there more? I also picked up a copy of Catwings (no, you cannot Search Inside! this one) the new chapter books my big girl Ana and I are reading. She's riveted for the first 40 pages. The last 10 are more challenging. But she wants to hear it all!
10:45 am: Strategic planning meeting with my boss at Rue and Gelato Pazzo. Panini lunches always make me smile.
1 pm: Back at work, meeting with our great Assistant Director.
5:30 pm: 2 mile walk pushing *gasp* the kids *gasp*. I'm going to have to get back in my morning routine after missing Wednesday, so I can go without the 80lb push. But I have to say, I was excited to see that the wild rabbits were out, and I could show them to Ana. She tried to approach one, but it bounded back into the woods. Elliot couldn't quite spot them, with the woods and brush as distractions.
On our way home, I ran the stroller down the levee toward the batture, and we walked through the woods by trail toward the river. There were 4 men and a woman there catching ENORMOUS catfish. One was about the size of Elliot! This yielded some interesting questions from Ana who had previously asked what we would do if we did not go to the store to get food or had no money (growing vegetables, hunting, digging in the trash--to her disgust-- were my answers. feel free to comment). She was excited to see some form of hunting in action. I rebuffed the gracious offers to let her touch the slowly suffocating creature. I can only imagine what her dreams will be like tonight.
6:30 pm: Long talk with Mr. Red, one of our favorite neighbors who lets Ana pick his kumquats, and Elliot chase his poodles
Lovin' my people today. I was recently talking to Cindy about being evacuated, and she commented on how many people she saw wherever she was. Our experience in Panama City Beach was quite the opposite. I remarked that what I missed most was seeing all those people who I kind of knew...my dry cleaner, book vendor, the girl I went to 5th grade with. Every where I went in Panama City Beach, my daily interactions were with strangers. I knew I'd track down my best friends, relatives, co-workers. But my missing network of community...I wasn't so sure.
Today I felt like I was home. Familiar strangers. That's what I love about New Orleans.
1 comment:
Your stretch of the levee sounds so nice.
I like Ana's question about where you would get food if circumstances were different. Very thought-ful daughter you have.
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