Oh Dog, you Sleuth!

I fantasize about how good the estate sale is going to be in this house one day.

Used to be the snake house.

Jenny explains the procedure and pitfalls of a spray on tan.

Truth in advertising. Gresham, Oregon.

I figured out how to fix my archives (thank heavens, you’re thinking) and I updated my photo portfolio page (click the link on the right-hand side).

Last of the New Orleans photos. Before I left for this visit, I thought going home would clarify a lot my feelings about the city and what happened and what I thought needed to be done. Following the disaster and reconstruction (mostly on the internet), I was always struck by all the sweeping generalizations and certainty in the statements made. Being back there wiped all that away. There were so many contradictory perspectives, especially between people who lost everything to those who made it through the disaster with minimal damage. The greatest contradiction seemed to be between the people I talked to who were eager to point out improvements and businesses that had reopened with the silent response of those who had ‘voted with their feet’, leaving much of the city abandoned. I’m still not sure what I would have done had I lived through everything that happened there. More than ever before, the city was this combination nightmare/favorite place in the world.

Like a lot of people who have returned after the hurricane, I spent a day or two driving around to see all the places I used to live and schools I went to and where friends and family lived. Many of these buildings will probably be bulldozed. But even if they aren’t, or were in a city where there was no immanent threat, I’d recommend doing this type of personal tourism. Because it’s so shocking to see places you knew twenty five years later and compare the physical structure in front of you with the place that seems more tangible in memories and dreams.

I spotted this on Claiborne Avenue. It must have been there for years, but I never noticed it until the last time I was home.