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The Preacher Said I Was A Loner

The pastor's sermon Saturday afternoon dealt with people who were often alone even when in a crowd. Ironically, I had just had that discussion with Darlene the morning before that so Pastor Dino's message was pretty much a confirmation as if it was for me personally. Not that it's a life altering situation, it's just how some people are wired. However, we are designed to overcome certain things that can prevent us from growing even as we get older.

Taking that in mind, I decided to join a group ride to New Orleans from the Harley shop in Baton Rouge, Sunday. Typically, when I'm in a crowd, I smile a bunch, shake a few hands and promptly forget any name given, but yesterday I genuinely made an effort to be get to know some folks but when you're on a relatively loud Harley, there ain't a whole lot of conversation that's going to happen.

We fired up at 9 AM and rode down old River Road through Geismar, Burnside, Convent, Kenner and stopping a couple of times before eventually arriving at the New Orleans Fairgrounds where we had an awful buffet lunch. The trip there, in it's self, was an effort in dealing with 50 riders with 50 different riding styles but we were blessed with no incidents or accidents. Everyone was friendly enough but alas, I forgot (I told you I would forget them) the names of everybody I met except for a couple of the guys I hooked up with on the way back as we detoured around Lakeshore and the New Orleans Yacht Club.

I'm looking forward to doing that again and maybe I can get to know them a little better next time.

A great day to spend doing absolutely nothing!

A great day to spend doing absolutely nothing!

Leaving Darlene in dreamland with the coffee pot on auto pilot, I fired Boudreau up relatively early at the crack of dawn to go to a men's bible study at Frank's this morning. Aside from that, everything else was pretty much a worthless day except for a few miles and a tank of gas. This is one of my first 'official' vacation days I've taken this year so I took off with my trusty camera just to take pictures and ride my bike.

Going down River Road, I stopped off at a local tourist trap near Sorrento where there's a fenced off area behind old houses that make up the village. Behind a 6 foot heavy duty chain link fence, there's an alligator or two that hang out waiting on a daily ration of a whole chicken. There's not much motivation for them to wander off because the eating is good and I suppose the nuisance level is pretty low too. He must have been around 10 feet long. Just take my word for it because I wasn't about to stroll out there with a yardstick to see how long his tail was. They may not have fed it the chicken for the day.

The fall flowers were out and so were the bees, hornets and mosquitoes. On this photo of the berry, you can make out my image reflecting on the skin of the berry.

A ride down old Airline Highway toward Gramercy had me getting off the bike to see what I could see in the water. I noticed a crab swimming at the top and occasionally flicking water with it's claw.

Looking at a cabin across the barr pit, I remember years ago traveling along Highway 61 and seeing small houseboats lining the banks for miles. Here's one of the last hold outs for cabins.

As I was taking the picture of the crab, a young woman came across on her small personal ferry and crawled into a Bayou Beater (maybe a 15 year old Nissan) apparently headed to work. I would have figured it occupied by some old crusty fellow like myself. Notice the satellite receiver to the left of the to the building. Sounds kind of romantic in a way but a 'Tammy', she wasn't. Bless her heart, she was probably scrounging for every dime just to make a living but at least she is working.....she's a real kind of girl.

Still a nice day to be in Louisiana.

They don't make'em like they used to.

Spending the weekend with my mother, we talked about her keeping the place up, winter coming on, etc. She stays pretty active with a fairly large place to keep up. Her complaints usually include keeping the battery up on the pick-up truck and how the grass grows so quickly.

She had a man come by to cut some wood for her early so it could dry a bit before winter. Although he split much of it, there were some pieces she felt was too large for the fireplace, so she set out to split it on her own.

One log in particular wouldn't seem to split so she inserted a wedge in the crack of it and began to hammer it down with the butt end of a single bit axe. After a few mighty swats, the axe broke. I guess they don't make them like they used to.

In defense of the axe, it was an axe that my grandfather had and probably well over a hundred years old. Mama is only 87.

Nope, they just don't make'em like they used to.

Whoops!

OK, OK, I know. I've been hiding for a year on this blog. Maybe I've been in a funk, a mental block or whatever. One thing may be that I destroyed my 'good' camera and haven't had the drive to send out photos and tales. The last time I posted, Darlene and I were still in the 'Maui' mode.

For a while, I thought I had some kind of entitlement to states with palm tree in them.

Also, I've been in a new phase at work, flitting from one short term location to another. Over the past year, I've been in Arkansas, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Connecticut, Florida, a couple of shots at Texas and a couple more in Louisiana. My bags are worn out.

I promise to be much better in the future.

Magnum P.I. I'm not

Feeling like Magnum P.I......not really...but hey, it's a theme. We've been here on Maui for a couple of weeks already, in the home of friends who are off gallivanting somewhere in Indonesia. When they left, they tossed us the keys to the truck, house and gave us the run of everything. So in a sense, I feel like Tom Selleck's Magnum P.I. from the television series 25 years ago, only this time instead of a really handsome hunk, you get me. Actually, I have more in common with the likes of Higgins than Magnum but we're digressing here.

Instead of an exotic sports car, Rachel handed over the keys to her Yamaha V Star. So after several days of diving, I took her motorcycle for a partial tour of Maui. I'm sure all the motorcycle gurus would absolutely freak out that I wore no helmet, gloves, leather jacket or steel toed boots but instead, sneakers, baseball cap and T shirt. A couple of the pictures were taken while on the move. Honest, officer. I wasn't texting.

It's been several years since I've owned a smaller motorcycle but the 650 cc engine did just fine with me. It took a little while to get used to not having that low end torque my Harley has and the Yamaha's ever so quite mufflers felt a little strange but it truly was a fun ride.

I'm a bit lazy, so all these pictures were taken with my Instinct cell phone camera and were uploaded to Photobucket as I rode around. Here are a few pictures on the south side of the island so they are not the quality I might have from my digital SLR.

Panoramic Upcountry view looking west toward Lanai.

The rest are on the road to Makena Landing and La Perouse Bay.

Okay, I realize I haven't added any pictures of Darlene, fish, bikinis or various serpents, but the soul intent of this post was for my third passion....motorcycles. SCUBA and photography being the other two.

After my ride, I came home and waited for Darlene to return from her favorite beach. When she arrived, she jumped on the back and we rode double down the beach road and around town for a spell. Ah, to be 21 again.
Out near Ahihi Preserve.

OK, that's about it for the motorcycle stuff. I'll post some diving and fish stuff in a later post.
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C R Albritton

Hurricanes: Same song, second verse

Three years ago, when hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped into Louisiana and neighboring states, it was bad. This year seems to be just a new verse to a tired old song. Shortly after Hurricane Gustav knocked us senseless in Baton Rouge and southeast Louisiana, Hurricane Ike did it's thing much like Rita did when she came ashore following Katrina in 2005 and devestated southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. At this writing, the storm related death toll is 13 for Ike.

Darlene's uncle, aunt and cousins in the Lake Charles and Hackberry areas suffered extreme damage in Hurricane Rita and just three years later, we find her uncle and aunt watching the encroaching flood waters come within 2 feet of their door step.

Even worse was the fate of her cousin in Hackberry who had just rebuilt after the last hurricane and now found their new home with 5 feet of water in it.

There are cousins just west of Houston without power but are not severely damaged. I too, have cousins and an aunt in Houston that I have not heard from yet.

We are so sorry for everyone's trials and loss.

Hurricane Gustav (update)

Hurricane Gustav (update) Thanks be to God, the thing has left us with, relatively speaking, only minimal amounts of damage. For me and mine, my family is safe and the house is still standing and apart from a limb or two down on my kids' homes, limited telephone service and no electricity in places, we're just happy as we can be. Adios, Hurricane Gustav, adios.

That being said, I'm in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on Maui fretting about the condition of my family and friends. My children have never known a life without air conditioning and electronic gadgets and find life challenging in spite of their ability to adapt. Estimates for many areas in and around Baton Rouge are 3 to 4 weeks before electricity will be restored including my own place. For those without generators that means a lot of food spoiling and having to be disposed of.

Baton Rouge churches and volunteer organizations do what they can and have provided things like ice and food for anyone that needs it. They also provide an outlet for those needing to feel like they are doing something for someone by providing a way for them to serve. My own church, Healing Place Church, on Highland Road said there were as many as 600 volunteers daily passing out thousands of pounds of ice, cutting fallen trees and helping with essential services. (picture source: http://www.dinorizzo.com/) All very important to perpetuate a sense of community and show love in the Name of Jesus, the God we love. That's what it's all about.

Meanwhile, I'll sit here in Hawaii with survivor's guilt, thinking of my family in Louisiana and how they're dealing with every day life much like how I grew up. The worst part is, they were suddenly thrown into it without much preparation.

Here's some pictures taken from my daughter's street on Tupelo.  

You might also check out this website (unsolicited - I don't know these people) http://eveysblissfulgarden.com/Gustav/

Hurricane Gustav

Sunday night, August 31, 2008:

With a lot of trepidation, Darlene and I boarded the plane Sunday morning in Baton Rouge, headed for Maui. Friday and Saturday, we had made plans for the possibility of Hurricane Gustav hitting our home in southeast Louisiana. We had made plans to fly to Hawaii for several months now but as time approached and with all the news of an impending storm, we found ourselves packing up and leaving with mixed emotions.

Two years ago, we were on Maui when the earthquake happened. It was a first for both of us. Darlene was still in bed when the thing began to shake the condo while I was downstairs watching the chandelier sway.After the third time she had warned me to "quit shaking the bed", she realized it was a quake and when it was over, she ran to the loft balcony, looked down at me still in a state of shock and exclaimed, "Was that a ....... hurricane !!!?"

Two weeks ago, I was riding out tropical storm Fay in St Augustine, Florida and it was a nuisance but Gustav is a storm to be reckoned with. Any many ways it might be as devastating as Katrina.

As I sit here in Kihei, Maui, HI, I somehow wish I were there to ride out the storm with my kids and to watch over our own home. Hopefully there will be a home to return to. We shall see how it all unfolds in the next 24 hours.

A whole month off

Monday, home office told me they had no place to send me just for a week because I had a 3 week vacation coming up and they didn't want to send me out only to send me home again Friday. So, after major foul ups from the Carlson-Wagonlit Travel/Booking agent and airport delays from Tropical Storm Fay, I finally made it into Baton Rouge around 10 PM Monday night and glad to be there.

A new starter for Boudreau lay on the carport floor and winked at me and called my name as the garage door raised and we drove in. After Darlene left for work Tuesday morning, I had purposed myself to get the new starter installed, get the carport clean and be able to take a late afternoon ride.

As fate would have it, the nice folks at J & P cycles had sent me the wrong starter and poor Boudreau sat all torn apart. The nice lady somewhere in Iowa promised me they would get another right out but there was no chance it would get here before we boarded the plane for Maui Sunday morning.

So, I guess Boudreau will have to weather out Hurricane Gustav with all kinds of little greasy parts lying beneath it with only the companionship of Gary's Sportster while Darlene and I dodge falling coconuts on Maui for the next 3 weeks.