:: POSTCARDS. of a different sort ::
K A T R I N A' S .. . W R A T H
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Washington/LaFontaine ... Front Beach/Harbor Rd ... Shearwater/Gen. Pershing/Calhoun
Ocean Ave/Jackson ... 90 Bridge/Front Beach-West of Washington
Journal <1> <2> <3>... Art from Katrina
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Leaving Ocean Springs
Journal - Mon. Nov. 7, 2005 8 a.m.
Morning coffee with new friends...
We are meeting Lisa for a second time. She brought her husband, Mark, and met us at Mocha Moose for coffee.
Roll over to see a view of the coffee house. How wonderful that little coffee house is!! The brownies were the absolute BEST I'd ever eaten. So fine, in fact, that we bought four to bring home with us... we emptied the tray. They were moist as could be with chunks of chocolate inside them and a rich, thick chocolate frosting on top. The great (or bad) thing about them was, they weren't too sweet, so you could eat a whole one! And they were big. And I did, which is something I never do. As they say, "make you slap your mama!"
Meeting Lisa and another new friend, Lonnie, was a real treat while being down here, and it was all brought about by Katrina. I say Katrina blew in two new friends to me.. all the way up to Oxford, MS! Thanks to the internet, and the message boards to which I posted "looking for" messages during and after Katrina hit, these two fantastic people came into my life. They emailed me endless times with information about what was happening down there, and given there was basically no news from Ocean Springs, they were immensely informative. Thanks to you both!!
We got out and about early this morning, drove around and made more pictures of the area we were in -- where the photos on this site were shot. The sun was rising and there was a light fog. A pleasant morning if there was no destruction in front of my lens. Initially I looked at everything from the technical aspect of what nature and weather can do and undo. I was captivated by the power of Katrina and everything amazed me. I couldn't believe some of the things I saw. Then, after going back to the place we stayed at, I would collapse in a heap of frustration, depression, and tears for all of those who lost their homes, their livelihood, their mementos, their sense of place. I could not imagine that what I was seeing in actualities was in reality multiplied by X number of times along our coastline and inland for miles and miles and miles.
Leaving O.S....
We left Ocean Springs going North up Washington to I-10...over the bay out of O.S., I saw a sign that said, "Gut Outs, Inc." This was one of hundreds and hundreds of signs that advertised services to help with Katrina clean-up and rebuild. I can only imagine that particular sign was one for a new business, or new business expansion/diversification idea for an established business. How much work in man hours must there be to do down here. Who can even imagine such a thing.
Back to I-10 and the trip home...
9:25 a.m. – "Comfort Inn" next to "Home Town Building Supply"... this appears to be the area that I saw one of the many live news broadcasts coming from during Katrina. I remember that supply place.
D'Iberville exit 46 – Enter Harrison Co., Pines along I-10 look burned and dry. They are brown instead of their normal green and most of them are still standing along here. However, as we approach Gulfport at the Biloxi River, the pine tops and undergrowth are more broken. This area is thick with pine trees and many, many trees are leaning or have fallen. As we're driving along here, it's apparent that someone lost a refrigerator, still in the box, it lies along side the road. I see blue roofs and willow trees – every other house seems to have a blue roof.
Hattiesburg exit 45 North, 9:44 a.m. –
This has been an extremely trying time for me. As we drove along the enormity of the damage just kept on driving itself into my brain. Over and over I saw trees down, trees broken, trees stripped, trees topped, and blue roof after blue roof. The road was lined with men working to clear debris and scrape the earth as if you were scrubbing a floor clean. Everywhere I looked I saw damage. I saw where Katrina had been. She left a mark that one can never forget. The seemingly endless evidence of her began to get to me. I could not look out the window and not see her. I could not look out and not remember the horrors that I went through watching television day after day after day and checking my email hoping that someone I was looking for had finally had a chance to respond with a "we're o.k." I felt sick and turned around in my seat, placed a pillow on the dash, opened the sunroof and just looked up to the beautiful blue November sky above. I just could not face anymore destruction – not one more blue roof and not one more scarred tree and not one more piece of scrapped barren earth.
<1> - morning at Oakshade
<2> - morning walk at Hidden Treasure
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