Shadow Shot Sunday

Mandeville, Louisiana
Fontainebleau State Park


Had a friend in town last week, visiting New Orleans for the first time.  He wanted to dive head-first into Louisiana, dig a little deeper than Nouvelle Orléans and the Vieux Carré.  So the boy and I decided to take him for a long, lovely, lazy day on the North Shore.

          

      

        

                http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

Toxic soup

So the top-kill thing is working... sort of... which means that oil isn't hemorrhaging into the Gulf anymore, or at the very least it's slowed down considerably.  That's good, right?

Yeah, sure.  I guess.

Now we just have to figure out what to do with the untold millions of gallons of oil and fuel swirling around.  It's already washing up on the beaches at Grand Isle.  The Chandeleur Islands have been fucked for weeks now.  Everywhere I look I see images of pelicans covered in crude.

Everyone has lots of Very Serious things to say regarding this oil spill/leak/gusher.  Lots of talk about what a tragedy it is, an environmental disaster.  Lots of hand-wringing and pontificating about the poor fishermen whose industry is about to be wiped out for who knows how many years.  How long did it take the Prince William Sound to come back after the Exxon Valdez?  Exactly.

Yes, lots of talking.  Not much action, though, even right here on the frontlines.  I'm not saying you have to go down to the Louisiana coastline with a scrub brush.  But have you maybe started turning the lights off when you leave the room?  Using your air-conditioner less?  Stop leaving it blasting when you leave the house?  "But I want the house to be cool when I get home from work."

Maybe you could take the bus to work, or ride your bicycle.  Maybe you could walk the two blocks to bar down the street, instead of drive.  Yes J, I'm looking at you here.  "But it's hot out.  I don't want to walk.  I need the AC."  To drive to the pool?  Are you fucking kidding me?

Little things, people.  They make a difference...

Dining!

Somewhere on the road to Ollantaytambo, Peru
August, 2009

It was a beautiful two-hour journey to Ollantaytambo.  My driver was all personality, regardless of how little English he spoke, and was extremely patient (and amused) with my pathetic grasp of basic Spanish.

"¿Foto?  ¿Aquí?"

He was also very patient and accommodating of my desire to stop for pictures...

          


We were having a lovely afternoon.  He asked if I was a vegetarian.  ¿Que?  Apparently he knew a place that had good chicharrones, did I want to stop?

For chicharrones?  What's the Spanish word for always?

            

Seriously.  Best fucking chicharrones ever.  Big, fatty hunks of pork drenched in even more fat.  The most flavor you can fit on a fork.  Red onion relish, plump, juicy corn, spicy peppers.  Sr. de Huanca has got it figured out.  The "two pigs fucking" logo is just an extra bonus, really.  Like lagniappe...

  

Things I miss about San Francisco

The Bridge

        

              

        

Shadow Shot Sunday

New Orleans, LA
Down the street and around the corner

            

                

                      

    http://heyharriet.blogspot.com/

Dining!

It's a beautiful morning...

        

One egg over easy.  Wheat toast, no butter.  Boudin from Big Fisherman.  I know I've mentioned Big Fisherman before.  That's right baby.  They're more than just seafood.

Good stuff

If you don't already know about it, I probably shouldn't tell you.  The line is long enough as it is.  All the damn time.  Back when I lived at the Compound, Hansen's was only three short, sweet blocks away.  Now I'm over in the Beautiful Bywater, so it's a bit of a hike.  Takes a long time to get there, even in the car.  I pass countless snowball shops on the way, and I wouldn't dream of stopping.  Not even if you paid me.

            

Eye Candy

New Orleans, LA

Oh my.  The kitchen staff down here is SO accommodating...

              

No, you won't

        

For some reason, I took great offense to that sign.  I saw it at a gas station somewhere along I-40, I think in North Carolina.  I found it to be entirely too presumptuous.  I won't be back tomorrow.  Man, I don't even fucking LIVE in this state.  I'm just passing through.  Even if I DID live here, why would you automatically assume I would be coming back tomorrow?  Maybe I won't need to buy gas tomorrow.  Or maybe I'll find somewhere cheaper down the street.  Maybe I didn't much care for your selection of soft drinks and iced tea.  Maybe your cashier was rude to me and I'll never come back.  Actually, that's not true.  The cashier was really nice.  The bathrooms were clean.  Everything was fine, to be honest.

Maybe I just think too much.  I guess that's what happens when you're in a car with twelve more hours to go and no one to talk to.  Maybe that double latte in Asheville wasn't such a good idea...

That river in Egypt

I've been swimming around in it for about a month now.  Since April 20th, to be exact.  Doing my best to stay deep beneath the surface.

Denial.

On April 20th, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing eleven human souls, injuring seventeen more, and completely fucking up the Gulf of Mexico.

I avoided the pictures.  Ignored the newscasts.  Overlooked the articles.  I couldn't do it.  I couldn't think about it, because when I did, even just for a minute, the magnitude of the situation was overwhelming and I would become frantic with anxiety.  One morning I cried the same way I cried after Hurricane Katrina, when I saw my beautiful city on television, simultaneously underwater and on fire.

We cut the fucking Earth open, people.  She's bleeding, profusely, and poisoning herself.  We're not supposed to be doing that shit.

So of course I don't want to cry and have anxiety, so I've been trying not to pay attention to what's been going on, trying not to think about it.  But then I saw the video of the oil gushing out of the broken motherfucking pipe.  Have you seen it?  It's right here.

After that, the same friend sent me this and this.  The oil slick can be seen from space now.  Well isn't that just fucking fantastic.

Now, it's all I can think about.  I devour every article I can find, I listen to the news in the car and scream at the radio.  I lay on the couch with my fancy internet phone...

Me: "Motherfuckers!"

Him: "What, you reading about the oil spill again?"

Me: "Yeah...  Fuck.  Damn it.  Do you want to know what's going on NOW?"

Him: "Well, I have a feeling you're going to tell me either way..."

I'm starting to get obsessed.

I'm trying not to go too crazy.  But fuck man.  This is some really fucked up shit.  We're only just getting started, too...