Katrina

Like everyone else, we have been watching the images of Katrina's devastation in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on TV and reading about it in the newspaper and on the internet for the past week. It is horrific, and time does not diminish the horror, the pain and the loss - especially for the hurricane's victims. As we watch and read about the destruction, the homes that are destroyed, the lives that are lost or irreparably changed, I can't help thinking about our visit to New Orleans and the surrounding area earlier this year. Steve and I both wonder how the inimitable Captain Ted, our bayou swamp tour guide, is doing. I wonder if he's safe, and if his home in Slidell escaped the storm. I think about Cafe du Monde, where we ate beignets and drank cafe au lait, and hope it will someday soon be serving up those little fried squares of dough (a mouthful of heaven) again. I hope our waitress at the little French Quarter restaurant where we dined on shrimp etouffee escaped safely; I hope the smiling and friendly proprieter at the cafe where we had red beans and rice on our first day in New Orleans is with his family. I grieve for New Orleans, but especially, I grieve for the people and their loss - of their homes, their everyday, ordinary lives, their historic city.

On the Lineham Lake trail 

Rocks and flowers at Waterton NP 

Mountain goats in Glacier NP 

Hidden Lake at Logan's Pass 

Avalanche Lake 

Mt. Moran at Teton NP  

On the Jenny Lake trail