Bay St Louis, Mississippi

 I went to visit my dear friends Craig and Stacey in Bay St Louis, MS.

This is one of the most charming small towns in the world, curled up next to the Gulf of Mexico like a kitten.

 While Stacey and I drove around places we have loved, I kept hearing this song by Bruce Springsteen in my head.

One year and 10 months after Katrina, here's what Mississippi looks like....

MY CITY OF RUINS

There's a blood red circle
On the cold dark ground

 

And the rain is falling down
The church door's thrown open

 

I can hear the organ's song
But the congregation's gone

 

My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Now the sweet bells of mercy
Drift through the evening trees
Young men on the corner
Like scattered leaves

 

 

The boarded up windows
The empty streets

 

 

 

 

While my brother's down on his knees
My city of ruins
My city of ruins

Come on rise up! Come on rise up!
Come on rise up! Come on rise up!
Come on rise up! Come on rise up!
Come on rise up! Come on rise up!

Now there's tears on the pillow
Darlin' where we slept
And you took my heart when you left

 

Without your sweet kiss
My soul is lost, my friend
Tell me how do I begin again?
My city's in ruins
My city's in ruins

 

 

 

Now with these hands
With these hands
With these hands
With these hands
I pray Lord
With these hands
With these hands
I pray for the strength, Lord
With these hands
With these hands
I pray for the faith, Lord
With these hands
With these hands
I pray for your love, Lord
With these hands
With these hands
I pray for the strength, Lord
With these hands

With these hands
I pray for your love, Lord
With these hands
With these hands

I pray for the faith, Lord
With these hands
With these hands                           
I pray for the strength, Lord

Come on, rise up!
Come on, rise up!

 

What really gets to me is;  I keep hearing the catch in Stacey's voice when she missed a turn and said,"All my landmarks are gone".

A New Adventure, An Old Story

Up at six AM, and on the road to Craig and Stacey's

Caitlin was so excited!

 

The road to a friend's house is never too long.....

When we got there, they were still asleep.

What a wonderful thing to have friends who love you so much you can walk in their door, hollering ,"Where's the bloody Mary's?" and they get up and fix them for you!

It's all the same Porch, where friends gather. It's a state of mind,as well as a place.

 

So now we all pile into their car, and it's off to the JazzFest in New Orleans.

We have all been partying together for over 20 years....

And we are passing on good genes!

Here we go!

 

                                                        Maintaining decorum,

of course.

 

A beautiful day for the Fest.

We saw John Mayer, The Allman Brothers

 

Dancing

More Dancing

 

Still more dancing

 

And did some ourselves  

 

Note:An ice cube in the bra is a great heat reducer!

 See how cool?

Ian and Caitlin have been friends since before they were born.

.

A great day , full of sun, music,

 

kissin'

dancin'

laughin'

drinkin

Then home for long stories by the fire

and bed

Jack

 ,

Last summer, a puppy suddenly appeared on the Porch.

I watched his furry pot-bellied swagger and remembered what it was like to sniff that little puppy smell.

It had been a long time.

We have never gone purposely to get a dog.

They find us.

I saw him several days in a row.

He had a collar and never had that pitiful desperate look of a stray.

Our treasured dog had died a year ago and the pain was still fresh.

For about a week he hung out by our yard.

I wouldn't touch him, but I fed him.

Finally , he looked up, our eyes met and I was a goner.

I opened the door and said, "you might as well come on in"

It was a rocky ride for awhile.

He was so big and such a young puppy.

He ate everyone's shoes, sometimes while they were still on our feet!

When he had puppy accidents, it was a gallon of puppy pee!

He knocked the neighborhood kids down and they wouldn;t play in the yard.

With lots of love and patience, he learned to quit biting us (it's not hard being our dog, our standards arent' real high!)

He has boundless good cheer, never once had he snarled or cried.

It makes me smile just to see him.

He gets so excited he rolls on his back and kicks his feet inthe air!

I was hoping since he is so big, he would be a guard dog like the dear departed ,but the other day when firefighters came to empy the fire hydrnat in the yard, I had to go get him because he was rolling all over them, licking them....a giant red truck with flashing lights, four burly men in his yard...not a bark!

Oh, well,

He is a great compainion, rides with me everywhere.

When he sits in the passenger seat, he is as tall as me. I steer with one hand and put the other one around him and every now and then, he reaches over to kiss me...Tom says I have a boyfriend!

   

In reading back over my journal, I revisited the day our beloved dog ,big protective growly Butterfly , left us.

 

It was a year to the day later that Jack showed up on The Porch.

I guess it was time.

Porch Miracles

     When you ride a bike, you can be 8 years old again....

 

 

 

When there are cookies to be decorated, sixteen year olds stop being moody and giggle and lick their fingers.....

 

   There's always room for another friend in the back of a pickup truck.

   Dogs are the best friends.

    When in doubt, dance!

   A good marriage is one long conversation.

 

 Teenagers DO grow up and love to hang out with you again...It's all worth it!

  A child can be your heart without being your blood.

  A good party is cheaper and more effective than therapy!

These are some things we are sure of here on The Porch.

 

Wishing you a lifetime of small miracles,

Marti