Charlie's plant

Charlie loves his shrimp plant. I've got to say I like it too.



It's an easy, low maintenance addition to our garden, and blooms constantly.

Football!

Us outside the Dome after the game

It's game time! The Tigers and the Saints are starting their seasons.

We headed to the last preseason game for the Saints last night and had to bring along a radio and headphones to get updates on LSU during the game. I'm not sure who was responsible for the Saints and the Tigers playing the same night, but hopefully they've got it figured out and it won't happen again.

The Saints looked good in their preseason games and LSU stomped the Bulldogs. Ah, sports. It's great for the New Orleans soul.

We have lots to get done around the house this weekend, because our weekends are soon to be filled with football viewing, from home and the Dome. I do love this time of year. It means lots of relaxing, and forgetting about projects to root for our team.

730 Days

On Napoleon:

Still sad
At our loss
Still mad
At the Corps
But so glad
For the Volunteers
Thank you all

The Times Picayune did several stories on the lack of progress and the destruction that remains, but the front page on the anniversary featured stories of thanks and hope. Thanks and hope. Yes, I see it, but I also think we need so much more, and those we need from are not providing.

You can look back at my post 365 days ago to compare to last year and the year before.


Our house looks great. The tenants keep it looking good. Well, as good as three twentysomething boys can do.

And the rest of the neighborhood is coming along as well.


Last year at this time, 4 houses of 11 had full time occupants. Now, we're up to 6 of 11. Last year we only had about half of the houses in repair mode and the houses directly next to ours on both sides had not yet been gutted. Today, one is rented and the other is almost ready to rent.


Each house except for Sam's former house next door, has improved their look in some way. Unfortunately some improvements are in bad taste such as the massive house across the street being painted black. Charlie thinks it must have been a deal on the paint, but a black house?


Despite eight feet of water on our block, only one house has been raised, as you can see below.

This house still needs more work. There have been two real estate transfers on our block, and the new owners of both locations are doing a great job.

730 days later we have had our first appointment with the Road Home and are now thinking about selling our home. Hopefully we'll find someone who buys it to live in it, because that's really what the neighborhood needs.

While there is progress in our pocket of the city, it is so surprising to see so little progress elsewhere. And I'm not just talking about the Ninth Ward where many home owners had little cash flow. Lakeview is still desolate in many areas. There are blocks and blocks of darkness when driving through. I haven't been through the East in some time, so I don't know what progress there looks like. Perhaps a visit to the Vietnamese market is needed this weekend.

I still get teary when driving through some parts of the city and even thinking about it now makes me feel a bit numb. Sometimes I think we've painted a rosy picture for ourselves that doesn't really exist. I hope we're all working to shape that picture, being active as much as we're able, and not backing down. It's tiresome. I wonder if other cities feel the same way.

But, New Orleans will go on. I don't doubt that.

Needle Treatment

Today, another visit to Dr. Wu. He looked at my tongue and checked my pulse. He also explained that soon my cycle would become that of a "younger woman," and to take notice. My eyebrows raised and I must have had a doubting look, because he further explained in Chinese and had his assistant translate. My eyes bounced back and forth from doctor to assistant as they discussed, and he finally smiled knowing I was watching and explained they were discussing the patterns of my body.

While the needles pulsed, I heard a woman and a baby speaking to the doctor in the next room. Before I knew it, she was at my side telling me her story. Every woman with infertility has one. They are pretty similar, but hers I've never heard before.

She was visiting from Washington and came to visit Dr. Wu to get a recommendation for a doctor and some herbs. She revealed that she was in her forties, and explained she had been a patient prior to the birth of her 14 month old daughter. She had spent 6 years and in excess of $75,000 at a local clinic. She knew my former doctor and nurse and relayed all of the "remedies" and solutions they advised, just as I had been advised. After 5 IUIs and multiple IVF procedures, she looked into alternative medicine, as she wasn't giving up.

In the year she spent with Dr. Wu, she got pregnant 3 times, after never having been pregnant before. Each time she was pregnant, before missing her cycle, when arriving for acupuncture treatment, Dr. Wu would take her pulse and tell her she was pregnant and therefore he would not administer the electrical therapy with the needles. Wow. He knew. He knew before she did. He knew just from the change in her pulse.

She carried to term in her third pregnancy as a woman over 40, conceiving naturally. And she seemed very confident that she'd do it again in the next year.

Dr. Wu. What a guy.

Not sure how my story will go, but Dr. Wu is now a part of it.

Seasonable decorations

The neighborhood is getting ready for the Saints season!



I imagine by the time we have the home opener at the end of September, I'll have lots more photos to post from around the neighborhood.


These two are right around the corner.

Habanero this morning

Most of my herb garden looks rather grim with the exception of some basil and my peppers. The habanero has at least 8 peppers on it at all times. I need to figure out how to use them...Elizabeth says pepper jelly!

Welcome, Ian

Congratulations, Christian and Lesly on your new role as parents. Ian made me an aunt, again. Picture and stats to come.

Doing what's right

If you'd check out our Netflix queue you'd see that we are on a documentary roll. Last night's view was Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price. Jeez. Walmart is awful. I can't even begin to sum it up, but was most alarmed by the treatment of employees in the U.S. compared to those employed in the European chain. I'm sure you can imagine, but if not, rent the film.

So now I find myself in a moral quandary: Do I put out more time, effort and money and take a stand against Walmart's policies? As I even think to type it, I know it's ridiculous that I even consider it to be a quandary, but with my monthly Walmart and Sam's trips looming, I am wondering if it would be ok to go just one last time.

We shouldn't shop at Walmart. Despite the fact that I wasn't totally accepting each of the statistic packed arguments the producers doled out and I believe much of the blame lies with values and practices of our local and national governments (something not overtly pointed out in the film), the overall argument was enough to get me looking at alternatives, and that's where I need some help. I don't even know what they are.

Food is easy. We shop for veggies and meats at Dorignac's, so now I'll just add in the rest of our food. If only Dorignacs had bigger baskets. It's a local, family owned supermarket, with small buggies and regular weekly shoppers. I don't like the idea of having to go to the grocery every week, except to run in a get some fresh meat, milk, seafood or vegetables. But I suppose, I can manage to pile up a basket high enough to prevent my having to go too often. It'll be a more expensive, but it won't break us, and we'll be supporting local business, something we we already try to do.

But I'm looking at my list and there is far more than food on that list...cleaning products, paper products, shampoos, soaps. Yes, more expensive, but Dorignac's has it. We'll get it there.

Alright. What about socks, undies for Charles, Tupperware containers, storage boxes, printer cartridges, and an ironing board cover? Last night we thought and thought and came up with some other box stores near our house to make some of these purchases from, but some items I have no idea where to look except Walmart. Not a single independent shop that I can think of has these products. Was that the case before Walmart came to town? Are the other box stores as bad as Walmart?

I'll be on the lookout for stores close to home to patronize for my usual Walmart items, so as not to drive all over the metro area. I suppose I'll also have to seek out some information on the practices of other box stores to see if giving them my money compromises my ideals. Having ideals is easy. Really sticking to them is a different story.

Agent to the resuce, we hope

Helen has taken over, for a 5% commission. Damn. We hate to give up that 5% but hopefully she'll bring a quick sale. I had 4 calls since the sale fell through, despite active relisting on craigslist and newspaper ads. I'm hoping a MLS listing is what we need.

We have a few chores to do there this weekend before the open house the following weekend. Hopefully we'll have a buyer soon.

APE (After Post Edit): The house went into the MLS listings this morning, along with a sign in the yard, and the agent called at 11:00 am to ask a few questions because she is showing it once tonight and again tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed!

Happy Anniversary?

Well, today's the day. Katrina. Today was the day, two years ago, Hurricane Katrina, dubbed the worst national disaster in U.S. history, passed over our city...or I think it was really south of our city. I need to get my facts straight. It bothers me that I don't know the exact play by play of the hours surrounding Katrina's arrival...what time did the eye pass over the city, if at all, how high did the water get behind the flood wall, what time did the flood walls give way?

From my reading I do know that the disaster part of this natural disaster could have been prevented. We know of international examples of state of the art flood protection, and even though each time a hurricane enters the gulf, every New Orleanian discusses the "what ifs" no one ever bothered to bring that protection to our city, resting in a bowl. Seems as though we should have been demanding this some time ago, as we all knew it was bound to happen, right?

So today all of us at home and around the nation are remembering "Katrina," and the disaster she created in her path. I wish people were loudly questioning why this was allowed to happen in the first place, why the Federal Flood wasn't prevented, and why we still don't seem to be getting the protection we need.

I suppose we are tired here. Tired of fighting. That just goes against the "laissez les bons temps rouler" attitude of our city. We have too many lovely distractions to be bogged down in civic duty, right?

Today I'll make a drive through our old neighborhood and try to bring some sort of organization to how it feels to be a New Orleanian today.

Planet Earth

I love it.
Charlie loves it.
Even Batture, our dog, watches and loves it.

The episodes are beautiful. Truly awesome. It will inspire a (re)new(ed) appreciation for our planet, if you're not able to get it by traveling near or far. Rent or buy it today!

Hibiscus Mystery

The althea across the street and the hibiscus next door that provided my Jazzfest hat with flowers have both just about died this summer. Each were well over 6 feet tall, and flowered nearly year round.

I had noticed my own hibiscus and altheas had begun to develop a similar ailment.


The leaves are curling at the stems, and then when pulled apart, there is white webbing which is causing the leaves to scrunch up. I am unable to find the culprit depositing the webbing. I've been routinely spraying with pesticide, and it seems to have kept it under control, but hasn't eradicated the problem. I've emailed Dan Gill, to see if he has any suggestions.

Today, on my way into have a coffee on Laurel Street I noticed the large hibiscus outside was dying a similar death to the ones on Bordeaux Street.


Unfortunate, because it was huge, and always full of beautiful double orange blooms.

Upon further inspection I discovered a tiny cardboard container.

It reads:

Federal/State Government

Insect Trap

Please Do Not Disturb

CAUTION

TOXIC MATERIALS

I wonder what's going on here. I hope someone is trying to find out what's attacking the hibiscus around town.

Photos!

I have LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of pictures. I am going through and deleting many in iPhoto's library and I have decided to start using Picasa (or maybe I should use the more popular Flickr?). I like having pictures stored digitally, but since they're digital, I have so many more and need to come up with a system to organize and archive. I also like having photos "public" so they are available for viewing by family and friends.

Not sure if I should set up a Shutterfly or Snapfish account and archive albums there for general viewing by others or if I should just stick to Picasa. But, I am already paying google for storage since my blog photos take up so much space, and more photos on Picasa will mean more storages fees.

I suppose it's time to put photos in digital albums in iPhoto, save them to disc, and then delete the album from my hard drive.

Any suggestions or ideas? I'd love to know what your system is!

What's cookin'

Dinner time is getting more interesting around here with our new grill purchase. We finally replaced our flooded grill with a cheapy, bottom of the line model from Lowe's. It suits us just fine. Actually, I wish it was a bit smaller. We should have purchased it earlier in the summer, to keep the heat out of the kitchen.

This week I experimented with our usual side of boiled potatoes...I mashed 'em up with a hunk of brie...Y-U-M-M-Y. We'll be doing this again, but not too often. We're watching our waistlines. But, we will be having lots of salads with grilled chicken on top.

The next step

This week I spent some more time with our reproductive endocrinologist. He went through the past year of tests and procedures and made his recommendation: In vitro fertilization. An alternative would be to do some further testing, possible corrective procedures, and then reassess. He thought that money would be best spent towards IVF as even with testing and procedures, there is no guarantee that corrections can be made and it would be very likely that IVF would again be his recommendation after many dollars spent and several cycles past.

Charlie and I had decided that we'd like to try IVF, but were uncertain if we should seek the care of a specialist in a top rated facility. Our doctor agreed with my assessment of the clinics with the best statistics, Cornell and CCRM. We also talked about his statistics and how they compare to both the national statistics and the other local clinics. His rates are higher than the national average and are the best in the city.

We then talked pricing. Since I have had every test known to man in the last year, my "work-up" is complete, but it is questionable as to whether other clinics will accept my current results or require their own test. My contact with the other clinics leads me to believe that an additional work up and expense would be required.

Considering seeking treatment in another state will require 20-25 days in another city, the costs of another work up, and having to establish a relationship with another doctor, we decided that we would attempt a round of IVF with our doctor and clinic.

Today I had a "trial transfer" to be certain that embryos could be physically transferred via catheter into my uterus, discussed timing, medications, and previewed the consent forms. We are tentatively scheduled to enter into a cycle of treatment at the end of October with embryo transfer to occur in November. We were unable to begin sooner due to this rigorous travel schedule Charlie and I have been maintaining the last few months. October will come soon enough.

In the interim, I have medicines to begin ordering and Charlie has blood work scheduled. And of course, we'll just "relax."

Recycle, NOLA!

We're recycling on Bordeaux Street. We've been taking our newspaper and cans to the Green Project, but that's quite a drive. We figured that the gas expended canceled out our green effort, so we were very excited when Phoenix Recycling began offering curbside pickup twice a month. They take plastic, which we seem to use lots of and we weren't able to find anyone accepting plastics to recycle. We are paying a hefty $15 a month. Hopefully more neighbors will get on board and the price will be lowered, or the city will see how much recycling is valued and bring it back. The above photo is representative of two weeks worth of recyclables. Quite a bit we're trying to keep out of the landfill.

Seeds

The seeds for my fall flower and herb garden have arrived. Now I just need to figure out when I'm supposed to plant them. They are all flowers Dan Gill listed as cool season annuals that could easily be started from seeds: nasturtiums, bachelor's buttons, calendula, phlox, poppies, alyssum, and sweet peas. I forgot to order some larkspur, so I'll be scouring the garden departments to see if I find some.

I imagine as soon as the temperature drops out of the 100s and 90s they'll be in a position to flourish, but I do have to think about the slim possibility of a freeze. I think I'll risk it and get seeds planted early and hope we have a mild winter.

Assignemnts in Enrichment

Infertility. Stress. Infertility. Stress. Which came first? Does one cause the other? Who knows, but I've got lots of both, and wish to be rid of them. We're managing stress and infertility, but sometimes I don't know how good of a job we're doing. I have an overwhelming sense of not belonging, not knowing my place, and wondering how to proceed, to either find or make my place.

Alternative medicine has been something I've come across in all of my internet searching, and I've noticed that many fertility clinics have staff trained in counseling, massage, and alternative medicine. Although our clinic doesn't connect patients to other resources in this way, I thought I'd seek it out on my own.

I've started to see an acupuncturist. Dr. Wu. He speaks little to no English, but what he does say seems quite wise in that old, Asian man way.

He asked few questions and wrote lots of notes, all in Chinese. Most of his questions dealt with my bathroom visits...how many times do I have a bowel movement in a day, how many times a night do I get up to urinate, how many times do I urinate in a day. He also asked about my daily routine, exercise, and looked at my tongue. He listened to my teary explanation of my IUI cycles and the anxiety I experience.

And then as I lay on the table waiting for the needles, he says to me something along the lines of ... American doctors will look at numbers. Chinese doctors, we look at ways to enrich your life. We work to enrich your life, and thereby enrich your uterus.

He then questioned my ability to have a job AND work out 5+ times a week. This tickled Charlie, who thinks I need to work more or take care of him more. He suggested dancing and swimming as exercise as well as listening to music, watching films, and sharing in the daily joys of life with my husband. And it all sounded so eloquent from a man who speaks in broken English with hand gestures and has an assistant translating.

He plucked needles in my belly and legs, hooked them up to electrodes, and put me under two lamps. He left me, with pulsing legs and tummy, for thirty minutes, feeling rather calm. He asked me to come back next week and take some herbs, which I will.

Now, there was nothing groundbreaking about his advice. I can't even begin to tell you the number of people who tell me to "relax" and everything will be OK. And is there merit to his practice? There's research to support the validity of acupuncture, and at this point, it can't be any less effective then what I've done so far. He has a waiting room full of patients and pictures of babies and letters of thanks on display.

I'm not counting on anything to solve our problems anymore. That's up to us. It'll happen. I know we'll get there.

A Yellow Center

I don't know the name of this one either, but it has gone crazy this summer. I think it needs to be cut back, but I'm hesitant to do so since I think I killed my crimson butterfly giving them a severe trim in the summer heat.

Lovin'

• Cran-grape spritzers for Charlie and lemonade spritzers me, as a soda substitute (we've taken artificial sweeteners out of our diet)
• Bob Marley, Celia Cruz, and Patsy Cline in my iTunes library
• Rainbow sherbet
• Fresh sheets
• Clean dogs
• Football on the tube
• Haircuts on husbands
• Daddy, alive and kickin (ah, let's keep it that way, ok?)
  
• Planning the garden for fall
• Christmas shopping on the net (almost done!)
• Salads from Whole Foods
• Cut flowers from the garden