I finally resized the latest pictures from my last trip to New Orleans (linked through the title and on the left). In these pictures you will see the breech of the 17th Street canal and that area of Lakeview. It is devastated and the pictures really do not capture how bad it is there. Also, in these pictures are some pictures of my aunts’ house in Lakeview. I took pictures of the inside and outside. I need to thank a very good friend of mine, Ryan Harper for helping me removed debris from the yard and making the inside more passable for my mom and me this weekend to salvage what we can from the house.
In one of my last post I spoke of how bad the condition of the city was and my doubts of how the city could support the numbers of people that will descend in January. Well my outlook is a little brighter now after spending more time in the city. This was the first time I saw true signs of recovery. Many restaurants are now open in the city, nowhere near pre-Katrina days, but still very encouraging. I had dinner at Kyoto the Saturday night I was in town and we even talked about how things looked almost normal, with the exception of uniformed National Guardsmen having ice cream at the Creole Creamery. (which was by the way one of the first places open in my neighborhood!) I believe my earlier comments were a bit skewed by the shock of seeing the destruction in the city. As you return for the first time you will understand. The first time or two in, the city leaves you in shock. Many of the things you will see just will not make sense.
So we are nearing the time many of us will begin to move back and start rebuilding our lives in New Orleans and will be able to watch and participate in the rebuilding of the great city of New Orleans!