Dado's Anniversary

Sugar parade

some photos from the Sugar Cane Parade in September.
we were marching with the Obama people as I took these shots- note the expressions!


Don


Muz reading


Joyce by Meg


Chris

Drawings

Jon, Chris, and Greg

Nancy and Kris

Muz and Elle

Back in New Iberia

We got back from Austin yesterday afternoon, and were relieved to find practically nothing happened around where we live.
All the children were back playing outside, and Natalie next door was entertaining her friends- sort of a post-near-disaster party. It's a bit soggy - a few ceiling tiles fell down - but the power only went out for about 6 hours, so our stash of frozen Parmesan is safe. Lucky break all around.
For those who travel, I recommend Austin enthusiastically- especially if you can stay up late enough for the music. The food is varied, they have museums and (we heard) a university, and there's open water swimming in the park.

Waiting for the bats in Austin

At dusk, a million or so Mexican free-tail bats emerge from under the Congress St. bridge. There is some disagreement about what constitutes 'dusk' here- the bats interpert it as 'almost total darkness', where the humans would like to see them a little earlier. When they finally emerge, it's difficult to see them without a strong light. But there certainly are LOTS of them.

Afterwards we had some great Mexican food- I had one of those complicated dishes with an almond sauce over pork and fruit and spices. Then we heard some good music in a bar- accidentally, it seems, because none of the other venues had anything nearly as good.

Who knows how long this vacation will last? Not the local officials. CNN is on right now: "It will take WEEKS to get power restored to all of those areas."

Evacuees

We're in Austin, listening to news- and calling any Louisiana number stored on my phone- trying to figure out when we can return. Local papers say New Iberia is one of the places still without power. So we missed Mrs. Bobby Jindal's visit to the supermarket parking lot near our house. We did not need her Meals Ready to Eat, though- Austin has a San Francisco-like array of restaurants to choose from, and we are in an eating frenzy! The cats are feasting on the leftovers.