Halperin & Christ

even though you all know we are cat people, yesterday we went to the barkus parade “indiana bones and the raiders of the lost bark”, clearly a dog event.

it was quite the new orleans scene……dogs in drag, dogs in tutus, dogs dresssed like indiana jones, dogs matching their owners, owners matching their dogs, beads being thrown, dog snacks being thrown, dogs dyed wild colors, dogs shaved in¬†geometric patterns, dogs dressed up in all sorts of great outfits………..some dogs looked slightly embarrassed.

we¬† had a¬†fabulous new orleans day….muffelatas for lunch, mardi gras dog parade, beignets and cafe au lait at cafe du monde, walking around looking at art and listening to street musicians, pim’s cups at the spotted cat (bar with music) and adolphos for dinner. we didn’t make it back to biloxi till well past midnight.

on the job front the tub surround has been grouted on two walls today. the railing is done, the closet interiors are being fabricated, most of the trim is complete, our work here is just about done. we will really miss the fabulous showers at the shrimp shack(not).

been a week of big changes, but we are still in biloxi…..still working at patty’s house….. but the last two days the job has been jamming. yesterday we had the pennsylvania infusion….guys with sharp tools who could do something. we took full advantage of their skills. many thanks to chris erickson and crew. we also had vince, jody and kristen from the gccds. the two women mosaiced with fran while vince and eric prepped posts and did layout for the new handrail.(welded wire mesh, big surprise).¬† today we had ‘our” architecture students helping¬†and major headway was made. the rail is 80% complete and the mosaic is about done……..then come to find out we done been kicked out of the shrimp shack!!! all of us!!! every last one!!! it should come as no surprise¬†and had you’d abeen here you’d¬†a knowed that the premises fall¬†far short of¬†the local fire ordinances. the fire marshall¬†had issued a warning 6 months ago¬†the then warehouse manager neglected to inform anyone……consqequently the fire marshall was somewhat pique’d today and we had to vacate immediately. back to hank under the treehouse at patty’s.¬†no end of electricity and the portolet is¬†immediately accessible. all bonuses in the¬†world of hank.¬†

    1.24.08 am              1.25.08 am        1.25.08 pm

    1.24.08                    1.25.08                     deck rail detail

as shown here the mosaic is progressing. we are using broken up donated tiles and remnants of china that survived katrina. patty keeps finding little pieces of her former life and is quite happy to include them in her new bathroom.

today we had two architectural assistants helping with the mosaic. we plan to stay until it is finished and grouted. we want to be around for the oohs and ahhs…..

monday, for martin luther king jr.’s birthday we attended the battle of the bands, an event that draws people from up to a 40 mile radius.¬†unfortunately we missed the parade but seeing 12 or 14 full blown marching bands complete with dancers was something else.¬† there were gold lame’¬†clad hotties doing the “bump and grind”¬† and “shimmy and shake” like you would not believe. we were the only white people we saw.¬† women were dressed in their finest, complete with extravagant¬†coiffure and fabulous footwear. we were under-dressed and dowdy by any standard. mardi gras beads were everywhere.

last night we had a cultural experience of a different nature. we had our hairs cut at a vietnamese nail and hair salon. there were kibitzers hanging out cheering our hairdresser on, or perhaps talking about us, we couldn’t tell but they were all laughing and having a good time.¬†the stylist¬†spoke not a word of english except “you handsome” to eric. in all fairness she said this when she was finished with the haircut. we have been patronizing all the local vietnamese merchants and have found them to be extremely friendly and accommodating. there is a fabulous vietnamese bakery, food store and restaurant all within a few blocks of the shrimp shack. hank is getting a rest as we ride our bikes around town.

¬†here’s a photo of our new residence and a view of the destroyed boat storage place across the parking lot.

this is a picture of a “king cake” a mardi gras tradition around here. there is a plastic baby that gets hidden in the cake. if you get the piece with the baby you must buy the next king cake.

we are really enjoying biloxi, the more time we spend here the more we like it….the town is full of many surprises.

happy birthday avi!

we got off to a very late start as it was rainy and cold and extremely difficult to get out of bed. those of us remaining at the shrimp shack prepared breakfast and huddled near the electric heaters. the news announced freeze warnings and instructions to all those individuals still living in fema trailers. (of which there are plenty)

the university of connecticut students left yesterday so it was very quiet at patty’s house today…just eric, fran and anders. eric and anders trimmed windows and fran mosaiced. patty joined her and added a few pieces at the end of the day.

yesterday we had a huge crew, 14 of us total: the connecticans, our architectural gang and vince from the design studio. massive amounts of work got done, it was just like a scene from the home edition of extreme makeover. the shower was waterproofed, a cabinet was made, tile was broken, the mosaic was started, casing was milled and installed, two glass block survivors from patty’s old house were installed and corner trim was milled and installed. rather than chaos it was a perfectly choreographed dance, we all moved in sync with each other……or so it seemed.

patty gave us a box of “treasures” she had salvaged from katrina: broken plates, tiles and vases that we are incorporating into the mosaic.¬† the rest of the tile has come from donations that the salvation army is warehousing at the shrimp shack.

we are casing the bedroom windows in salvaged cypress that some students found abandoned in town. it looks quite nice against all the pine paneling.¬† patty did not want any sheetrock in the house after she stripped wet gypsum board out of her old house. according to the lumberyard owner there has been a huge run on all sorts of paneling and the only sheetrock that gets used is the waterproof kind……it’s understandable if you have ever dealt with wet sheetrock although at 17′ up in the air it is highly doubtful that the sheetrock will ever see water.

we shopped last night at the local vietnamese market. there were all sorts of interesting items to buy there, from preserved duck eggs and rice spring roll wrappers to religious paper and tiger’s balm. the store is worth further exploring. unfortunately we weren’t able to find any dairy products and had to go to the local food tiger market. slim pickings there, the store as well as all of the¬†merchandise looks as if it too survived the water.

the town businesses are very slowly recovering but there is a huge gap in items to be found locally. by the interstate, about 10 minutes north of town there is a huge strip mall with big box and chain stores. the downtown has slim to no chance of being revived. another lost city…… a historical one at that, apparently¬†biloxi was established in 1699!

we are back at the shrimp warehouse with the architectural gang. we fixed camarones al mojo de ajo with rice, cortido and flan for everyone tonight. we thought they needed a break from the salvation army cuisine.¬† ashley and travis shelled and deveined about 4 pounds of shrimp….

we broke some rules (the no alcohol one in particular but not to worry everyone is over 21!)

a good time was had by all and the southern contingency is threatening to make us a real southern meal next week. the minnesotan has not made any such promises. he did chop a lot of garlic though so he is redeemed.

we lost jacob to the studio……. the rest of us are still hanging out. emily washed dishes in primitive conditions. the whole shrimp factory is pretty primitive but we decorated our table festively.

much architectural philosophy was discussed as is all too typical when creative (genius) minds congregate.  they are optimistic and idealistic, we are pessimistic and realistic. (give them another 25 years).

flan was introduced to the southerners. they had been under the impression that it was related to jello…..eric pointed out that jello is to flan as horse manure is to creme brulee.¬† (perhaps a bit of an overstatement…)¬† after tasting the flan travis licked the pan to make up for his earlier faux pas.

it was a busy day at patty’s place. most of the siding is completed. eric installed backer board in the shower in preparation for tomorrow’s tile a good dent was made on the corner trims. patty is quite pleased.

well we have been drawn in by all the energy and enthusiasm around here and have decided to stay another week. plus we have made some major headway on patty’s house and would like to see the details carried out.

we have been working all week with the “green dream team” as they call themselves: daniel, katie, phil, lauren and rachel from the university of connecticut. they are part of a student outreach program that sends students on community projects during their breaks.¬† this group has caught on quickly and with eric’s guidance we have accomplished quite a bit. most of the paneling is up, half of the windows are cased and we will begin tiling the bathroom tomorrow.¬† patty has agreed to a broken tile mosaic around her tub. (something new and different for us)

today patty made us soup and cornbread for lunch at her friend, miss eva’s, house.¬† miss eva had 8′ of water in her home and her chihuahua (missy) survived.¬† her house has been resheetrocked and rewired and all the finishes are new.¬† she is one of the more fortunate residents of biloxi.¬† she is 81 years old and lost her husband a year ago.

we have spoken to so many people who lost their homes and have not been able to recover one dollar from their insurance companies.¬† apparently the big “out” the insurance companies have been using is that they are calling this event a “flood” and most people did not carry flood insurance.¬† some people lost their businesses and their homes and received no money for either.¬† it is unconscionable that anyone should pay insurance their whole life and not be able to collect when they are most in need!

we have taken a day off construction work and are luxuriating in the home of eric’s cousin, judy. after the shrimp factory (a huge concrete warehouse with no heat) this feels like the ritz. plus judy has been taking good care of us!

the last two days were spent trimming out patti’s place in biloxi. patti lost her home in katrina and has been living in a tiny trailer on her site. her new home was designed and built by the gccds. it has been a long haul as the construction has been dependent on the flow of volunteer labor. add to that the fact that fema required the house to be raised 17′ off the ground! this not only makes for a long haul up and down the stairs for materials, equipment and laborers¬† but also a house that sways with the gulf breezes. another fine example of government bureaucracy in action!

we were very lucky to have members of the architectural design team helping us on site.¬† they have a modicum of construction experience, a great attitude and are obviously interested in how buildings are put together. unfortunately they have a curriculum to follow and so won’t be able to assist us every day.¬† the other volunteer help available, while willing and enthusiastic result,¬†produce fairly haphazard construction, making trim out very difficult and time consuming. the good news though, is that it is getting done and patti will have a lovely (tree)house to live in soon.

the interesting thing is that it is only fema that is requiring the elevation, not the local building department. as a result there is a wide variety of above grade elevations ranging from 1′ to 17′. makes for an odd landscape, especially interspersed with lonely concrete porches and slabs missing their structures. those are everywhere.¬† lowe’s (a building supply chain) has come up with a kit called the “katrina cottage”. these pastel 900 square foot homes can be seen dotting the landscape. apparently they cost about $60,000 and go up in a week. they are not too bad looking for a glorified trailer.

the drive along the coast between biloxi and gulfport is quite revealing. nothing that we had seen on tv¬†coverage or the newspapers came close to describing the scope of the destruction.¬† this is the area where the storm came ashore and apparently the surge of water reached 25′ and pushed several miles inland. the concrete and steel bridge between ocean springs and biloxi was destroyed and only recently replaced. highway 90, along the beach was completely buckled and undriveable and is still being worked on. it is slightly disconcerting to see a building from the distance that looks intact but upon closer inspection reveals a gutted shell. these scars are everywhere.

we did take a fabulous side trip to the walter anderson museum in ocean springs. walter anderson came from a family of artists. he was an incredible painter, block printer, ceramiscist and all around artist that lived in the first half of the 20th century. he lived a rather alternate lifestyle and was considered the town kook but he produced amazing work and painted gorgeous murals on the walls of the community center all for the great sum of $1.00! he did thousands of beautiful watercolors of the flora and fauna around ocean springs and horn island where he spent much of his time.¬† we also visited shearwater pottery another ocean springs gem, a small family owned pottery studio founded by one of walter’s brothers.¬† shearwater lost 15 out of 17 of their buildings in katrina as well as a great portion of their collection but they are putting the pieces back together and are open to the public. it is well worth a visit if you are in the area. in fact the whole town of ocean springs is quite lovely and full of little shops, old oak trees and beautiful vistas of the gulf and bayou.

we started our morning walking through the audubon nature sanctuary a lovely series of trails through the wetlands and along the coastal dunes. we were accompanied by our feline friend, master boots, who we had met two nights previously when he sniffed out our hamster sized shrimps on the barbie.  this is no ordinary cat, he followed us for about 2 miles, along boardwalks, through wooded paths and swampy ground. we would have taken him home but there is not a lot of extra room in hank. besides he seemed to be doing quite well in that little paradise.

from dauphin island we drove along the gulf through some rather bleak and hurricane damaged landscape. our destination was the gccds, the gulf coast community design studio. we had been given their name by one of the teachers at the rural studio. we¬†haven’t had much luck hooking up with any of the new orleans relief organizations and the gccds was ready to put us to work right away. we immediately started interior trim on one of their projects. there was a crew of about 12 north carolina college students buzzing around the site, applying screening, nailing up interior wall finishes and other¬†construction chores. we were given a task of designing and trimming out several openings and a window seat.

after quitting time we headed over to the volunteer village organized and run by the salvation army. they are housing and feeding almost 200 people in an old stadium. we dined with them and then were housed in an old shrimp warehouse along with several mississippi state architecture students.

there is a huge volunteer effort going on in both biloxi and new orleans which is quite impressive. most people are college students but there are several older people (chaperone types) along for the ride.

we are on a tiny sandy¬†strip of land in the gulf of mexico, just off the coast of alabama,¬†at the bottom of¬†the bay of mobile. our campground practically stretches the width of the island, minus the road and ferry dock. the snowbirds are here in great, gelatinous¬†flocks, there is a six month maximum length of stay. it appears as if many people avail themselves of the maximum, and are repeat guests.¬† the bathhouse is¬†lined with¬†¬†multiple¬†washers,dryers, shower stalls etc.¬† We’re talking volume here folks.

from the campground we can hear the ocean crash,¬†which enticed us to¬†walk on the beach this morning. in the chilly surf, in a landscape of jellyfish mined sand, we walked through stretches of skeletal forests, overtaken by beach. there is a short boardwalk connecting¬†campground to strand. it crosses the sand dunes as a means of lessening the human impact on the landscape. kind of ironic when you look down the beach and see houses touching the shore, indeed waves lapping (at low tide) the deck supports.¬† it must take a certain amount of arrogance (or ignorance),¬†we believe its’ called hubris,¬†to build a house whose piers are constantly battered by the waves.¬† we heard that after hurricane katrina there was sand piled up to the top of the stop signs. dauphin island is home to historic fort gaines, the audubon bird sanctuary,sealab and estuarium.

we are back in gulf fish country. last night we had shrimp the size of small hamsters, and tonight we are having fresh grouper broiled. oh, and we have finally tasted boiled peanuts. yumm!

yesterday we had a very serendipitous experience. as we needed to mail a package,¬† we stopped at the first town we could find that actually had a post office and parked hank across the street right in front of a beautiful old courthouse.¬†one of us decided to use the restroom inside the courthouse, while the other cooled his heels outside¬†.¬† we both quickly learned,¬†that not only was this was the courthouse, replicated in hollywood and depicted¬†in the movie”to kill a mockingbird”, but this was also¬†the town where both harper lee and truman capote had spent their childhoods.¬†¬†¬†upstairs, inside the courtroom were exhibits about both authors,¬†including letters, photographs and old memorabilia. we stood in the gallery where scout and jim both stood, and could ¬†imagine the¬†sorrow of being an african american defendent in 1930’s rural alabama.

this¬†accidental find is yet another reason not to use gps…..we haven’t gotten into that rant but we are map fans!¬†

finally, for the first time in months we are really camping: sitting around the campfire, eating at the picnic table, spending time outside, etc……it is not cold nor is it rainy. excellent camping weather!

we are just outside of camden, alabama, about half an hour to the southwest of selma. the campground is quite pretty with excellent facilities and even a 9-hole golf course attached!

the town is rather bleak and the food supply even more so.¬† after recently having read “animal, vegetable, miracle” by barbara kingsolver we are trying to make as much of an effort as possible¬†to eat local foods. today we were able to buy sweet potatoes, collard greens and pecans from local farmers. beyond that the market is dismal. the local piggly wiggly makes¬†supermarkets such as safeway and kroger look gourmet and sumptious. piggly wiggly¬†does not have the standard organic section we have come to find in¬†most of¬†the chain stores throughout the country. the produce section¬†is tiny and all the fruits and vegetables¬†are very tired looking. the dairy and meat sections have mostly processed foods to choose from. it is only the frozen food and canned sections that have any choice: many precooked selections: frozen food dinners, frozen preprepared fish and meat, canned collards, canned black eyed peas, canned just about everything.¬† you would be hard pressed to maintain a healthy diet shopping in camden.

this trip has made us so thankful for our wonderful farmer’s market and incredible choice of foods. we are so spoiled in california!

we have become fans of collards greens….in fact thank god for collards…..they are about the only green thing at the market worth buying.