Sunday, September 7, 2008

When The Levees Broke

Shelton Alexander speech - When the Levees Broke

When the levees broke...

It's 10:57, Sunday night. Dave is mid-air, somewhere between LA and Colorado. And I just finished watching the fifth of five in the HBO tv series "When the Levees Broke." A documentary by Spike Lee about Hurricane Katrina.

I'm sitting very still. Soaking in all the information. The images. The sounds. The enormity of it all.

When Katrina hit, I was consumed with our then new life in Amsterdam. In retrospect,I didn't know anything beyond a surface understanding of what was going on.

Three years later, I'm sitting here in a belated stupefied state.

I've included two clips from the documentary here, if you are interested. If you want to experience the full breadth of the films (complete with Terence Blanchard's haunting score), you can purchase the 5-part series for $19.95 on iTunes.

Of course, twenty dollars can also go to needier hands than the good folks at iTunes. But if you have any inkling to know more about what happened, to hear first-hand accounts, or want to be moved to direct some otherwise wayward donation dollars toward people who need it, check it out.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Amiamo Italia...







In June, Dave and I were able to meet up with Brenda, Norm, Aud and Craig in Siena, Italy for a brief and beautiful get away.

Norm and Brenda celebrated their anniversary while we were there (thus, the lovely bouquet of roses!). Pasta was consumed. Wine was imbibed. And Gelato was going down like water. Good times. Good times.

When the rest of the family headed to Rome, Dave and I took a detour through Florence before heading back to Amsterdam. The city was crowded with summer tourists, but easily still lovely.

Among the sights: Il Duomo S. Maria del Fiore, de Ponte Vecchio, a tiny little U-Boat store, this Pringles imposter and the largest glass of Coca Cola you've ever seen.

A long overdue shout out...


...to Aunt Linnie and Uncle Mike (aka AL and UM) who spent two wonderful weeks with us here in May.

We had funl time sight-seeing a little here and there, but mostly just being together in our house, enjoying movies, playing Wii and eating the homemade toffee that Linnie made...many many times when she was here!

Thank you SO much for coming to see us. I was glad to get to know you better and to create fun memories together in Amsterdam. You are welcome back anytime.

Love you both,
L

Canvas Potluck...





As light as Meeting the Ghosts (our WW2 documentary viewing on Memorial Day) was heavy, we hosted "Canvas Potluck" - our seventh muziekavond - on July 20th.

Opening with a few rounds of Karaoke, I closed the night with a set of tunes with Xico on bass, Rowan on drums, Asif on guitar and me on keys and vocals.

(NOTE: Not soon to be forgotten: Tony's Phantom and Asif's B.B. King.)