Slidell.........
 
Will ever be remembered for the Ronnie Kole concert........New Orleans will ever be remembered for the Ronnie Kole concert.......
 
Champagne reception at his home.....boat trip....beautiful dinner.....warm companions......excellent hosts....... and piano music to take your breath away.....

I have two cousins who play piano and I just wished I had a magic link up so they also could have been part of it......thank you Ronnie and Gardner for inviting us to your home and thank you Slidell for organising it for us....you created a lifetime memory.
 
Vocation activities were good.  I went to a court room, talked to Probation Officers, Drug Intervention Officers and Judge James....James being his forename and visited a child intervention agency...our team did Down Town, Police and Fire Service visits...
 
...this was followed by lunch and fashion show in aid of cancer research.....the boys passed on this

then a tour of Olde Town Slidell.....
 
....and I sat in an old American railway station and watched a train go by with over 400 freight carriages.....so I guess folks that everything in America is bigger......I can't describe the sound that train made but it was low and mellow and the sun was shining and it was dry and dusty and I was sitting there letting all this happen around me......just soaking it up.....just being.... 
 
I got a lot of leg pulling that night for getting excited about watching a train.....but I felt I was participating in the history of the 'Deep South'...maybe I'm just turning into a sad little lady....or perhaps my imagination is just a little too healthy.
 
On the second day, we worked with Habitat for Humanity and went to help build a house....Haydon, Kate and Neville worked indoors on skirting boards, Nat cut wood and attached window sills and I worked outside fixing grooved cladding to the porch area....long day.....hard work......enjoyable really......and we leave having given something back to the community who lost so much.
 
We had BBQ's and receptions and parties....gave our presentation....and finally left feeling pretty tired from the previous day
 
...but before we left...our hosts made sure that we had a hearty American breakfast which included gravy and biscuits.....and I think now, I have almost tried all things American.....almost.....trouble is, you don't know what you don't know..

By now I know my name and where I am....but haven't a clue what day it is, what date it is but I do know it's still October.....so there is a glimmer of light...so stick with me...
 
Ocean Springs......a town every bit as beautiful as its name.
 
We were there for the weekend so again it was very difficult to organise formal vocational days.....I guess we could have pretended that we were all budding chefs and that all the food we were eating actually had a 'scientific value' ...but we weren't.... so we just ate....and ate...and it was delightful.
 
Throughout our stay, different people gave us different tours and all had their different stories to tell.......

The more places we visit, it actually becomes more difficult to imagine what it was like immediately after the storm......I'm learning that people use the word storm rather than Katrina....and they use the word 'stuff' rather than possessions.  Both seem to be neutral and allow individuals to remain detached from the emotions that the words Katrina and possessions evoke.
 
Just take a minute to reflect how you would feel if you lost every photograph that you had of your parents or your children growing up.....what you would feel like if the engagement ring or the jewelry that your Grandmother left you had just disappeared.....that the painting or the table you were hoping to pass on to your children had gone....just wasn't there in the house....because your house was gone....and you didn't know where it was... everything.....lost forever.
 
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Nat celebrated her 24th Birthday on the Saturday and our hosts had arranged a birthday cake with icing of the American and British flags.....really good fun.
 
On the Saturday, we all did a 5k evening run organised by our host club.  I pushed a wheel chair with an 87yr old in it and because she crossed the finishing line first....technically, I was beaten by an 87 yr old.
 
On our last night, I was taken on a Bayou boat ride......but then we turned into the Gulf and went out to sea.....I swear the birds overhead were Vulchers waiting to eat me when I drowned......

At one point in the voyage, I manoeuvred myself carefully to take a photograph of the end of a bridge that had collapsed into the river.....it was only after I risked life and limb that my driver...steerer...pilot....Jim....man with boat.....pointed out that it was part of a 'swing bridge' and that if I turned around and looked the other way, it actually connected to the bit that would swing........well I did see the funny side of that...but didn't laugh too hard in case I rocked the boat and drowned....and those Vulchers got me.....
 
......he did take me further out though and I did take pictures of the 'proper bridge' that had collapsed into the sea......I felt like a journalist taking pictures for BBC....risking life and limb for pictures for the folks back home....willing to die for my craft.....getting that one photograph for National Geographic....but all the time keeping one eye firmly on those Vulchers circling...

I got the photograph....didn't drown.....and those Vulchers....well...they turned out to be Pelicans....but as we say up ti north......cudda been.

On the morning that we left for Slidell, we visited a school where little 6yr olds asked us questions about England and then sang and danced for us.......I now know what it must feel like to be royalty....although I wasn't given a little posy....nor was there a big black limousine waiting for me.....there was though a Lady in Waiting....but it was our driver waiting beside our Transit Van...

I'm a Lady in Waiting myself..did I tell you... __    __ __     __ __ __ __ __    __ __    __ __    __    __ __ __ __ __ __ __    fill in the gaps.

Next stop Slidell. 

 Our very first Photograph.....The White House

 Arriving at our new abode

 Vocation Day

 Watch Out Nat's at the wheel

 Duck....

 and saving the best for last....PAMELA'S  ANGELS

OK.....have you got a cup of coffee...

Hattiesburg....a  town with a Shopping Mall called Turtle Creek.......how good is that......beats Brent Cross hands down....not for the shops though.....

We arrived just in time to deliver our presentation to three clubs who had come together especially to participate in such a prestigious event......and again....everyone was laughing and a good time was had by all.

....but breakfasts will never be the same again....I'm staying with a wonderful Palestinian family who have introduced me to such gourmet delights that I'm seriously thinking about emigrating....although..... that wouldn't be very good really would it if I'm going to be a Grandma..........have I told you I'm going to be a Grandma......

I've also been learning Arabic for my trip to Saudi....so in all seriousness, I couldn't have had a better host family......I can say........  marhaba sebahalkhier cam semak shook ran... which means...... hello, good morning and how much is the fish thank you.....I ask you...what more do I need...

Vocationally: Yesterday we had had a guided tour of Down Town Hattiesburg, visited the Black Military Museum where the personal stories documented were both thought provoking and poignant. We were privileged to be part of a Town Planning meeting with round the table discussions whilst Haydon and Neville were off doing their thing with the Fire Service and Police.....and

......we were joined for our activities by the local newspaper reporter and  interviewed for the local TV station......when it was shown last night on TV .......Kate was an absolute star........me.....I've decided to get my hair cut when I get back home....

...and today we all visited the University of Southern Mississippi......breaking off to visit those Departments which were most relevant to us.  We lunched BBQ style at a famous Hattiesburg Restaurant.......plastic tablecloths...towel napkins....the works.....and really good food...then went on to visit Camp Shelby, A Military Museum for the Armed Forces and a training camp for soldiers going to Afghanistan or Iraq..........

Now I don't know what to say about this.......soldiers in uniform walking around waiting to leave and I couldn't help but think....how many of them won't come home....then I thought of their mothers.....then that was me taking deep breaths for the rest of the tour.....

....I found it very sad.......I  felt like going up to them and telling them all to go home .....just young men....their whole lives in front of them.....fighting for us.  I passed  one of them inside the museum holding his Rosary Beads whilst reading the epitaphs of his fellow servicemen....that's an image I won't forget in a hurry......

...and tomorrow we leave for Ocean Springs.

If I'm placed with a family who has small children....they may even upload some more photographs for you......

Listen guys and guyesses....this lady knows the limits of her abilities.....