Mississippi Gulf Coast - part 1 - 3.75 years after Katrina

Sitting in my M.I.L's office looking out at the Gulf.
I remarked three years ago that her view had improved, thanks to Katrina.

It's not changed much in three years.

For those that didn't know, her home was one of thousands completely leveled by the storm surge caused by the high winds of Katrina. All that was left were the wood floors and the in-ground pool. The pool was how they figured out where her house used to be.

You see footage of volcano-caused tidal waves hitting an unsuspecting third world country, on various cable channels? That's pretty much what happened here, in the good ol' USofA.

However, levies broke, flooding a portion of a larger city 85 minutes to the west, and most folks didn't hear much about the MS coast, in comparison.

We went berry picking this evening, as wild blackberries are at their peak right now.
We got a couple of big bowls, went out the front door, and..... walked to the lot next door.
We've seen folks stopping behind the house, up the street, etc, off and on all day, and finally figured out what they were doing.

Y' see, there have only been three houses rebuilt on the block in the 3.75 years since Katrina leveled everything. Nature has a way of reclaiming it's turf, if left alone to do so.

Past trips (post-katrina) have given us a riot of birds of prey, living in the neighborhood, and non-domesticated animal tracks in the sand on the beach nearby.

I'm a fan of nature, so got a kick out of this, while still being saddened by the fact that the area's been so incredibly slow to re-build.

But, dammit, you're supposed to go pick wild berries....in the wild. Not where your neighbor's house used to be.
A couple doors down on the other side of the street, there are 8-10 young fir trees scattered in a loose circle around the foundation of a house. A couple more years, you're going to have a small grove going. There are wild flowers everywhere.

And it's quiet. Really quiet.
Still.

I'm within view of the beach highway, it's not supposed to be this quiet.

Blah, blah. You get the picture.

Went to mass at the roller rink this morning. My church was on the beach, and met the same fate as so many other structures. God's house fared no better than my mother in law's.
Or, ironically, the priests' house, (they live next door, and were the 2nd house to rebuild on the block).

So they worked out a deal with the local knights of columbus, and an out of business roller rink was purchased (my MIL brokered the deal) and converted into a church and class rooms.
Lots of the conversion work was done gratis, by the Sea Bee's. I was down here when it all started, and was amazed by the way that everyone who could, just plain stepped up.

I still think that the removal of the disco ball was short sighted, as it really could have added a certain something to the catholic mass.

My vacation is just starting, there are many more days, and hopefully there will be more to write about.