Monday Morning Blues

I'm sitting in my office this morning quite distracted by the news of Hurrican Katrina bearing down on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana. The hurricane came in as a 4 and has since been downgraded to a 3. Either way, it's terribly destructive and I pray for the safety of the people in the area. New Orleans is one of my favorite cities, and I'm afraid it may be lost for a long time. It lies below sea-level and simply cannot sustain the water which is deluging the area. Since I am a grad of the University of Alabama, many of my classmates came from and still live in the New Orleans/Gulf Coast region. I have many happy memories of time spent on the Gulf and in the city, and now it may be washed away.

Well, in happier news, we had a cute little surprise party for my mom's birthday on Saturday. My dad convinced her that he was going to take her out to dinner and after Mom called me on Saturday morning to try to pry the truth out of me, she was hook,line, and sinker convinced that John and I were not going to see her on her birthday. Must say, Mom was a smidge displeased. : ) John and I stopped for some balloons and picked up and ice cream cake, them went over to M&D's to wait on the deck until Dad was able to get Mom to come out. She was onto something, but was still surprised to see us. We ended up having a very nice time, as always. I took some pics of mom and would like to post them here, with her permission of course. She's so darn cute.

Not much else to report today. Checked on Ted-he's fine. He's on the outskirts of the hurricane, so thankfully he and Catherine and the boys are safe.