The world does turn

I had a good day today. First I went to the bank to make a withdrawal. My bank is a really pleasant small bank in an old historic brick building. The kind of place that makes you feel good just walking into. The fancy woodworking inside is a pleasure to lay one's eyes on. Once finished there I drove through the rain to the store to get some things I'd need to continue the restoration of my old Edwardian era home.
I picked up some polyurethane so I could paint a protective coating onto the newly restored columns on my front porch. I didn't want any moisture to get in and what better way to seal it? I also picked up some dark walnut stain so I could put a finish on the leg of a night stand that I'd recently repaired. Nothing like painting in my kitchen on this rainy day. A rainy day courtesy of the leading edge of remnants from Hurricane Katrina.

As he clung to the tree he watched what appeared to be a scene from his worst nightmare.

“The houses around me were just disappearing,” he said.

Spencer spent the next four or five hours clinging to it until neighbors, Anne Anderson and Vernon Lacour, found him as they arrived to check on their home, which also was washed away.

I turned on the little AM-FM radio that my father used when he would work outside in his landscaping business. Reports were coming in from all over detailing the devastation that Katrina had ravaged upon the Gulf Coast. I was relieved to be insulated from that tragedy and I listened intently while painting...

Frank Mills was in a New Orleans boarding house with three elderly residents when water started swirling up to the ceiling.

Mills, 56, made for the front door but an elderly man went to a bedroom to retrieve something, and a woman went to help him.

“And when I saw her in the hallway, she was floating face up,” Mills told The Associated Press on Tuesday, adding that he never saw the other man again.

The steady rain continues to tap on the roof as I make my way to the living room and the decorative fireplace. The finish could use some touching up in spots so I begin applying the clear finish to the dark wood. It goes on smoothly and I can tell it will be beautiful when completely dry.

"The house just split in half. We got up the roof and the water came and just opened up, divided," still visibly shaken Mr Jackson told America's ABC television.

"My wife, I can't find her body, she gone."

"I held her hand tight as I could and she told me 'you can't hold me'. She said, 'take care of the kids and the grandkids'," Mr Jackson said.

"We have nowhere to go. I'm lost, that's all I had, that's all I had. I don't know what I'm going to do."

Now all that was left to do is wait for the finish to dry. I might just read or catch up on the news while I enjoy the rest of this blissful and relaxing rainy afternoon. Yes, I had a good day today.