An Over the Moon Hodgepodge

Click HERE to join Joyce and the other bloggers as we share our answers to the following questions.

1. Did you watch the solar eclipse? Your thoughts? Sun Chips, Moon Pies, Starburst candies, a Blue Moon beer, a Sunkist orange, or a Milky Way candy bar...what's your favorite eclipse related snack on this list?

I watched the sky get dark as if we were about to have rain and saw our yard light come on at 1:30 p.m.  I saw shadows across the yard that I have never seen before.  I did not see the eclipse except on the Weather Channel from Clemson, TN and from a boat out in the Atlantic.  My thoughts were "In the beginning God!"  and what a mighty God, Creator, Omnipotent Father is He! 

I haven't had a Moon Pie in years, but that used to be our stock snack when we went on family trips.  We all loved a Moon Pie.

2. What are you 'over the moon' about these days? What's something you enjoy doing every 'once in a blue moon'?

I am always 'over the moon' excited when anticipating seeing some of our family and we have that to look forward to in the days ahead.  Three of our Dallas grands will spend a night with us on the 31st on their way to vacation in Florida.  We will see our Indiana son when he flies in to attend his 30th HS class reunion on Sept. 1st.  And on the 2nd, we will travel to Hot Springs, AR to meet a niece and her husband from Maryland, and a nephew from Little Rock for lunch.  Then on the 8th, we will see our Dallas family when we attend our littlest Grand's play performance.  So, I am spreading out my 'over the moon' excitement.

Every 'once in a blue moon' we enjoy eating red meat.

3. Tell us about something in the realm of science that interests you. How do you feed that interest?

I don't know that this actually fits into the realm of science, but something that interests me is color and how colors work together to form other colors, hues, and tones.  I love to see how the intensity of color can change with different exposures.  I am more lately feeding this interest with my photography and exploring the way lighting affects a subject.

4. What are a few things you remember about going back to school as a child?

I remember both excitement and fear.  Excitement of having a new dress and shoes for the first day.  Excitement of seeing friends again.  Fear of not being able to do what might be expected of me.  Fear of the unknown ahead.  I also remember that both the excitement and the fear were short lived.  The new got old and dread turned into routine.  I remember the smell of the Big Chief tablets we all used and having brand new, long, freshly sharpened yellow pencils.

5. I've seen several versions of this around the net so let's make one of our own...share with us five words that touch your soul and briefly tell us why.

1.  Home - this truly is where my heart and soul are.  It speaks to my past and my present and all that I hold dear.

2.  Love - Love brought me into this world; love has given my life reason and stability; love gave me the joys and thrills that only it can; and it was love that saved my soul for eternity.

3.  Hugs - I am not a big hugger but sometimes a simple hug can express feelings that otherwise cannot be expressed.  My husband gives the best hugs in the world.  Then, I love the hugs of my sister and grandchildren.  Big Grandson Jackson absolutely gives the best wrap-you-up hugs of all.  But, how can one possibly rate the benefits of a timely given hug!

4.  Music - One of the first things I do in the morning is start our diffuser in the kitchen and turn on Hymns Radio on Pandora.  It is a collection of instrumental hymn arrangements that turns our thoughts and heart toward our Father.  Good music always speaks to our soul.

5.  Time - At our ages, early to late 70's, time has taken on new meaning.  We acknowledge that we have less of it ahead than ever before and that it is more precious than ever before.

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

This is truly a very random thought, and perhaps something that only a Louisianian can find of interest.

On August 29 we will again remember Hurricane Katrina and the affect it had on our state and the lives of so many.

Just last week, I learned something that I had never heard about in all the years since it hit in 2005.

Just outside the rural village of Simmesport, Louisiana are the remains of an experiment that went terribly wrong.

Source

"Known to residents and locals as Canadaville, a 920-acre property in rural Louisiana developed by Canadian billionaire auto parts maker Frank Stronach. He relocated families displaced by Hurricane Katrina to 49 mobile homes he put on this property, hoping to create a utopia that could depend at least partially on organic farming. Across the road from Canadaville is the Avoyelles Parish Port on the Atchafalaya River."  Ben Depp for Newsweek

 There are as many different takes on Canadaville as there are people to tell them.

Some say, it was a noble humanitarian effort to save displaced lives after the storm.  Some say, it was an ill-conceived attempt to provide corporate share profits.  Others will tell you that it was unsuccessful because of racial issues and a prejudiced Simmesport mayor and residents.  You will also hear that it was doomed from the beginning because "that element" doesn't want to work.  And I also heard that it was a political scheme to relocate the destroyed New Orleans Port to Avoyelles Parish for personal financial gain.

To some degree, probably all of these are true.  Whatever happened and for whatever reason, Canadaville is now pretty much abandoned and a ghost town along the Atchafalaya River.

After five years, the experiment ended and the few remaining residents were told they had to leave.  Many of them went back to New Orleans to start over.

 There are not only empty trailer homes, but a vacant playground, garden plots, and community center.

 What sounded like a beautiful vision in the aftermath of a natural disaster, the desire to not only introduce quick relief but also solve endemic inner-city problems by bringing people back to the land, in many ways was just that.  But, it was also a misguided vision. In the long and troubled history of development aid projects, Canadaville may be one of the strangest.

It has now been taken over by the Port of Avoyelles and is perhaps the most well maintained ghost town in the country.

There was an interesting article in a 2015 Newsweek Magazine about Canadaville that can be found HERE.

Another interesting article published by the CBC News can be found HERE