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Cameron Family News |
May 24 2006The re-re-renovation / restoration / revivication of solomon street Just in time for hurricane season, we begin the restoration. The house is cleaned out, sprayed, for mold, rewired, cabinets ordered and the sheetrocking has begun. Today a plumber might actually show up and do some work. The floor guys are coming tonight to tell me what that will cost. We are moving right along. It is amazing what you can get done if you are actually here. None of this could happen from a distance. We have 2 1/2 more weeks here and I'm already feeling anxious about leaving. It helps so much to see the progress. I have to say, though, I will not miss the trailer. |
May 16 2006Greetings from the FEMA trailor Well here we are in our luxurious FEMA trailor. If they made these things any cheaper they would be a refrigerator box with wheels. I imagine if we had to live in this thing for any length of time it would disintigrate around us. Of all the captivating features of this lovey hostel, my favorite is the size of the shower. The tub is just slightly bigger than a baby bather and so short thad Donnie has to kneel to shower. But the refridgerator is a huge full size affair that takes up twice the space of the shower. So, you can easily eat yourself to the point that you can no longer fit into the shower. You know where I'm going here. I don't have to say it. Suffice to include that I believe it is an evil conspiracy to destroy New Orleans. Anyway, to bring you up to date, we had Lola on Marbh 31st. We lounged around for a few days then made ready to come down to New Orleans. We made it for Jazz Fest which was brilliant. We did 5 out of 6 days with the kids. Now we are staying in the trailor getting some work done on the purple house. Initially we were only going to stay for 3 weeks but we have now extended to June 9th. At this point the plan is to turn the purple house into a single family and move back in there. The yellow house 2nd floor has been rented out and the new tenants move in tomorrow. The first floor is still gutted and James and I are trying to decide how to proceed with it. And the green house will be sold to a friend who wants to fix it up and live there. The neighborhood is still pretty quiet but looking much better than it did back in Dec. There are alot of people moving back into mid-city and fixing up the houses even better than before. Unfortunatley our immediate neighborhood has been slow to respond, but the area as a whole is doing well. Every other day I think we are crazy for doing this. I am constantly aware that sitting here right now I would have been under water. In fact there is a great map of the flood that shows the sequence of events and extent of the levee damage at Click here: http://www.nola.com/katrina/graphics/flashflood.swf Looking at that really sends a chill though me. But there is something about this place. If you love it, it's like no other. There are more pictures posted in the album of jazz fest, Lola & the lower ninth ward. More later -t |
Mar 23 2006Waitin' on the Girl She is not due until tomorrow but the wait has begun. Spicy food, long walks, pep talks ect - all to the purpose of inspiring our little bundle to come on down! We are all a twitter and can't wait to meet her. Stay tuned. We'll keep you posted. |
Mar 6 2006Getting Past Mardi Gras Those last two weeks of February were tough. I was pretty home sick for New Orleans and watching carnival on the telivision just made it worse. Ashfield held a mini Mardi Gras here and crowned Nina queen. She had a great time. Now we are just waiting for the baby to arrive. The due date is March 24th but who knows, it could be any day. We have our sights set on Jazz Fest if the little one is up for the trip. I think we need a dose of home and sun. Besides, we need to check out our new FEMA trailor!! That is if they ever give us the keys.... Keep up the good work boys! |
Jan 23 2006The Weather Outside is Frightful We woke up this morning to 8 inches of snow - or something there abouts. It is coming down. We had a little reprieve for a few days when it got warm enough for ice and snow to melt away but now we are into round 2. I don't suspect it will let up until spring. Things are coming together in the house. I've started working on Nina's room. We are going pink and purple with stars on the ceiling. I hope to have it done in a week or so. Nina started preschool last week but because of MLK day, a weather day due to fog and today's snow day she has only gone once. She really loved it though and wants to go back. The class is full of boys which she seems to like. This does not bode well for the future... We put in an electric fence for Bleu who has become a little too comfortable up here. He takes off and goes down to the hardware store for free dog biscuits whenever the opportunity arises. Donnie is now obsessing over his new zap-a-dog electric confinement devise. With sheer delight he installed it last night and is anxiously awaiting the dog’s first zap. Unfortunately the current snow storm is going to bury Donnie's flags that he painstakingly put out to indicate the line of demarcation between comfort and pain. But the point won't be lost on Bleu. I think he'll figure it out with or without flags. That's the news for today. If it's warm where you are, soak up some rays for me. -t |
Jan 9 2006We're In It took a monumental effort but we are into the new house. I still have to post pics but I'll get to it soon. We managed the holidays and have just about finished unpacking. The house is awesome. We have filled it up much more than we anticipated. It seems to have shrunk since we moved in. We have plenty of room though for anyone who wants to visit so come on up! PS: the pix are posted in the photo album.... |
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Dec 24 2005 10 Norton Hill Road Not sure if it is love of the town, love of this house, fear of the levees (or lack there of) or just sheer fatique -- but we have decided to stay and bought us a house here in Ashfield. It is a beauty of a house and you can see picks of it in the Photo Album. We are almost in. We have moved all the stuff over from the apartment we were statying in - boy did that collect quickly - and I am now up at 7 waiting for the moving truck from NOLA. Mom, Nina and I went down for two weeks and packed up the 2nd floor of the NOLA house. We just got back on the 18th. That was a heck of a trip. It was pretty cold for New Orleans and we had no electric or gas, so no heat or hot water. We had a genny but that go stolen. We borrowed another and made the best of it. Once the furniture was picked up we camped with an inflatable mattress. I also got a chance to meet with all the contractors, clean up the yards more and get the building permits from City Hall. BRB - the truck is here! |
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Nov 11 2005 The Police Report In These Parts Submitted by Nan Parati. Found in the local paper. Greenfield, Monday, Nov. 7 5:04 pm - Report of a moose in the parking lot of Friendly's on the Mohawk Trail. Officer checked the area. The moose left the area. Environmental Police advised. 5:54 pm - The moose is back now in the parking lot of Home Depot on the Mohawk Trail, officers located it and are trying to keep it off Route 2. Said moose went into the woods. 6:19 pm - The moose is back by Home Depot trying to cross Route 2, officers assisted with the crossing of a moose, moose successfully crossed the road. |
Nov 1 2005Halloween Nina was amazed by the ritual of halloween this year. Every time she went up do a door and got candy she would come back to me in wild amazement, "Mama! I got more candy in there!" and she would shake her plastic pumpkin to show off her growing collection. She walked from one end of Main St. to another wanting to follow the big kids. I cut her off after a few M&Ms and a Kit Kat. She finally crashed from her sugar buzz around 11. All in all I think it was a success. |
Oct 30 2005High and Dry Oh my God, where to begin... I'll do it cronologically. Sometime in July, dates are a little fuzzy at this point, we found out that we are pregnant again!! Yes, another munchin is due in March. We finished renovating the 212 apt at the end of July and had wonderful new tenants move in on Aug 1st thus completing our little village. We were looking forward to kicking back and enjoying the fall and winter in peace. HA! In Aug, Donnie spent most of the month in NJ working and I went up with Nina and the poodle to hang out for 2 weeks. We drove back via N. Carolina and stopped in on Nan at the horse farm. Nina loves the ponies and chickens there. Well we got back on Thursday night and enjoyed one full day of being home. Saturday my neighbor mentioned a little hurricane in the gulf. I watched the weather channel for 20 minutes and proceeded to start packing. We were out of there by 6 PM, my neighbor, her cat, our cat, our dog, our bird, nina and myself in the cab of the Tundra. We made our way to Tuscaloosa and met Donnie there in a hotel. We stayed there one night and realized we were in the direct line of the storm. So we moved to Atlanta and watched the tragedy unfold. After two days we realized we could not go home for a while so we dropped the neighbor off at the airport and started driving north. We stopped in Jersey for a day or two and then continued on to Ashfield, MA where Nan had an apartment for us to move into --- and we have been here ever since. We traveled down to NOLA for two weeks to survey damage and gut the houses. Luckily we found some great help with that. I took alot of pictures and DV footage, all of which will be posted in the photo album soon. Things in NOLA are bleak, but we know that the city will come back stronger than ever. We do not know at this point what our plans are but we are happy to be in such a great little town surrounded by wonderful people - it makes all this so much easier to deal with. We hope everyone is doing well and finding there way through this ordeal. Namaste! |
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donnie@solomonstreet.com • tracy@solomonstreet.com