A New Orleans Icon is Gone

The Hubig's Pie bakery in the Faubourg Marigny burned down today. The bakery had been serving New Orleans fried snack pies since 1922. In March, we stayed in a bed and breakfast just blocks from the Hubig's bakery. So sad. We always have to snack on and buy some to bring home when we visit New Orleans. One of the co-owners says that they will rebuild, but doesn't know how long it will be.




http://photos.nola.com/tpphotos/2012/07/hubigs_pies_fire.html

L.S.U.

Geaux Tigers!

It could only be made better if we were in Baton Rouge watching the game with family!

In the News!

A great picture of Walter in the half-time show at the last home game this season. Courtesy of Southwest Arkansas Radio Online. Walter is playing the trumpet in the center of the photo.



A Toga Trot as viewed through the Texarkana Gazette! Diane and her co-workers ran/walked a race in memory of a good friend that died of cancer this year.



Diane and her co-horts are seen in the background here. This photo appeared on the front page of the Texarkana Gazette.

A New Day, New Advances for Heart Patients

	New Hope for Childhood Heart Patients Adults with heart failure have many options to help keep their hearts beating -- including several types of heart pumps. The same can't be said for our tiniest patients.

*personal note*  Dr. Jaquiss was the surgeon that operated on Walter last summer.  He was awesome.  I was sorry that Arkansas Children's lost him to Duke.  But hopefully, maybe, many more children will benefit from that move!

Go Scrappers!

To say our beloved Scrappers have struggled this season would be a bit of an understatement. We were ranked quite high at the beginning of the school year, but we have slipped each week. Little by little. Bit by bit.

A few fair-weather fans (otherwise known as FWFs) are even calling for the coach's resignation already. Geez! Be careful, FWFs, you might just get what you ask for. And sometimes, you just don't know what you got 'til it's gone.

You know there are going to be times......games......seasons that just don't live up to our "tradition". It doesn't mean that we need to throw away the coach. Especially considering the fact that we have many, many coaches coaching this team. Let's not be quite so narrow-sighted, FWFs.

Our junior high team is undefeated so far this year. We have some good years ahead. I just hope we are not trying to break in a new coach while they are trying to win a state championship.

So back to tonight. We hosted Ashdown. Who, by the way, is ranked higher than us at the present time.

SCRAPPERS DEFEAT ASHDOWN, FIRST CONFERENCE WIN - The Nashville Scrappers completed a 95 yard scoring drive Friday night against Ashdown with a 29 yard touchdown pass from Joel Hendry to Lavonte Thomas...capping a come from behind win, 28 to 26 at Scrapper Stadium. Nashville trailed 24 to 14 at halftime...but the Scrappers defense stepped up in the second half to shut out Ashown. The panthers only 2nd half points came on a Nashville safety..which made it a 26 to 14 advantage for the Panthers.  For the rest of the 4th quarter, Thomas was also responsible for a touchdown that cut the Ashdown lead to 5. Nashville began its final possession at their own 5 yard line and finished 95 yards later in the Ashdown end zone. Friday's win improved Nashville's season record to 2 and 5 on the season.

Let's hope this will calm some FWFs and give our coach a little reprieve.

No words....

....can describe the hurt and the loss that our nation suffered, this day, ten years ago. I watch the coverage from that horrible day. I listen to the stories of survivors, of the heroes that were made that day, courage that was summoned for the sake of our country, of the family members that lost loved ones, of the last precious phone calls some were able to make. I wonder about the children that have grown up not knowing their mother or their father. The single parents that have forged ahead for the sake of their children. The parents that lost their children that day. Co-workers, friends, brothers, sisters that are gone.

It's overwhelming to say the least.




Always, we remember......always, we pray.

Earth Day

Today was Earth Day.

I don't do nearly enough to help our planet. What little I do seems like just a drop in the bucket. I do recycle.....some. I should recycle more. I try to conserve electricity when I can.

Help me here. What do you do to "recycle, reuse, replenish, reduce, restore"? Give me some great ideas.

Miracles Still Happen

This little girl was waiting for a new heart. She was in the room beside Walter's when he was at Children's this summer for his open-heart surgery. I'm so happy for her and for her family.

Biggest quake in 35 years unnerves Arkansas

By SARAH EDDINGTON, Associated Press Sarah Eddington, Associated Press – Tue Mar 1, 12:07 am ET

GREENBRIER, Ark. – The central Arkansas town of Greenbrier has been plagued for months by hundreds of small earthquakes, and after being woken up by the largest quake to hit the state in 35 years, residents said Monday they're unsettled by the increasing severity and lack of warning.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the quake at 11 p.m. Sunday, centered just northeast of Greenbrier, about 40 miles north of Little Rock. It was the largest of more than 800 quakes to strike the area since September in what is now being called the Guy-Greenbrier earthquake. Read more.


Many say they felt the tremors even here in Southwest Arkansas.

And I slept through it all!

Who knew?!

American Idol Recap

New season, new contestants, new judges. Anything could happen!!!

This is one of my guilty pleasures. There.....I've admitted it. You now know my weakness.

So now that this is out in the open...let's recap.

Judges - Randy is randy. yo dawg! But he is an American Idol staple.

Steven Tyler, well, he is Aerosmith. And Aerosmith is just classic. Steven Tyler knows his music. Last season, I did enjoy Ellen. She was funny, I have to give her that, but she really didn't know anything about musical talent.

J Lo - I've always liked her, and after tonight, I still do. It would be so hard to tell all those people "no". Some would be easier than others, but it still would not be easy. I admire her for feeling for them.

I miss Simon though. I miss his honesty, even if it was brutal at times. Sometimes that is necessary.

Contestants - Some good, some so, so, so bad. None as great as "pants on the ground". Not many could stand next to that. Maybe tomorrow.....there's always hope.

And speaking of tomorrow.....it's going to be in N'awlins, baby! I'm sure you'll see lots of character and lots of talent. But maybe not both in the same people! LOL

So, let season 10 begin!

Wild Olive Giveaway

On the sidebar of my blog, you will see a button for Wild Olive Tees. It's a neat site where they are excited about spreading God's word and they do that with some awesome, cool shirts. I haven't ordered one yet, but I am going too! They have revamped their website and are having a great give-a-way. They are giving away t-shirts and tickets to Women of Faith conference, if you are in the CT area. If not, you can choose just to win some cool shirts!

Wild Olive Tees

So pop on over there and check them out!

KSLA Albert Pike Newsclip

While we were at Albert Pike today, KSLA had a newsman there filming a follow-up to the June 11th flooding of the area. Walter was lucky enough to get a short spot in the clip. He gets to show off his catch of the day!

You can't miss him. He's at the very end of the clip, sporting the very cool "state-trooper" mirrored sunglasses. :)

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

Jamie called yesterday as she left school. Her school is about six miles south of Nashville. She said there was something big burning in town. I walked outside and could see tons of black smoke billowing into the air, only a couple of blocks from my house.

I called Tim to tell him. I knew he would be able to see it on his way home and I didn't want him to worry that it was our house. I had already heard reports that the fire and smoke could be seen as far as 15-20 miles away. Tim said when he got home that he started seeing the smoke about 30 miles from home.

It looked like the entire downtown was on fire.

I wasn't too far off on that assessment. Nashville lost almost a whole city block of buildings. Businesses that are peoples' lives. Buildings that are historic and can never be replaced.

Three businesses were destroyed yesterday. Everything from the post office to John's Hair Care was a complete loss. John's and Baker's Easy Pay miraculously survived, thanks to the hard work of many volunteers and firefighters.

Nashville took top story in many of the Little Rock and Texarkana/Shreveport newscasts last night at 10:00. Click here for a link to the piece that was aired last night on Fox 16 out of Little Rock.

Thanks though to our fire department and the many other fire departments that responded. Because of them, two businesses in that block were saved. Nashville's losses could have been so much worse.

Even though there were people in these businesses when the fire broke out at 4:30, everyone got out safely. There have been no injuries of the firefighters either.

If you could, please, say a prayer for the people that lost their businesses.

ACH on the Today Show

Take a look at this video.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/37591324#37591324

(You'll have to copy and paste the above address in your browser. The link was not working.)

This is the hospital where Walter will have his heart surgery and the surgeon on this video is Walter's surgeon that we met last Friday. He's supposed to be the best pediatric cardiac surgeon in the world. I know Walter is in good hands.

I knew people came from all over the U.S. to receive care at ACH, but I guess I need to rephrase that to be "from all over the world".

Neat story!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

As you know we are a "family divided" on one subject.... and that is sports. We have to split our loyalties between LSU and Arkansas.

I just had to give a shout out to both teams as they both were 3-0 for the weekend against their opponents!

Arkansas is #4 and LSU is #6 in the NCAA polls, as of today!

Both teams are doing great. I would love to see either team in the World Series this year!

Take a Closer Look...

Just exactly what is this guy advertising?

Spring Break!!!!

...and this is what we get!



C'mon, it's supposed to be spring and the temperature this morning was 32.9! Considering just Friday I was wearing capris and flip flops and I will probably be wearing then again in 48 hours. ahhhh, you've got to love this Arkansas spring weather.

Spell Check Anyone?

Who Dat Say Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints?!

Well, it sure wasn't the Colts last night!

What a game! What a game!

I've been watching the superbowl for years and it is so much more fun when you are really invested in one of the teams. I didn't care about whether I won any football pools or not. I just wanted my Saints to win. When they ran for that last touchdown, my house erupted in cheers and my pets ran for cover! It was fantastic!

An evening of lots of good food, gumbo, boudain, spectacular football, friends and family. I had so much fun!

Thanks, guys, for a wonderful evening!

Who Dat Nation on it's Way!

Found this article on Nola.com. Just had to post it!

Dear Miami: Get ready for the Who Dat Nation coming for the Super Bowl

By Mark Lorando, The Times-Picayune

February 01, 2010, 2:06PM

Dear Miami,

The Saints are coming. And so are we, their loyal, long-suffering and slightly discombobulated Super Bowl-bound fans.

While there's still time to prepare -- although a few hard-core Who Dats will begin trickling in Monday, most of us won't arrive until Thursday or Friday -- we thought we'd give you a heads-up about what you should expect.

First things first: You need more beer.

Yeah, we know. You ordered extra. You think you have more than any group of humans could possibly consume in one week. Trust us. You don't.

New Orleans was a drinking town long before the Saints drove us to drink. But it turns out beer tastes better when you're winning. (Who knew?) So let's just say we're thirsty for more than a championship; adjust your stockpiles accordingly.

And look. When we ask you for a go-cup, be nice to us. We don't even know what "open container law" means. Is that anything like "last call"?

It's Carnival season in New Orleans (that's Mardi Gras to you), and we'll be taking the celebration on the road. So don't be startled if you walk past us and we throw stuff at you; that's just our way of saying hello.

Oh, and sorry in advance about those beads we leave dangling from your palm trees. We just can't help ourselves.

February is also crawfish season, and you can be sure that more than one enterprising tailgater will figure out a way to transport a couple sacks of live mudbugs and a boiling pot to Miami.

When the dude in the 'Who Dat' T-shirt asks if you want to suck da head and pinch da tail, resist the urge to punch him. He's not propositioning you. He's inviting you to dinner.

And if you see a big Cajun guy who looks exactly like an old Saints quarterback walking around town in a dress ... don't ask. It's a long story.

We know that crowd control is a major concern for any Super Bowl host city. Our advice? Put away the riot gear.

Reason No. 1: Indianapolis is going to lose, and their fans are way too dull to start a riot.

Reason No. 2: New Orleans showed the world on Sunday that we know how to throw a victory party. We don't burn cars. We dance on them.

Reason No. 3: Even if we did lose, which we won't, leaving the stadium would be like leaving a funeral, and our typical response to that is to have a parade.

Speaking of which: If you happen to see a brass band roll by, followed by a line of folks waving their handkerchiefs, you're not supposed to just stand there and watch. As our own Irma Thomas would say, get your backfield in motion.

And hey, Mister DJ! Yes, we know you've already played that stupid Ying Yang Twins song 10 times tonight, but indulge us just one more time.

To us, "Halftime (Stand Up and Get Crunk)" isn't just a song; it's 576 points of good memories. It's the sound of a Drew Brees touchdown pass to Devery Henderson, a Pierre Thomas dive for first down on 4th-and-1, a Garrett Hartley field goal sailing through the uprights in overtime.

It's what a championship sounds like. You may get sick of hearing it. We won't. Encore, dammit.

Inside Sun Life Stadium, you may find your ears ringing more than usual. We're louder than other fans. Seven thousand of ours sound like 70,000 of theirs.

Don't believe us? Ask the 12th man in the Vikings huddle.

Some people think it's just the Dome that heightens our volume. But you're about to discover a little secret: We can scream loud enough to make your head explode, indoors or out.

It's not the roof. It's the heart.

Well, OK, and the beer.

Don't be surprised if there are more Saints fans outside the stadium than inside. A lot of us are coming just to say we were part of history, even if we can't witness it up close. The Saints are family to us, and you know how it is with family: We want to be there for them, whether they really need us or not. Because we know our presence will mean something to them, whether they can see us or not.

Come to think of it, seeing as how you're taking us in for the week, we pretty much regard you as family, too. So we're warning you now: If you're within hugging distance, you're fair game.

Hugging strangers is a proud Who Dat tradition, right up there with crying when we win.

Most sports fans cry when their teams lose. Not us. We've been losing gracefully and with good humor for 43 years. Tragedy and disappointment don't faze us. It's success that makes us go to pieces.

Hurricane Katrina? We got that under control. The Saints in the Super Bowl? SOMEBODY CALL A PARAMEDIC!!!

So anyway, don't let the tears of joy freak you out. We're just ... disoriented.

OK. Let's review:

Order more beer. Throw me something, mister. Suck da heads. Wear da dress. Stand up. Get crunk. Hug it out. Protect your eardrums. Pass the Kleenex. Hoist the trophy.

See you at the victory party.

Faithfully yours,

The Who Dat Nation

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