Sunday, September 11, 2005
Just minutes before mass, Mom Ryan found out by making a phone call that her best friend Laverne Parfait is safe and well and staying with sisters at the Rosaryville Spirit Life Center in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. I updated the Katrina web page I had made to indicate that Laverne is safe. We drop Mom Ryan off at St. Cecilia's, then pick her up about an hour later. Breakfast for me. Patrick took a nap, Mom Ryan took a walk, I folded laundry and began Lodestar work. Napped. Did more Lodestar work. We checked out a seismic map on sfgate.com/earthquakes and confirmed what Isabel from the retirement home had said about Mom Ryan's new home—that it was on bedrock and therefore safer with respect to earthquakes. Patrick made chicken with orzo (and mushrooms and bell peppers) for dinner. Mom Ryan told the amazing story of her son Kerry and the elevator. Dessert: peach sorbet. I suggested that we make a list of Mom Ryan food firsts. Now that she's living in San Francisco, she'll be eating a lot healthier than in New Orleans, we think. For example, she's never had an all-vegetarian restaurant meal, and vegetarian meals she'd make at home were things like frozen broccoli ("the good frozen broccoli"), frozen corn, frozen peas, with some buttah on top. Patrick says she hasn't had real sushi, or Korean or Vietnamese food. Maybe we'll take her to Dragonfly soon. Online we watched Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast. I enjoyed all the performances, and it was amusing to see some mistakes in the otherwise very professional and classy show. For example, in one shot, a silhouetted figure ran across the stage in front of the camera. In another, a black mysterious something came down from the top of the frame and went right back up a second later. Patrick noted with interest how many (if not all) of the performers have spoken out against the war in Iraq. For Lodestar today, nearly all of my copy editing is done and sent back to Patrick for review.