New Orleans 2005 – 6 weeks before Katrina
LP Palm Black
50 Days for 50 Years
We drove from Palm Springs to New Orleans as a way to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary. And celebration it was. Our memories of those 50 days bring laughter and joy to our minds almost daily. Yes …it is a great way to celebrate a very important event.
But here it is, August 29, and as the country remembers the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, I am once again reminded of that trip. We returned home from the 50 days on August 10th. I immediately downloaded approximately 3,000 photos that I had taken, and couldn’t wait to paint some of the images that I loved.
And so…the first one I painted was this palm tree that I saw on the morning of July 19th, 2005, at Lake Pontchartrain. It was about 9:15 AM, and I can remember how lush, green and peaceful it felt at the lake that day. I also knew that tree needed to be immortalized in a different way. I titled it LP Palm Black and it has been an important painting in my body of artwork. I completed that painting on August 25, 2005, 4 days before Katrina.
Today, 5 years later, as New Orleans remembers tragedy and loss, it is being celebrated for courage and resilience. I am remembering these scenes from my photo journal of my day at Lake Pontchartrain, before the levee broke.
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- Lake Ponchartrain July 19, 2005
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- Palm July 19, 2005 before Katrina
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- Lake Ponchartrain July 19, 2005
Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary located in southeastern Louisiana. It is the second-largest saltwater lake in the United States, after the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and the largest lake in Louisiana. It covers an area of 630 square miles (1630 square km) with an average depth of 12 to 14 feet (about 4 meters). Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about 40 miles (64 km) wide and 24 miles (39 km) from south to north. In descending order of area, the lake is located in parts of St. Tammany, Orleans, Jefferson, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Tangipahoa parishes.
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Thanks for sharing. A beautiful way to recall what was before it became.