Thoughts for PJ

Sure hope you're safe and sound, purple jade.
Any other of our LA (the other LA) ohana, as well.

This is going to be a big disaster for you even if it dies back a lot.
Please let us know how you're doing when the opportunity affords itself.

On this thread http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=16258&forum=6&start=0

DawnTiki said she'd heard from PJ and that she was headed for Baton Rouge this morning.

I hope she's safe and her home is spared.

PJ - if you can - log in & let us know you are OK!

I hope everything is OK... I quadruple that motion!

I'll go so far as to quintuple that motion. Hope all is going well PJ.
-TURBO G.
Purple Jade's Subway Riding Posse.

PJ and family took their kittys to Baton Rouge early Sunday morning. Hopefully they are fine. New Orleans took almost a direct hit but Katrina didn't quite have the punch everyone anticipated. I'm sure there is Major damage but from what I see it is not as bad as it could have been.
I'm waiting and watching for good news.

I know no news from PJ, but I have heard from a friend who stayed in his home in the French Quarter (!) and all was well there at that time (@ 10:00 AM my time). There was no water in the house and the pumps for the streets in his area were holding.

As of 1:00 PM there, the levees were holding (built only to withstand Category 3!), save one breech which was not catastrophic. The 5-ness of the storm did cease before it hit New Orleans, and it veered east. Good for NOLA, bad for Gulfport, Pass Christian, Mississippi in general, etc.

When I told one of my New Orleans refugee houseguests over the phone (from school here) that I'd seen internet footage of Gulfport WITH THE GULF OF MEXICO IN THE STREETS (NOT rain!), she quipped, "Weeeell, Gulfport is really just a buncha strip malls; it's not gonna be too hard to replace it! Not like New Orleans!!"

I'd sure hate to be one of the 8-10,000 in the Superdome with no electricity. You coastal Californians just don't KNOW heat 'til you've been in that city. And I've never been there without being to escape, running from my AC'd car to the AC'd buildings! Phoenix was withering at 103 degrees, but that Southern humidity thang, baby. Man

Going home to my houseguests (2 humans and a canine) and to watch news footage. Keep those states in your prayers.

alice b

PJ update:

The hotel she is staying in in Baton Rouge has no power and doesn't know when
they will have power back up, they do have a generator but only enough
juice for 6 days, so they will only be powering it up at night. She
was told she may be looking at a month before power is restored back
in N.O.
She still doesn't have a clue how her house did through the storm,
although from the images she has seen on the local news stations,
based on landmarks she can recognize, she thinks her house may be
sitting in up to two feet of water right now. But she has no real idea
when she will be able to make it back home to check it out to see if
there was any damage or not. She seems to have a pretty positive
attitude, that even if her house is sitting in 2 feet of water it
could have been much worse.
Please keep your fingers crossed for PJ and all our other Gulf Coast Tiki Central members and their friends and families.

[ Edited by: DawnTiki 2005-08-29 14:16 ]

Dawntiki, tell PJ to come on over to Houston and stay with me! Seriously!

I think she has an aged cat or 5, though, which would be the only hitch, since one guest, "Bear," is a big black lab. But if she's feline-free, my living room convert-a-bed couch is free. Please let her know. I'll PM you to give you my phone number in case she doesn't still have it.

alice b

PJ I hope everything is well at your place, and wish you & your kitties a quick return home to an intact household!

[ Edited by: Tikiwahine 2006-08-15 11:04 ]

Man O Man, my prayers are with you PJ! They're already saying this is the biggest relief effort the Red Cross has started so far. Now that you're still ok, I hope your home is too.

And here's hoping and praying for all the other unfortunate people there too.

Wow. 2 feet of water? A month before you can go home?

PJ - if you read this, please let us know if we can do anything for you & your family...

crap

I heard more levees have burst. The Quarter has flooded. I have no idea how much/high/far.

Crap is right! What a terrible situation. What happens now? Since they can't simply wait for the flood water to recede, but rather (I assume, perhaps incorrectly) have to rebuild the levees and pump out all that water, does that mean that all that has to be completed before Purple Jade can even go back to find out how her home has fared? Oof. Having to wait without being able to do anything about it would make me bonkers.

I'll echo what others have said -- Purple Jade, if there's anything we can do to alleviate what you're going through, please let us know.

Oh Wow! I have had a nasty cold so I slept in today. PJ called me before I turned the television on, so I hadn't heard the news about any new breaches in the levee till PJ told me this morning. According to PJ there is little doubt that her house is under less than 15 feet of water. If thats the case she's lost everything. tiki410 we haven't heard from you in awhile? I hope the damage isn't as awful as the news is reporting.

[ Edited by: DawnTiki 2005-08-30 10:56 ]

Just let me say right here:

PJ, and any other of our homeless friends from the NO area, come visit us in California. I'm serious. If you can't go home for a month and there's nothing else you can do, come here and try to heal a bit. What with modern communications and the Internet, most likely you won't be any less in touch.

We have a guest room, and guess what, a big basement which could easily become a cat refuge (heck, it already is...what's a few more, eh?) And a nice huge yard for the livelier ones to play in should you wish. And which would make a nice campsite, at that. It's gently warm and mellow here, the perfect place to seek refuge.

Really, I mean it. Offer's open and open-ended, too. I am so very sorry you all are having to go through this terrible disaster. Anything else I can do, just let me know--PJ has my phone number and I check my PMs regularly on TC. Or contact me through [email protected]...

What else are friends for. Hey, I paid too much for "California real estate" but yeah, there are times, even including earthquake fears, when it feels like quite a blessing overall. So--blessings are to be shared, then.

Frankly, this is all beginning to look almost worse than I'd feared, which is really something since I tend to be a bit of a gloom-meister...I'm so, so sorry.

much love and sympathy,

Lisa aka tikivixen

From news reports it sounds like the flooding situation has been getting worse, with a 200-foot breach in a drainage canal that is causing Lake Ponchartrain water to enter the city so that areas that were dry last night are now flooding (including the French Quarter) and in previously flooded areas the water level is rising. My heart goes out to Purple Jade and all the other residents of the area, and what is happening one of the most friendly and beautiful and historic cities in the nation is an enourmous tragedy.

Looking at the pictures and reading a few reports make me quite sad. My hopes are that any problems for you are minimal or non-existent (if non-existent is possible).

We miss you PJ!

I'll echo tikivixen's offer. If any displaced TC ohana need to hang somewhere for a while, I've got an extra bedroom (but I cannot host any pets).

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-15 15:01 ]

aloha everyone! I'm new in town, and got here by strange and mysterious means :o. Today, while rummanging through a curation collection, trying to find interesting things for a department display case, I found....a Tiki God! No kidding! He was wrapped up in ooold newspapers, his shell and seed necklace was disintegrating, but he was a happy guy anyway.
To make a long story short - a web search of keyword tiki brought up (among other things) TC, and here I am.

I noticed that many of you have offered shelter to friends who have been displaced by that byotch Katrina...Bless you all! My heart broke tonight while I watched the news - so much gone in the blink of an eye. You're all in my prayers.

amiotiki

so pj is alright? and others are accounted for? (worried)

Hang in there PJ. We're all thinking about you.

We're keeping you and all your furry friends our thoughts.

Just heard from PJ, still no word on how her home is. She's still in Baton Rouge in a hotel room, that won't be changing anytime soon I'm afraid. I think the shock of the absolute magnitude of this disaster is beginning to take it's toll on her. She said they went out to try to get supplies like "water" and it was an absolute mad house. She wanted me to thank everyone who has reached out to her and appreciates everyones well wishes. Please keep PJ and all the people Katrina touched in your thoughts and prayers!

Dawn, thanks SO much for keeping us informed. It is very, very much appreciated.

You and PJ both probably already know this, but the forums at http://www.nola.com are doing an amazing job of helping people reconnect and find out how their neighborhoods are doing...they have specific forums (which are searchable too) for every parish and also for both 'missing' and 'found/okay' citizen info.

Thanks tikivixen, Yes, thank goodness for the http://www.nola.com site. I was able to get some information about the street she lives on to her. Up untill that she had no real information what condition her street might be in.

Hey All,

I scoured a few of the posts and all I have to say is thank you, thank you and well . . . you know the rest. Tiki410 and family have begun to set up residence in Lafayette. I have gone pretty much full circle in life and ended up back in the place that probably had the greatest impact on my life.

I've had close friends and not so close friends reach out in ways I could not even imagine. I've had strangers open up to me that it makes you break down and cry.

I am one of the more fortunate ones.

People have reached out to me and as I am getting settled its time for me reach out also.

Anyone that speaks to PJ please let her know that if she needs a respite from the hotel living to come stay with us. We got a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo. Its sparse but it has to be better than a hotel. She can even bring the kitties. She is just going to have to deal with a 1 month old that sometimes yells (usually around diaper changing time) and she will have to bring sleeping bags.
Tell PJ that I am wearing her Necker Island pendent now and there is a place for her in the newly relocated Tonga Isle II.

Our love goes out to all.

:) tiki410 I am so glad to see you and your family are ok and out of harms way. PJ has been concerned about you and asks often if there has been any news from you, I'll be happy to tell her you have checked in and are safe and sound.

On 2005-08-31 16:07, tiki410 wrote:
Anyone that speaks to PJ please let her know that if she needs a respite from the hotel living to come stay with us. We got a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo. Its sparse but it has to be better than a hotel. She can even bring the kitties.

that is so cool 8)

Hi guys...

I have some limited computer access, so I wanted to send out a quick message.

We're all doing as well as can be expected. The staff at our hotel has been wonderful to us. We are a lot better off than a lot of other N.O residents.
(I've just seen a shot of the football stadium near my house, the water is up to the bottom bar of the goalposts... Dawntiki has been giving me reports that she's found online, and I think it's most likely that my house has water up to the roof.)

But I have my husband, my parents, my aunt, my best friend, and my kitties with me. I'm sure when I am able to get back to my property, I'll be in shock all over again, but for now we are all safe and reaonably comfortable.

I am overwhelmed by the offers of assistance and good wishes from TCers. I am sorry I haven't been able to respond to the phone calls, but service is sporadic and they've asked that we keep non-emergency calls to a minimum.

We will be able to stay at the hotel for a few more weeks, and we are looking for a house to rent for all of us.

Needless to say, I am not exactly thinking straight at the moment, and I'd like to say a lot more but the words just won't come.

So for now, heartfelt thanks to everyone from me and my family. Your concern has been like a warm blanket straight out of the dryer on a cold night.

Nice to hear from you Jader! I keep reminding Gavin & Leroy just how well off they are, and if they don't fully appreciate it, their kibble will be sent to your pet posse in their time of need.

[ Edited by: badmojo 2005-08-31 19:18 ]

Hang in there PJ. Very sorry to hear all this news comin' from your area.

Chongolio

Can we start a fund of some kind to assist PJ and her family? I want to help but don't know how. (other than the red cross but I mean to Purple Jade)

Well I just saw the post about helping the victims.

[ Edited by: bananabobs 2005-08-31 20:18 ]

PJ, Thanks for the reply. I'm sure you have had NO picnic and there is worse yet to come. Thank God you and your family are alive and well. The pain in our hearts for your losses is terrible. IF there is ANYTHING we Can do, please state your needs. Just know that we are All here for you for what ever you need.

Ditto. Please let us know what we can do for you PJ - we miss you!

Anyone know about:
Mary Wahl - Metarie, LA
Armead Prince - Metarie, LA
Kim Coburn - Beachin - Denham Springs, LA
Joey Ward - Gulf Shores, AL
Greg Parker - Denham Springs, LA

These are regulars at Hukilau and other events, but not all on TC.

I am going to start an 'Ebay for PJ' thread where I will be selling off some odd tiki items and other fun stuff on Ebay and sending the proceeds to PJ and her critters via Paypal. I'll be putting the first stuff on this weekend, and if you want to join in the effort, either by buying or selling, feel free. More info to come, but I just wanted to give people a heads up in case they want to join in.

Just note you cannot put in your ebay auction that it is a fundraising auction unless it is an official Ebay-approved charity.

However, there ARE some Kartina releief officially approved charities tied in with Ebay, so if you want to do that, it's also a good idea!

-Le Poisson

Also among the missing: Fats Domino & Irma Thomas. Allen Toussaint was found in the Superdome (which sounds like something out of Dante: trash fires, overflowing toilets, not enough food, water or medicine, reports of rape, murder & suicides, dead bodies left in the sun...). The Neville Brothers lost everything bu they're all OK. And there's some question about where Alex Chilton is.

On 2005-09-01 13:50, Swanky wrote:
Anyone know about:
Mary Wahl - Metarie, LA
Armead Prince - Metarie, LA
Kim Coburn - Beachin - Denham Springs, LA
Joey Ward - Gulf Shores, AL
Greg Parker - Denham Springs, LA

These are regulars at Hukilau and other events, but not all on TC.

You can check on http://www.nola.com , they have "Have you seen..." & "We're OK" boards for checking for people all across the Gulf.

On 2005-09-01 14:12, freddiefreelance wrote:
Also among the missing: Fats Domino & Irma Thomas. Allen Toussaint was found in the Superdome (which sounds like something out of Dante: trash fires, overflowing toilets, not enough food, water or medicine, reports of rape, murder & suicides, dead bodies left in the sun...). The Neville Brothers lost everything bu they're all OK. And there's some question about where Alex Chilton is.

I don't know if it's related to the hurricane but blues great R.L. Burnside died today.

Whew! It's good to see an actual response from PJ herself. Now if Beachin and the others would just check in.

If there is anything I can do to help I'm open to suggestions. I feel pretty useless/helpless right now. Though I am donating $$ via my wife because her company will match $ for $. But if anyone gets a charity auction going let me know and I will donate some of my prints.

Count me in too Tikifish, I will help any way I can, please keep us posted how we can help

This whole catastrophe has freaked me out. I can't stop thinking about it-and I live far away. (California)

[ Edited by: mrsmiley 2005-09-01 16:56 ]

On 2005-09-01 14:12, freddiefreelance wrote:
Also among the missing: Fats Domino & Irma Thomas. Allen Toussaint was found in the Superdome (which sounds like something out of Dante: trash fires, overflowing toilets, not enough food, water or medicine, reports of rape, murder & suicides, dead bodies left in the sun...). The Neville Brothers lost everything bu they're all OK. And there's some question about where Alex Chilton is.

Here's an update: Antoine "Fats" Domino has reportedly contacted his niece and said he, his wife & daughter were fine.

Jon Auer of the Posies-slash-Big Star Mk. II reported Alex Chilton was outside Nawlins when all this went down.

Unfortunately friends are still looking for Antoinette K-Doe, widow of New Orleans wild performer Ernie K-Doe. The Does have a famous nightspot of their own on N. Claiborne Avenue, called the Mother-in-Law Lounge, in honor of Ernie’s immortal hit, “The Mother-in-Law Song.”

Purple Jade,

Just want to reiterate the same wishes as everybody else. Take care & stay strong and be glad you have your family with you.

Aloha,
Chris