August 2008
by Dianne de Las Casas on August 30, 2008
Friends: My family and I are heading to Birmingham, Alabama. Although it is a 6 hour drive normally, we anticipate we will hit massive evacuation traffic as all of the Gulf Coast residents flee the fury of Gustav, the monster hurricane. This is my last post from my laptop for a while. All other posts [...]
August 2008
by Dianne de Las Casas on August 30, 2008
Friends: My friend, Photographer Randy Richards, sent me an email about the origin of the word “hurricane.” So I did a little research. This comes from www.helium.com by Frances Jock: “There are two possible origins of the word “hurricane.” According to one source, the word “Hurricane” is derived from the Spanish word “huracn.” The origin [...]
August 2008
by Dianne de Las Casas on August 30, 2008
Friends: Overnight, Hurricane Gustav strengthened to a Category 3 then while I was watching this forecast, it was upgraded to a Category 4. We are definitely evacuating tonight, driving when it’s cooler and when there is less traffic. We are finishing with our packing and monitoring the hurricane’s path. We are still unsure whether to [...]
August 2008
by Dianne de Las Casas on August 29, 2008
Friends: Here we are on the 3rd Anniversary of Katrina, preparing to evacuate from Hurricane Gustav. My husband, Antonio, works for LSU Health Sciences Center (medical center) in downtown New Orleans. He is considered essential personnel until they release him. We are unable to evacuate until he is released. I am busy packing and securing [...]
August 2008
by Dianne de Las Casas on August 29, 2008
Friends: Last week, my husband, my mom, and I moved Soleil into her dorm room at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was bittersweet for me. Things had been very tense leading up to the weeks before she left – I guess it’s just Mom not wanting to lose control. But that’s what [...]
August 2008
by Dianne de Las Casas on August 29, 2008
Friends: Since I have been back in my office, things have been hopping! My website was hacked over the summer, causing numerous problems you won’t even believe. Thankfully, after a lot of work, Heidi, my fabulous web designer, got to the bottom of the problem and fixed things, including my blog. So now, I can [...]
August 2008
by Dianne de Las Casas on August 29, 2008
Friends: I spent a week in San Francisco and Berkeley, California. I presented two storytelling concerts and two professional development sessions at the International Association of School Librarianship Conference in Berkeley. I met librarians from all over the globe – the United States, Japan, Korea, China, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Austria, India, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, [...]
August 2008
by Dianne de Las Casas on August 28, 2008
Friends: This summer has been a time of closing chapters and opening new ones. On July 9, 2008, my beloved father-in-law, Jaime Roberto Casas, passed away somewhat unexpectedly. He was 78 years old and lived a beautifully full life, leaving behind a loving wife (Jennie), two wonderful children (Antonio and Pam), and two sweet granddaughters [...]
August 2008
by Dianne de Las Casas on August 28, 2008
Friends: I am so excited because I can blog again! My blog had been down since April and it took some major tearing apart and a little bit of genius (Thanks, Heidi!) to get it back up and running again. So much has happened in the past few months. I will post a few pictures [...]