My neighborhood used to be one of mostly professional people, many of them engineers in the chemical and oil and gas industry. It was a neighborhood of beautiful gardens and trees.
After the flooding following Hurricane Katrina many people relocated, either because of their jobs relocating or because they could not stand it anymore.
This house, that I must look at every day, is directly across the street from me. (The oak tree in the foreground is mine) It used to be old brick and had lots of trees and shrubs in the front yard. The previous owners sold it for a song after Katrina. This work in progress, to use the term very, very loosely, has been going on for over a year and it is frankly driving me crazy.
No one lives in the house but at night there are about seven cars that arrive and people go inside and spend the night there. And, people come and go all day long many of whom I suspect are illegal entrants to the U.S.
I imagine the various colors that are painted on the front of the house are testors for a future paint job. Either that or they are code colors.
Such is the life here in metro New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. I wish it on no one.