Gorgeous

le pont d'Avignon

le pont d'Avignon, originally uploaded by Navas.

Nice to see a river behaving itself...

Mandatory evacuation

for the Mississippi River bottoms today.

At Two Rivers Levee and Drainage District today

This is so typical

The command center of the southern Louisa/northern Des Moines County flood efforts has been at the Apostolic Christian Church about 3 miles south of Oakville. I say "has been" because I'm not sure if they'll be there tomorrow- the waters are rising steadily.

But let me tell you, the Apostolic women are a force to be reckoned with. They're used to preparing food for large groups of people, and I swear, they could teach courses on organization.

Well, they are of mostly German descent. And we all know the Krauts (of whom I am one), can organize. Okay, sorry. Bad joke.

They have a book than contains the land line and cell phone numbers, the email and home addresses of every church member, cross-referenced with what each person is willing and able to do.

They have a phone bank of sorts set up in the church dining room/kitchen. At any given time, there are at least 5 women, very conservatively dressed, hair pulled up in buns, on their cell phones, making sure that everyone has enough food/water/medical supplies out on the levees.

And these women can flat out COOK. The maid-rites I had yesterday? Divine. God smiled upon their makers.

Absolutely broke my heart today. The local Catholics provided the lunch for the 400+ rescue workers today. As we delivered it to the AC church, I made a random comment to one of the women, "Beautiful day we're having, huh?"

She replied, "Oh yes. God has blessed us."

She and her husband lost their house in the flood.

Utterly selfless.

So, that being said, this doesn't surprise me in the least.

This southeastern Iowa town was under water on Monday, but its people didn't give up their flood fight. Dozens of people filled sandbags in the parking lot of Oakville Apostolic Christian Church, with the aid headed south to towns that still face a flooding threat. A long line of trucks dumped sand for the workers, many of them women.

Bethany Frank, 28, said that the water at her farmhouse was up to the roof. "My house is past help, so we're trying to save everybody else's," she said.

"We're helping relatives and family," said Mary Lanz, 42. "We're all related." Oakville didn't flood in 1993, but a levee break north of town turned it into a four-mile wide lake this time.

Big Ditch Bridge looking NW

Big Ditch Bridge looking NW, originally uploaded by HideHunter.

Mississippi River bottoms. Hope the Big Ditch holds.

Story time

One of my favorite stories from the now-under water section of the river bottoms involves a man nicknamed "Coon Dog." No, that is not his given name, and no, I have no idea what his given name actually is.

A tradition at the local tavern, Murray's White Elephant, was that every year, Coon Dog would ride his mule through the bar. I shit you not.

He'd often stop, from the mule, mind, and ask an attractive young lady- "How'd you like to run off with an old man, a bag full of money and a spotted mule?" Strangely enough, he never had any goers.

Aftermath

of the Oakville levee failure

Cedar Rapids today

This

is what is heading downstream towards us.

The spillway at Coralville Reservoir.

I'd like to write

something profound and touching about spending 6 hours sandbagging in Oakville today, only to get home and find out that the levee had been breached.

I'd like to, but my hands and wrists hurt so damned badly, I can't.

Tomorrow, then...

A levee along the Iowa River has broken, flooding the small town of Oakville in southeast Iowa.State emergency operations spokeswoman Tamie Krausman says the levee broke about 4:10 p.m. Thursday. The town of about 400 people was being evacuated. Krausman said no injuries were reported.


Authorities have ordered residents who live on the river side of Highway 99 from their homes in both Louisa and Des Moinescounties. National Guard troops have been summoned for security.

****The river stage at 5 p.m. in Columbus Junction was 31.9 feet. A crest just over 35 feet is expected Monday. In Wapello, the river was at 32.5 feet. A crest of 36.1 feet is expected Monday.Heavy rain was falling this afternoon, though, upriver over Cedar Rapids and Waterloo.

bali_36

bali_36, originally uploaded by pretonero.

Exactly

I drove three hours to help move some of my family’s stuff, because it’s gone if the levee breaks. We can pretend everything is going to be OK, but we look at the river stage forecasts and become more certain each day something ugly is about to happen.

I remember a fellow in this river town once saying, “The water goes where it wants to go, and there’s not a hell of a lot you can do to stop it.” But people, many of whom live on high ground, pitch in, bless them. They show up with shovels to fill and lug sand-bags, working for hours knowing it might not do a bit of good.

I mean, how do you control a river that wipes out a bridge lined with 20 railroad cars, all of them loaded with rocks? The idea was for the weight to give added strength and stability to the bridge. The train and the bridge in Cedar Rapids never had a chance. The whole works went into the Cedar River.

By noon Thursday, 100 city blocks of Cedar Rapids were under water, along with thousands of people’s homes.

...

The Coralville dam is releasing 20,000 cubic feet of water per second into the Iowa River. It’s heading through the heart of Iowa City and points south. The Cedar Rapids Gazette quoted an expert of some sort who said that at that rate, the water would fill an enclosed Kinnick Stadium in 16 minutes and 42 seconds. Ponder that when you think about the fact that around 40,000 cubic feet of water a second is coming down the Des Moines River from the Saylorville dam into Des Moines.

That presumably would fill the Hawkeye stadium in 8 minutes and 21 seconds.Another expert — there are a lot of experts around these days — said the comparatively small Cedar River is now flowing at a volume equal to the Mississippi River when the Mississippi is at flood stage. Gives some perspective, doesn’t it?

...

At this point, there’s nothing left to do but wait.

At any point

this week, next week, whatever... I would be thrilled to look up at the sky and not have my initial reaction be

"fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck."

Seriously. At any point.

Luskentyre Beach, Seilebost , Isle of Harris

Luskentyre Beach, Seilebost , Isle of Harris, originally uploaded by rockartwolf.

Feeling a bit nostalgic, really...

Libertines & Doherty, Pete & Barat, Carl, originally uploaded by burgermoo.

Carlito and Petey

This is more awesome than I can handle

Awww

Poor kitties. Poor man.

pic by HARRY BAUMERT/THE REGISTER

Random ten

on the new Nano. *pets it*

1. Posh Boys- The View
2. The Time Has Come Again- Last Shadow Puppets
3. Balaclava- Arctic Monkeys
4. Life Got Cold- Girls Aloud
5. You Like Me Too Much- The Beatles
6. Run For Your Life- The Beatles
7. Ovary Stripe- Kasabian
8. Delayed Devotion- Duffy
9. She Will Be Loved- Maroon 5
10. Folding Stars- Biffy Clyro

Bonus-
11. You Love Us- Manic Street Preachers
12. Sedative- Babyshambles

Stormy weather

So, yeah. Been a bit exciting here, weather-wise in the last 24 hours.

My dad's been down sandbagging for the past three days at Oakville. He's now saying that it's not "if" but "when" the levee is breached. And this is before we got about an inch of rain this evening.

We've been watching a steady stream of grain trucks emerge from the road to the river bottoms. Can't let the grain get flooded out. With the current price of corn? Fuggedaboutit.

Also, the amount of semis bearing livestock is simply amazing. Most animals can swim, but not in flood water. Poor things.

Annnnnd, we had tornado warnings tonight. I was home alone, and managed to scare poor QB (out for cocktails with the girls) to death with texts like-

I'm in the basement with Holden. Funnel cloud just went overhead.

The main problem is, as I've stated before, we live where the Iowa River drains into the Mississippi (which really isn't that bad). However, the Iowa has several rivers that drain into it, and they've all experienced massive amounts of rain. Hence, the problem.

I have no words,

only incoherent sounds. Damn, I have to go lie down now.

(items giving me heart failure are in red)

The lineup for the Guardian's intimate Lounge tent at this year's Glastonbury festival has been confirmed today, with Kasabian, Estelle and Los Campesinos! all set to make an appearance.

The lounge, which will this year have an intimate "old mansion" theme, is set to host DJ sets from Hercules and the Love Affair and Guilty Pleasures. There will also be performances from Glastonbury stalwart Billy Bragg, Swedish pop star Annie, and Helsinki, the new side project from Babyshambles' bassist Drew McConnell.

Okay, so it's not re-inventing the wheel

but somebody needs to make dumb, perfect pop songs to shake your ass to.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fratellis...

At times like these,

I think, "Gee, wouldn't it be nice if the majority of the Iowa National Guard was in, you know, IOWA, instead of fucking Iraq?

Washburn, near Waterloo, evacuated after levee breaks

Columbus Junction residents wait, and worry

Flooding Cedar River damages hundreds of homes Charles City

Officials: Flood of 2008 to be worse than Flood of '93

Also, we've just gotten the news that Highway 61 will be closed north of Wapello as of tomorrow night. River is too high- can't guarantee the bridge will hold.


Annnnd, I just got off the phone with my dad. They're evacuating the Iowa/Mississippi river bottoms. He and my uncles are helping some elderly friends move to higher ground.


This is the problem they're dealing with- between Hwy. 99 and the Iowa River in Louisa County, and Hwy. 99 and the Mississippi River in Des Moines county- the land between is all reclaimed from the river some 100 years ago (the rivers join up at New Boston).


Yes, how Dutch of my forefathers. The farming ground is incredibly fertile, but really, really, really farcking vulnerable to flooding.

Again, when it flooded so badly in 1993, the National Guard was down on the bottoms, sandbagging. But not now. We're on our own.


Isn't this a lovely little war?

My Preeeeeeeeecious

As a reward to myself for getting my lazy arse moving, I ordered this today.

Come to mama, sweet little Nano.

HOLY CRAP!!!!

Foo Zeppelin!

Ahhh, I love it when my rock boys get all fanboy...

But the whole night was set up for the encore. After leaving the stage following 'Monkey Wrench', a clearly emotional Grohl returned to declare, "playing Wembley Stadium is an honour, and if we didn’t take advantage of this opportunity, the greatest fucking night in our band’s lives… for all 86,000 of you motherfuckers, it isn’t gonna be any other show."

The rock legends then joined the Foos for the historic encore. At the end of their stint, Jimmy Page visibly clung on to his guitar after a member of the road crew ran onstage to relieve him of it. The members of the makeshift band then posed arm to arm.

As Page and Jones left the stage before a final encore of 'Best Of You', an ecstatic Grohl shouted "welcome to the greatest fucking day of my life!" The night ended with an extravagant firework display.

Escape?

Escape?, originally uploaded by matt p.

Freaky Wakeboarding

Bless Bez, I cannot stop giggling.

My day

In chronological order-

1. Left to go set up a wedding in a tiny town 8 miles to the west of Iowa's Coolest Flower Shop. Notice the sky looks quite ominous. Clouds were a very weird color. Look at the temperature. 86 degrees outside.

2. Get 5 miles out. The sky opens up, and it starts raining cats, dogs, lions, tigers and bears, OH MY! And the odd rhinoceros.

3. Call Mom at the shop to ask if there are any warnings regarding the weather. She didn't think there were any. Look at the temp. 80 degrees.

4. Get to the wee country church. It is now raining the aforementioned animals, plus elephants, wombats and badgers. Sprint in to the church to set up, rather difficult in flip flops. By the time I make it into church, I look like I've taken a lengthy shower with my clothes on. 75 degrees.

5. Drive two blocks to reception site. Add giraffes, monkeys and emus to the list of animals. All the venue's doors are locked.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK."

6. Successfully find one unlocked door. I set everything up, and headed back to town, stopping at the grocery store on my way home. The storm that I set up in? Produced tornadoes all over, including one riiiiiiight by my house. No damage, though.

7. Get home. Decide that since I'm already soggy and disgusting, I might as well be sweaty, too.

(I lost my mind and signed up for this earlier in the week. As am hopeless slackass, the training regimen that my marathon-running sister put me on is KILLING ME DEAD).

8. Today is a 3 mile excursion. Get to 1.5 mile marker. Am joyous. Full of pride. I *can* do this.

9. Look up at sky. See sheets of rain beginning to fall about a mile away.

"FUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!"

Take off at a dead sprint. Okay, a spastic jog. Terrified walk? Make it to within a half mile of house. Starts raining the giraffes, monkeys and emus-variety of rain.

10. Arrive at house, nearly puking, soaking wet and mildly traumatized by the thunder and lightning. I looked REAL cute.

On a much lighter note, this is the "bar" at the reception. Yes, those are cases of beer. 4 varieties, actually.

My favorite Pauls

Smith and Weller.

JW: It's your 21st album; there are 21 tracks on it. So why's it called 22 Dreams?
PW: You have to hold one back for yourself. You can't give them all away.
PS [misty-eyed]: That's lovely.

Random ten

1. Lucky Lisp- Morrissey
2. What Became Of The Likely Lads (EP version)- The Libertines
3. There's No Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake- Biffy Clyro
4. Beat Connection- LCD Soundsystem
5. Warwick Avenue- Duffy
6. Dirrty- Christina Aguilera
7. Born To Be My Baby- Bon Jovi
8. Act Naturally- The Beatles
9. Da Doo Ron Ron- The Donnas
10. Just A Girl- No Doubt

Bonus-
11. Away From Here- The Enemy
12. The Show- Girls Aloud

Holy Mary

Look at the arrangement Karl Lagerfeld sent to Yves Saint Laurent's funeral. My GOD. Gorgeous. All the orchids...

via

I'd like to ask

if this pup, Nicky, the Wire Fox Terrier-

is named after this Nicky Wire*-

but am afraid of being laughed at. C'est la vie.

*though the puppy is lacking eyeliner, miniskirt and a feather boa, bless.

That's a whole lotta

skinny white English boy...

Noel Mighty Boosh and Serge Kasabian at the Soccer Six match.

Hilarious!

EARLIER this year, over on NME.com, feathercuts were ruffled over Girls Aloud’s B-side to Can’t Speak French, called Hoxton Heroes, in which the Prefab Five criticised scene-chasing indie bands.

The thing is – as arbiters of pop, Popjustice noted - the whore ‘furore’ might have had more meaning had Girls Aloud not already been embraced by the Camden set. But ever since a surf-guitar unexpectedly heralded their debut single, Sound of the Underground, they’ve garnered praise from people who would usually shun a manufactured group: both the Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand worship the ground that the seemingly perma-sozzled Sarah Harding has just thrown up on.

Am highly amused

The last two songs played on the soundsystem at the NHL finals

'I Believe In A Thing Called Love'- The Darkness

'Living On A Prayer'- Bon Jovi

All hair, all the time...

Yet another wedding

This one from last weekend-

Bride's bouquet- Gerbera daisies (mini and full-size), Stargazer lilies, Peonies, Dendrobium orchids, roses, mini Calla lilies, Trichillium and Plumosa.

Bridesmaid bouquet

Centerpieces at the (outdoor) reception, held at the resturant that the couple met at.

Awwwww....

View from the reception

Today in "random"

I was minding my own business, perusing the clearance rack at the local Target, when I felt a sharp pain in my calf.

I looked down, and saw a little boy running away.

That's right, the little fucker came up to me- a complete stranger, mind- and kicked me in the leg. It really fucking hurt.

You might wonder, what was the reaction of his mom, chatting away on her mobile?

"Well, I should be going. He just kicked someone."

I shit you not, that's what she actually said.

I guess this is shaping up to be an assaulted-by-small-children-type of week.

Ooooo, snap!

It may have seemed like an unusual artistic union: Prince covering Radiohead's angst-ridden classic Creep. But when fans, including Radiohead, flocked to YouTube for a glimpse of the Purple One's unique rendition of the song, they found the video, recorded by a fan at a music festival in California, had been taken down at the behest of Prince's litigious record label.

***

Last year Prince threatened to sue thousands of his fans for breach of copyright, forcing three fansites to remove all images, lyrics, and album covers. The artist, who once temporarily changed his name to a symbol, is believed to take a close interest in the use of his image, monitoring websites using his music.

Radiohead released their last album, In Rainbows, as a digital download, allowing fans to pay as much as they thought it worth. The Prince video, filmed by fans at the Coachella Valley festival in Indio,
California on April 26, was last night reposted on YouTube.

R.I.P. Mr. St. Laurent

For fellow-designer Christian Lacroix, the reason for Saint Laurent's success was his astonishing versatility. There had, Lacroix said, been other great designers but none with the same range.

"Chanel, Schiaparelli, Balenciaga and Dior all did extraordinary things. But they worked within a particular style," he explained. "Yves Saint Laurent is much more versatile, like a combination of all of them. I sometimes think he's got the form of Chanel with the opulence of Dior and the wit of Schiaparelli."

Things I love about this clip

1. Petey looks like he's recently bathed
2. Mik is as comfortingly stoic as usual
3. Cutie Pie's Adam's all-arms drumming technique. And perfect posture.
4. Drewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Upright bass. *purrs*

TIMMY!

Although the now LA-based Burgess looks like an impostor in his own band, it's almost beautiful to watch him as - arms flapping around -the 41-year-old commands the crowd like an orchestral conductor. During a glorious double whammy of headrushing recent single Oh! Vanity and classic The Only One I Know, it is all too much for one girl, who rushes the stage and is rewarded with a dance with Burgess. For a few moments, they remain deep in conversation. Maybe she is asking, "Where did you get that haircut?"!

R.I.P., Mr. Korman

Centerpieces

that we did for a wedding show several months ago

Bollywood-inspired

Love the orange and pink combo- bouquets from a wedding we did a few weeks ago... damn Stargazer lilies took FOREVER to open up. Argh.

V.v. pretty, though.

The bride's-

The bridesmaid's-

(I'm so glad you can't see my tragically-neglected fingernails in the pictures)

Oh for GOD'S sake

"$25 gets you the MP3s of the new album at midnight of the release date plus access to the Platinum areas of the site, $33 throws in a physical CD and $125 buys you MP3s, CDs, a five LP vinyl and a limited-edition lithograph."

First light, Loch Druidibeag, South Uist Outer Hebrides, Scotland

First light, Loch Druidibeag, South Uist Outer Hebrides, Scotland, originally uploaded by McF_photo.

Waterfall

Waterfall, originally uploaded by invisiblekid2007.

Random ten

1. I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)- Stevie Wonder
2. Get Ready- Rare Earth
3. Head Over Heels- Tears For Fears
4. Borderline- Duffy
5. You Do Something To Me- Paul Weller
6. The Modern Age- The Strokes
7. Sweet Virginia- The Rolling Stones
8. Jayne- Stereophonics
9. Crumb Begging- Babyshambles
10. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away- The Subways

Bonus-
11. Not Falling Apart- Maroon 5
12. Gold Digger- Kanye West

See,

it's just "the river" to we locals.

There is something about the Mississippi's very nature, its wilfulness, and its sheer size - 2,320 miles long, from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, and at its widest point 4,500ft across - that demands veneration. And indeed, the Mississippi is a river that has been sung about often - by Janis Joplin, the Hold Steady, Hank Snow, Mavis Staples, Jimmie Rodgers and many others. It's been the "Ol' Man" that "jus' keeps rollin' along" for Paul Robeson, and it has shined "like the national guitar" for Paul Simon.

<33333

In the new Julia Quinn book, The Lost Duke of Wyndham, one of the characters uses the word "truthiness."

Not historically accurate, yet MADE OF AWESOME.

Curves, Traigh Iar, North Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

Curves, Traigh Iar, North Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, originally uploaded by McF_photo.

Oh my

Oasis and Stereophonics, with an audience that includes Ms. Moss and Ms. Frost. Oh my.

Why, yes

I've already ordered this, why do you ask?

Oh, Natalie

Darlin', you look like you were attacked by a dust ruffle. From 1989.

Reasons I love the Brit tabloids, #40

Bits like this-

Jobless grandad aims to marry his runaway schoolgirl lover aged 16

Signs that you might

want to work on your being-a-welcome-guest technique....

when you leave your host's home, the immediate reaction of said hosts is to-

1. bitch about you for at least 20 minutes
2. start drinking heavily
3. bitch whilst drinking heavily

Birthday wishes to

Mistah Paul Weller, who turns 50 today...

Beach Nerja, Costa del Sol, Spain

Beach Nerja, Costa del Sol, Spain, originally uploaded by elsa11.

Happy birthday, G!

Today is the birthday of my girl, Casey. Together we have-

1. Drank more than we really should have while watching men's swimming at the Olympics on the teevee
2. Defended our girl, Wendy's, honor with a baseball bat and a shower curtain rod AKA "The Enforcer"
3. Made our guy friends turn off porn at a party by doing color commentary in Clampett voices. "GOLLLEEE! WHERE'S HE GONNA PUT THAT THERE THANG?"
4. Gotten yelled at for excessive use of profanity while watching the Iowa State/Iowa basketball game
5. Watched 'Can't Hardly Wait,' 'Office Space,' 'Dazed and Confused,' and 'Bridget Jones's Diary', oh, A THOUSAND TIMES
6. Discussed at length what we would do if we had a trillion dollars

We've cried, laughed until incontinence was imminent, groaned about bastard fuckwittage and other things that dear friends do.

So, darling, happy birthday! MWAAAH!

A new record

When asked to help clean up after dinner tonight, it only took my sister-in-law 3 minutes to develop a raging headache.

It typically takes 5.

She miraculously recovered from said "headache" upon reaching the couch.

Bamburgh Beach, Northumberland

Bamburgh Beach, Northumberland, originally uploaded by Corica.

Random ten

1. Make You Feel My Love- Adele
2. Lust For Life- Iggy Pop
3. Walk Like An Egyptian- The Feeling
4. Small Black Flowers That Grow In the Sky- Manic Street Preachers
5. What Katie Did- The Libertines
6. You're So Vain- Carly Simon
7. Revolution- Jim Sturgess
8. Let's Go Crazy- Prince
9. The Man Who Would Be King- The Libertines
10. Are U That Somebody?- The Gossip

Bonus-
11. New York, New York- The Fratellis
12. Don't Look Back In Anger- Maroon 5

So cool

Ah, the Stones in 1969. In California. Surely nothing horrid could happen...

(and sadly, I initially thought, "why is Richey Edwards in a picture with a young Charlie Watts?")

Great shot

Oh God, I was actually rooting for United today. What's next? The Yankees? The Patriots?

I'm so ashamed.

And I swear, I've not spent the past hour ogling Cristiano Ronaldo's thighs admiring the team's athletic prowess.

On the current playlist

at Iowa's Coolest Flower Shop

Goldfrapp

The Last Shadow Puppets

Adele

Maroon 5

Duffy

Hmmm

These Louboutins are sex on heels.





















These Marcs look like my grandma's shoes, circa 1988. They say "vintage glamour," I say "Midwestern grandmother."

Duffy- 'Warwick Avenue'

Okay...

1. Love Dustin Hoffman

2. Love O-Ren Ishii, er, Lucy Liu

3. Love that Jack's tummy is bigger than Angelina's.

This is actually

a cute picture of both of them... but remember, y'all. Crack is whack.

Awww

One of my fav celeb couples... congrats, y'all.

Ellen DeGeneres and longtime girlfriend Portia de Rossi are jumping at the chance to get married.DeGeneres announced their engagement during a Thursday taping of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," telling the studio audience the news that the California Supreme Court had struck down state laws against gay marriage."So I would like to say now, for the first time, I am announcing: I am getting married," she said during the show, airing Friday.