My mother and I recently watched The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button together. Towards the end of the film, with the winds and rains of Hurricane Katrina threatening to break in the windows of a New Orleans hospital room in which her old mother lies dying, Julia Ormond’s Caroline discovers that Benjamin Button was her father. As Caroline goes through birthday cards from her dad, ones she has never seen until August 29th 2005, it all becomes too much to bear. Even while growing backwards and getting younger, death waited for Benjamin Button, as it did for Caroline’s mother and thousands of New Orleanians that fateful day. Why are we given so much life and story only for it to be taken away?

She left us one year ago today. I would give anything to kiss her cheek one more time. To inhale that fragrance again as my lips touched her soft, warm cheek. To watch her rail-thin hand sweep over the folds of her beautiful sari after I’ve scrunched it to kiss her. All I have left now is the honor of having known her.

No, that’s not all that remains. This does.

 My grandmother had a very full life in which she realized much. If I have a regret for her, it is that she was not costumer and set decorator to the stars. With the freedom she had, however, Patti costumed us (often with no reason – “the idea came to me”) and decorated our homes for religious functions, and did it all with little more than leftover scraps and household objects. Only she could turn the cardboard inside paper towel rolls into replicas of royal chariots and incorporate any construction item you gave her into an heirloom-quality decoration. Room dividers, diadems, spears, belts, portraits, sculptures of gods, all you had to do was ask for it and she would find a way to make it. And she loved sequins, glitter, and the color green.

Each year, and I like to think living in New Orleans brought out my grandmother’s creativity in me, I make a Mardi Gras Day mask from scratch. This year’s mask, the one you see above, was dedicated to her. Patti would love for me to share with you how to make one of your own. It’s quite simple, actually.

1) MASK BASE: Purchase a Phantom of the Opera mask base or cut out the pattern from a plain plastic mask.

2) FABRIC COVER: Glue and staple textured satin onto the mask. Make sure the satin is a) the same color as the glitter you will put over it and b) rough-textured in order for the glitter to adhere to the fabric. Given that the mask has topography, you will have to cut out excess satin at the folds. In this case, I cut out material that would go under the gold cord. Use any remaining strips of satin to paste over the staples’ prongs in the back. (And if the staples scratch your face, you have a mask to put over it). Carefully drill or poke holes in the nostrils of the mask so you can breathe while wearing it (details).

3) CORDS & RIBBONS: Fasten any extra embellishments, e.g. cords, buttons, feathers, sequins, to the mask before applying the glitter. (It’s really hard to get anything to stick to glitter other than more glitter.) Also, at this time, staple on the ribbons that will secure the mask to your head. Pick points on the mask that will allow the ribbons to encircle your head and securely. Don’t worry about any ribbon showing on the front of the mask because you will apply glitter over it.

4) GLUE THAT GLITTER ON: Aleene’s Tacky Glue is your friend. I own enough bottles of this gummy goodness to glue a whole big parade float together. It goes on white, but dries clear, so if you mistakenly get it all over parts of your project for which you didn’t intend it, wipe off the bulk of it and wait for the rest of it to dry. (Such things have never happened to me, of course.) With clean fan brushes of different sizes, apply glue to the fabric, one strip between cords at a time. Make the layer of glue thick enough to grab the glitter but not so thin that it catches nothing. As soon as you apply one layer of glue, tap a shaker of glitter onto the glue. Again, if you accidentally drop too much glitter on the glue, simply blow off the excess or lightly brush it onto unglittered areas. Allow it to dry for a few hours before applying the finishing touches. See picture on left for dried, glittered end product.

5) ACCENTS: For this mask, I decided to add accents where the ribbons meet the mask. I bought two small wooden fleur-de-lis appliques (available at most craft stores), spray-painted them gold, and attached them to the mask with velcro tape.

6) SEAL YOUR MASK: (Take the mask outside, place it on newspaper and) spray it down with glossy Clear Coat Sealant Spray. Allow it to dry for an hour or so and then spray it again. The fumes coming off the sealant can take down a full-grown Canadian elk, so I recommend keeping that mask somewhere dry and aerated until you wear it.

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I wish Patti could have seen me in the mask on Mardi Gras Day. And the Krewe du Vieux Baron Samedi hat, which I will show you how to make later.

This life sucks for snatching away the ones we we love after giving us so much time in which to fall in love and grow closer. It is also an alarmingly beautiful thing for the relationships it fosters, the ones that make us and continue to define us from beyond. The masks and costumes sure don’t replace my grandma, but they help me feel very close to her, as I draw inspiration and comfort from wondering what fabric and colors she would have chosen. Through her artfulness, the world still gets to know my grandmother. And I get to know her more.

* READ THIS The Oil Drum | What Caused The Deepwater Horizon Disaster?

a flawed well plan that did not include enough cement between the 7-inch production casing and the 9 7/8-inch protection casing. The presumed blowout preventer (BOP) failure is an important but secondary issue.

… Based on the chronology presented above, it seems strange that so little was apparently done in the hour-and-forty minutes between the notable increase in mud pit volume and the blowout, except to stop circulating twice. At the same time, it is easy to see the warning signs now that we know the outcome, and we do not know what was done or discussed at the time–we only have recordings on a chart.

… the larger issue that a flawed, risky well plan for the MC 252 well was approved by the MMS, and BP, Anadarko and Mitsui management. Similar or identical plans were undoubtedly approved and used by many operators on other wells drilled in the Gulf of Mexico. A plan that does not include enough cement to overlap the final and previous casing strings, and that does not require running a cement-bond log to ensure the integrity of the seal [especially after a failing pressure test] is a defective plan. The fact that there have not been blowouts on previous wells does not justify the approval and use of an unsafe plan.

* Bloomberg | BP Cap Waiver May Be Moot in Light of Possible Lapses Don’t hold your breath. See also:
Conflict of Interest in BP Legal Fight?

* Pictures and maps from the Lousiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness

* Stinque | “Preventable industrial catastrophes are just God“s way of making life more interesting.”

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What are your opinions on the Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill? I live in an area where people either love it or hate it (adopt the bill and America is doomed to thermonuclear annihilation; don’t adopt the bill and America is doomed to thermonuclear annihilation). I’d like to see a real, readable risk-benefit analysis.

The latest release from the murky head of Michael Homan (not to be confused with Tete d’Adrastos): GEAUXJIRA!

Director’s note: “As we made our movie, thousands of barrels of oil leaked every day on the Gulf of Mexico’s floor, causing the biggest environmental disaster in our lifetime. Moreover, we’re terrified about the ramifications the oil will have on our economy and lives. In making a parody there is a danger of giving the impression that we find this calamity to be funny. In fact, the opposite is true. We’re angry and frightened about the uncertain impact of this disaster.”

It’s an instant classic: god bless the Jurassic age of 2 million years ago, the Who Dat Boom, Pirate Persephone, and the firing of the Crystal Cannons. Beyond priceless, indeed.

What do we have to show for it? Not much.

* Fox News | BP Chief Predicts ‘Very Modest’ Oil Spill Impact

* Coast Guard: Despite BP efforts, Gulf oil spill is getting worse

* Oil Spill Reaches Into Plaquemines Parish. Not good at all. That’s here on a Louisiana map. Incidentally, I woke up today to NPR butchering both “Nungesser” and “Pass a Loutre.”

* Fast Company | BP Releases Four Disturbing New Videos of Gulf Oil Leak

The bad news: the spill looks really, really bad. The good news: scientists might be able to use the video to check whether BP’s estimated oil release of 210,000 gallons per day is accurate.

* NPR reiterates the importance of having a very accurate estimate of the amount of Macondo oil and gas in the Gulf. “Eventually, BP will be subject to the federal Oil Pollution Act, which will hold them responsible for damages to people as well as to the environment. It will be difficult to assess the environmental damage from this spill, so legal scholars expect that eventually BP’s financial responsibility could be tied to the amount of oil spilled.”

* In another case of Impeccable Timing, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) joins Lisa Murkowski to block the rise in the oil liability cap.

* John McQuaid has a must-read over at True/Slant. In The oil spill and Hurricane Katrina: ˜Natural disasters?“, McQuaid reminds readers of what was natural and what was man-made during The Storm and The Flood. “Our collective thinking amplified by the media is to lump everything together in a way that tends to strip the human agency out of what’s really happening.” He also links to the Treme clip in which Creighton Bernette rips Dandy The Reporter a new one.

* What is sadly eclipsed now is that Shell and Chevron successfully began production at the ultra-deepwater Perdido facility, which is located in 8000 feet of water, last month.