Thursday's bloggers sheepishly admit that they skipped out on their duties because they stayed up too late dancing. Here it goes anyway... a day or two late (Hey, we're on Southern Time here!).

Today was our third and final official day at the Habitat for Humanity Jefferson Build. We arrived early itching to get to work. After we had set up our work site and the other groups arrived Terry welcomed us with his own rendition of "Amazing Grace" on his bagpipes, and he continued to serenade us throughout the day. What a treat!! Each us of us threw ourselves into our siding projects in hopes of finishing our sections by the end of the day. Zach and Terry bestowed the great honor of doing the siding on the front of one house to Krysia, Lisa, Elizabeth and Laurel, saying that since it was the most visible they saved it for the most trusted volunteers. Shontia, Shraddha, May and Maria were able to finish their enormous and tricky wall with much pleasure and triumph. On the other site the rest of the ladies continued their projects and helped lead others in their work. With such excellent work going on, Mount Holyoke received some good natured ribbing from Howard of Montclair State University, but he was silenced by the sound of our hammersJ After a long hot day of work we were sorry to call it our last day, and quickly convinced Zach and Jorden to let some of us come back on Friday morning to try to finish up the rest of the projects that we started. Happy, tired and covered with dirt we returned to the Guest House to share a couple beers around the pool and scheme for the evening and the next few days.

In the evening we were invited by the Mount Holyoke Alumnae of Louisiana to a lovely dinner gathering at Bonnie Conway's house near the Garden District. She, and the human rights organization that she is part of, will be receiving an honorary doctorate this spring for their outstanding work in women’s justice. Go bonnie!! There was a fabulous turnout of alumnae living in New Orleans, and lots of great food wine and conversation were shared. As and extra treat Sandy Rosenthal ‘79, brought us a book of post cards that she serendipitously happened upon in her daily errands. She had run into a man earlier in the day, and after finding that she went to Mount Holyoke he gave her a notebook of postcards from Mount Holyoke dating from 1908 forward. He apparently had found it, and tried various ways of getting it back to Mount Holyoke College. We figured out who we believed the book belonged to based on a recurring name found in several Glee Club programs and other documents. We enjoyed looking at all the old and new pictures on the post cards, but we look forward to returning it to its proper owner soon.

At the dinner we met one of the young alumnae, Melanie Bopp '04, and afterwards she joined us for a wild night of Zydeco dancing at the Rock 'n Bowl. Ebba, Maria, Laurel, Krysia, Lauren, Jess, Lisa and Shraddha all tore up the dance floor.... and then learned later that there were actual steps to the dance. Oops. Sandy Rosenthal generously offered to take us out Zydeco dancing again on Friday to set us straight. So now we can add Zydeco to the list of  skills we have picked up on this trip. Zydeco siding anyone?

We've all decided we should just stay here building, eating and dancing for another week or two... or 6.

Much New Orleans love from Maria '08 and Laurel '01