As seen at Meagan’s Snowballs (1871 LA Hwy 1, at the corner of Neptune Lane, Grand Isle, LA) on Father’s Day 2010…”oil spill” and “tar ball” snowballs.  The oil spill sounds tasty, but I dunno about chocolate chips on a snowball.  Wouldn’t they clog the spoon-straw?  Elaine’s snowball stand in Larose also has an oil spill flavor (straight chocolate, I believe).

Grand Isle was eerily quiet.  Not a soul stirred on the beach.  No cleanup workers in sight.  The beach was preternaturally clean: no seaweed, shells, dead fish, soda cans, plastic trash, nothing but carefully groomed sand and miles of bright-orange oil containment boom.  I did spot lots of un-oiled pelicans sitting on the breakwaters just offshore.  The scene is quite different over at Barataria pass, I’m told..quite a bit of oil trapped in the marshes and many oiled birds.

UPDATE:  look carefully at the center of the photo at left…see the all-terrain vehicle?  Cleanup workers speeding up & down the beach have been running over least tern nests; these threatened birds live between the dunes/man-made berm and the high-tide line in shallow sand depressions.  Apparently no one thought to mark off the nesting areas before allowing wheeled traffic through these areas….read more about it here.