You Must Have Left In A Hurry

I'll be gone for a few days. My best friend since childhood passed away yesterday. This is for you Claire. Don't think you can walk away from 40 years of friendship by dying. Nope, it's not gonna happen. We have one more trip to New Orleans left.......promise. You always said that you felt peaceful there and wished you could stay there forever. I'll do my best to make that happen.

Love you.

Tangie Baxter has some wonderful weekly challenges at Scrapbookgrpahics. I love participating in them when I can. I love her new ATC kit "Brown Sugar". The colors are perfect for the way I think and scrap. Here is my entry for this week's challenge. Davinci knew the power of a woman. Just look at his paintings and drawings of women and tell me he didn't know he was in the presence of greatness. This is my small way of acknowledging his keen insight into women.

Last week my piece "Got Milk" was chosen as the "I Can Scraplift That" challenge piece of the week at Scrapbookgraphics. I waited all week to see what the other scrappers at SBG would come up with based on my work. I waited for someone to post a layout.....and waited.....and waited. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nobody took on the challenge to scraplift my layout. Oh well, I guess at least I'll never have to worry about imitations!

Got Milk?

So yesterday I wore my pink Crocs, and this was the result. My pink shoes always lift my spirits and put my head in a much better place to do whimsical creations that have no rhyme-nor-reason......other than they make me feel good! It feels good to let go sometimes and see where the creativity takes you.

Studio Girls collective "Impressions of Whimsy". Lorie Davison's "Drifting Snow Dreams" and

"Flying Dreams". SussieM Design's "Tea Party. "Tangie Baxter's "Sunshine ATC Kit. "All available at Scrapbookgraphics

From After Five Designs:"Le temps de Cerises" collab kit and Bisontine's "Truth from Falsehood"

From Oscraps: Holliewood's "Topiary Garden"

The cows and giant hand are from istockphoto

I'll Be Waiting

One of the most gut-wrenching things for me during hurricane clean-up and recovery is seeing the thousand of children's toys laying everywhere. It's so sad to think that every toy belonged to a child who may or may not return, and the thousands of children's lives that have been shattered by the storm. I worked with a group after Hurricane Ike hit Galveston that brought wheelchairs and home health items to disabled people displaced by the storm. We also brought food and water to remote areas where many people had chosen to ride out the storm. There were many children in the pockets of people we found, and all they asked for was water, food, some clothes and wanted to know if we had seen their toys anywhere. There were not enough buckets to hold everyone's tears. Grown men cried like babies. Last Christmas we threw a Christmas party for all the children of nearby Bridge City and the Bolivar area and distributed new toys to them to replace some of what they lost in the hurricane. I never knew the power of a teddy bear or a doll......but I do now. The house in the photo was the only house left standing on the Bolivar Peninsula after the storm. The entire town was swept out to sea, with the exception of this one house. It is still pretty much the only thing on the island. Recovery will take a long time there, but there are some positive signs. Godspeed residents of Bolivar, my heart is with you.

I used Holliewood Studio's "Toy Box" available at Oscraps

Lily Designs "The Boy is a Boy" and "Paint the Ocean available at After Five Designs

Catherine Designs "Boys Retreat" available at After Five Designs

Road Trip!

Last weekend my best friend in the world (hope she is reading this!) and I went on a road trip to Galveston, Tx. I really have to start taking trips outside the hurricane devastation zone that the Gulf Coast from Galveston to Biloxi has become. I don't remember at what point seeing 15-foot high debris piles of mobile homes, houses, giant trees and the remnants of peoples lives no longer had any effect on me. An overturned truck, 15 feet in the air on top of the shell of a convenience store with a dining room chair sticking out the drivers side window......pffffft! Is that the best ya' got? I've seen worse. Anyway......while crossing the bay on the ferry from Galveston to Bolivar I glanced at my GPS screen and saw that my vehicle was apparently gliding across open water. I don't know why that struck me as somewhat odd, since that was what we were doing on the ferry, but I felt it was picture worthy as something you never want to see on the GPS.

I used Holliewood's "Old School" from Oscraps. Photo of car interior is from istockphoto. Scene outside the car window is Galveston Bay.