Congratulations Lisa M. Griffin!!! You are the winner!! Email me your address and I’ll send it out.
A big thank you to everyone who participated and for everyone who has voted for Mrs. Argyle Christmas so far. The daily vote continues until October 5! http://www.abcbookcompetition.org/fourth_comp/MrsArgyle.htm
Here’s a little break from the competition.
Welcome home! There’s a tree in your driveway!
Actually… all of the neighbors that stayed behind were outside checking out their property.
We’d spent the night at my daughter’s apartment to get away from coastal flooding, but came back the next day.
Emily’s car would have been parked right there.
The neighbor’s tree across the the street fell, but completely missed the house.
Other neighbors around the corner boating to their front porch.
Cleaning up after…. neighborhood kids find adventure! I thought they were too cute.
Liv’s 3rd birthday celebrated in the morning so she could play with her toys before the sun went down. Did I mention she was born in the last big hurricane that headed this way!
Finally, here’s a new little sweetheart that has come to stay! Her name is Bailey and she’s a spunky little long haired chihuahua. I love these little dogs.
Please note: Tomorrow I will announce the winner of the ornament giveaway so there’s still time to enter at http://mrsargyle.blogspot.com/
Hi yall…. I’m back, well sort of, anyway!
We got back Saturday to lots of trees down and no power.
Right now I’m in a Starbucks on my daughter’s laptop. We are under a curfew still and food and water and electricity are returning slowly….very slowly!
The best way I know to describe what it’s been like, short of writing a short novel is to list:
Things I’ll Never Forget After Ike
1. The tired distressed look on most of the faces.
2. Grocery stores with empty shelves and check out lanes to the back of the store.
3. Three hour waits for gasoline.
4. The sound of silence, the sound of generators.
5. The difference of the color of the night time sky without street lamps.
6. Neighbors canoeing to their front porches.
7. Trees that are twisted, not snapped off.
8. Dusk til dawn curfews, 6:30 comes really quickly.
9. No power for over a week.
10. Some houses destroyed, some not even touched.
11. No electricity, phone, Internet or water.
12. Radio broadcasters that say ” Over on the right, you’ll see… or “just log on to www……”
13. Army helicopters flying over five at a time.
14. The sound of sirens.
15. Neighbors with open arms.
16. Emergency rooms with a hundred people.
17. People coming together in time of need/ people unwilling to help.
18. Lost pets, mostly dogs.
19. Water covered freeways.
20. Odors: rotting food, raw wood, garbage.
21. Knowing that the rest of the world goes on as normal.
22. Kids playing outside, riding bikes instead of video games.
23. Tree limbs embedded in the ground.
24. Sight seekers!
25. Bug bites….everywhere!
26. Boiling water, restricted bathing and flushing.
27. Dreaming of hamburgers and fries!!!
Going through all this makes me wonder… Have I been compassionate enough to others in their time of need? In the past I would say “Yes, of course” now I know not nearly enough!! This is a surreal experience. I’ll post pictures when my home computer is back up.
On another, lighter note… I’m participating in the 4th Round of the ABC Children’s Book Competition. The voting begins on September 21 and runs through October 5th. Voters can cast their vote once daily for the those two weeks, with the winners announced October 20th.
Our story is Mrs. Argyle’s Christmas written by Jim and Cheryl Pahz with an illustration by me.
I’ll hope you’ll take the time to visit http://www.abcbookcompetition.org/ and vote in the 4th Round.
Also, Mrs. Argyle has her own blog where you can participate in giveaways and contests and all kinds of Christmas fun in September.
http://www.mrsargyle.blogspot.com/
When I look outside at the beautiful sunny day we’re having it’s hard to imagine that we are under a Mandatory Evacuation and are supposed to leave by noon. Drat you Hurricane IKE!
Just last night I was up late working on two illos, listening to the weather channel in the background. Today I’m packing up the essentials…. kids, dogs, cats, birds…photographs, original artwork. Well I can’t leave them home!
The plans I had for this week have been put on hold. I’ll be back in a few days. Even if I have to don Liv’s waterwings. Stay dry! XXXX
This is a piece I created this week for another art themed blog.
It occurred to me as I was trying to come up with something quick for IF that it’s exactly what this post is all about.
How many memories does it take to carve the lines of life in a face?
“The old man felt a tendril of anger rising.”
This is the theme over at James Gurney’s Art by Committee weekly art challenge.
Check it out on his blog Gurney Journey.
I find that when I’m going through a dry spell in my art, not knowing what to draw or where to start, I always go back to the basic of what I’ve always loved to draw most: Portraits.
The last two posts are of imaginary people. I don’t know them but somehow in the creation of them, they have a story. As a draw I think about their inspiration for the way they look or feel. They come alive on paper.
What’s the first thing you draw to inspire your “Mojo”, as a good blogger friend calls it?
Has anyone ever had trouble with their blogger account rejecting comments and sending rejection notices to the commenters? Only to have the comments post anyway??
Look at that awesome piece of machinery. What a beauty!!
And who is that slender fellow sporting that thick dark pompadour hairdo?
Why that’s my dad! Of course!
A wise old owl sat in an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard;
Why are we like that wise old bird!
———–Bella ~ 2006-2008————-
The meter reader left the gate open and the dogs got out.
We searched until 3:00 am. The two 13 year old dogs came back home, Bella didn’t come back.
I found her this morning on the side of the road. My heart is heavy.
