a little #goarmy and a little light

it's nearly finished!  after some delay and some working on dreaded curtains...

i decided to go with an overall swirl quilting in variagated blue thread.  it blends in beautifully on the mottled blue backing and it gave me a chance to test out the new machine.

i love the swirls on the red.  

although, i don't have any idea why, but the bobbin thread seemed to catch itself periodically.  the thread seems to double back on itself and then i can't move the quilt anywhere until i cut the threads on the backside.  i tried slower.  i tried faster.  didn't seem to matter which i did.  i dropped in a new bobbin.  same...  it's a brand new (and fairly pricey) machine, so why does it do it?  suggestions anyone?

hubby and i were walking around our local hardware stores, trying to find a new ceiling fan for the living room.  he wants bigger.  much bigger.  i just want something updated that looks better.  at the second store, i decided to browse lights for the kitchen, but he points out the above beauty.  i thought he was joking because it had color and character.  but no, he wanted them for the entry and the hall.

two lights and a new 60" ceiling fan in the cart later... he was put to work.  i love how it looks next to the teal walls of the living room and entry.  and it dresses up the hallway nicely.  good job D!

now it's time to finish the curtains.  i have the bottom hem and am cutting out the weighted cording his friend wants put back in the new curtains.  except hubby only brought me one of the two curtain bottom sections.  so i can't quite finish them yet.  i really do not like making these things.

post harvey happenings

at week 2 and week 3 post-hurricane harvey... there is a sense of "normal" happening, but that normal is nothing like before.  we are still broken, we are still running on high anxiety, we are still trying to repair/replace our lives.  our stores, our employment, our friends and family have all suffered in one way or another - even those of us who were fortunate enough to not have the devastation at our own home.

very early saturday morning on sept 9th, the gulf coast synod for ELCA gathered in 5 church locations around the greater houston area to set out and help in the community.  my church was one of those.  everything from mucking, demolishing and taking supplies out where needed.  i was one who got up to help make several hundred breakfast tacos to feel the volunteers.  my son helped cook and then helped muck a nearby lutheran church who flooded.

we had gatorade, tacos, water, fruit and all the essential protective gear.

people came from all over.  memorial lutheran was a friend's church when we were growing up and i visited from time to time.  then the lady on the left was from joplin, missouri.  people came from nebraska and wisconsin to assist.

we had others from galveston and other nearby churches by us.

this is what we do.  we gather together and help people we don't know.  we feed them.  we clothe them.  we try to give them peace.

another week goes by and i'm able to give my best friend a little something to help her get back to a normal.  she lost her entire fabric stash, all patterns - quilt and clothing, all tools except her machines, which were salvaged while water was still 2 feet in her home.  

we showed up for dinner on the back patio, which was now empty of all the belongings and furniture i help muck out two weeks earlier.

but this is what you see everywhere you turn.  entire homes on a lawn.  entire neighborhoods void of regular happenings.

you can't help but cry driving around while you see what survived and what did not.  i know florida and the islands are going through this as well after irma.  i pray for those communities who have for the first time in centuries have no people living there.  i pray for the atlantic to calm down soon, but i see storm after storm gather strength and speed and it's hard to have hope until it fizzles out somewhere else.

for the first time since the rain of harvey stopped 2 1/2 weeks ago, it rained lightly this morning.  and i know there are people fearing what it brings, even though it was not much.

my week with harvey

the past 7 days were spent dealing with or after harvey.  there is much more to come and i am extremely grateful it wasn't worse for my family itself.  it was so widespread in our part of texas - my parents took on water, but got it under control and am now ripping out sheetrock.  my brother has roof damage and leaks.  too many friends are now putting their whole life on a street curb as they clear out 2-6 ft of water from inside their houses.

friday, aug 25...day 1 in the morning

saturday, aug 26... day 2 while we could still get our a little

day 2... the water had pushed rip rap to the other side of the road and broke barriers

day 2.... as harvey moves from rockport to houston, we got slammed by the dirty rainbands.

sunday, aug 26th...day 3.  sh*t is getting real.  just past midnight and water is ankle deep halfway up the drive

day 3.... 3:30am and the water rose to about 5 ft from my front door.  i'm told by others it rose more after i went in. it came within an inch from my back door.

day 3...this is what the exit for my house looked like at the freeway.  this is a 6 lane freeway with 2 land feeder roads in both directions.

day 3.... the neighborhoods are getting water rescued by boat.  my friend is in the one next door.

monday, aug 28... day 4.  we took in friends and their 3 cats the night before after they were rescued.  on this day, my husband, friend and their youngest son kayaked in to the house to remove floating carpet and the kickplates from the cabinets.  water was still 2 feet inside.

day 4.... this only shows major roads flooded, and some got worse as creeks and bayous rose.  i was sitting in an island and couldn't go anywhere

tuesday, aug 29... day 5.  started out that my husband and friend's husband walked to the house to float tubs out of valuables.  later, my ex brough his boat over to take them in and get more.

day 5... my son, loading up wet and dryish belongings to his dad's boat.  a complete stranger with a truck met them closer to the main road and brought two truckloads to my house.

day 5.... most of the salvagable contents of their house in my garage.

wednesday, aug 30...day 6.  the sun has come out as the storm shifted to beaumont.  i have friends there too.  but i got to go to work for a few hours.  this is usually a much smaller "lake" and you can see the tree tops sticking out.

day 6... where the water level still was at my friend's house.  she does not live along waterfront property.

day 6... another evacuee rescued.

day 6... her words:  "cheeseburgers....a moment of bliss in the midst of disaster.

day 6.... i helped them move back into their house last year in june after a few years stationed somewhere else.  now i helped move everything out.  wet.

day 6...amazingly, the wood floors didn't even buckle.  but they will.

my heart is broken for the people i know and the people i do not know.  i was lucky but panicked that i would not be.  we worked hard to save the house when water was about to rush in, but some could not do the same.  we will rebuild and we will persevere.