Weekly Review in photos:

Happy 71st Birthday to my Dad...November 2nd (All Soul's Day;)  Celebrated in Sea Pines!


 Had an incredible day yesterday celebrating my dad's 71st birthday and visiting the beach for the first time since before Hurricane Matthew. Stopped in my favorite coastal Rock Shop, Black Market Minerals and chatted with the amazing people who make the magic happen there, picked up a few stones and gave them a sweet salt water bath 💙. It's funny, although I only live a few miles from the coast line, it never fails, every time I visit, I notice as I'm leaving that my breathing is incredibly free and deep...I'm not conscious of holding my breath (sometimes I catch myself)....but Grandmother Atlantic always helps me to breathe like I've never breathed before ... grateful
 
This picture perfect day was very very wonky for awhile...not even sure why...but the energy was just off for the whole clan. Thankfully these wonky moments are few and far between... and a big part of it is because the beach (and some chocolate 😳) makes everything better!

My new banner! (you know, in case I ever decide to do a craft fair again, or maybe a farmer's market or a town festival....I may never do that, but one can never be too prepared :D

da beeeeee

flashback:


the lemons are getting real, folks!

first of two Veteran's Day Performances this week:

I'm thrilled and honored to be collaborating with Brigid's grove to add sparkle and words to their beloved hand-crafted goddesses!  This has been a very exciting venture!
 



and I started making some darn cute, nature-inspired earrings!

Happy Halloween!

weekly review:

It's hard to believe that just last weekend my beloved Bluffton/Hilton Head Island hometown was hit by a major hurricane. Just days later we are sitting at Bluffton Oyster Factory Park (hit hard here, an
entire forest was wiped out:(...On a good note, there's probably more room for parking!), at our town's sea food fest (the girls and I brought Zoe's;), listening to a great band, watching the sunset over our beautiful May River, dolphins, kayaks, boats, our community. I can't begin to express my gratitude for all who are working so hard to clean up my amazing Lowcountry community!



 
 

So many people were impacted by the hurricane in my community, in so many different ways, it's overwhelming. Even just evacuating can put a huge dent in the finances! (although there were busses and free shelters, but I'm not sure if these options were available for families with animal companions.)
I've made a few smaller donations here and there. This message was in response to a donation I made for someone who took it upon herself to go door to door in one of a Hilton He...ad's harder hit "working" neighborhoods. She knocked on every single door to see what they needed (help cleaning up, money, ride to the grocery store, p/u prescriptions, etc).

A small donation can go a long ways, here's a response I received:
"Dear Friend -
I apologize for the impersonal nature of
this message but I wanted to get right back to you and let you know what you accomplished in the last few days.
With your GENEROUS spirit on Saturday, I was able to get cash into the community quickly. On Sunday the work continued as well and is still being managed today (Wed).
In total - our monies served over 40 people including...
Fast food workers who had not been paid in a week.
Grocery Store workers who were in the same situation.
A guy that worked two jobs landscaping that had pennies to his name.
A woman that washes dishes and has three children that had used her money to evacuate.
A number of peoples homes who's home had been flooded
A woman who had been in a MAJOR car accident and her car was totaled.
Friend of mine who needed minor roof repair on her trailer but couldn't cover the costs (cash and donation from a church was used)
A woman who evacuated animals and spent her money on evacuation."

Finally cashing in our 15 year anniversary gift card from my parents...14 months later  
 
I'm happy to report, that my first-year container garden did survive Hurricane Matthew! I started out with: zucchini (but something would eat the flowers, must be a bug as we have deer fencing), tomatoes (which never flowered, sage (it just died 😳), strawberries (we got like two berries out of the whole $10 plant deal 😥, some flowers (they are well, thank you for asking;), basil (great while it lasted), and bell peppers and and Meyer lemons ... both are flourishing 🌶🍋


 
It's been four years since I created my last business cards...decided to give my new ones a whimsical face-lift: A collage showing My new back and front printed, heavy card stock, business cards! 
 


 
I've headed to the island a few times since Hurricane Matthew, it's still unreal, with all the damage and trees down, everywhere....and it downgraded from a 4 to a cat 2 by the time it reached us...if it would have remained a 4, it's possible most of us would have not had homes to return to...we were VERY fortunate.
 
3rd shift lawn cutting crew!
 
decided to change things up a bit this year....instead of going as a witch, I'm a hippie...my girls asked how that changes from the other 364 days a year :O
 
and you don't see this everyday?
 
I know people were upset that we weren't allowed back into Bluffton and HHI the second the hurricane was over for us ....but this might explain why...I can't imagine the amount of manpower and work that happened, just to get us back to Bluffton two days post Matthew. And Hilton Head was hit much harder. An incredible amount of cleanup has happened, but our beloved island is a mess :(.
So beyond grateful to all who work so hard so the rest of us can get back to normal ...it hasn't even been two weeks yet. And I have never seen so many tree trucks and catastrophe and disaster relief trucks in my entire life

Great day today: celebrated three flawless dental appointments by trick or treating and receiving lots of candy at our town's farmers market, and lunch at the Downtown Deli 
Piper had a great day....he went on a long my golf cart ride! and he saw a HUGE gator (and didn't bark;) 🐊

weekly reviews (once again, I'm a tad behind...but I had a REALLY good excuse..seriously :D)

Starting this post off with the headlines....in case you didn't get the memo...my area was heavily impacted by Hurricane Matthew...for the first time in six years....we actually had a mandatory evacuation order by our governor ...and for good reason.  But if you're going to evacuate for a hurricane, you may as well make the best of it and have yourself a little vacation!  And that we did!


Even the fire department left!  (to protect the fleet):





And in case you're wondering, this is what a hurricane looks like on your iPhone radar/weather alert:
  


Yup, never think it will happen to you, but it really did!
We were one of the VERY fortunate ones...not only did we not lose power, not even for a second...and almost everybody else in my county did....some are still waiting to have power restored!...but the damage was very minimal...a few tiles from our roof...the awning off our play yard set collapsed, and the trees that toppled over, toppled INTO the forest, as opposed to on our roof.  The amount of trees down in is heartbreaking...as are some of the stories of people's homes and finances being greatly impacted (some homes destroyed).  When we first evacuated, Matthew was a category 4...by the time it reached us, it was a category 2, with the eye passing right over Hilton Head Island, but thankfully starting to disorganize...I think that saved us from a lot worse destruction.



And when you are given permission to finally return home (which it turns out is not the second the Hurricane is done), you start seeing many many vehicles, all over, that you normally don't see on a daily basis....National Guard, Tree Removal services, Electricians, and Disaster Relief Trucks...they were everywhere.  Every Major Insurance Company even set up camp for a few days at Home Depot Parking lot (since many people go there after a hurricane to help get their homes back in order)...to assist people with questions, etc.



But then there was us...we had a hurricane evacuation plan, that we never thought we'd ever have to use, because thankfully, hurricanes have been pretty rare in my area (we "stick" more westward, than Charleston and NC.....they are more east which makes them more vulnerable)....would you like to hear our plan?  It's pretty complicated...here goes: hook up the camper and head west! Yup, that was our brilliant plan...and it worked....in fact, better than I ever could have expected!



My hurricane evacuation kitchen:




  


We are VERY grateful our beloved woodland home retreat was safe...and that we discovered this amazing state park in Georgia....we never would have thought of looking in that direction for relatively nearby campgrounds...we will be back...many times...not just for hurricane evacuations:)


(btw, we had really strong winds, even 130 miles west of the coast, which damaged our awning...and this started in advance of the hurricane being due east of us!)

 


Hurricane Matthew may be the big news of October, but we also had a couple of homeschool field trips:  


SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design):


ok, so I never put a whole lot of thought into this local college...until the tour...WOW, this college truly cares about its students, and really has an amazing program in place!  And they have additional campuses, where for the same tuition, you can transfer: Atlanta, Hong Kong, and France!


  



After, we and our homeschool friends took a little side trip to Savannah's infamous Forsyth Park, for a picnic.  The girls have grown a tad since our first homeschool field trip there back in 2011: 

The day before the hurricane evacuation order, we were on our almost annual trip to our local pumpkin patch with the homeschoolers.  It's a nice pumpkin patch for the area (pumpkins really don't grow by us), but I definitely miss the pumpkin farms and apple orchards of WI. 








and sadly...the girls feel they have outgrown this, so this was probably our last year going...sniff sniff....But, maybe that means we can start hitting the Savannah Ghost tours!  (maybe:0)  (2010 to 2016 comparison photos to this very pumpkin farm...it still doesn't feel like we've been down here all that long...but when you see how much the girls have grown in six years...it really puts "time" in perspective:
 


But we are thrilled to visit the little pumpkin patch at my parents' church...all proceeds go to Children's Advocacy:



And exactly one week prior to the hurricane, we were at a doggy festival/fundraiser, in the very location that was hardest hit by the hurricane, our beloved Sea Pines....Brie won the cake walk...twice....that means we went home with TWO cakes :O: 


 


And then last night, we attended our second annual Oktoberfest at the home of some good friends:

Prost!

We were so very fortunate, and have much to be grateful for.



 My love and prayers are with all the people who have been impacted by Hurricane Matthew