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;) 🐊

Happy Birthday to my belated Angel, Buddy. Love me, Grandma, and Brie

Halloween 2015

Happy Halloween!

 

We had a fabulous night trunk or treating at Grandma and Grandpa's church....and speak of the devil (no pun intended, haha :D)
It's Bubble Man and Witchy Grandma!
  
they received second place for their trunk or treat set up:) 


we spent the night at Trunk or Treat and then trick or treating in our neighborhood with their good homeschooling and ballet friend:
  
and then there's the after-math:

Pumpkins in the southeast:

day 1:

day 4:

day 5:

Meanwhile...at Sun City:

Reverse trick or treating: collecting food donations for a local charity, via golf cart with Grandma

our door greeter:

TBT

post Halloween.....a couple of scenes from yesterday, plus trunk or treating at the drive in:)