June Blog Train for NDISB

Natural Designs In Scrapbooking is having a blog train this month and I've been lucky enough to already play with the kit and create a couple of Quick Pages with it.

Here are previews of the kit:





And here is my contribution - 2 Quick Pages created using the kit:

(Preview is clickable)

Next stop on the blog train is at Cre8tvlyYrs Designz by Gina Arzaga

And if you get lost, or want to see the whole list of stops on the blog train, you can always check out the NDISB Blog.

Fallen Heroes

Easter Sunday, two Houston firefighters lost their lives battling a house fire. One was a 30 year veteran, a captain. The other was a brand new rookie, battling his first fire.

Their public memorial services were this morning at a church very near me. I pass it on my way to work every morning. The service was at 10:00, but at 6:30 the area was already very congested as firefighters from all over the city and state (maybe even from out of state - it's not unheard of) began gathering. I was lucky to get through before they closed the roads.

They marched from a fire station about a mile away from the church, processing as one blue line to honor their fallen comrades. The pictures are an amazing testament to the strength of the bond and fellowship that firefighters feel for one another:



I was a volunteer firefighter for one of the plants I worked at for 9 years. I could not do what municipal firefighters do every day - put their lives on the line by entering burning structures. I fought industrial fires out in the open. I found out during fire training that I am claustrophobic and entering a smoke filled, dark structure with full gear on totally freaks me out. To those that serve in this capacity, I salute you.

Rest in peace, Capt. James Harlow and Damion Hobbs.

Audreyisms

Audrey and I spent a week together this week for her Spring Break. We went to Washington, D.C. While there we went to several museums and monuments. When I asked Audrey what her favorite was - "Bionical Garden" (Botanical Garden).

We rode the Old Time Trolleys around as our transportation. These are narrated tours throughout the city. Audrey almost had the narration spiel memorized. One night we were trying to remember the tune to Hail To The Chief. They played it everytime we passed the White House. When Audrey finally came up with the melody, she said, "I know that tune, they played it all the time during Obama's irrigation!"

I love that kid!

Happy Birthday, Mary!

Today Mary would have been 43. I can't believe she's been gone almost 5 years now. Today, it goes without saying I'm really missing her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY!

Bolivar - 5 Months Later

Mark and I went to Bolivar a week or so ago. We hadn't been since Hurricane Ike and wanted to see for ourselves how bad it was. Bolivar has been one of our favorite places to go because Mark can drive on the beach there. And there are places we can take the dogs and let them run and play. Well, it was amazing and very sad to see how thorough the destruction truly was. From the moment you get off the ferry from Galveston and still see trash caught on the fences. Just to the left is a junk yard for cars and another one for appliances.

From 2009-02-07 Bolivar and Galveston

We went down to the beach where we normally cut over - by the Audobon Society Preserves. All of the viewing decks are gone. And then we started to drive up the beach - fully 80-90% of the houses are either totally gone or so badly damaged as to be uninhabitable. At first, you would think the house was just missing a deck, and then you realize you are seeing through to the kitchen. Or all that is left is a pile of rubble or the pilings.

From 2009-02-07 Bolivar and Galveston

From 2009-02-07 Bolivar and Galveston

From 2009-02-07 Bolivar and Galveston

Several places along the beach, there were huge mounds of sand - probably as big as my house. What they were doing was scraping the beach, then sifting the sand to remove the debris. The clean sand was then being dumped to form the basis for the dunes that were destroyed. That was another thing - I'm used to seeing the dunes, yet this time was it was so totally flat!!!

From 2009-02-07 Bolivar and Galveston

But there were signs of strength and the fortitude of the residents. You could see American flags when there was nothing else.

From 2009-02-07 Bolivar and Galveston

And there was signs of rebuilding - it's going to be slow, but Bolivar will come back!!!

From 2009-02-07 Bolivar and Galveston

Photo A Day

I think I'm going to try the Photo A Day Challenge again this next year. I started in 2008, then fell off the wagon before the end of January... bad Maggie. Of course, I was also going to try to blog daily and that didn't work so well either.

So now the question is - do I create another blog for capturing my photos, or do I use Flickr or Picasa? Of course with Picasa, I can easily dump them to a blog.... hmmmm - decisions, decisions!

SNOW!!!!!

We have snow in Houston tonight!!!! How cool is that!?!?!?! The last time we had snow was Christmas Eve, 2004. So it's only been 4 years. And I can't believe both of them were in December - usually if we have snow it's usually later in the winter. I mean it's not even officially winter and winter comes to TX so much later than the rest of the country!

Anyway - I'm excited and thrilled! I love watching the flakes falling and swirling! And they are big fat flakes, not the little pellet things.

I know that if the temperature drops very much tonight and we end up with ice, I won't be so excited. But for now - I'm going to enjoy the experience!!!!