Patrick Joseph Gallagher

I am numb and not sure how I am functioning. My family is devastated. The hospital called at 3:30 this morning for us to come in. I held Patrick's hand until he took his last breath this morning at 8:45. We were very close and I am going to miss him terribly. He survived two major heart surgeries and this sudden attack of pancreatitis took his life. So unfair.

Thank you for your prayers. Apparently, the Lord had other plans for Patrick.

♥ audrey

Update and Thank You

I just returned from the hospital. In the last 30 hours it has become my second home. Patrick is very, very ill. They put him on dialysis tonight. All I can do is pray and ask God to help the doctors get him through this. I spoke at length with three specialists tonight. They wanted me to be aware of how very ill he is and they assured me they are doing everything possible for him.
I am somewhat numb and very tired. I cannot believe that yesterday early afternoon Patrick and I were in Barnes and Noble and tonight he is so very fragile and on dialysis.
This is hard on my poor Mother. Her brother is terminal and she talks with him on the phone every night and now her son is very sick. We need your prayers and I thank each of you for your comments tonight and your prayers. It means so much. I firmly believe in the power of prayer and the strength in numbers. All of you prayed for him in December when he had his emergency open heart surgery and he did well. Thank you for that. Thank you for your friendship and for caring.
I thought I would not be posting, but it is helping me to put these words down. I will update when time permits. I will be heading back to the hospital first thing in the morning.
And now.... tea and then sleep.
♥ audrey

Prayer Request

Dear Friends,

Once again, I must ask you to please say a prayer for my brother, Patrick. He has only been here a week from Texas, visiting us. Last evening I had to take him to the ER as he was having extreme chest and stomach pain. Right now he is in the ICU and they are monitoring him very close. He has pancreatitis. Without going into detail, it would help so much if each of you said a couple of prayers for him. I will not be on here for a while ~ I am spending all my time at the hospital. I will be happy when I can post a message saying he is out of the woods.
I know I can count on you ~ you are all the best. Thank you.

♥ audrey

Eeek !!

Hello Friends.

I've been off blog for several days. My dear brother, Patrick, is here from Texas and I've been spending a lot of time with him.

I did manage to finish my "Eeek" block. Would you believe I had planned to make a bunch of these for Halloween to sell in my consignment shop? I guess I should have started back in January. Those are tiny little seed beeds and I glued each one on that block of wood (there are a couple of rhinestones on there as well). You can get a better look at it if you click on the photo and enlarge it. It seems crazy, but when I took the time to work on this, I found it to be relaxing and rewarding. Unfortunately, there will be no more "Eeek" blocks ~ no time. I plan to make a run to Ohio on a buying trip for a few items for the Holidays. I think I better start preparing for Halloween 2011 as soon as January gets here!!

We finally got our much needed rain. It has been raining non-stop for 24 hours now ~ a nice gentle rain that is making every living thing happy and green! The temperature dropped some, too, and that has made me very very happy.

♥ audrey

stairway to nowhere

stairway to nowhere
i climbed these steps

one by one

slowly

deliberately

not because they went anywhere

but because i loved the form of them

i loved the moss on them

i loved the creeping vines

i loved the look and feel of the cold damp stone

and as i walked back down i wondered

if they ever did lead to somewhere

that time one day erased

Poem and Photos by audrey

Caterina

Cat, of BELL'ANTICO, is having another Giveaway on September 23rd. Hurry over there and sign up.

http://www.bellantico.blogspot.com

Caterina is a talented mixed media artist. Be sure to visit her blog, LA DOLCE VITA, as well, where you will enjoy her stunning journal pages, her art dolls, and her beautiful thoughts.

http://www.caterinagiglio.blogspot.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Amanda !!

Perfect Beauty

Close your eyes ~ can you smell the rose?

My brother, Patrick, planted this rose bush for our Mother when he was here visiting this Spring.
It had a slow start, but now it is gracing us with beautiful perfect roses.

Recent Guest

Look who is living under my front porch.

I went out there one day this week and happened to look down to see this skinny little guy peering out.

My research tells me he is a "rough green snake", common to the southeast. They can grow to be 30 inches long, but are skinny as pencils. The word "rough" describes their scales, and helps distinguish them from the "smooth green snake", which is found in the northeast.

These shy snakes are not dangerous to people. When I think how many evenings I sat outside on this very stoop......

I think we might be filling in some cracks around the porch so he'll move on to a new home. I think he is rather cute, but my human visitors might not feel that way.

A Little Time for Work in Progress

I managed to find a little time this afternoon to work on my shutter again. It was another beautiful day with a nice breeze, so I parked myself outside with my paints and more. I am taking time to think this one out before adding things, so it is slow going. The theme is something I love ~ "birds".

I am so relaxed and happy when I am working on a piece of art. I would love to spend hours each day creating. Hopefully, the future holds that dream.

I will continue to post updates as I work on this.

Fun at Olde Salem Days

Saturday was the Annual Olde Salem Days event. I think everyone in the Roanoke Valley was there ~ very large crowd. It was hard to take photos because of all the people. I took a few photos of some of the more colorful booths.

This is close to the center. The line of tents went just as far in the opposite direction, as well as down some of the side streets. My legs were not happy at the end of the afternoon.

PEACE !

Happy Pumpkin Boxes

Mexican Wares

This dragonfly is huge. He is at least 36" across and is made from repurposed items. His eyes are old door knobs. Very cool.

I've never been much of an old car buff, but seeing these oldies was actually fun and interesting. There were many wonderful cars to see. This is just a few. Aren't they great?

It was also a day to "remember" !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Sue !!

A Perfect Day

If there is such a thing as a "Perfect Day", today came close. The temperature was wonderful, the sun was warm, there was a cool breeze, and the sky was blue. There were so many birds in the yard I couldn't believe it. There were doves, finches, hummingbirds, bluebirds, mockingbirds, and even an oriole showed up for the first time. I have never seen this many types of birds in the yard all at the same time.

As I walked the yard, I took pictures of what is left of the flowers. Even they seemed happy and perky on this gorgeous day. The mountain view from the back porch was clear and calming ~ something I feel blessed to see each day. I wanted to share the beauty I experienced today. I hope you had a beautiful day, too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Dan !!

Fall is Coming

Although it was still in the 90s today, there are definite clues in my neighborhood that Fall is on its way.