kindness

mary jane dodd

'it is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned

with the human problem all one's life

and find at the end

that one has no more to offer by way of advice

than 'try to be a little kinder'.

~ aldous huxley

for surely, nature can ravage... life can be difficult... so why aren't people nicer to each other?

my daughter and i went to the beach last saturday to wander the boardwalk and take a look at the building sea... 

the weather channel and other stations had set up in convention hall...

and here are some shots of the sea during the storm... (interestingly, i found a photo shot from very near to where i took the first one)... we heard that the concrete benches moved into ocean avenue... 

this is the inlet from the ocean (left) into the river i live on probably taken by the bridge tender... it is a large opening bridge that allows the sizable fishing boats through.... those are 2 and 3 story apartments across the street... 

and we are grateful... power outages, basement flooding, downed trees... grateful... my friends who live inland had 6' of water in their basement - and they are grateful... it took a couple of days for me to hear about the damage in new england... my thoughts go out to them... and i hope that fema is there for those who would have never thought to get flood insurance... 

and here i offer a stamping tip - not a tutorial - but a really helpful, material and wits saving tip... use a brass head or deadblow hammer when striking your stamps... steel stamps on a steel anvil or bench block hit with a steel hammer = double strikes, bounce backs... you need a hammer that absorbs the energy... in addition, all of that steel banging together creates work hardening of your tools which can eventually cause them to become brittle and break...