When people around these parts decide to hit the beach, they usually go east to Alabama or Florida. Hubby and I are more inclined to head west to Galveston. We used to go to Biloxi, but as more and more casinos took over the beaches Biloxi lost its appeal for us. Galveston has a combination of beaches and a historic downtown area with a lot of indoor attractions in the way of historic homes and museums to keep you busy on cold, rainy days.
Last week was the first time we had been to Galveston since Hurricane Ike hit the island in September of 2008. We found there is a new attraction in town: tree sculptures made from historic old oaks, killed by the salt water that flooded the island in the hurricane. A brochure available at our hotel listed the addresses of the sculptures, with pictures and a brief description of each, so we set out to take pictures.
It's enough to break your heart. A woman responds to tragedy with a grace and hope, inspiring her neighbors to make something beautiful out of the ruins of their beloved old oaks. Then tragedy hits again, and again she responds with grace and hope. That's an example to follow.
The brochure said that we might find new sculptures not listed therein, and we did - the guitar shown above.
One of the yards had a sign that explained how the sculptures came about:
It revealed some exceptionally poignant information. The woman who initiated the idea of the tree sculptures had a geisha in her yard. The geisha, shown below, holds a sign that asks viewers to say a prayer or have a moment of silence for extended family and friends affected by the earthquake in Japan:
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