Call me Johnny Appleseed or the Pied Piper
but the word must be out
that I'm takin' in animals.
A kitty at last nights campground
would not leave my side
small but round and very sweet.
"I caught myself thinking what a neat cat,"
and then I had to slap myself and yell
"snap out of it!"
Oddly enough Percy seemed to get along fine with the little fellow
whereas Weesie was havin' a hissy fit --
THAT'S where it comes from!!!!!
Anyway, Kitty jumped in my car over and over
and for a second I thought
"perhaps a trade...."
Oh Daisy, shame on you.

I'm in Ogallala, Nebraska
headin to lunch in Denver, CO
and soon
home sweet home.

Hmmmm, still considering the feline swap
as Weesie continues her campaign against Percy.
And yet
let's give credit, shall we.
they're laying down without incident
less than 4 feet apart.

Let's get down to the business of HUGs.
You still haven't heard about my last deliveries.
3 of them were given to the fellas that worked on my RV
in Covington, Louisiana.

Shoot, I'm forgetting Chris' brothers' name
they both lost their homes
and so did Big Mike who runs the front office.


They were so genuinely tickled,
it was sooooo touching to see Chris
a quiet fellow, ponder his HUG and
watch his face turn pink as he muttered
"this is soooooo nice..., this is really somethin'!"

This is Jan

She lost her home of 50 years
but in a note to MY parents
she wrote
our memories are in our hearts
those were just things.
Still, as she showed me around the small 2 bedroom she and
her husband have moved into
she beamed over the 5 items out of everything they had
that were salvaged.
She's a remarkable lady,
mother of 5 including a new friend in Louisiana
who sent me to HUG her,
but for a tiny little gal,
with a heart of platinum
on the strength of spirit scale
she's an ox!
And YES
I did say
"letter to MY parents."
After delivering her HUG,
(she got one SEND-A-HUG
and forty traditional hugs from me)
she asked for my parents address saying
"I've got to let your parents know what a wonderful girl you are."
My mom couldn't wait to read me the letter
the folks were extremely moved by her letter
having for kids and living in THEIR home now for almost FORTY years
it really hit close to home.
"Although, I already knew you were special," my Dad gushed over the phone.
Oh DAD!!!!

Did ya ever have one of those moments
where ya find yourself declaring
(either aloud or at top volume in your head)
"I WANNA LIVE!"
Yep, me too!
I was driving across the Causeway
(after already surviving a thunderous downpour, including some of the best lightning I've ever seen
the night before.
In fact it was the ONLY thing I could see while driving on the freeway
(probably going too fast at thirty miles an hour)
everyone had their hazards on.
It was crazy and exhilarating and sure
scary.
I was on this route to get to my new friend Jan,
drove two hours outta my way in this weather of all weathers
and just as I was reaching her exit
her husband called to say
that due to the weather
it would be best if I came tomorrow.
Deep breath,
My mouth said no problem
my mind was Linda Blair like
spewing comments like
"your momma eats kitty litter."
Then I caught myself
and sorta laughed
VERY VERY UN-SEND-A-HUG.
Laughed the whole thing off.
I proceeded to spend over an hour the next day
with Jan who's DEFINITELY become family.)
But back to epiphanies.
I took the Causeway to get to Jan's the following day.
At 24 miles long, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana
is the world longest over water highway bridge.
Apparently there's a low rate of cars plummeting into the Lake
but I was grateful for the
procedural runthrough of what to do
should I be one of the lucky few.
Making my way across the bridge
I marveled at the clouds ahead
beginning to feel very much like the hero
in a Sci Fi disaster movie...

Either the world was coming to an end
or certainly I would be beamed up momentarily by a UFO.
A GIANT black cloud completely enveloped the sky
I gave little attention to the white haze in front of me.
Other than to marvel and gaze and take photos
(while driving across the worlds longest over water bridge)
That was no white haze my friends.
At this point in my movie (now a thrilller), the films special effects department unloaded
enough water on me to put out the San Francisco Fires of 1906.
Jesus!!!!!!!!

I slammed on my brakes with no thought to traffic behind me
cause the only thought I was having
was
I wanna live!
And I did.
The end.

Call me Johhny Appleseed or the Pied Piper
but the word must be out
that I'm takin' in animals.
A kitty at last nights camground
would not leave my side
small but round and very sweet.
"I caught myself thinking what a neat cat,"
and then I had to slap myself and yell
"snap out of it!"
Oddly enough Percy seemed to get along fine with the little fellow
whereas Weesie was havin' a hissy fit --
THAT'S where it comes from!!!!!
Anyway, Kitty jumped in my car over and over
and for a second I thought
"perhaps a trade...."
Oh Daisy, shame on you.

I'm in Ogallala, Nebraska
headin to lunch in Denver, CO
and soon
home sweet home.

Hmmmm, still considering the feline swap
as Weesie continues her campaign against Percy.
And yet
let's give credit, shall we.
they're laying down without incident
less than 4 feet apart.

So much to share.
I guess that can happen when failing to check in for weeks.
Well, first and foremost there's the announcement
of the new addition to my family...
This is week's Beans.

She just showed up one day in my friends garage
skinny as a tooth pick with a HUGE, icky gash on her hind leg
and still...
affectionate as can be.
It might be about this time
folks are wonderin' how Percy feels about all this.
Well, there's some mutual curiosity
with a hint o' aggression
but thankfully a big dose of tolerance.
We even had a family sleep over in the RV,
All parties sleeping amicably through the nite
BOTH on the bed,
all three of us for that matter.
(Course I had Percy in a cuddle/headlock position at all times.)

Percy and I had a cute little television interview
on a local "Lifestyles" program here in Louisiana.
We even delivered a HUG to the camera guy
who's had a really tough go of it since the Hurricane
including
adopting a little homeless puppy who died three months later.
Here's Percy passing on the love as only he can do!




He was a HUGE hit in the studio
(less so on camera
as he slept through most of the interview.)




Although getting a bit antsy to head home
I gladly stayed to celebrate my friend Kelly's birthday.


SEND-A-HUG's been such a blessing in so many ways
one of which has been the quality bonding time with a friend
who I hadn't seen for years.
I feel like I've gained a sister!
She's been hostess, mom, confidant, cheerleader,
not to mention the member of my board of directors
among countless other roles.

Before leaving Louisiana, a local church group took me on a tour of the neighborhood they "adopted."
All the homes that we visited were wiped out by the Hurricane
and it's residents unable to pay for the rebuild.
This church has gone in, gutted, rebuilt AND refurnished several houses.
I have to say
church group across the nation have REALLY done MIRACULOUS work all along the Gulf Coast.
Whether one "believes" in organized religion or not
I'm continuously floored by the generosity, hard work and resources
of these giving and responsive folk!!!
BRAVO!!!!!!


Here are the lovely ladies who sang MY praises
which embarrassed me in the face of ALL that THEY have done!!!!!




I believe the words outta my mouth were
"that's the greatest thing I've EVER SEEN!"
Perhaps a bit dramatic
but it's rare that a gal from Los Angeles,
drives down the road and double takes
at what she THINKS is a giant, plastic cow.
in fact, it wasn't a real cow
it was a small herd of REAL cows
milling about in the middle of the road..

The humor of which topped by the neighbor
who ran outside in her curlers
yelling
"Shoo, go home!"
Ah, life in the country
can't beat it,
you know
until you can.
Heading home now,
but more Louisiana stories to come....

Life's funny! Not funny ha-ha, or even funny peculiar. More like, funny marvelous. I've noticed that since the impending hope of publicity has arisen, I've been a bit distracted from the task at hand. Or shall we say, the HUGGING was seeming to feel more of a task. I was straying from the organic delivery of hugs and racing to be at specific locations so as not to miss a press opportunity. Each aspect, shooting, delivering, traveling it was all becoming spritzed with a slight sense of urgency.
(Urgency feeling a bit dramatic, but we'll go with that thought for lack of another word.)

Also, I've been getting about 5 hours of sleep a night, hugging by day
and arranging any and all aspects of SEND-A-HUG for it's maintenance and furtherance by night.

I felt like I was starting to lose sight of the mission,
to deliver HUGS where ever they are needed
...because a little hugs goes a long way!"

After getting out of the shower this morning, (I find that's where I do all my best thinking)
I realized I wanted to drive through some neighborhoods and deliver hugs to folks trying to clear out
their homes.

We (my pal, Shamus-local cameraman and I) came across a young guy working in one of the homes. I said, "Hey, let's pull over here and talk to this guy." "But he doesn't live here, he's just a builder," Shamus commented.
"That's okay, let's get his take on life after Katrina."
I approached the fellow, told him about SEND-A-HUG and asked him if I could interview him. "I don't much care for cameras," he replied.

No worries, I told him. And we started to chat. Turns out, the house is his. He bought it
30 DAYS BEFORE the Hurricane hit.


He's a fireman. Sunday was his assigned day to work, but he was supposed to be off on Monday. No one, however, got that Monday off. Everyone was told they had two hours to go to their homes grab some stuff and head back to work to help with the cities evacuation.

"I just went and grabbed a couple of shirts and pants. I didn't know my place was going to be flooded for 18 days, how could I?"

"Did the water go all the way up to your roof?" I asked him.
"Nope, just up to the top of the walls."
"JUST?!" No there's an amazing attitude for ya!

And he had the smile to match.
"What else can you do? You gotta go on."
And going on he is!

Up until 3 weeks ago he was staying in Baton Rouge in an apartment
he rented after the Hurricane, driving up to two hours, each way EVERY DAY
either to go to work or to gut his house.

He FINALLY got his FEMA trailer less than a month ago, and some insurance money...
that's a whole other story. He feels lucky that he's able to do all the work on his home himself.
All though a HUGE task, it's the only way he could afford to stay above board with all the costs
and the small amount of money being paid out by the insurance companies.



Between the insurance nightmare and the fact that families came back to homes that looked like this
it's a wonder folks stick around.
And yet, they can't afford not to.

And how bout this...
Brad, our hero, got a $300 electric bill for the month of September 2005.
He didn't end up having to pay, just part of the "humor" of the whole situation.

He gut the entire place and has most of the structure up and has done it all on his own.
Managing to do it all with that darn smile of his, of course no one can be up ALL the time
but I'll tell ya what, he's the true definition of HERO in my book.
Well, it goes without saying I HAD to give HIM a hug!
What a truly inspirational young man!


My next highlighted hero for the day...
Mr. Lionel Worthy. He calls himself Worthy
"The top name in the bible.," He told me as he introduced himself. Didn't necessarily no what that meant
but it did charm the heck outta me nonetheless.

Worthy and his dog duke had to be rescued from the attic of his home.
He was evacuated to Houston, Texas
and he can't take being away from his home although it's unsalvagable.
He feels like he can't move forward being away, nor is he at comfortable in Texas
especially now that his best friend, Duke ran away after arriving in the Lone Star state.
"He didn't like it none there either," Worthy said with a low hanging head.
Worthy's quite a character "a serious man" he calls himself,
with a sparkle in his eye that he can't hide.
He enjoyed receiving his traditional hug
but warned me not to hug him for too long (unable to hide his smile.)

His hug, Baby Goldilocks, was a most welcomed friend
that Worthy said he'd treasure as he treasured his much beloved
and extremely missed cohort, Duke.
His home is now wherever he parks his car.
Besides being utterly unliveabe, there's no electricity anywhere in the area
and Worthy said he'd never


As we left Worthy on the porch of his devastated home,
I looked back and saw him head to his car
where he sat, and contemplated what parking lot or driveway he'd be calling home that night.
It just about broke my heart!

As of today
377 hugs delivered!
YAY!
photos and stories tomorrow!
Must try and get some sleep.
There's a lot more to this hugging business than meets the eye!

In the meantime
checkout what these folks are doing!

Same special people who brought joy to Waveland known as the New Waveland Cafe...
Say what you want about hippies
but no one, I mean
NO ONE
has brought as much delicious nourishment to
both body and soul
for the folks of the Gulf Coast than these
super loving, marveloulsly lively, hard working, truly giving folk.
AND
quite frankly
also sustaining many of the other angelic beings come from all over the country to pitch in!

Hey ya'll,
Daisy & Percy are back in the saddle again.
We left our humble abode in our most modest mobile home on Monday, the 20th
in the pouring rain (only of course, because departure time plummeted from a prompt yet leisurely 11AM to a ridiculously tardy 7:30P. Whoops.) Stopped over in Indio, CA where we met a delightful young man who gave me my very first lesson in
backing up the RV while having the auto in tow. Man was that helpful and quite frankly, long over due! After stops in Tucson, Arizona and Ozona, Texas I FINALLY made it to Covington, Louisiana on Friday morning at 3AM.

Not before, however, a marvelous stop at my newly discovered, most favorite, on the road treat...
Cracker Barrel. How has The Barrel managed to woo me with such ferver you ask, where to start is my reply. First and foremost, those darn tootin tasty homemade biscuit of theirs!!! Yu-u-uuuummmmmm! With honey.... stop it! Also on their list of decadent deliciousness, the hashbrown casserole and light and crispy fried okra. My heart beats fast, just thinking about it! It would probably be more appropriate to say that their vittles are heart-STOPPING good. While one's relishing in their caloric bliss, a moment should be taken to enjoy the down home charm of the Cracker Barrel's decor
complete with 80 bazillion rocking chairs (available for purchase). Just when you're sure you've been as naughty as you can, there's the country store filled with gifts and knick knacks, something of which always finds its way to one of my seven nieces and nephhews AND the candy store which most definately finds its way to my tummy and the kids' parents.

I'd like to reiterate at this time how much I love RV life! The open road, the fine folk one meets on the way... There's just nuthin' like it!

But since time is ticking and I'm finding that there truly aren't enough hours in the day.
Let me update on SEND-A-HUG's status.

Well, I loved delivering hugs sooooo very much that my non-profit application is pending and I have an attorney and a business planner on retainer. Can't be much more official than that. Have also made up a logo and look forward to the unveil with ya'll.

I think the question that everyone tends to ask me, is are things much better now, over here and all I can say is
see for yourself. I can't begin to imagine how many years it'll take just to clean up, much less rebuild. We drove by some of the areas where we shot devastation footage and not one thing had changed. Even the same stray shoes were still lying in the street. It's utterly unreal. Shamus, my camera man, a local who also lost his home, is floored by the abandoned neighborhoods, "before, on any given day, you'd drive by in these neighbors and it would be packed. Kids playin the street, cars, parked up and down, neighbors visiting. I've lived here all my life and I've NEVER seen anything like it." Even more than the pummeled houses, it was the complete lack of life on the streets the blew his mind. On our way to deliver hugs, I HAD to pullover and use nature's restroom if you get my drift. We were stuck in traffic on a bridge for 2 hours (all because they were repainting the lines, all part of the small town charm package.
Anyway, being a good little camper, I answered the call of nature. I came off the exit and this is what I found.


















Must get ready for my next delivery, but had to share with you a few of my latest huggees...


Catfish here is a wonderful man who was lookin for hug in dog form -- he lost his in the hurricane. All day long he kept walking by my little hug station, taking a quick glance and continuin on. Each time he'd slow down just a little bit more to get a handle of the activity taking place. Finally, he asked if I had a HUG that look like a lab. cause that was the one of his dogs that he missed most of all. "When they came to evacuate me, they didn't have room for my dogs. And I guess when they just couldn't make it back. I sure miss my dogs."
Mr. Catfish just about broke my heart and although I didn't have a dog with me at the time, I promised him I'd be back tomorrow with a dog especially for him. And you can bet your... there's hugged dog in my car right now, just jonesin' to keep Catfish company.

This is Abby, what she lacked in words she sure made up in smiles!





This is Abby's older sister, Alexis Their home didn't make it and the two of them along with their folks and little brother Donnie and the baby are staying with their Aunt. Alexis is a down right delightful gal, and I have a sinking suspicion we'll be keeping in touch.

Glad to be back and hugging and up and typing and sharing and doing and being and thanking and any minute now,
sleeping.

Everyone, please enjoy the new SEND-A-HUG website...

www.send-a-hug.net

that may not be offically up, but still worth a look, I think the loading page is awfully darn cute!!

Nothing says it's time to head home
like an empty 16oz.
Dr. Bronner's soap bottle.
I've been on the road
over a month now
and it's starting to show.







I met my new pal Kennedy
at IHOP for breakfast
a few days after our magical meeting.
Howard the bear ordered the chocolate chip pancakes.


He's living happily
and huggfully
with a marvelous gal
who's given me
gift upon gift!

I just about fell apart
when she asked what was next for me.
Where will I live?
How will I earn a living?
What's the plan for getting SEND-A-HUG to take off.
YIKES!
She was friend enough to challenge me
and share her thoughts.
And as if that wasn't a priceless present
in and of itself
she gave me one of her beautiful
and I mean WOW!
STUNNING bracelets that retail
for more than any piece of jewelry I've ever owned.
I burst into tears!
What a gift --
the bracelet,
but even more
I know we'll keep in touch for life.

I've had moments delivering hugs
that have touched me forever.

Lester is another such moment
Lester is one of the lovely folks I met at Pearlington.
What a fellow, made me misty actually.
Thanked me but I feel that the debt of gratitude was mine.
He shared so much of himself
the pain of losing everything, the difficutly of having his family in Florida
while trying to rebuild their home in Mississippi.
In the photo above
Lester was wisking past me
and beamed when sharing that
all was looking up.
Couldn't happen to a lovlier fellow.
Strangely, coming across Lester
felt like running into family.

This young man was darling.
He's a little Teddy Bear himself.
It broke my heart when he asked me
to pose in his polaroid with him
so as not to frighten the child
who would be receiving the photo.











This sweet couple
made me feel special!
They wanted to keep a photo of
ME for themselves.









We're not the same age
but this little cutie pie and I
share the same birthday!
Hurray for Sagies!








And these little fellows are just plain darling!

A date for your calendars!
No, not my birthday sillies,
although...

December 1st -- the day the final HUG from the
SEND-A-HUGS maiden voyage was delivered!

Rather momentous my friends!

I was in search of a shelter or other such place
and was directed to a Methodist Church
who connected me to their Angel Program.

They have an Alzheimer's group, and Genie,
the gal who runs it
very sweetly pitched her folks
"We're really good huggers
and love to write notes.
Won't you please come?"

Can you imagine...
"Hmmmm, lemme think about it...
nope."



Of course I went.

I had 12 hugs left.
There were 7 folks in their group
although, John, the only man,
very adamantly passed.

No prob.

After all, if it's forced it's not a hug.
Then it's just alarming.



(but he did startle me)


Well, one of the gals who worked with the program perked up
after seeing I still had hugs left.
"I wanna hug."

They were all affected by the hurricane in some way or other

at the very least

the Angel Group could no longer meet 5 days of week
due to storm repercussions.

The other two nice ladies received their hugs
and just as I was out the door with my last three hugs
in walk two High school girls who volunteer their afternoons.

One hug left, and TWO more girls walked in.



Uh oh!
How the heck did I work that out?
Aha!
You're gonna have to stay tuned and find out.
Riveting, no?!!

=)







All this hugging's exhausting, I can't go on."






"What? We're going home? Hold on Grandma, I'm coming!
Heck, throw in a greenie and I'LL drive!"