Now this is a real silver lining!  Meet James Phillips, the woodcarving artist who is responsible for so many of the outdoor woodcarvings created out of dead trees on The Island after Ike.  My son Matt decided to cut down a couple of china berry trees in the backyard, leaving these lovely stumps for his mom (me) to do something with:)  Fortunately my sister Paige was visiting at the time, a very creative teacher with years of experience creating something out of nothing.  She suggested I google the artist that renovated the Galveston tree stumps.  The rest is history:)

As it turned out Jimmy was a Clear Lake neighbor, and he was happy to hop over and see what could be done about these tree stumps.  What you see above is his creative bench, now called “Rita’s Bench”, made with a beautiful branch he found in Galveston after the storm.  This began a lifelong friendship and admiration for the artist, as well as a beautiful centerpiece for Matt & Ika’s backyard.  So happy that cloud came into my life!