A Vigil For the Victims of the Pulse Nightclub Shootings

It is not often (thank goodness) that you turn on the news to find a horrific act of violence has happened in a place you are familiar with. That happened for us this past weekend. DH grew up in Orlando, so even though he didn't know any of the victims, he was very familiar with the area. Just the weekend before we had driven past Pulse more than once while we were in Orlando for DH's sister's retirement party.

Watching the news has been very hard for the last few days. Watching the mother standing outside the club crying because she had no news about whether her son was alive or dead, I cried. What mother can watch that and not imagine herself in that woman's place?

Last night, Blaze and I attended a vigil for the victims at the Florida State Capital. It was not as well attended as I had expected, but was beautifully done. Wild flowers and candles were handed out to all the attendees. There were chants and singing. Members of the clergy spoke. What I was most impressed by, though, was the eloquence of the college students who spoke. These were leaders of various student organizations, who spoke with such passion and clarity that it gives me hope for what the world will become under their leadership.


About 20 minutes before the actual event:



Musician preforming and leading the group in songs:





Some people brought signs from home, while others were making posters with material provided on-site.







Some of the most eloquent speakers of the evening:







The candlelight vigil:





The T-shirt that Blaze is wearing was made by a student, who brought a large bag full to hand out to the crowd.



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Eat Our Dust: A Very Pink and Frilly Teapot Racer

This is my newest teapot racing creation, made from a remote control car's chassis that Blaze and I found at the Goodwill Goodcents store for 97 cents. There was no "car" attached to it, but that was fine for our purposes. It was still a risk to purchase it, though, because it also didn't have a remote control. Lucky for us, Blaze found the perfect remote buried in his toy box at home.

It was originally black, but I spray painted it gold to match the trim on the Mrs. Potts and Chip Funko Pop toys that I had decided to use for this racer.

There is, also, no cover for the batteries, but a little packing tape seems to do the trick.

The "table top" is a piece of foam board left over from the last teapot racer I made and the "table cloth" is an old doily that I dyed pink using a half package of very old cherry Kool-Aid powder.

I wanted to make something that was completely different from any of the other racers I had built and I think I accomplished that.

There was an open slot behind the "table" that bothered me, but Blaze came up with the wonderful idea of seeing if teabags could be carried in that space. They fit perfectly! He says that the teabags should be given out to each person who's toes get run over by the racer.

I have heard of teapot racing competitors writing poetry or songs to give the judges, but I had never felt inspired, until now. Having a Beauty and the Beast theme, I felt that this racer needed its own version of "Be Our Guest".