Saturday, May 09, 2009

PINK SATURDAY AND A GALVESTON UPDATE

I've written before about Galveston Island since Hurricane Ike and today I'm going to combine Pink Saturday with another update.

Last Saturday we drove down to Galveston for the 35th Annual Galveston Historic Homes Tour. I wondered if they'd even have it this year, but they didn't let something like a hurricane deter them. The home tour was back and it was better than ever.

I saw plenty of pink on the tour. This is the 1892 Smith Cottage on Ball Avenue. It not only came through Ike OK, it also survived the 1900 hurricane. We wondered how long it took to paint all those shingles.


They don't allow photographs to be taken inside the homes, but the yards looked so pretty with all the new landscaping. The salt water storm surge from Ike killed most of the old landscaping.


I thought this looked pretty with the white picket fence...




This one had some architectural element from a demolished Galveston hotel decorating their landscaping. (There are some light pink flowers in there.)



I really thought this backyard was pretty...
And these people marked how high the water came in their backyard with blue tape...


Look closely...you'll see a little pink along the back fence here.





And someone had a pink bike just like mine! It goes nicely with the pink chair.




Lots of pretty pink blooms...





And this Oleander survived the storm although a lot of others didn't and have already been replaced.




This has no pink, but I liked it! On second thought maybe the cushions on the bench are pink-ish?




And really no pink here either, but don't you think it's neat the way they built the fence around the tree?




Bare with me pink people...no pink here either and this home wasn't even on the home tour. I just thought it would be so much fun to live in an old firehouse and had to take a picture. (I wonder if there's still a pole?)





And this was my favorite home on the tour. I know the picture is a little dark, but I really liked it and could actually picture myself living here. It's the 1904 Youens Home at 1512 Rosenberg. (Again, no pink...sorry.)





And now for the Galveston update. I'm happy to say that things have greatly improved since my last visit. It's now almost 8 months since the storm and things are looking a whole lot better. More and more business are opened. Along the Strand there are now more businesses opened than closed. There are still a lot of homes that appear to be abandoned or repairs have just recently begun.

And we still saw some of this, but not along the main streets any more. This was in some of the back alleys behind the homes.





And this is what I meant about some of the homes being abandoned or repairs just beginning.





And sadly it appears that a lot of the beautiful old trees on the island are dead. There are one hundred year old live oaks that probably won't make it. They're going to wait a while before they start taking them down in hopes some might come back, but it doesn't look too promising. All of the trees in these pictures should be full of leaves.






But there are a lot of things that have returned to normal on the island too.

The Carnival Conquest was getting ready to sail...



Some of the off shore oil rigs were in for repairs...



And one of our favorite eating places was opened again and we were able to eat outside on the dock overlooking the tall ship Elissa.



If you go back and read my earlier Galveston Island post you will see that things have greatly improved in the last eight months. Galveston is coming back!

For more information on Pink Saturday and to see a list of this week's participants click on the Pink Saturday logo on my sidebar. That will take you to Beverly's blog. Thank you Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday.

20 comments:

  1. Oh, I LOVE your post. So many pretty pictures, it is amazing how people can regenerate an area. I hope some of the live oaks can come back. Maybe they just have to take their time. They are wise to wait to see. LOVE your pictures, Betty!!

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  2. The pink bike and chair are a perfect pair!

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  3. Anonymous9:15 AM

    Hi Betty - From one crazy cat lady to another, HELLO! I also am a daydreamer. My self-description is "both feet firmly planted in mid-air! Thank you for visiting my blog. Your photos are riviting. I'm adding your link to my blogroll - will you add mine too, please? Happy Pink Saturday and Mother's Day to us, one and all!

    xJ
    MaidenShade.wordpress.com
    MaidenShade.com

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  4. How absolutely wonderful! Beverly sure knew what she was doing when she created a place for all of us "pinkies" to congregate and share our "pinkness".

    Thanks for giving me Galveston again. I lived there a long time ago. It was beautiful then and it is beautiful now.

    Happy Mother's Day to you. I hope you find yourself surrounded by those you love, good food, and a gentle peace in your ♥. We don't need to be a mother to know a mother's life. After all we all started out with a mom, didn't we?☺

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  5. I'm from TX and there really are some amazing old homes in every city. What a beautiful selection of photos. :)

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  6. Happy Pink Saturday and Have a great Mother's Day ~ Susan

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  7. The tree poking through the fence is just precious! I love the pink chair and of course all of the pink flowers. Thank you for this wonderful post and Happy Pink Saturday to you.

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  8. Oh, wow! What great photos! I visited Galveston several years ago and thought it was so unique--glad to see it coming back after Ike. Love the pink bike--I may be getting one like that myself!!!

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  9. Hi Betty,

    Being an avid gardener I just LOVE all the pink plants you posted. And that Pink Garden chair 2DIE4. Thank you for stopping by my blog.

    I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

    xo Cathy

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  10. Very nice pictures!

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  11. Lovely photos - I love the pink bike and the pink Adirondack chair! Happy Pink Saturday!

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  12. Galveston looks like things are beginning to shape back up...I enjoyed the tour!

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  13. Such a great post and so many beautiful pinks. Love the chair.
    debby

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  14. It's coming back slowly but surely. I love the tree growing in the fence, Happy Pink Saturday and Happy Mothers Day too, Char

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  15. What a great post! I like how you tied in your visit to Galveston with Pink Saturday. It's a reminder how even though the devastation may be out of the media and out of the minds of those not directly affected, for those living there, it is still a real mess and time of recovery.

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  16. Great shots. I'm glad so much of Galveston came thru unscathed. I would love to visit someday.

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  17. Thank you for visiting me on Pink Saturday. Also, I am so glad to hear that Galveston is back up & running. So sad with all the damage. We took two of our grandsons there just 2 weeks prior to the storm. They remember it so fondly & are so sad that the island was hit so hard.

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  18. Hi Betty!
    Thanks for the tour. I'm so glad to see that work is being done to try and restore the lovely homes. It is sad about the trees though.

    My hubby and I have never been to Galveston or Houston but we hope to visit both cities in the future. That flood line was amazing and to think that water could actually get and high and stay stationary to totally destroy buildings and homes. I love the spin you put on it though by posting the lovely gardens and homes there.

    ¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*´¨)
    (¸.·´ (¸.·´ Happy Pink Saturday

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  19. Betty, I enjoyed reading your post very much. I'd love to visit you sometime soon! (not during hurricane season, although that would certainly be a visit to remember!) I loved all your pictures, and loved seeing Oleander flowers. It sounds so exotic.

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  20. Very interesting photos. Those people certainly have a lot of courage. The homes are so lovely and that pink chair is so cheery!

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