A Beautiful October Weekend and an Estate Sale

October has always been my favorite month but I have to say it has been quite the roller coaster ride this year. I'm going to start with some of the good things ; one was this past weekend when the girls of Mysticwood took a treasure hunting road trip, We started at an amazing estate sale at an enchanting historic North Carolina Plantation. The architecture of this house will take your breath away as will it's history. You just feel the footsteps of the past as you step out onto the lawn in the shade of giant oaks that has sheltered this family since 1859. I could have lingered, dreaming in that magical place there forever,                                                                      

                                                                           
                     We found some amazing antique linens, some that will be added to my collection and others that are going to be listed in our Etsy shop in just a few days, I have a ton of hand laundering and ironing to do but my favorite find of the weekend is this pair of well loved and tattered shoes. I have the perfect little dress to display them with and I am totally in love with them.

                                                                             

We said goodbye to the stately old home and drove the back roads through Edgecombe and Halifax counties. This time of the year the countryside takes on a glow of sheer beauty. We love the cotton fields and the golden glow of the forests that border them. We paid a quick stop by the old house and nearly cried to see that it may not be standing another year at all and that the little town so well loved has fallen into even more desperate disrepair.
                                                                       

                                                                               
From there we traveled on to Historic Halifax,  we are always so proud to walk in this lovely restored town and know that the Halifax Resolves began right where we stood as free Americans. Then there was more shopping and antiquing Riverside Mill in Weldon.

It was an amazing trip and I have much more that I will post later but I want to update everyone on the the little girl that I last posted about.

She is improving, she does have a way to go but she will make it. She has had surgery to remove a fragment of her eye that was damaged and infected. She is still undergoing treatment but soon she will be ready for her forever home. Everyone that has been involved in her rescue has fallen in love with her. She is so gentle and so loving. Thank you all for your prayers and healing energy. She is warm and eating well and will be ready to make some lucky human very happy with her sweet love and brave happy smile.

                                                                         

The Face of the Forgotten

 Do you see her? She's in the chair behind the table. Not her chair, not her home; but maybe a safe spot for a few minutes. Maybe a place where someone might give her a morsel to eat, anything just a piece of bread but please she is starving and sick.

 This little child has touched my heart and shaken my soul. When I first saw her I thought she might be displaced and injured from the flooding caused by Matthew. I followed her only to find that she had been scrounging and begging for food before the storm and some of the neighbors thought she was dumped. I could see every rib, her tail hung limp behind her, one eye was missing  and she cried the most heart wrenching pleas for help.

The picture above is a scene from the flooding just two blocks from where this baby struggled to survive and it is only one example of the devastation all over Eastern  North Carolina. I wanted to hold her and feed her but I couldn't bring her home. My own fur kids may not have appreciated another dog and she was in no condition to be introduced to my own group of bouncing crazy and often times jealous kids. I posted her picture on Facebook and I asked if there was anyone that could help. I knew there were rescue groups that would be as concerned as I but I also knew that they were full and overflowing with so many homeless from the flooding.
  I had followed the shelters and rescue groups and I knew the shelters equipped to house 20 to 30 dogs and cats were now set up with temporary enclosures and filled with more than a hundred animals each and more arriving all the time.   This baby needed help, her missing eye was infected and there was a lump under chin. I was contacted by Odin's Orphans, a local rescue group and they agreed to take her if I could catch her.

 Once I could get a quiet minute alone with her she came right too me. I will never forget the look of fear on her face and the trembling as she inched forward and ate ravenously from my hand. The leash was on her in a second and she walked uncertainly by my side to my home.  A volunteer from Odin's came to get her but in the time we waited  she started wagging that skinny little tail. She ate dog food and treats and smiled and hugged me and kissed me and snuggled in my lap.

She has what appears to be scars on her body, the tip of one ear is missing. I cannot imagine what she has suffered. Day after day I see post after post of lost dogs, possibly stolen dogs. Now these posts have nothing to do with the flood, it goes on in Eastern N.C. and in areas all over our country. These kind, sinless souls need help. We must stop the abuse, there are many kind people and those that work tirelessly in rescue but the needless abuse and neglect must stop.  Please adopt or volunteer and if you can donate to help these suffering lost animals. I can't go on anymore right now, it is just too heartbreaking. I have been updated today and at this point it appears that she will make it. She is getting medical care and testing and she is in the hands of the most wonderful people. Please hug your own fur kids tight and reach out to the lost ones.   And THANK YOU to ODIN'S ORPHANS and the others that worked so hard to save her, 

Hope in the Heart of the Abondoned

Do you see that little face? This is the face of the lost,