Gala day in the Park.....

Trading Cardboard Stories for Stranger's Stories....
Good Stuff!

And this is what was in the bottom of the tube....

A random stack of this weeks cardboard meanderings...

The night my Mascara ran....

Friday night ticket stubs and stories

It was almost nine o'clock.  We had most of the tables packed up for the night...and Ray was trucking it all out into the steamy street....another Friday night of storms and stories...

And then I saw them, in the almost empty garage....The woman with the dark, deep, eyes and the young girl with the quiet smile.  They headed straight for the only table we still had standing...the table with the cardboard story box.  The woman tilted her head, carefully read the instructions, and in a soft voice asked..."Is this for real?"

I smiled....and answered...  "Yes, take your time, and if your find the one meant for you, take your sign".....

I didn't watch them.  We know now that flipping through the signs, reacting, choosing....even walking away, should be private.  But I felt them, as they came closer to me.  The woman asked hesitantly, if I wanted to see the sign she had chosen....and
I smiled, and tipped my head again....

She was holding the cardboard tight to her chest, and she slowly turned it to me, and whispered "Thank you".......
"I'm a widow, now".....
"This means the world to me...."

And then she folded the little sign back, close to her heart, and walked away.....

I can't imagine what prompted me...to even paint that sign, with the drippy words,  the big brown eyes dusted with lashes, and the little crescent moon...
but I may never forget the words...
"My Mascara ran away with the Moon"......

Love Grows.....

There's no such thing as an Empty Box....

Daybreak.  And Ray flies over the little bridge, pedaling through the morning sounds, following the Sunrise to home....And the boxes spill from the rickety little bicycle basket onto the deck...

This morning's finds....




I'll strip the sides off and wait for him to come home again to start painting....in tandem...the next little batch of  random cardboard stories.

And tonight,
When we get to Artisan Alley,
we'll fill the little pink box with a rainbow of words....And see which ones have wings....
Which ones reach out....to someone...
And
for a tiny second...
make a difference.

We'll watch for laughter, secret smiles, slow trains of thought....
And
we'll embrace the reactions of the strangers
that,
for just a moment,
we've known forever......