We met Kevin and his amazing wife Tashi earlier this year, when she wrote to us with a very special request.

Kevin and Tashi were looking for a ceramicist to make a TARDIS shaped urn for Kevin. Kevin was 27 years old and dying of terminal brain cancer.

As usual, your response was overwhelming. They received so many offers that it took weeks to review them all and make a decision. But they finally chose Rebekka Ferbrache, who did an amazing job.

Rebekka was able to finish the urn quickly, which was important to the couple. They wanted Kevin to be able to spend some time with it, and to make sure it was where he wanted to be.

It was.

Tashi, who is herself very young, has spent a large part of her life caring for her husband. She has watched him fade away, even as she clung to him. And today, as Kevin steps into his own TARDIS and begins his next journey, Tashi turns a page and begins a new life. And we wish her nothing but happiness, and that the kindness and selfless care she gave her husband will come back to her many times.

Tashi and Kevin made a video to thank us for the urn, which I had promised to post. But it was difficult to watch, so I decided not to.

But today I realized that Kevin deserved the chance to thank you. I didn’t want to take that away from him.

In closing, I just want to say how proud I am of everyone who reached out to this couple; from the urn to all the little things you did every day – leaving encouraging notes, making financial contributions to their ongoing fundraiser, sending soaps and toys in the mail, and even approaching the cast of Dr. Who on the streets on New York, just to get a card signed for Kevin.

Thank you for supporting these dear people, and seeing them through the darkest hours. You are an amazing community.

- Click here to read Tashi’s blog, and to leave a message of hope and kindness

- Click here to help Tashi rebuild her life, and pay Wash’s final expenses

Howdy!

We’re on our way back from a wedding in Savannah, Georgia- where the natives have 47 different words for “humidity.” You know you’re in a magical place when you’ve been thumbing through the Schmidt Sting Pain Index to find out which insect sting hurts the most.

No idea where this guy is on the list, but we’re grateful that someone at the hotel saw fit to cover this bastard up with a drinking glass. We’ve also been blessed to be in town during the Savannah Beer Fest, which has produced a kaleidoscopic array of artisanal vomit.

But other than that, and the sand gnats, it was a deep fried slice of heaven. You can even get these at the gas station!

Hard to believe there were any left.

Speaking of Paula Deen, we briefly flirted with the idea of eating at her Bucket O’ Lard™ Diner, but were warned away by the desk clerk:

“She doesn’t even use real mashed potatoes! Someone at the Food Network needs to bust that shit wide open!”

We should be back to doing whatever the hell it is we do some time tomorrow, after the meat sweats subside.

Later, y’all!

- Submitted by Jody

A couple of weeks ago, the Centro de Estudios Borjanos in Borja, Spain, received a donated fresco from the granddaughter of 19th-century painter Elías García Martínez.

This is how the painting looked two years ago:

This image is how it looked in July, when it was photographed for a catalog of regional religious art:

This is how it looks today:

The restoration is the work of an elderly neighbor of the church, who took it upon herself to restore the painting.

“She had good intentions, but did not ask permission,” said culture councillor Juan Maria de Ojeda.

- Source

REGRETSY MATH:

This post first appeared on Regretsy on August 3, 2011.

Ant B is an artist on Etsy who is also a member of April’s Army. This is a story she posted in the Regretsy forums a few days ago.

I was heading out to the backyard this morning, when I saw the neighbor that lives in the house behind ours in my yard. He was putting leaves from one of my plants in a shopping bag. I yelled, “Hey!” and he grabbed another plant and stripped it up, taking all the leaves off. By the time I got outside, he had done two more plants and shoved all the leaves into his bag. By the time I got halfway to him, he ran off, carrying the bag.

I inspected the damage. He had stripped or broken off all my okra plants. They hadn’t started producing yet.

I think he thought they were ….not okra.

UPDATE 1:

An undercover cop just stopped by. He took my report. He was going to tell the neighbor to stay off my property but no one answered the door. He said that there was no proof he took the leaves, and that there was no value to them so there was no way to charge him. But we both had a good laugh over it, and he took photos and said he was sure his fellow officers would laugh too.

UPDATE 2:

Just got a knock on the door. A police office stopped by to let me know that my neighbor was arrested trying to trade a baggie of chopped green leaves for a case of beer at a liquor store a few blocks away. According to the store owner, the guy told him the leaves are high-quality home grown marijuana, and when he was arrested, he claimed he stole them from my garden, where I had them hidden in a flower bed.

The police officer that came by was a different one than from earlier, but had already heard the story about the okra thief. He went out with a flashlight, looked at the okra, took more pictures, laughed a lot.

He asked if he could have some okra leaves to take with him, and a tomato from the garden for his dinner. I complied with the police officer’s request.