[From the diaries by susanhu with photos by adastra added.]
My journey to Crawford Texas was extremely emotional for me. I arrived at Cat’s on Wednesday midday and I was pretty tired. Cat had hooked up with Code Pink and other Boomaners.
Photo: “Boomaners” JanetStrange, Tracy, and Cat (Brinnaine) in Austin before going to Crawford. By Rick (Adastra).
Cannuck brought over a whole car load of stuff to take out there. Two wonderful flashlights……one helped me read maps when my dome light went out and another that we turned on the lantern setting and is used to light the supper table at Peace House after nightfall so you can see what you are spooning up. MORE BELOW, with more photos:
With so much sweating going on a hunger strike wasn’t an option because we were losing too many salts and minerals with all the sweat. It is nice having a soldier for my husband who has been to Iraq because he gives one a very good description of what the cramps feel like that come from having plenty of water but no minerals, calcium, and salts…….I ate!
I got to meet Janet Strange at Cat’s and she showed me photos of her painting project in her kitchen. I had some photos of the bedroom with only the mustard on the walls. I did have a good shot of the lion’s head. I didn’t have any though of the red wash on there yet though. I have to dress my room again. Hang the blinds and put the window caps back up…..it looks pretty cool though when I turn the corner and that color hits my eyes. Rick took photos and does possess an amazing spirit, particularly since he had to share time with three very independent women talking about women stuff! He is a very cool guy!
Code Pink phoned and asked if we could give someone a ride from the airport who was with Iraq Veterans Against the War. Are they Crazy? Of course, load those veterans up! I waited until evening for him to arrive and him was Tim Goodrich, and him is also the fella who was about to make a speech at the Istanbul Tribunal when unknown to him they unfurled the banner with the photos of the children who had been killed or injured due to the bombing (Susan did a story on it and I thought that Tim looked familiar…..he was standing at the podium in the photo that Susan put up).
Tim was in the Air Force six months before we “went into Iraq”, but Tim was part of that huge bombing that took place before we even started asking the U.N. if they would mind if we kicked Sadams ass. Tim has been speaking about this bombing now for three years, but nobody really heard him or noticed him until the Downing Street Memo/Minutes. I asked him if that was hard for him to be running around speaking about all of that and not being heard or really taken seriously for so long and he said not too hard usually. What happened in Iraq upset Tim so much emotionally that he saved up all of his leave so that he could get out as early as possible. He wanted no part of this shit anymore!
Tim drove, funny dude asked to drive before he even landed….he acts just like my husband I swear giving us all these numbers and directions as to where to pick him up at the airport…….WE’RE BURNING DAYLIGHT! We head back to Cat’s and finish getting directions and I take off with Tim in the driver’s seat and I was too glad to have him there because I was beat and it’s midnight. We had to be there though if they were going to start arresting people.
We pulled into Crawford around 2:30 am. Finding Peace House was fairly easy, there isn’t much to Crawford Texas. We were pointed to a room off the living room by another protester who mostly stayed at Peace House and kept things organized there. The room had a table with a lot of T-shirts on it for the Peace House. Make a ten dollar donation and have a shirt. The room had a lot of floor space though. There was one gentleman asleep on the floor already, in the morning I learned that his name was Hadi Fawad and Supersoling has a photo of him up and he is a Cofounder of the Peace House.
Left: Hadi. Gentleman on right unknown (anyone know? — the photos aren’t all captioned.) Photo by Rick aka Adastra.
He also has a very hairy back but does not snore. Dear God help me through this! Sleeping on the floor and hairy backs and portapotties and I AM A VISUAL PERSON! Camping for me is a cheap motel with the door left open! I thought that I had two sleeping bags but discovered that I had brought only one…..RATS! I had a camp pad though that my husband had christened in Iraq and I thought it might bring me good luck. I gave the bag to Tim and I took a blanket that I had brought and the camp pad. They had a pile of old couch cushions and they were old and I was too tired to think about it and one became my pillow.
I awoke before dawn and discovered that Tim didn’t snore either. There was a really bad knot though in the sleeping bag cord and he decided to heck with it and had grabbed a loose blanket and one of those lovely couch cushions. I talked myself into going back to sleep until the house began to stir. I never felt homesick though or ever had that out of place feeling that usually comes from new surroundings. It was like home the moment I walked through the door.
Photo: “Bridget Moody – working the phones at the Crawfoard Peace House,” by adastra.