New Doodle

I hope everyone had a nice, safe New Year's Eve! Ours was pretty uneventful really, we hate getting out there on the road when many have been enjoying their adult beverages to excess and lose their intelligence when it comes to getting behind the wheel. It also was our 8th wedding anniversary...feels like much longer when I think about all the things we've done and the places we've been!  

We also had Tom's kids and grandkids over for a holiday dinner last week, everything was pretty yummy. Here is the centerpiece I had on the table, the one good thing about having it after Christmas was I bought all this stuff on clearance!! It was so sparkly and festive : )  


I also made a trip to Hobby Lobby on the 1st, no better way to start the new year now is there? Plus I had a gift card from the grandkids burning a hole in my pocket and also needed supplies to make 2 more banned books bracelets (see previous post for a picture) for a friend. I broke down and bought some watercolor supplies since my kids got me a book on painting doors and windows in watercolor. I've always been chicken to try it but just LOVE the look so I'll give it my best shot!


  

Here is the zentangle I've been working on over the past week - I really needed to work on something I didn't have to do. It was another like the last one I blogged about where I drew the string (or doodle), cut it into 9 pieces and filled card by card and put them back together. I just love the surprise I get when they are re-joined!  I call it "Joriki" which is a Sino-Japanese term meaning ‘power of concentration’. This refers to a meditator's ability to enter into and maintain a deep trance state for long periods of time which pretty is pretty much where I am when I do these!  


That's it for now....I have a ton of things I am working on, time to knock them out one by one, too bad my lack of focus keeps me in the middle of 10 things at once : / I guess this is just how my brain is wired (I like to think this is the case anyway)

No relevance for this video, just think BNL are just plain fun! 

Garfunkle?? Giggling.............at the Shores

Zenned Out

I've spent the last 4 days on discovering the zentangle (or whatever it is you may call it). I've always doodled as far as I can remember. Well, in the way I do things - go big or go home - I started with a doodle aka string on a sheet of 11x14 bristol board then cut it up into 12 pieces, I did number them first so it would be easy to put them back together, then shuffled them a bit and had at it, one at a time I filled each square.........for hours, days even, just me, my favorite music a Micron pen and a 2B pencil. I had help along the way from various zentangle artists out there on the internet, there is some incredible talent out there in this sort of art. So, here is my first attempt at a zentangle ensemble:

I added a Buddist mantra I had gotten on an ATC from my friend, Brenda, that I thought would be good on here somewhere by Thich Nhat Hanh. This was such a great thing to do - just to make pattern after pattern practically without much thought. What was even more fun was seeing what all 12 looked like once I put them back together! 

Also this week, I hit my 200 mile mark on my virtual trip across the USA. I've also lost 8 pounds so far. Not a ton but my clothes are looking so much better and I think I've gained a bit of muscle so I can deal with that! Here is my newest close up map and I've added my trail progress  looking at the whole state of Virginia:

Only 500+ miles to go before I leave the state! haha! I've set what is probably an unrealistic goal which is to be done w/ VA before the first snow falls because after it does I have to put the bike up and exclusively walk until the spring which will make for some S L O W progress. But we'll see - I'll try my best! 

This video/song is a little long, but hey, what Grateful Dead tune isn't? This song carried me through a piece of the above zentangle and I thought it suited my post just fine.
 
 

the heart has it's seasons, it's evenin's and songs of it's own...at the Shores