Comfort Tangles

Greetings, readers.

well it's been a week, and that's no lie. I'll start at the beginning.

A few weeks ago my son, who has bipolar disorder, flipped out and got physically abusive with his wife. He shifted from a sofa here to a floor there, various places until finally one of his cousins drove him to the ER and when they saw him, they admitted him, flat out. After 72 hours of stabilization and observation, he was released and has nowhere to go. His wife won't have him back, the cousins are all bad news and staying with them will be extremely unhealthy, and he is refusing to take a bed at a shelter. :( My homeless son. I am so sad for him.

That's the short version. Needless to say, this has been a huge worry for me this month. But so many times I've been able to get to a place of quiet and ease with my tangling...

The Guest blogger for the Diva this week gave us the assignment to choose cozy tangles. Well, I had already pretty much filled up a page of my sketchbook one evening, keeping cozy and de-stressing, so this is what I chose for that challenge:

I don't know what the frond like one is called, maybe Fronds? and of course the delightful Muscari. I call this one "Relaxation on Paper" because it gave me focus and kept me in the NOW for quite some time.

Thank goodness for this little hobby when things in life are dark.

And gratitude also for the wonderful things in life...like the baby getting back from Denver:

He found his feet!

This one makes me laugh.

His dad gave him a teether that looks like ribs! ha!

and his mom gave him blueberry puree

for his first solids. 

Hee hee hee!

Ain't life grand!

I also finished the current tile for Joey's nine tile montage challenge...then realized something. Lemme splain...

This is how I laid it out and put a string on it...but when I got to the sixth ATC, I found that the string doesn't connect with the bottom tile at all!...

so I got looking at the color pattern and thought...hmmm

Is this how it should go? because there's some warmer tones at the top of tiles 1-3...and there are some connections with the string, too!

Maybe this is the best arrangement:

HA!

Well anyway, no mistakes in zentangle. I'll figure out something. 

Meanwhile, here is my sixth tile for the Joey challenge

Ginili was the featured tangle, which is one of my favorites. It goes really well with Suzanne Fluhr's Aloha...which I didn't use here hahahaha but it is always worth a mention. 

So, you can see how the bottom of the tile has no string, which should be there to attach it to tile #9 in a few weeks. 

Hmmm. 

well, I'll figure it out. 

My daughter told me my montage reminds her of An Octopus's Garden in the Shade.

What do you think?

Garr, that sixth tile is OUT OF PLACE!!!

Other delights of the week:

IN WHICH ICONS GO OUTSIDE THE BOX

This on my FB feed...the holy family: Joseph playing with the Baby Jesus, and Mary reading, while the Ass eats the halo and the Ox is trying to figure out how to do the same. I just LOVE this image.

IN WHICH I MEET SOME FRIENDS

This is Anne.

Years ago, in the era of dial up, I was a member of a religious discussion group Renewing Your Mind. It was the first discussion forum I ever joined. That forum went away in 2001, to all of our deep sadness, but we continued in a different venue, still discussing every kind of thing...such as the vastly important thread about which is better, bagpipes or fiddles. Or what is the difference between red shift and blue shift (THE Tim Bergland has a blue shift...just so you know) (or was it periwinkle)

There I met (online) many people whom I have counted as friends for decades...and this year I met TWO OF THEM!

This is Byron

Anne was in town a week ago for a DoTerra conference, and Byron came to town this past week for something with his job. So, last week Anne and I went to the Blue Iguana, and yesterday Byron and I ate at the Red Iguana. Yum! and what a blessing to meet IRL these wonderful people who have been a very real part of my life for so many years.

I've met two others, a few years ago. Eleanor who came to Utah as part of a geological tour of the West, and Valerie who crashed at my place on her way across country to move to Moscow, Idaho from Maryland.

One of the great assets of the internet for us introverted types is that we get to connect with people without the draining effects of ACTUAL HUMAN CONTACT! But seriously, these people are FRIENDS that I treasure, and I hope to meet many more of them. Maybe some day I'll do some sofa surfing back east and visit ALL THE PEEPS!

IN WHICH MY MORNING COMMUTE IS GLORIOUS

While waiting for the Trax

A few days later, walking from the bus stop to work

Now, with these kinds of sunrises, AND there was a full out rainbow a few days ago, isn't it worth it to have a little bit of time waiting for public transport to get to work?

IN WHICH IT IS NOT MY BIRTHDAY NOR CHRISTMAS

When I got home from work day before yesterday, I noticed out the side of my eye, that someone had left the end table light on...it barely registered as I was absorbed in something or other. Then when I did look up WOW!

Wylie. He is REALLY good at gifts. But doesn't it make a pretty picture with my jumble there on the table? 

IN WHICH I ENJOY A TOMATO

better than candy

toodle-ooh...ttfn...later, gator...see ya when I look atcha...byeeee.