My Dad and stepmom

Lost Dog: 3 legs, blind in one eye, missing right ear, tail broken, recently castrated, answers to the name of “Lucky”

It’s an old joke, but it always makes me think of my Dad.  If he were a dog, this would describe him pretty well.  He’s been through a lot and is still here to tell the tale.

Dad was born in 1940 in west Texas.  As he says, only God and the jackrabbits would want the place.  He got a tough start in life, contracting polio when he was just a toddler.  He has a few memories of being in an iron lung at Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas.  His parents were too poor to go with him, so he remembers riding the trains with the soldiers and they would give him nickels and see him safely back and forth to the hospital.  On one trip home, he and some other boys were playing with matches.  His t-shirt caught fire burning up the side of his torso and past the elbow on the inside of his arm.  One of the other children put out the fire with a mop.  Back then, the country doctors didn’t know much about treating burns and would let the burn fuse and then cut it apart.  He eventually went back to Scottish Rite for proper treatment of the burns.  Casts and many skin grafts over several years left him with a massive scar and healthy respect for fire.  At the age of 13, during a surgery to put a plate in his foot affected by the polio, he died on the operating table.  He was revived and refused to have any more surgeries for his leg.  That plate is still in his foot today.

Don’t think all this held him back.  He was forever in trouble and full of mischief.  As the youngest of three boys, he got into everything his older brothers did and a little more on his own.  He and his cousin Alan were particularly prolific.  He tells about convincing Alan that they should give each other Mohawks.  Alan went first – and dad backed out of the deal once he saw the results.  His aunt was not happy with Alan’s new hair style.  In another prank, the boys stuffed some old clothes to make a dummy and put it on the toilet for Alan’s mother to find.  Needless to say, it scared her to death.  She thought a bum had gotten in the house and was using the bathroom.  Or the time the boys found a box of balloons (condoms), blew them up and tied them all over his uncle’s model T.  His teenage years were no better.  I think he had 97 speeding tickets the first time he lost his license.  His mother made the mistake of taking his car to the store and was pulled over before she made it around the block.

If you’ve ever met a polio survivor, one of the things that stand out about them is an incredible drive and strong will.  They were taught that if you don’t move it, you lose it.  My Dad personifies this trait.  Daddy has always been a hard worker and one of my favorite memories of him as a young child had to do with him taking me to work.  He drove a delivery truck all over Texas and would sometimes take me along.  We would sing “Hit the Road Jack” and he would buy me Cracker Jacks and YooHoo to drink.  I would stand on side of him with my arm around his neck and think I was the luckiest little girl in the world.  Always my champion, he still brags about the best “bowl” cake he ever ate.

When I decided to go to college for the first time at age 32, my dad and my husband were my biggest cheerleaders.  Just 2 days after the start of my first semester at LSU, my Dad suffered a massive heart attack.  He barely survived and would have several more over the next few days.  Stints were put in and blockages cleared.  By the time it was done, he had only 1/3 of his heart working, but he was still here and saw me graduate college with honors.  Within a few months of my graduation, he was diagnosed with a massive abdominal aortic aneurysm.  He was a poor candidate for surgery, but came through with flying colors though he says we better never allow him to be put on a machine again.  It’s been nearly 20 years since then.  He was there for both daughters’ weddings, graduations from high school and college, and the birth of both of my grandchildren.  He is a great-grandfather 6 times over.  He’s a master farmer on Farmville and loves doing jigsaw puzzles on his computer.  I get regular calls from my stepmom “tattling” on him for something or other.  The most famous incident was flipping his riding lawnmower and having to wait for the gas to run out to get out from under it – because he disabled the safety feature that would have shut off the engine. Some things never change.

Whenever I want to getaway and truly relax, I go to see my Dad.  When I’m with him, even at the age of 52, I am the luckiest little girl in world.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad!  I love you with all my heart.

Dad trying to cut a birthday cake I made for him. I frosted a cardboard box.

Dad and my youngest daughter. I’m sure he was telling about her cheating on computer games.

My dad and his brothers – he’s the cute one in the middle.

“But God really did bless me, you know? He really said, All right. Come on. I’m still waiting for you. Get over here. Get over here.”

It’s been an interesting few weeks filled with travel, work, life, an anniversary and my annual round of medical tests and doctor visits.  Much of it has been pretty ordinary with a few surprises along the way.  More about those surprises in a bit.

My husband and I celebrated our 36^th wedding anniversary this year.  It’s hard to believe it’s really been that long.  He was offshore this year and I took some time to put together a nice post for Facebook that day.  As I scrolled through all the photos I have in digital format, I was struck by how few pictures exist of the two of us.  Especially in the early days of our marriage and there’s nothing from when we dated.  Considering the wealth of images available of my daughter and her husband, we seemed like real slackers.  But as I pondered this, I remembered something very important.  We came from the era of FILM.  You had to buy it, usually fairly inexpensive, but then you had to bring it somewhere (or mail it in) to be developed. Developing was always an expensive proposition and we were pretty poor in those early years.  Nor were our families big picture takers either – once again the expense was problematic.  What little money we did have to spare for those things focused on capturing our children.  The other thing that struck me was just much I change my hairstyle.  I tell people all the time that I am a poor candidate for tattoos because I can’t even settle on a hairstyle for longer than a few months.  I now have visible proof of that fact – at least a twenty year span of photos with no hairstyle the same.  A good many of the comments about the photos were about my ever-changing hairstyles.   I believe it’s mostly because I get bored, but maybe I’m really very vain.  After all, I am a Southern woman.  My husband pretty much looks the same.  After all, he’s a Southern man.

Surprises have been good and not so good.  After eight years with the same company, an incredible opportunity for a new job came knocking on my husband’s door.  Within a week, the deal was done and he’s very excited to start on this new adventure next week.  I am so happy to see him this excited about his work.  After 38 years of work in his field, that really is a rare thing. 

On the not so good side of the coin, there was a bit of unexpected news from all those routine medical tests.  Something was found on my mammogram.  Additional tests this week revealed a “cluster” and a referral to a breast surgeon next week.  Nurse daughter doesn’t like what she’s hearing and baby daughter is outraged that there is “no sense of urgency” from anyone. My granddaughter says it’s time to get busy with Zentangle. I’m taking the view that whatever is there won’t change in the next week and if it is bad, it’s very early stage.  I am choosing to embrace my quote for this week and know that God has blessed me, really he has. 

Fairy Garden entered in Tangled Fashionista contest. Fairy and butterflies are from Tangled Fashionista.

“I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.”  ~Steven Wright

It’s a bit of a random thought day.  It seems that every day is some sort of holiday, so I took a look to see what obscure event I might be missing this week.  So…who knew May 3 is Martin Z. Mollusk Day and just WHO is Martin Z. Mollusk?

It appears that M.Z.M. is a famous hermit crab from Ocean City.  For more than 37 years he has been appearing on the beach in Ocean City on May 3.  Why is this significant, you may ask?  Because if he sees his shadow summer will come one week early, of course I knew that.  Or maybe I was thinking about a groundhog with similar duties in February named Phil?  If memory serves correctly, his record was pretty poor this year since many areas around the country had snowstorms this week.  Maybe Martin does better; after all, he is quite old.  He also has a 100% accuracy record, gets annual physicals and lives in an assisted living Crustacean Condo.  To learn more about Martin Z. Mollusk and the special activities planned for May 3, check out the Ocean City, NJ website .

The whimsy associated with Martin Z. Mollusk Day carries through in the Zentangle Inspired Art pieces I am sharing today.  I had a great time at Tangle University, learning quite a few fun techniques from my fellow CZT’s.  Meredith Yuhas taught tangled gardens on toned paper and Marie Browning shared a fun technique with Tombow markers in a workshop she called Dr. Seuss’ Garden.  Sandy Steen Bartholomew sponsored a contest that challenged CZT’s to use images from her book, Tangled Fashionista.  Since my new skills were top of mind, I used them to finish 2 entries for Sandy’s contest.  Wonder of wonders, I was a runner up with my Fairy Garden.  I hope you enjoy the results of my little flight of fancy.

Diva Challenge 107
Quandary

Quandary: a state of perplexity or uncertainty, especially as to what to do; dilemma. From Dictionary.com

A fitting word and tangle to describe the past week for me.  No matter which way I turned, I was confronted with another quandary as I tried to meet a big deadline.  By Friday, my shoulders felt as though they were touching my ears from the stress.  Time to tangle and see if I could relax a little.

I haven’t done the Diva Challenge in a while, so I thought it would be nice to work on the latest from Laura Harms.  Quandary again!  This time it was in the form of the new tangle, Quandary, from Zentangle.  As I tackled Quandary in my Tangle-A-Day calendar, I quickly understood how it came to be named.  It reminded me of another tangle, Tripoli, which has always been a struggle for me.  With Quandary, your eye bounces back and forth with the need to create the triangles and the flowers that emerge as you build the triangles.  I got lost several times with less than stellar results.  For me, it seems the secret is in the scale.  I do much better with the larger scale.  I tell my students all the time to play with scale when learning a tangle that they seem to struggle to master but sometimes forget to do this myself.  With my new awareness, it may be time to try Tripoli and Assunta, but much larger in scale.

I also took some time to “finish” a few things.  When teaching, as I did last weekend, I often start a tile or demo a tangle on one and move on.  What’s left is a pile of really random tiles, some with only a tangle and no strings, others resembling most of the tiles I do in a basic class since I keep the string and tangles fairly simple.  These are a challenge to complete and I’ll tackle a few from time to time just to see what I can do with them.  While working on my Diva Challenge, I realized a previous page in my calendar had never been shaded so I thought it might be interesting to share the before and after on my blog.  Shading really is a personal preference and there are tangles that I never shade, and others that change dramatically with a little bit of pencil strategically applied.  To really learn more about shading, take a look at Made in the Shade by Cris Letourneau.  Cris earned her CZT along with me in 2011.  This book is a deep dive into the world of shading specific to Zentangle and is well worth the investment.  You can see more of Cris’ work here.

Give Quandary a try and I hope you enjoy the fruits of my various dilemmas.

Example of same page from Tangle A Day calendar – unshaded and shaded

My finished tile from
Feb. 17 class at LSU

Demo of Cadent from class with Mi2 added

Student Class Mosaic from Feb 17 class at LSU
Basic Zentangle

Mardi Gras and King Cake

“King Cake: A party staple from January 6 through Mardi Gras day, the cake is named for the three kings who visited the Christ Child and whose feast, the Epiphany, is celebrated on January 6, the Twelfth Night after Christmas. Traditionally, the cake is a brioche pastry baked in a circle, suggesting a crown (although for convenience, large ones are oval). They are sprinkled with gem-like sugar crystals in the official Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold. A plastic baby (symbol of the Christ Child), or in some cases a bean, is baked inside. By custom, the one who finds it throws the next king cake party. Lately, the brioche recipe has been supplemented by a coffee-cake ring alternative. French settlers brought the gâteau des rois to Louisiana in the 18th century. Their original round, flaky pastry pie filled with almond crème and topped by a paper crown, is now making a comeback in the French pastry shops around the city.” from New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau website

I’ve never been a big fan of Mardi Gras parades, but I love the history and lore associated with the holiday.  My particular favorite is the King Cake.  Just about every grocery store and bakery has their own special version with a variety of flavors ranging from plain (a little cinnamon) to Voodoo and Praline.  Heated discussions revolve around where to find the best King Cake in the state and everyone has a favorite flavor.  Natives lament the fact that the baby is no longer baked into the cake (liability now that they are shipped around the world, you know.)  King Cake parties are frequent so everyone can get their fill because these treats are only made from January 6 through Mardi Gras day.

Since I have celiac disease and food allergies, King Cake has not been on my menu for many years.  Each year as I run the gauntlet of brightly colored boxes stacked as high as my head and savor the rich aromas, I feel a little twinge of longing.   This is one of the few times I miss being able to eat something on my “bad” list.  I can watch dinner companions eat fresh bread, biscuits, cornbread and more without batting an eye but when it comes to King Cake, it’s another story altogether.  That all changed this year.  I learned last week that a local bakery/deli specializing in gluten-free, allergy friendly foods would be making King Cakes.  Oh Joy!!  I skated close to the deadline, picking up my special strawberry cream cheese King Cake yesterday afternoon, but I will eat King Cake this Mardi Gras season!   In honor of this momentous occasion, I decided to create a Mardi Gras/King Cake inspired Zendala.  The tangle Brayd fits my purposes perfectly as the dough of a King Cake is braided and decorated with Mardi Gras colored purple, gold and green sugar.  Add beads, a crown and masks and it’s Mardi Gras on my tile.  Now I am off to enjoy these last few hours of Fat Tuesday and my first taste of King Cake in years.  Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Heartfelt thanks to Eric at Truly Free Bakery for creating my special treat! 

Tangle A Day 2013
Mardi Gras
(unshaded) Rain, Socc, Print Temps

Auraknot and Bunzo
Diva Challenge 102

“The key to successful aging is to pay as little attention to it as possible.” Judith Regan

So here I am, another year older.  I’m happy to report my birthday was much more relaxed than last year.  I spent most of my birthday week with my work team mates at a regional meeting.  Connecting with my friends and colleagues and sharing ideas and catching up are the best part of these meetings for me.  I have a long list of “stuff” and ideas to implement prompted by the diversity that always breeds creativity. My birthday itself was a long and very productive work day (thanks to that list of “stuff”) followed by a lazy evening with my husband at home.  Much better than the hospital waiting room where I spent my birthday last year.

For the last few years, my husband has been using the occasion of my birthday to gift me with a special Zentangle related trip just for me.  It started with my first certification seminar with Rick and Maria in 2011.  This was a much needed break from the chaos in our lives at the time and a chance to heal my spirit.  Just as my work meetings allow me to reconnect with friends and colleagues and refresh my thinking about my work; these trips offer me the opportunity to refresh my creative spirit and connect with my Zentangle friends.  This year it will be Tangle U in Northampton, Mass.  I am sooo excited to have this opportunity to meet so many of the rock stars of the Zentangle world I have only admired through their books an blogs. 

I’ve never been one to make very much of my birthday.  I think it’s because my birthday falls just after Christmas and seems pretty anticlimactic. I have friends and family who begin announcing and celebrating their big day weeks in advance.  Other are so caught up in the number, fudging what it really is, to the point they lose track of their real age.  To each his own.  I’m okay with the number, 52 this year, and I rarely raise the subject of my upcoming birthday.  I had to think a few moments when asked by a team mate about the date last week.  Being remembered with a little note or simple “Happy Birthday” is great, much more is a little embarrassing.  What I DO celebrate is one more year to enjoy my Dad, treasure my children and grandchildren, and thank God for good health and a sharp mind.  And be grateful to have found my other half so early in my life.  He’s my polar opposite, preferring sports and numbers, early mornings and a “do it now” attitude.  The man possesses no inclination toward creativity, though he appreciates art and beauty and has the sensitivity to encourage me to explore and enjoy those things he doesn’t understand. What more could you ask for in a mate?

Zendala Dare 40

Diva Challenge 100 – the Diva Dance

“It came without ribbons!  It came without tags!  It came without packages, boxes or bags!”… Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!  “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.  Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!”  ~Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! has always been a favorite of mine.  As a child, I would begin scouring the TV Guide in the month of November for the one and only showing of my holiday favorites.  Back then, you only got one shot at seeing them and then they were gone for another year.

I’ve always been like the Who’s – loving all things Christmas. I am the head cheerleader for Christmas in my family.  Shopping for ornaments all year long, dressing my house in its holiday best and putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. But I also had a soft spot for the Grinch with his crabbiness and sour attitude.  Even as a young child, I seemed to understand that Christmas could be a lonely, difficult time for some people. Imagine my dismay when I realized that for the first time in my life, I had much more in common with the Grinch than the Who’s.

This year I have struggled to find my Christmas spirit.  When October came and I hadn’t bought the first ornament, I began to realize something was amiss.  My husband will be working offshore for the holidays this year.  Not having him home has always put a little damper on Christmas for me, but we  just changed the date to celebrate while he was home and all was well.  In order to do that this year, we had to move everything up by 10 days. Ongoing health problems for both daughters and me didn’t help matters.  Discussions with my family were met with protests and general disbelief.  When Thanksgiving came and went with no tree and no decorations, my family came to the realization that the orchestrator of all things Christmas at Chez Redmond was MIA.

A visit to my rheumatologist (a wonderful guy) resulted in a very strong recommendation to let go of the pressure to create the perfect Christmas.  He asked “How can you pare it down to the things you love with the strongest meaning for you and your family and let the rest go for this year?  You need to begin the process now because this will be truly unsustainable as you get older.  There will come a time when you need to pass the torch.”  He had a point.  Each year we seem to try to do more, be more and make it perfect for all those we love.  Over time, it builds to something that becomes unmanageable and burdensome.  Something I know my family doesn’t want for me.

I was a little surprised at who stepped into the void – my husband.  He pushed me to either abandon my big tree or come up with an easy, acceptable alternative.  He shopped for the entire family and did a great job I might add.  He helped with my version of a Christmas tree this year, wrapped gifts and cut and wrapped caramel without complaint.  Best of all, he took everyone out to a local restaurant for a great family dinner to celebrate the holiday after we exchanged gifts.

Over the 35 years of our marriage, there have been many times when my husband has surprised me with little gestures that show how much he loves me and others when we found our roles in the marriage reversed.  This was one of those times.  I became the Grinch and he was the Who showing me the truest meaning of Christmas.  Thanks, Babe!

Some fun with a tangelation blending Verve and IX

The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.  ~Author Unknown

My husband and I found a rare intersection of opportunity and availability and were able to take a quickly scheduled vacation to Big Sky, Montana.

As Southerners, we had a little trepidation about the weather so late in the year, but were pleasantly surprised when we arrived.  For the most part, a jacket and long sleeves or sweatshirt were perfect.  We noticed some differences from home over the few days we were there outside the obvious swamp vs. mountain landscape.  Many of the towns are very small and you drive a long time to get from place to place. There aren’t many restaurants in the area, nor are there many places to purchase the foods I usually eat (allergies to corn, eggs and gluten.) Though we did find some wonderful caramel made with tapioca syrup that was safe for me to eat – and I certainly enjoyed it!  I was a little disappointed that we didn’t see a big horn sheep despite many warning signs along the road that we were in a crossing area.  Oh, and cell phone coverage – forget it. This was especially frustrating since we usually rely on the GPS app on my phone.  On the positive note, no one could call and bother us for most of the time we were there.

We arrived last Saturday with the idea that we would relax a day or two and then drive over to Yellowstone National Park.  That plan got nixed quickly as we heard on the radio that Yellowstone would be closing for the season on Monday.  We were up bright and early Sunday to spend the day at the park.  Imagine our surprise when we spotted a red fox just outside our condo.  I can’t describe Yellowstone, though I will share a few photos – I only took about 400.  We saw bison, elk, and trumpeter swans.  Steam pits, paint pots, mud volcanoes, Old Faithful and the most stunning scenery you could imagine.  What you don’t see are the sounds and smells, though I wish you could. To hear the water boiling just under the ground and hot steam rising all around us was surreal. I only wish our grandchildren had been there – they would have loved it all.

We ended up cutting our trip short as the weather we had worried over was slated to arrive on our last couple of days there.  They were expecting 2-3 feet of snow between Thursday and Saturday with highs in the low teens. The innkeeper warned that the mountain road would be closed to all traffic, so we decided to leave just before the storm hit. There was light snow as we drove down the mountain Thursday morning and about 12” on the ground by the time we boarded our 10 am flight.  The plane had to be de-iced a couple of times, but we made it home safe and sound late Thursday afternoon.

Nature is really “in your face” there and I have great admiration for the people who live in that part of America.  I’m too Southern-fried to manage the winter weather.  Visiting Yellowstone was an unforgettable experience and being unplugged is something everyone should do more often – not just when we can’t get cell phone coverage.

Set of three tangled pumpkins

“Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.”  Leo Buscaglia 

Life has been a whirlwind for our family over the last month.  This is a busy time of year at Chez Redmond as we celebrate birthdays for Maggie, Katrina and Kim.  Getting through the second anniversary of the accident was much better this year.  Court dates – delayed yet again.

There has been lots of work travel for me with a big dollop of extra responsibilities.  Travel bonus: A 2.5 hour flight delay offered the perfect time to teach a colleague Zentangle.  She was a great student and is now a tangler. I taught my first Zentangle class as part of the LSU Leisure Class Series, with a second on Zendalas set for next Saturday.  My deadline for next semester’s classes is tomorrow, so I’m working on a few extra ideas.  Suggestions are welcome, I just need them quickly.

All of this has fostered the perfect environment for me to tangle away and de-stress.  And that is exactly what I have been doing.  I hope you enjoy my various gifts …

Link for paper ball ornament instructions and templates

Reblogged from Tangled Tranquility:

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children." -President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001…

Read more… 224 more words

Reflecting on 9/11 and remembering those we lost, I decided to share my thoughts and Zentangle on this day last year. Never forget...