Zendala Dare #70

Something about this reminds me of a Mariachi sombrero.

Here's the template from The Bright Owl

To see more go to thebrightowl.blogspot.com

Sepia Saturday- Hats, Picnics

My Sepia Saturday post this week isn't exactly about hats---it's about a wig-- and it was no picnic!

http://banardesigns.blogspot.com/2010/02/embarrassing-travel-moments-china-1985.html

To see more hats and picnic stories go to sepiasaturday.blogspot.com

TanglePatterns strings #64 & #65

Diva challenge #131 Dex monotangle

Dex is my favorite tangle but I've never used it all by itself before.

It was a challenge!

To see more go to http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/

A new way to fight tooth decay?

I drove past this sign three times, thinking "what are they going to promise next?"

Then I got a better look.

What a disappointment!

I was ready to cancel all my dental appointments and buy a bible.

Sunday with Robert Reich

Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. He gave a talk at Mira Costa College last Sunday. He teaches at Berkeley now.

He's really intelligent, logical, very funny and very short. He makes a lot of jokes about his short stature which was very endearing, especially thrown into the middle of some very heavy subjects.

I left the talk feeling as if I knew him personally. He's one of my heroes. Here's his blog: http://robertreich.org/

Diva challenge #123 and Zendala #66

Diva challenge # 123
 This challenge was a 2 pencil string. Draw your string with two pencils tied together.
To see more go to http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/

 Zendala # 66
Here's the template:




I tried an experiment. I did a collage of colored tissue paper and tangled over it.
I'm not happy with it. Too many colors.
To see more go to http://thebrightowl.blogspot.com/

Critters I have known

I'm not very squeamish about bugs, but finding this on my kitchen counter last night gave me quite a scare.

Not so much that I wasn't able to deal with it, though. I got a box, scooped it up, closed the lid and took it outside as far from the house as I could go while barefoot. I hope it was far enough away that there won't be a homecoming.  Does this say something about my housekeeping abilities?

Here's a beautiful bug that rode on my windshield one day while I did errands- for at least an hour. Stayed with me the whole time and came all the way home before he left the windshield. I was glad because I didn't want him to hop off far from home and be lost. He looks like a fish with legs.

  Here's a few more: (maybe I should have been an entomologist)

The scorpion is my least favorite. I've found several in my house.

All the others are kind of cute and don't bite (except the tarantula, which also isn't cute.)

Time to call the exterminator- except I really don't want to kill them- just scare them away.

Maybe it's time to call the psychologist!

Here's a critter we all can like, except maybe if you're the prey.

This one was perched on my friend, Kathy's deck. It stayed quite awhile. I have a couple of hawks living in my eucalyptus trees. There's a nest and, I assume eggs, but they're too high up to see what's going on. I enjoy the hawks but I miss the peacocks that lived at my Tumble Creek house.

Zendala #65 (the bright owl)

My finished Zendala and the template from The Bright Owl

To see more thebrightowl.blogspot.com

Sepia Saturday- #185- Umbrellas

Nancy had already submitted her post when she ran across this photo in our collection. We've posted about this aspiring model before in the past. This is one of the photos from her very unusual

portfolio.

 I just don't know what more to say. I'm speechless!

I must admit it certainly fits this weeks theme.

 

To see more Sepia Saturday- sepiasaturday.blogspot.com

Zendala Dare #64

To see more zendalas go to http://thebrightowl.blogspot.com/

Diva Challenge #126 -Use a stencil

To see more- http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/

A quick recap of June

 My 72 yr. old brother plays in a tennis tournament. (the one on the left)

 The agapanthus bloom at Nancy's house.

My painting in Fallbrook Art Association art show. (the one on the right).

An interesting talk by a Southern folk artist. (name to come).

 Megan and her French boyfriend (J.P.) come for a too- short visit. We really liked him.

Helen shows one her purchases from her recent trip to India at our book club.

 Margarita brought me a beautiful bouquet from her garden.

Nancy and I spent time on art downstairs. Tootie waited. She hates these stairs. (and so do I).

Tangle Patterns String # 59

Zendala Dare #62 version 2

I think I have too much time on my hands!

Zendala Dare # 62

 Can you find the mistake?

Template from thebrightowl.blogspot.com

A visit from Basto and Molly

These two dogs wandered into my front yard last week. They had tags with their phone number but no one was home. Left a message. They also had things on their collars showing they had electric fences-which apparently didn't work.  I put leashes on them and prepared to see if they would lead me to their home. No such luck. I put them in the car and drove around to see if they recognized anything. Also no luck. I took them back to my house. They were the nicest dogs, affectionate and well trained. Obviously from a good home.

I couldn't bring them in the house because of the cats and Tootie wasn't being friendly.  I don't have a fenced yard so I just got a sketch pad and settled down with them in the yard to wait for the owner to call.

He finally called at about 5:30 and came and picked them up. Apparently they're escape artists. He said they usually come home on their own. Of course I couldn't have taken that chance. He was very nice and he had rescued them from a woman who couldn't keep them after losing her house.

All's well that ends well!

Zendala flops

I know there's supposed to be no mistakes in the Zentangle world- just go with the flow and it usually comes out good in the end. Sometimes with Zendalas, tho, you can sort of see it's heading in a wrong direction and since they take longer to do it's sometimes better to stop.  Here's some of mine that I stopped in the middle.
The Zendala dare this week is to revisit these and try again. It's called "The devil that you know".
Here's my three devils. I'll choose one tonight and maybe post a new rendition tomorrow.

Finally finished a re-do of #48- (below)

What a difference! You'd never know it was the same template as the one above.

This last dare was to do it in pencil. I really didn't enjoy that so I didn't continue.

See more at http://thebrightowl.blogspot.com/

Nancy's new art project

Nancy is really good at collage. Hers always have a little twist of humor besides just being attractive.
These are done on the inside of vintage book covers. We have millions of old books, several in very poor condition-just begging to be put to some good use. A lot of them have writing on them from the previous owners. This just adds to the allure. We're going to sell them on etsy. Here's some examples:
To see more go to http://pinterest.com/finwallb/nancys-book-cover-collages/