Zen Your Art

Here's an example of a Zentangle. This is my zen meditation thing. Love pen and ink drawing with art pens, also pretty with colors added. If you too want to zentangle, go to www.zentangle.com to learn how. You will love it. It is addicting.

Below are some Zentangle inspired Art. Just for fun.

Next, journal tangle.

Took a zentangle class, some art from class below.

 





Finally, some pastel penquins for a cool moment on a hot day.

This is what I do for relaxation, stress relief and fun, when I'm not vicariously fighting demons and wicked fairies with my heroines.

It's been a stress full week. I'll address that in another post. Today I want to share some ways to stay sane that work for me and tell a funny story-at least to me.

First, sanity aids.

1. Watch birds.
2. Watch the sunrise
3. Watch the sun set
4. Watch the above happen over water.
5. Sit next to the ocean and listen to the waves.
6. Listen to favorite music (Vivaldi-Irish jigs.)
7. Watch the light change on mountains.
8. Listen to and watch small children play and laugh-or kittens and puppies.
9. Write-lists, poetry, anything you want.
10. Love someone
11. Be loved
12. Pray

Jaws and Soraya

My sister Susie had a cat named Jaws. I've written about Jaws the terror, who would come into the bathroom and flush the toilet while you were in a hot shower, causing a burst of ice cold water to shock you into consciousness. I really think that cat enjoyed the screams. She also loved to raid the refrigerator and abscond with any baked goods left around.

When Jaws behaviour became suddenly worse, Susie didn't think too much of it, a little hissing and loud meoooowers, were not end of the world, or missing the cat box. However, after Jaws decided the trick of the day was to pee on her feet, several times, Susie decided she had to do something. It was time for a trip to the vet.

After the marathon event that revolved around shoving Jaws into the cat carrier, they were off to the vet, Susie thankful that travel did not involve public transportation due to the tortured cat screams coming from transport. It sounded more like a wounded lion than a small cat.

Once Susie and Jaws made it back to the exam room, not without stirring up every other animal in the waiting room, the exam began.

After a few moments of examining an extremely docile black cat, the vet looked up.

"Is there any chance you could be pregnant?"

A shocked Susan snapped back, "Of course not. And if I were, I certainly would not come to a vet for the diagnosis." She grabbed the carrier, shoved Jaws in and bolted out of the office.

On the way home curiosity overcame anger and Susie stopped by a drug store to make a small purchase.

At home later, the pregnancy test was positive. After a visit to her OB/Gyn, she found out she was four months pregnant. Jaws and the vet turned out to be great diagnosticians. Five months later Soraya was born, every bit as strong a personality as her mother and Jaws the cat.

Jaws is gone but never forgotten, his skill as a diagnostician will always be remembered, as will his toilet flushing skill.

How Safe is Safe?

As writer's we are all urged to market, market, market. But, when that little piggy goes to market will it be slaughtered. Okay, that's a little blood thirsty. But in our quest to connect with readers, do we give out too much information about ourselves and families? On blogs, chats, my space and list serves we might want to be more careful what we share in our quest for accessibility. I have a writer friend who was threatened by a "fan" when she stopped writing one mystery series to concentrate on Urban Fantasy. How scary is that?

Granted, I'm not a Stephen King, or Patricia Cornwell, being stalked by paparazzi. But you never know who will stumble upon your blog, your website or My Space page and decide they want to scare you or be your best friend or even a long lost cousin. Predators lurk on the web and they might just fall in love with that cute grand baby picture on your website.

The advice I've read says, use generic nick-names when talking about kids and grand kids, if you have a pen name, use that instead of your real name, be careful with full names, cities, locations, addresses etc. Have an email address for contact, especially if you don't have an agent or publisher who can screen mail.

I doubt that I'll be stalked, after all I'm old, fat and poor. Not a prime target. But I don't want to be the reason someone targets my kids or grand kids just because I posted a priceless Halloween picture. Now, I might be safe with pics of my furry kids, Punky and Poppi. If someone went after them, they are fast cats.

Left-overs

My sister's cat died. Won Ton died Christmas Eve. All the old age ailments hit her suddenly at one time, hypertension, CHF etc. Her appetite had been iffy for a few weeks but the breathing issues hit her all at once as did the BP, which caused her retinas to rebel so she also became blind at the very last. Sad, sad. As if Chemo wasn't enough for Susan to deal with.

On another note, my four-year-old grandson is better at Guitar Hero than I am, doesn't matter which version. How sad is that. Never mind Dance Revolution. No matter how much I like to dance, my knee would never let me do it for more than a couple of minutes, but at least, like the WI, it gets kids up and moving. Now, WI bowling and golf, I do a little better at.

Remember, FAIRY DUST releases January 7. Get your copy while you can. Find out if a half-human fairy can find love and happiness with a were wolf and save the world too. www.eternalpress.com.au