Happy Halloween!

It's hard to believe, but in less than 2 hours it will be November 1st. Here in Chapel Hill, we are in the middle of a severe storm which cut short our children's Halloween fun. Our neighborhood managed to have its traditional parade, followed by the trick or treating from house to house. By 6:45, the  wind and lightning made it feel really scary, and everyone went back home. 

As the windspeed increased, my eyes were focused on the Monarch butterflies that I so love. I used my best telepathic skills to warn them to take shelter from the coming storm. This year I've seen the most ever. I hope that's a good sign for these delicate creatures that cross two continents every year in their migration. They bring me so much joy!

With Halloween we tanglers celebrate the final day of InkTober. I started this challenge in my hand-made journal, missed a few days, and started again on a recycled cereal box. I enjoyed working in a larger format and seeing it all come together. Thank you, Stephanie Jennifer, for giving us this year's list of tangles!

How was your October?

Zentangle and A Day of Care for Caregivers

It's almost November, National Family Caregivers Month. Our county's Department of Aging is offering a day of physical and emotional care and appreciation for those who are committed to caring for our folks who can no longer care for themselves. As part of the wellness activities, I'll be teaching an introduction to the Zentangle Method. Registration and respite care are free! (The deadline for respite care has been extended to November 2.)

Zendala Moments #09

We've had more rain this week, including this morning! I love hearing it and watching it, as you know if you read last week's lengthy ode to the rain!!! We've had some lovely autumn days, too, when I've enjoyed walks in the nearby forest. I took a previously unexplored path one day, and discovered this hidden gem.

My neighbor's maple tree has begun its lovely transformation of our sidewalk into a red carpet, and I feel like a queen!

Thank you, Annette, for another lovely Zendala Moments template for September. I did two versions of this. In the first, I followed the string, but in the second, Hollis, a new pattern for ZT headquarters, took over! (It reminds me of how some of the "weeds" in my garden mimic the surrounding plants and make it harder to remove them!) I tried to use the white to restore some structure to it all, but it's still a bit messy!!

Zendala Moments: Rain

"Flash drought." This term joins the list of global warming symptoms. When I saw it in a recent news article, I knew that I was experiencing it. My garden, our neigborhood, town and beautiful forest have been parched for many weeks, but, seeing the deadly drought that has had France in its grip for over a year, I barely paid attention to it. Then the crevasses in the red clay around my house seemed to widen and deepen, almost overnight. I remembered all the rain we had had earlier this year with a wet winter, spring and summer, and very few of our usual blistering temperatures. It seemed impossible that I needed to water my new vegetable plants, but I knew I had to. Weeks of searching the weather forecast for any sign of rain finally gave way to a small cloud icon for today. Dare I hope?
The rain came this morning. Neighbors went outside to look at it, as if it were snow! The kids across the street built a rain fort, with chairs and umbrellas and small chairs to sit in while they watched. I decided to enjoy the rain from the shelter of our screened porch. Listening to the pit-pat of drops on the leaves of surrounding trees, I picked up the Zendala Moments #08 template and started to draw.

Happy birthday to my niece, Gala! A devoted high school English teacher, she deserves a little shout-out!

My October entry for our local postcard swap found me ready for leaf action! I haven't spotted any tangle-worthy leaves yet, so I stuck with my trusty stamp, a glaze pen, some watercolors and colored pencils.

And just an update to my last post. I just noticed that in addition to the InkTober prompts I posted, there are several other options. See a complete list here.

How's your autumn?