I spent last week on Cape Cod, my birthplace and childhood vacation spot. My hubby and I rented a house with two other families — so there was 10 of us: 4 kids under the age of 8, and 6 adult (just big kids!).
The week was spent at the beach, hiking and playing. I did a little bit of tangling — and taught my friend Robyn how to tangle (after a few sangrias). I also wrote. I haven’t really written in a long time, and was reminded how good it felt to plug back in to the brain-meets-words-meet-paper. The sea inspires me, as does the natural patterns and rhythms of the life that is sustained by the sea.
These two tiles (above and below) are on sweet little Bijou paper. Bijou is Zentangle’s newest “addition.” Bijou is a little snail who embodies the practice of Zentangle — slowing down, keeping things simple, enjoying the journey. I saw many a snail (and hermit crabs in the shells of old snails) last week by the sea.
These two tiles are also my “entry” for the Diva’s weekly Zentangle challenge — which, this week, was to use a Bijou tile. (Make sure you read the Diva’s interview with Bijou on her blog!)
Also created this week was a tile for Cheryl’s Tackle It Tuesday challenge, which was to use tangles whose names begin with the letter V!
I’m sitting on the couch tonight, catching some of the news and catching up on emails from the last week of being away. To go on vacation always means that one must “come back.” Otherwise, it’s not a vacation — it’s moving someplace else. I have a hard time shifting from one routine to another. It’s not that I require routine, but I seem to “unplug” easily from the present.
When I was on the Cape this weekend, with friends and their families, I admitted to them that I’ve had depression and anxiety since I was a little girl. Zentangle really helps me to return to the present, which calms the anxiety and gives light to the depression. It’s easy to get lost in depressive thinking. And yet in front of it all, I have a smile. The smile is truth. The depression/anxiety is old patterns and ways of coping.
Tonight I think of the loss of Robin Williams — and unlike other losses of other famous people — I’m honestly affected by the news of his passing. Too young. So talented. So much laughter he brought into others’ lives. Depression. You just never know the battles someone is fighting behind all the masks. Wishing his family and his admirers peace in their grief.