Another good week with lots of interesting things happening. Last Thursday I went on an out door ed trip. Photos and story below. Saturday night The Husband and I went out to see one of my all time favourite artists - Pete Murray.
Pete Murray is a rock guitarist. His lyrics are often highly personal and moving. I listen to him often when I draw and when I'm at work and need to concentrate. His music is also good singalong material.
Saturday night's concert was the best I've seen and heard him perform. Brought tears to my eyes on several occasions. A highlight was when Pete puts the lights down, only on him, and had the audience singing with him. A simple, heart-felt chorus followed by lots of na na, na na na na na etc (which is part of the song). Truly beautiful moment.
Diva #330 - Tangle Plates
Lucky I bought some blue pens recently. They suited this challenge perfectly. I think there was a reference to Delft ware last week or the week before? Anyway, I took my inspiration from Delft.
Here's my 'tile'. Like Jeanette, I included Shattuck on each tile.
Made by Joey
This is a sequence of challenges that will form a mosaic. Here's my tile.
Other drawing
There's an art competition for students at my school. The theme is Time. I've chosen to enter. I've created an Opus tile in a spiral shape to represent a time vortex. Later when it's dry, I'll add a little Tardis from Dr Who as well. (Dr Who is a long running BBC series featuring a central character, Dr Who, who is a time lord). My second entry is only partially completed. Here's my Opus tile: Time Vortex 1
Outdoor Education
Last week I got to be a supervising teacher on a day trip to Wee Jasper Caves. Had a fantastic day. Started the day off with abseiling. I have abseiled in the past so headed straight for the longer of the two abseils. The one pictured is about 20 to 25m high. I did it twice. Loved it, loved it. Also did the 12m abseil followed by rock climbing back up. Hated the climb - it scared me far more than either abseil - but did it anyway.
This photo is of one of the students, just after I'd completed my first abseil.
After lunch my group of students went caving. This was adventure caving - mud, dirt, ropes, headlamps only, tight squeezes, rock climbing, sliding on your back to get through small tunnels. I was pretty scared - ok, terrified - for much of it but did enjoy the experience overall.
Speaking of 'overall(s)', here's me and my white overalls after I got out of the cave.
The students were fantastic - supportive of each other and encouraging me when I was feeling vulnerable.
Great day. Love being fit and strong enough to do these things.
Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.
Miss L
Life is pretty fine at the moment. Work is wonderful. Love my students, love the opportunities to be a leader in my workplace and love the friendships I'm building.
Our bathroom renovations are done. Very, very pleased with the work. Very, very pleased to have two functioning bathrooms again.
Everyone is happy, healthy and enjoying life. Even the dog is happy as I'm taking him out walking more often. (Walking the dog is normally what the Husband does but his working hours have been long so Milo hasn't been getting as many walks.)
Diva challenge #329 - Fragment D-1
I had a real Zen period as I was drawing this tile. Had some good music on and I was totally absorbed in the tile. Who needs to meditate when you can Tangle?
I did my next tile later in the day. Just as Zen.
Made by Joey
This is first of a 9 part ensemble project. Our first tile had to feature Africa Artist. This will be an interesting series I think.
Other drawing
I've been doing lots over the last few weeks. Here's just two. The first is another Opus tile with Zen Gems. This time I used less shading and shaded as I went to see if that made it possible to finish the tile within a reasonable time ie before I got bored. It worked.
The tile is heavily influenced by a tile made by Shelly Beauchamp which she posted on the Zentangle App. I had it up on my iPad as I drew.
The second tile I'm showing is a Dingbatz style tile. This style is something that has come up on the App in the Kitchen Table Tangle series.
Ski season - yay!
It's peak ski season here. I live a good few hours drive away so it takes a bit of effort and organisation to get there. We drive part way there the night before, ski all day then drive all the way home.
We went skiing again last weekend. The weather was terrible. Rain, snow, high winds, low visibility. Within just two hours of skiing we were wet. After four hours of skiing we were freezing, tired and thoroughly wet. Ski gear is great but cannot withstand hours of rain. The rain did stop for a while but then it snowed. The snow was OK except when the winds blasted it into our faces. Four hours in and we had to stop.
For the first time we got the GoPro to work properly. Below are some stills from it taken while I was wearing it. You can see that visibility was terrible. Poor visibility makes skiing dangerous as you can't see the shape of the snow.
The second photo is BoyBoy (18) and on the left and the Husband (50) on the right taking our first break of the day, two hours into our ski.
Highlights of the day were the joy of being on the slopes with my two favourite men. So, so special to share this love of skiing with these guys. We tackled a number of intermediate runs and some easier runs that we new to us. Great day. Pity the weather was so bad but it is peak snow season in the alps. Got to have bad weather sometimes.
The place we ski'd was where I first learnt to ski over 30 years ago. It holds a special place, especially since those are the slopes where BoyBoy learnt to ski last year.
I found myself getting quite emotional rewatching the video. I love my son and husband. I love spending this time with them. I truly, deeply love the place I was skiing in. And I'm so damn proud of myself for being able to do this. Breast cancer survivor of 10.5 years and counting. Yay me.
That's all for this week. Thanks for dropping by. Thanks for your comments, thoughts and prayers.
Miss L
Winter continues in this part of the world. For Canberra that means freezing nights and cold, clear days. For The Husband, BoyBoy and myself it also means skiing.
It's a bit of an effort to get to the snow. We drive to a town nearby ski fields the night before, ski all day then drive home that afternoon/evening. Recovery day is the Sunday.
BoyBoy only learnt to ski last year. This year he was at the same level as the Husband and myself. It was a great day. Perfect weather, perfect snow conditions. We got away from the crowds and had a blast. I got my rhythm back early, so it was just a fantastic feeling making turns, and gliding down the slopes. All that strength and fitness work that I've been doing this year paid off big time.
Hopefully we'll get another couple of days in over the next month. Ski season is short here.
Diva #327 - Diva Dancing in Lisbon
This tangle was new to me. I do like the story behind the design. My own 'tile' story is that we have added Mexican Talavera tiles to our bathroom. The Talavera tile design and process date back to the Spanish conquest of the Americas. We already have some of these tiles in our house - kitchen splash back, and highlights in our hallway and entry floors.
Here are some of the tiles in place on the side of our bath.
Here are my two Diva tiles.
Made by Joey
This week's challenge is to use a variation of Tropicana. I used both the variation and the original.
Other drawing
This first ZIA is me trying to be restrained.
The second is an Opus tile, still incomplete, that I started working on when I got back from drawing with Shelly Beauchamp. The hold up here is the shading. I know that shading will make it look better but it is taking sooooo long to do. May not get around to finishing it. I still like the design though.
Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.
Miss L
