Life without _____ is _____?

“What’s life without whimsy?”~Dr. Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

Today was the last day of the Made In America exhibit at the Plymouth Historical Museum. Lee jeans. Wrigley chewing gum. Scrabble. Del Monte coffee. Chocolate Ex-Lax. Ford Mustang. Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Slinky.

What’s more whimsical than a Slinky?

Today is…

“Give me Liberty or give me Death By Chocolate.”~D.W. Hirsch, American award-winning writer and blogger

June 7 is a historical day in the world. Today is National Donut Day. 

The last cherry Timbit looks so lonely….

“Servings: 4″? Must be a misprint.

I heard late in the day that Dunkin Donuts was offering free donuts.  Tim Hortons had a limited selection by evening, but there were plenty of Timbits for me and my husband.  Before we ate them, that is.

Today is also National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. Nothing beats Penn State’s Creamery ice cream. I’m embarrassed to show that I still have some of this left, bought at the end of April, almost two months ago. It’s also a very good thing. What better way to celebrate than with Penn State’s finest?

Stop!

“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.”~Robert H. Schuller, American televangelist

Birds and Zentangles of a feather

“I’m not out here to win a beauty contest.”~Kirk Gibson, American baseball player

Perhaps Mr. Gibson is not, but I am working on beauty.  My husband already says I’m beautiful, so I’ll go with him on that.  Today I refer to my latest Zentangle, my contribution to the Diva’s Challenge 121.  Just like every first Monday of the month, this week is UMT (Use My Tangle) week, and Birds on a Wire by Mary Kissel, CZT is featured.

I love birds.  I grew up with parakeets, which was the only pet we were allowed in our second-floor apartment.  Well, I guess we could have had a hamster or an iguana, but my parents had had parakeets growing up.  I turned into my parents at the age of 7.

Scrapper: Parakeet Extraordinaire, 1977

My favorite parakeet was Scrapper.  He lived with us the longest.  Bright blue body and wings, the blueish color of the cere, which is the skin above the beak that looks like a nose.  He was my parakeet, no matter who fed him or gave him water or cleaned his cage.  He imprinted on me.  He knew when I was due home from school.  Mom would see him fly over to the living room window, the one that looked out on the street, and he chirped and chirped until I got off the yellow school bus.I would walk up the stairs and he would fly to my shoulder and nip my cheek or tussle chew my long brown hair.  Yes, we let our parakeets fly loose in the house.  Yes, that made cleanup challenging, but the thought of having our birds’ wings clipped gave each of us a stomache.

Much like a puppy, he would follow me around, either on my shoulder or just flitting to the table when I did my homework.  When I was sick, he would sit on the top of his cage, staring down at me as I lay comatose or coughing on the couch.  Occasionally he would land on the couch or my head, nibble my lip or just stare at me, and they he would fly back to the top of his cage, waiting and watching.

He won Best of Show contests at our local Humane Society pet shows.  He did tricks, like roll a ball across the dining room table.  He talked; I forget now exactly what he said, but I recall “hello” and “pretty bird” among them.

He developed a tumor on his chest, a big red blob of tough skin where no feathers grew.  The vet said there was no cure; I wonder now if it was a form of cancer.  Somedays I could not look at him he was so disgusting and creepy, but I forced myself to because he had always looked at me when I was sick.  Apparently he died in the night, before I awoke, almost as if planned so I did not see that.  Mom collected him, we wrapped him in white tissues and ceremoniously buried him in the front yard beside the bushes.

Scrapper was not our last parakeet, but none were as personable and clingy as he was.  To this day, I cannot pass a pet store without looking at the parakeets, hearing their cheeps, watching their scrubbly little claws as they hop around on wooden dowels.

I have no fear of birds; I delight in them.  I don’t care much for the poop, but such is life.  When I see parrots or cockatoos on the shoulders of someone else–yes, there are some people who carry them around in Plymouth’s Kellogg Park, just like any dog–I always hope they are friendly enough to perch on a stranger’s finger or hand.  I imagine Scrapper, or at least having a bird in my life. When this week’s tangle was Birds on a Wire, I was so happy.  I, too, have seen streams of birds stretching on high wires, sometimes launching off and flying away in a black cloud.  I imagine Mary’s sight and how she developed this tangle.  My first time using it was not my best creation, although I do see some wired birds there and some swans.  Ahh is such an underused tangle, but I felt the need to add sunshine sparkles and clouds and wires for the birds to fly to, hence my choice of tangles.  The tangle, and the memories, bring happiness today.

…Tomorrow

“Tomorrow, see what happens.”~poster in Next Chapter Bookstore & Bistro, Northville, MI

Tomorrow is now today, and here’s a look back at my month of yesterdays. 

Coffee.  Penn State and the Paterno movie “The Joe We Know” at NFL Football Hall of Fame snuck in there.  My Zentangle and Zendala classes at MegaMeet and beyond.  Friends and scrapbooking and scrapbooking with friends.  Yes, that is my tangled seahorse ATC there.  The weather and skies here and in Texas when my husband traveled on business.  These are just a few of the sights I see I saw.

I wonder what will happen tomorrow….

Today and …

“Today, make it count.”~poster in Next Chapter Bookstore & Bistro, Northville, MI

Today this award-winning blog is featured on the Michigan Scrapbooker Magazine blog. How fun! Okay, that post is really just about my latest article, my acrylic mini-album how-to, but my editor did such a great job including my extended article that I had to post the link here. I am still amazed at how cool my project looked when I didn’t even plan it all out. Serendipity rules!

Segue into this week’s Diva Challenge #120: Bales Monotangle. Imagine what happens when Bales is released from its structured grid and allowed to play? Because I always teach this tangle in my Basics classes, sometimes it feels old and stale. I actually played with Bales variations back in October 2012, in a journal I carry with me, thanks to our very own Diva and her contribution to the Blog Friendship Cup.

Today’s Bales challenge

Today again I play with Bales. After looking at that example, I feel stifled, like I should try something new and different. No doubt the next Bales tile I monotangle will feel more free, but for now I play in black and white. Trying something different, stretching myself with limits. Not bad.

Can you possess beauty?

“Beauty…it pleases if we also do not possess it and we are still far removed from demanding to possess it.”~Moses Mendelssohn, German-Jewish philosopher

Sometimes enough is enough

“Our friends interpret the world and ourselves to us, if we take them tenderly and truly.”~Amos Bronson Alcott, American writer

The scrapbook crop concluded today.  Three friends unexpectedly showed up for the afternoon, which made this last day more special.  I left early to have a night with my husband, just a simple togetherness of Starbucks and a walk in the park.  It doesn’t take much some days, and sometimes that is just enough.

Paper: the fabric of our lives

“I see my albums as working diaries, as living scrapbooks or me and my life.”~Paula Cole, American singer

With all due respect to the advertising campaign for Cotton, I think paper is more a part of our lives. Even with the worldwide takeover of the Internet, think about how paper connects us: bills, restaurant menus, recycled coffee cup sleeves, tawdry checkout gossip magazines, receipts, tax forms and legal paperwork, a child’s finger painting, checks, posters and advertising flyers, store punch cards, napkins and public award certificates, to name just a few.

The Sketchbook Project Tour 2012: Toronto

I scrapbook my life, which is really the lives of all those around me. When I get together with friends and crop, we share those lives in person and in memory through the pictures. This weekend is the Sticker Store and More Memorial Day Weekend Crop. Regardless of how many pages I complete, I am present in my life. This is the fabric that weaves my life together.