Monday, August 31, 2015

This weekend on our piece of the planet

Hi everyone!
I hope this weekend recap finds you well and happy. It was a deliciously busy weekend on our piece of the planet. Doug took a much needed break from the new house remodeling and headed north to camp with his brother, and I had my monthly yoga teacher training weekend - a total of 13 hours of anatomy lecture, yoga poses and yoga friends. I loved every minute!


Saturday morning I hit the ground running. I couldn't resist snapping a photo of the beautiful morning light streaming through our kitchen window - though the photo doesn't do that moment in time justice. I've packed most of our personal treasures in preparation for our upcoming house move, and it's actually been nice to not have so much clutter around. I'm thinking I may keep things to a minimum in the new house. Maybe.

A turtle story: Saturday morning I was rushing around here, admittedly with too many irons in the fire. I fed the turtles, started water for tea, put some eggs on to boil, got in the shower... About an hour later I came out to the kitchen to find our dog, Lucky, pacing around the kitchen table. Underneath the table was a big blob of something...was it a rock? What in the world... OMG - it was REXY! In my scurrying I had accidentally left the atrium door open, and our male box turtle wandered on inside and made his way to the kitchen table.

I picked him up and examined him for dog tooth marks but he was perfectly fine. So I held him down close to Lucky for a final dog sniffing and praising. What a good doggy!!! With our upcoming move we've been concerned about creating a new turtle habitat that was dog proof - just not knowing how Lucky would be with our shelled pets. We still wouldn't give Lucky free access to the turtles, but it's good to know his instinct for them is on the gentler side. Phew!

Saturday: Hurried housework in the morning, corralling a turtle, teaching yoga, learning yoga, practicing yoga, dinner with Carrie, and a visit to see her beau at his place of employment.

Sunday: Hurried housework in the morning, a 30-minute astrological phone reading from Debra Silverman (so cool!), lasagna soup made in the crockpot for dinner, more learning/practicing yoga, coming home to find Doug safely returned and Carrie here for lasagna soup, finished up laundry, enjoyed this sunset, fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.


Now comes Monday, in her typical here-too-soon fashion, ushering out the final day of August. I have lots of cool things on my calendar this week with a three-day weekend on the horizon (yay!).

Here's wishing you the best possible outcomes for every little challenge you may face this week.
Remember, it's all about perspective...

Friday, August 28, 2015

Just a Quote for Friday

"Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier."
~ Mother Teresa

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Mandala Canvas Art

I have been wanting to try my hand at a mixed media mandala and I finally had my chance this past weekend. I know, I know. We're moving and there's stuff to pack and sort and...well...I have to feed my soul somewhere in the mix too. :o)
 
I've made my share of mixed media canvases. I love the process of adding layers of color and texture to a canvas and seeing how the final piece emerges over the course of the project. It's just so fun and gratifying.

I actually started this canvas a couple of months ago by adhering some thrift store sheet music to a 12" x 12" canvas. Then I drew a loose mandala that I didn't care for right from the beginning. The layers of paper caught my pen as I drew, making the lines jagged and not pleasing to my eye. At the time I decided to step away from it for a while, vowing to come back to it at some point when I had the gumption to take it in a different direction.

Then I found myself in Louise Gale's online Mixed Media Mandala Class and this happened:

I added layers of acrylic paint, watered down a bit. I finally used an empty paper roll as a stamp and that was fun - will definitely do that again. The next photo is what my canvas looked like after about 30 minutes last Saturday morning. The word "REFRESHED" was placed on the canvas for photographic purposes only. I kind of liked it there...

I almost didn't want to cover this background with anything! It was just fun to look at imagine the possibilities, you know? But I am so glad I did cover it, because this just might be my favorite mandala ever!


I used watercolor paper to paint strips of paper and then cut the petals you see glued on my canvas. I love that the thick paper stands out and gives this piece more dimension. I used a fine black Sharpie sparingly, and a gold Uniball pen for pop. The rest of the lines and dots were added with acrylic paint.

This piece will hang in my new craft room some day, along with all the other mandala canvases that are surely in my future. As I type this morning, there's a partially completed pink/orange/white canvas to my right...

A girl's gotta' feed her soul, you know.

Monday, August 24, 2015

This weekend and the new orange tree

Good Monday morning to you, blog friends.
It's been one week today since we got the keys to our new house. I am absolutely amazed at how much Doug has accomplished in one week's time over there! And, if we think about it, it can be a bit overwhelming to consider how much is still left to be done before we can actually move in. But we try not to dwell on that too much...

From the time we got our keys and continuing throughout last week, I have been nagging gently encouraging Doug to not over-do it. He's still recovering from knee surgery (and doing well, but still...) and the work to be done is so physical. One needs to pace one's self, I say. Like the turtle, you know? Slow and steady wins the race.

Anyway. "We" agreed that he would take Sunday off and relax, but then we started talking about the orange tree in the new backyard. She's been sorely neglected and in dire need of some love and attention.


So early yesterday morning we headed over for a couple of hours and worked on the orange tree together. I'm going to guess that it's been a couple of years since any of the fruit was removed from this tree. The oranges on the tree ranged from hard-dry-little balls (a few years old) to yellow-orange dried-out fruit from last year's crop. And! If you look closely you'll even see small green fruit forming this year's crop.

The goal yesterday was to remove all the old fruit and to give the tree a deep watering. Mission accomplished!

Our next door neighbor was on the other side of the fence cleaning his pool and he popped his head over the fence to say good morning. So we finally met a neighbor. His name is John and he nicely offered to help pick some of the expired fruit if there were some we couldn't reach near his side of the fence. We politely declined, but how nice!



There's speculation about this tree, wondering if the oranges will be fit to eat or if this is an ornamental orange tree. Fingers crossed they'll be fit for consumption one day. And orange marmalade...
 
We filled at least seven 5-gallon buckets with expired fruit. And Doug made a well around the base of the tree for watering. Wow this ground is hard and dry!

How sweet to find a bird's nest hidden in our orange tree - a little sign of life and new possibilities for the future of this tree.


We took Lucky with us and introduced him to the new digs. He did what any self-respecting male dog would do and marked his backyard territory while we pulled old oranges off the tree. I think he likes the new place!

We were home and Doug was on the couch with his knee elevated by 10:00 a.m. I spent the rest of the day in my craft room. I packed some stuff and purged a LOT so I feel really good about that this morning. Carrie and I are having a yard sale in a couple of weeks and I have a lot to contribute to the stack!

It was a productive weekend and now there's a fun-filled week on the horizon. Working our way toward Friday once again.

Slow and steady wins the race...

Friday, August 21, 2015

Just a Quote for Friday


"There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect."
~ Ronald Reagon

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Being brave by choice and by necessity

Today I tell a tale of a day when life gave me challenges to rise above.
And then a tale of a young friend who is braver still.
Brave thing #1:
It was a morning like any other. I was running late for work and still needed to feed the turtles, make sure the cat wasn't locked in a closet or my craft room for the day, and put the dog outside.

We’ve been dealing with an excessive number of pigeons in our backyard. They congregate near the patio and wait for Lucky to walk away from his food bowl. As soon as he turns his back, they flock to his bowl and devour his food. So annoying.

So on that particular morning, Lucky and I headed outside and were greeted by about six pigeons waiting for his bowl to be filled. Lucky's instincts are to lunge at the birds. He does this cute little hopping movement and runs a little circle around the yard, making sure all the birds scatter – so adorable. Except for on that particular morning when he lunged and one fearless pigeon was all, "Meh" and Lucky caught the bird. As in, killed the bird. Right in front of me!

I tried hard not to freak out. Lucky is a dog and he was just doing what came naturally. And it might upset my bird loving friends to know that I dislike pigeons so much I wasn't really all that heartbroken for the planet to lose one. The thing that was most upsetting was that Doug had already left for work and I knew I had to deal with a freshly dead bird. Ew.

Removing a dead bird was challenging, but doable in Doug's absence. The image stuck with me the whole rest of the day.


Brave thing #2:
I teach a yoga class on Wednesday evening and it's always a rush for me to get home from work, change clothes, and head for class. As I stepped into our garage to leave for class, I saw something run underneath my car. Ugh. A scorpion.

Now, I could have just hopped in my car and drove off, leaving the scorpion to roam our garage and possibly be around to sting one of us in the future or worse - make more scorpions. Doug wasn't home from work yet and I figured, "Hey, I've already dealt with a dead pigeon today..." so I pulled off my flip-flop, got down on my hands and knees, reached under my car, and I squished the scorpion. I squished him a few times. Ew.


Brave thing #3:
After the scorpion incident, I headed for class. I was so happy about my class plan for that night. I loved the sequencing of poses and the quote I chosen to share. I had read through it a few times and felt really proud of myself for what I had in store for my students.

When I got to class I rolled out my mat and got things set up. I greeted my students as they arrived and settled in. And then I realized, I didn't have a copy of my class plan with me. Gulp.

Now, experienced yoga teachers typically don't use notes - or if they do they hide it well and it's never been noticeable to me. And there was nothing for me to do but wing it at that point - and it went really well! I remembered most of the poses I'd planned to lead and, on the fly, I re-themed my class to be about stepping out of our comfort zone. My students were none the wiser. Phew.

All those chances to be brave in one day?! Sheesh. I was pretty full of myself by the end of the day, telling Doug about my courageous accomplishments.


Another kind of brave...
I've had the good fortune to befriend the 9-year old daughter of a friend of Doug's. I met her one evening at a family gathering and we became fast friends. She lives with her dad in a household of boys - an older brother and a younger one in the mix. At the end of the evening I asked if she'd be interested in attending a yoga/mandala workshop that I would be co-leading soon. She didn't even hesitate when she said, "Yes!" I asked if she'd ever practiced yoga before - if she knew what yoga was - and her answer was no, but she still wanted to go with me.

On the day of the workshop her dad dropped her off at our house. I was nervous for her! She barely knew me, knew nothing about yoga or mandalas, had no idea where we were even going, but she showed up at our house ready and willing.

She stuck fairly close to me that afternoon and she loved the workshop! When I took her home she thanked me sweetly and gave me a hug. In a conversation with her dad later, he told me she can’t wait to practice yoga with me again sometime and I was so impressed. What a brave 9-year old girl she is!


And isn't that how life is? We encounter these little challenges along the way that we can face head on, or choose to walk away from. Facing our fears along life's path helps us build confidence, and that confidence can have a snowball effect on our psyche. The more we practice stepping out of our comfort zone, the more our comfort zone expands bit by bit.

I know that my little friend will have many more opportunities to be brave as the years roll on for her. But now she knows yoga and I know I can dispose of a dead pigeon if I need to.

And I've since taught a few more yoga classes without having notes on hand. :o)

Monday, August 17, 2015

This Weekend and GO!

It's go time around here, my friends.
Today is the day we get the keys to our new house!
:o)
It was four years ago this month that we moved into our current home. Four years ago, in the middle of the crazy August heat. Of all the months on the Arizona calendar, I'm not sure why we always think it's a good one to move in, but here we are again. It's super hot outside, but we are happy!

So our weekend... Carrie is out of town so we have her pup, Marcus, staying with us. That always adds to the excitement level around here.

Add packing boxes in the mix and you have...well...

We signed all the paperwork for our new house on Friday afternoon, then met Carrie and her beau for a celebratory dinner. Saturday was filled with teaching yoga, dropping Carrie at the airport, having my hair done, and then home for an evening of packing.

Yesterday morning I packed most of the things in our backyard and cleaned up my little garden space for the last time. No photos of that because it was a dirty-sweaty-bug-repellant-covered morning. Ugh - and it was so dang hot!

We had our final walk through of the new house, and it was fun and overwhelming to see it now that we know it will really be where we'll be spending our future. I will be sharing before and after photos over the course of our new-home-journey, but I thought you might like to see our new backyard space. I can't wait to see what we turn this into...

After the house walk through, Doug accommodated my two-week craving for a hotdog and we drove the distance to a local hotdog eatery where we gorged ourselves with this:
 
Makes my tummy do a little flip-flop this morning. It's puzzling to me why I would have been craving this meal, but I did and it's done and I won't want another hotdog for a very long time.

So what's the most logical thing for me to do after working in the garden, seeing our new house, splurging on a crazy meal and having more boxes to pack? Why, sit down and draw a frenzied mandala, of course!

And then I continued packing. :o)

We'll have our keys at some point today, whenever the documents are filed and the bank funds the purchase. This evening we'll christen our new home with a little gathering of friends and family - complete with pizza, beer, soft drinks and camping chairs. I can't wait to start filling our new home with the love and laughter of people we love.

And with that, I'm off to work a half-day today and then celebrate our new space.
Life is good and busy and full of exciting things.
My heart is full of gratitude.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Just a Quote for Friday


“Much of the time the mind is wandering, either drawn to focus, ruminate, or push away unpleasant experiences, or chasing after stuff we like. But if we don’t practice being still, we are prone to get blown about by every wind, buffeted by the ups and downs of life. By training to pay attention precisely and gently to the breath, coming back again and again, we cultivate a resilience that allows us to be present when difficulty and temptation arises. Distractions still come, but we don’t get so lost in them.”

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Creating Nature Mandalas

There's a new mandala in town, my friends.
I've seen nature mandalas here and there and have wanted to try my hand at one for the longest time. This past weekend, through the prompting and inspiration of Louise Gale via Mixed Media Mandalas Class, I finally made it happen.

Sunday morning I was outside before 7:00 a.m. to beat the heat of the day. I clipped a few sprigs off our lantana, Mexican bird-of-paradise and cat's claw vine and started arranging pieces into a mandala design. I. LOVED. THIS. PROCESS! So much!!!

It's so simple, and I really think that anyone who may be a little intimidated by drawing a mandala would find this method very gratifying. Just gather bits and pieces of nature and arrange them in a circle.

I also pulled my big camera out and had so much fun taking photos of this piece.

I was fortunate to arrange this mandala on a morning that wasn't windy, and when I left it to head inside I planned on coming out a little later when the light was different to grab a few more photos. No wind that day, but our local pigeons had other plans. I looked outside about 15 minutes later and the entire piece was scattered.



Nature mandalas are supposed to be that way though. They are meant to be temporarily beautiful and soothing, with a lesson in letting go to wrap up the process.

This was my first nature mandala, and I guarantee it won't be the last!
I do hope this post inspires you to create your own nature mandala! If you give this a try and post something on Instagram, will you do me a favor and tag your photo #MyYogaFriendDeb so I can have a look? And if you could mention me in a comment (@paperturtle) I'll know it's there and will see it right away. :o)

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Artist Appreciation Month ~ Who inspires me

August is Artist Appreciation Month
My post today was inspired by Patience Brewster's call for blog posts for Artist Appreciation Month. You can see her unique, whimsical and adorable artwork by visiting her webpage. Oh - and be sure to check out her adorable ornaments too!



At any given time over the course of my life, I have had the good fortune to be surrounded by really creative and artistic people. If you had asked me 20, 10 or 2 years ago who inspired me I would have had a different answer for each one of those eras.

It won't surprise my regular readers that today, during this particular creative period of my life, my inspiration leans in the direction of mandalas.



Blogging provides an endless stream of inspiration, no matter what your interests are. When I began posting my own mandalas on my blog at the end of last year, my blog friend Alexa asked (in an email, I think) if I was familiar with the artwork of Louise Gale. I wasn't, so I clicked over and proceeded to spend the next good chunk of time perusing her website and studying her beautiful mandala artwork.

I loved the flow and feminine feel of Louise's mandalas. The colors she used really called to me, and I was so inspired by her mandalas that I fell more deeply in love with the process of creating my own. I'm now enrolled in my second online class with Louise and am so excited to incorporate some of the things I've learned from her into my own work as a yoga/mandala workshop leader.



I also want to talk about a local friend who is such an inspiration to me, and someone who has been by my side on this mandala path I'm walking. I met Barbara about nine years ago when we worked at a scrapbook store together. Our friendship has grown over the years, but has recently deepened through our yoga and mandala practices.

Barbara attends my weekly yoga classes so we have the good fortune of practicing yoga together on a regular basis. And! We meet on Monday evenings whenever we can to sit and draw mandalas together. We admire each other's work and inspire each other not only to explore our own individual styles, but to move out of our artistic comfort zones from time to time and try something a little different.



We recently had a conversation about how much each of us wished our own mandalas looked more like each others. We laughed when I pointed out that if my mandalas looked like Barbara's they'd be Barbara's - not mine. And vice-versa. We continue to be inspired by each other, but are becoming more mindful of embracing our own art as our own form of self-expression. Barbara inspires me with her beautiful designs, eye for color combinations and interpretations of shapes and forms. {"Are those surfboards in your mandala?!"}



So, for Artist Appreciation Month my accolades go to two of the most inspirational mandala artists I know: Louise Gale and my local friend, Barbara. My creative heart could just explode with admiration and gratitude for these two lovely ladies.

Monday, August 10, 2015

This weekend at our house

Just two photos and a few stories on this Monday...
Thanks so much for your prayers and well wishes for Doug's knee surgery last week! You guys, surgery is no joke. Even when they tell you, "Oh, it's a simple procedure. You'll be good as new in no time," it's still hard. Doug had a tear in his knee that was surgically repaired last Wednesday. So Wednesday was just the process of driving him there and home where he continued to sleep the rest of the day. Thursday was terrible in terms of pain. Friday was a little better. Saturday a little better still. And Sunday even better. But the cramping in his calf muscles, and the stomach ache from pain meds, the rotating of icepacks and the frustration of being immobile... Poor Douglas! I've hated seeing him in pain and vulnerable this way. Every day is better, but "a simple surgical procedure" still means a lot of work for the body to recoup.

This weekend I got serious about packing. There's only one more weekend between us and the keys to our new house. I know that once we have those keys we will want to mainly focus on fixing up the new place, so the push is on to get stuff done around our current digs. Doug figures he'll feel up to patching nail-holes on the walls this week, so I spent a good part of yesterday taking things off our walls and packing them up. And with that, our house officially feels in transition. Every room looks in disarray. ...for the next five + weeks... Eek. And yay!

As for the animals? Well, Lucky the dog has been busy staying very close to Doug during his recovery. Whiskers, on the other hand, is enjoying the vast playground of boxes to explore. And while it might seem fun if you're a cat, there's also a level of disruption and uncertainty about what all this means. The dog and the cat have been testy with each other, and that's probably going to get a little worse before it gets better. Between the cat and the dog and two turtles, I'm most concerned about Whiskers' transition. Our last move was really hard for him.

Don't be fooled. My weekend wasn't all about a recovering husband and anxious animals. I also managed some creative time as well...



Plus I got to teach yoga on Saturday morning, did major grocery shopping after class, had my father-in-law over for lunch {he came by to visit Doug}, and made a serious dent in packing my craft room. Yesterday I got Doug out of the house for breakfast at our local diner, everything came off our walls, and then Carrie and I went for pedicures and a little clothes/shoe shopping.

Now it's time to work our way through another week. Upcoming blog posts will include a whole lot of mandala photos. #sorrynotsorry :o) And there's a party being planned for next Monday at our new house. We'll get our keys and open the door for friends and family to come see where we'll live - to see the place before Doug starts tearing things apart to make it pretty.

There's so much to think about and plan for right now.
And soon it will be Christmas!!!
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale...
Have a great week, my friends!

Friday, August 7, 2015

Just a Quote for Friday


"To make a difference in the world,
you must be different from the world."
 
~ Elaine S. Dalton

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

It's August and I'm...


Looking forward to getting the keys to our new house {less than two weeks now!} and making it our home.

Anticipating a whole lot of work related to previous entry, but that's ok by me.

Packing.

Drawing mandalas. Still.

Enjoying Mandala Monday's with my friend Barbara. We've been meeting at Whole Foods on Monday evenings when I get off work where we sit and sip wine, chat about our lives, and draw in our journals. I love Mandala Monday.

Participating in Louise Gale's Mixed Media Mandala class over the next four weeks and looking forward to some new mandala inspiration. {Barbara's taking the class with me too. Yay!}

Wrapping up a birthday package for my sweet Grandma. I need to take it to the post office today so she'll have it by Monday. She'll be 95 this year.

Reading "Key Muscles of Yoga" for my yoga teacher training coming up at the end of this month. The next three-month module will focus on anatomy which I find fascinating!

Writing several yoga blog posts that are sitting in my drafts not knowing what to do with themselves, and

Thinking about the direction of PaperTurtle. She's really YogaTurtle these days...

Creating music playlists for yoga classes. It's harder than I thought it would be. Or maybe I'm making it harder than it needs to be...

Adjusting to Carrie's schedule. She's busy with work and her beau so there's less time for Momfriend. I love this way of life for her, but I miss our time together too.

Praying for Doug's knee. His surgery is scheduled for noon today so big prayers and good wishes for a surgeon's steady hand and Doug's speedy recovery.

Feeling a little scattered but oh so grateful for this life.  :o)
 
What are you up to these days?

Monday, August 3, 2015

Yesterday and beyond...

Monday morning, already.
Well that was a quick weekend! Doug and I have a lot of things coming up in the next couple of months, so we decided to take advantage of our last free Sunday and take a drive up through Northern Arizona yesterday. Ah! What a beautiful day for a drive...



These photos were taken near Williams, and Ash Fork, Arizona - about a three hour drive from where we live. The temperature was about 20° cooler than being at home, and that sky and those fluffy white clouds?!?! Arizona perfection.
 
Doug has a small tear in his right knee and he's scheduled for surgery on Wednesday of this week. Send some happy thoughts and a few prayers his way, if you are so inclined, for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.

Wednesday evening is the first night of the new four-week session for the yoga class I teach through my city's parks and recreation department. I love teaching that Wednesday night class! And it's fun because every four weeks there's an opportunity to introduce new students to yoga. I'm settling in and not feeling as nervous before I teach a yoga class. It feels wonderful to relax in that role a little.

Our house is beginning to feel a bit disheveled with our upcoming move. I've had a couple of boxes packed and sitting on our living room floor for the past week, along with a roll of packaging tape and a pile of newspapers for wrapping stuff. It's going to get worse before it gets better, so it's a good time for me to remind myself that this is temporary. It's all temporary... 

Those clouds though! Plus black-eyed Susan's along the way and a picnic lunch... Awesome!

We are scheduled to close on our new house two weeks from today. The list of things to do is growing, and we will work out the timing of everything as we go. Plans are for Doug to work on some remodeling in the new house before we actually move in (mid-September). Praying for patience and tenacity and realistic expectations for both of us. And for Doug to not over-do it on his newly repaired knee!

Yes, a day trip was just what we needed yesterday! Being out in nature is what fuels us, and now it's game on...

But first I'm off to tackle Monday. I've got my sights set on 5:30 p.m. when my work day will be done and I'll be meeting for Mandala Monday with B & C. Well, B for sure; maybe C...

I'll catch you on the flip side, my friends.
Have a great week!
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