My newest Zentangle! I almost want to call it a fishtangle.
Yep, that’s what I’m calling it.
Fish
Grumpy Fish
I drew this guy a while back, but I wanted to add some color to it.
Isn’t he so cute? All grumpy even though he’s so pretty.
:)
Treasure Chest
In the depths of the ocean that is your soul, there lies a treasure chest, nestled within a forest of seaweed. It contains riches more valuable than the rarest of gems or purest gold. It contains your potential. So wrestle with your inner sea monsters, and brave the darkest depths. Take that plunge and dive, dive until you have found yourself, and then emerge renewed.
This doodle was inspired by my cousin; she’s an incredible woman.
Ocean life series – Hello!
Hello there Mr. Clownfish!
A very good friend of mine keeps fish as a hobby.
She has asked me to document the growth of the fish and… other types of sea life.
(I’m not very good with ocean terminology!)
Turns out, this fun project has also led to some awesomely-dorable pictures!
Story of a kitten
So, we had been considering getting a new kitten for, oh about half a year, when suddenly the opportunity arose. I met a girl holding a cardboard sign that read “Free Kittens!” on it. Normally I would pass this by, citing all my normal excuses (we can’t afford the vet bills, I don’t know anything about kittens, and the list goes on) but something drew me to talk to the girl. What I found out was incredible.
Her family had been approached by a pregnant stray in March. Not wanting to leave mom-to-be all by herself, the family took her in. But when she gave birth, there were gruesome complications. The family brought the cat and kittens to an animal hospital the next day. She gained access to surgery that saved not only her life, but the lives of the kittens as well.
Well I was hooked. After some frantic texting between myself and my fiance (who set up a “new kitten” appointment at our local vet), some quickly hashed out plans between a co-worker, and a spur of the moment kitten supplies shopping trip, I felt I was ready to embark on my first “trial parenthood experiment”.
Boy did I not know what I was getting myself into.
My co-worker, Morgan, accompanied me on the trip to retrieve the kitten. The family was very pleased to see her going to a good home, and made sure I was comfortable with all the details of kitten life. We exchanged some vital information (mostly phone numbers and names of vets), and soon we were on our way back home, kitten in tow.
And that’s when it started. The kitten was frantic! As much as Morgan cooed and snuggled and petted her, she just would not calm down. Finally she let her go, and the kitten did the strangest thing ever.
She climbed right up on to my shoulders and fell asleep. We pulled into a gas station to fill up, and Morgan snapped this shot.
Imagine me in this picture saying “What is this cat doing?”
We were soon to find out that she is indeed one of a kind.
She has six toes on each of her front paws which apparently gives her superb climbing skills. This also means she has an extreme affinity for heights, particularly being on peoples’ shoulders.
She stayed on my shoulders the entire way to my fiance’s house, which is saying something, seeing as it’s a two hour drive. Every once in a while she would shift to get more comfortable, or start to slide off and have to climb back up my sweater, but in general, she seemed very content to watch the cars go by and sleep until we arrived.
When we got to Shawn’s place, we realized didn’t have much in terms of kitten accommodations, so we made do with what we had. I’m not even going to get started on how bad of an idea this was:
There’s an extra bag of kitty litter there now, just so we (hopefully) don’t have to ever, ever resort to newspaper kitty potties again.
After that fiasco, we decided we had to give our newest edition a name. It took a lot of debating (Zyrkstra got a definitive “No” from Shawn), but we finally settled on “Tora Yuri”. Tora means “Tiger” in Japanese, and Yuri means “Lilly”. It’s more of a play on words, because the actual word for Tigerlily is something different (don’t ask me, I don’t remember what it was).
Hi Tora! (Can you see the six toes? )
We later found out that “Tora!” when said three times, is also an important battle cry from WWII, in the simplest terms, it was the code for the attack on pearl harbor. They even made a movie about it! I don’t think we realized at the time exactly how fitting a battle cry was for a name. I was soon to find out… but first, we had to catch up on some z’s! Which turns out to be her favorite activity (other than attacking everything in sight)…
We think she might have missed her littermates that first night, since she ended up snuggling Shawn’s stuffed wolf for most of it.
When she wasn’t snuggling Shawn, of course. She’s a natural Daddy’s girl, just like her (new) older sister.
Reflections
Turn and Face the Strange
It’s a good season for some change, this is an interesting path we’re heading down.
Concerning Fishes
Four years ago, a very important person walked into my life and turned my world upside down…
Things have been set right side up since then of course, but I do not believe I will ever be the same, and I owe you my gratitude:
You have been my friend, my (not so secret) crush, my one true love, and now, you are my family.
I cannot give any other person the credit for the things you have taught me. Simply by being in my life you have inspired me to love. You have shown me how to listen, and encouraged me to seek adventure. You have awoken my creativity and nurtured the child that I buried deep inside me years ago.
You have brought out the best in me, and dared tempt the worst in me, and yet none of it has been too much for you. You have seen me through my worst period of sickness, and almost singlehandedly nursed me back to health. You have loved me through carefree days and through catastrophe.
You have been there for me. Every day, any day, whenever I needed you. You have been a friend, to cry to or to talk for hours. You have been a lover to hold me when I am weak. You have been my partner in everything; supporting me, encouraging me and loving me in exactly the ways I need it.
And you deserve some damn recognition for that.
So, thank you. I cannot express how much you have given me, or the sheer number of things I have discovered within myself because of you. All I can say is thank you.
And that I never understood why people told me that you only truly love once.
Until I met you.
The Journey 