Things That Make Me Happy: Pattern Spotting

When I was a kid, I used to have a ball finding faces and shapes in the wood grain paneling, or the clouds, or the milk in my grandmother's coffee. And most of my artist friends tell similar tales. I had major deja vu the other day when Mikro asked me if I could find the penguin* in the decorative wrought iron hanging behind our table at the local pizza place.

*Actually, he said pangolin, and I had to get pretty creative to find a penguin...



Here's what we saw:





My mom thought this was a very weird childhood obsession of mine, and I used to annoy at least some of her friends, whose kitchen wallpaper I studied endlessly... But I think pattern recognition and being able to see something beyond the obvious are fairly useful skills, so I play along whenever Mikro is inspired to try. And I'm glad to be reminded to look up at the clouds and dream a little.

Do you look for shapes in the clouds or whatever comes to hand? Happy dreaming!

Things That Make Me Happy

Top of the list has to be the wonderful spring weather! Sun! Yes!

Yesterday we went to the park and went beach combing after dropping off our quarterly homeschool paperwork at the school district. Mikro had a blast. His new thing (which he gets from his nutty artist mother...) is collecting pieces of driftwood that remind him of animals. Yesterday we decided to turn this obsession of ours into a piece of nature art, ala Andy Goldsworthy, and we made a blue heron out of driftwood and left it on the beach.





Among our Hudson River treasures was some charcoal from a bonfire on the beach. I told Mikro that we could use it to draw, and he went right to it. This is a mayfly:



And here is my portrait (no reference but the picture in my head) of Kev:



It was a gorgeous day, and we took a long birding walk. Saw American Kestrels, robins, house finch, tufted titmouse, and coolest, since it was new to us, a northern flicker. Also had fun watching the kite surfers.

Things That Make Me Happy

I'm not gonna lie-- the last month or so has been insanely stressful for our family (heck, the last 10 months haven't exactly been a picnic....) And there were some moments where I thought the chaos would drown us. But I am very happy to report that things seem to be moving (slowly) in a generally good direction (though not without bumps in the road). I've been doing these happiness posts to try to remind myself to focus on the positive things. I know I haven't done one in a while, so I guess we're due...



Things That Are Making Me Happy:

• Kev started at an IT consulting job a couple of weeks ago. Hurray! The contract is to provide professional services to a huge financial services industry place, that is actually likely to be around for the long term. It's more corporate than he's used to, but so far, he's doing well there, and seems to like the people, and vice versa. It's in lower Manhattan, where he first started working many years ago, so it's like revisiting the old neighborhood for him.
  
  
  
  
• Mikro's ailing grandparent has gone from being in hospice care, to a rehabilitation facility, to on the brink of being able to go home. Hopefully some of the stress that has been hanging over our family will start to dissipate now!
  
• Old friends who have been there for us through it all. I don't know how we would have gotten through the past year without three of our oldest friends, who were there to lend an ear, distract us with more happy pursuits, and just be there without judging us in our less than finest moments. Thank you, D, C and V. You made it bearable.
  
• Walks along the river.
  
  
  
  
• Making music, writing songs, listening to old favorites and singing along. Having the Clearwater Festival to look forward to in June.
  
• The beautiful spring weather we're having. The birds are back, flowers are popping out in the garden, and it feels so good to go outside and bask in the sun, like a lizard under a heat lamp.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Making art alone and with Mikro. Painting, pottery, drawing, and cartooning in somewhat bad taste have all helped keep me sane and brought me comfort through some horrendous stress. Watching Mikro enjoy creating paintings, drawings, paper puppets with articulated limbs, and lots of LEGO critters has been a joy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Books. I've read some really interesting stuff lately, about music and the brain, the nature of happiness, and some fairly dark fantasy featuring musical themes. All useful distractions, and food for thought.
  
• Writing. Poetry, lyrics, journaling, blogging and occasionally editing the beginnings of my mystery novel all helped.
  
• The deliberate choice to ferret out and latch onto the few good things among the whirlwind of bad, and to keep trying to work things out, even when giving up or falling apart would have been so much easier. I've certainly known since my accident that everything can go horribly wrong in a heartbeat, and often that is a very overwhelming feeling. But I'm learning to fight it. So while all of this has been painful, I guess it has prompted some growth. I'm proud of the fact that Kev and I have faced it all together, and looking forward to us coming out on the other side of it stronger for weathering the storm.
  

Things That Make Me Happy

Things That Make Me Happy:

• Music! Today Mikro and I learned notes B, A and G on our recorders, and played two practice exercises. I have the advantage here, because I read music, but I am working on teaching kiddo. (That seems like it will be harder for him than the fingering...) I got excited and went a little farther than he did and managed to play two simple tunes: Hot Crossed Buns and Merrily We Roll Along. Not bad for our first day. I also just finished reading a very interesting book called Guitar Zero, about the science of learning to play guitar/ becoming musical (especially in your forties, something the author and I have in common, though for me it's mandolin... and recorder.)
  
  
• Kev, who made endless cups of tea for me and pitched in in all sorts of ways as I struggled with the Unending Chest Cold. Still dealing with the tail end of it, but it's on its way out.
  
  
• A (cluttered, because C is my middle initial and it stands for clutter... or maybe creative chaos) desk that is once again functional. You don't wanna know how bad it was before I did a little reorganizing. It's covered in art supplies and toys. But they aren't across the entire horizontal surface anymore...
  
  
  
  
• The weird weather. Yesterday it was spring-like, and last night it snowed. But we made hay while the sun shined and went to the park yesterday. I got to ogle my river and make a couple of quick sketches, and Mikro got to play on the playground with his latest set of instant fast friends.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The library. Honestly, they make homeschooling so easy. We have some great books out. Still trickling through the last of our Africa books before we move on, plus we have some really cool books about music and the orchestra out. And we signed up for the Highlights Magazine U.S. geography club called Which Way USA, and are supplementing with books from the library. We're getting started with our first two states, New York and California. And some science and math videos, some graphic novels, some poetry... It's a feast, really, that comes home in my library bags.
  
  
• Art supplies. I am having so much fun playing in my sketchbook. Last week was sketching safari animals in ink, this week I'm goofing around with colored pencil landscapes. And it is a real joy to watch my fine motor challenged kid start catching up and developing a real interest in art & crafts. This morning he made his own paper alien with moving joints. (This was inspired by this week's episode of Face Off, which we watch as a family. The boy has announced that he would like a monster makeup kit someday...) Here are some of his recent crafts-- antelope and lizard masks inspired by our Africa unit.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Friends old and new. Phone calls from near and far and a visit out to Pennsylvania. Meeting new friends along the way.
  
  
• Job search action. No offer yet, but he's had several second interviews for good positions, some full time, some contract.
  
  
• Reality TV. No, really. We enjoy watching a few of the competition type shows as a family. Especially Face Off, Survivor, and Top Shot. Kev and I also watch Inkmaster and Project Runway together sometimes, and I have yet to catch it, but I am looking forward to checking out Work of Art .
  
  
• Looking forward to the Daytona 500 this weekend, which is also a family activity here. I root for Tony Stewart (though I remain and will always be a Dale Earnhardt, Sr. fan), Kev is a Ryan Newman fan, and Mikro's loyalty is to youngster Joey Logano.
  

Things That Make Me Happy

This week's happy:

• Kev has had lots of job search action the past couple weeks. No offers yet, but several multi-stage interviews and waiting for word...
  
  
  
  
• Mikro's exuberant enjoyment of valentine's day, which included nontraditional gifts from mama: a lizard puppet, reptile/amphibian coloring book/field guide, and bright green hair dye (which he has begged me for.)
  
  
  
• A productive and fuss-free homeschool week.
  
  
• Improved health. Still not a hundred percent, but we're getting there. At least I got my voice back.
  
  
• The Notepad App on my Kindle. Now when a song pops into my head in the middle of the night, I can hunt and peck my lyrics into memory before I forget them.
  
  
• Lots of time to draw! And I *adore* the Sharpie Pen.
  
  Here's a look at the recent additions to my sketchbook: From the everyday, to the exotic:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• My new obsession: this is my bargain priced mandolin. Giving up buying cups of coffee in favor of making my own made her possible. I am dying to learn to play her. I'm starting off with some DVD/CD/book learn-to-play sets, and hoping that sometime soon I'll be able to afford to take some lessons...
  
  
  
  Life is exciting when you're learning something new, or brushing up on skills that have grown rusty!
  

Things That Make Me Happy

I'm sort of a week behind on this, as my first bullet point will explain...

Things That Are Making Me Happy:

• A clear airway! I can breathe! I've been sick as a dog all week with something that seems like bronchitis' ugly step sister. Today is the first day I have been able to be upright and moving around without breaking out into a sweat like a horse that's been run too hard. So yeah, breathing (even if it isn't 100 percent yet) and not soaking and shivering, that brings a smile to my chapped, crusty face.
  
  
• Kev has a job interview tomorrow. He's already had 2 phone interviews, including a tech interview, for this position, which is contract-to-hire for slightly more money that he was making after his paycut. Tomorrow is the face to face. Good thoughts & vibes most appreciated.
  
  
• Thrift stores. Kev was able to dress like a bum at his last job (which is one reason he loves IT to begin with), but it is looking like he might land somewhere that he has to dress like a grownup. He has one suit that he bought for a friend's wedding. Well, today, I scored two suits, two nice dress shirts, and a heavily lined London Fog trench coat for him (plus a kiddie steel drum, tie dyed sweatshirt and multiple long sleeved thermal shirts for Mikro) for under a hundred bucks. Woot.
  
  
• Doodling. I have tried to draw something every day, even when I was sick. I have a nifty little art journal thingee going, that makes me smile. I've also mostly kept up on my paper journals and I've been playing with Derwent Inktense blocks, which are a lot of fun. I am itchy to paint. As in, for real, on some canvas. I'm also coming up with tons of things I want to try, like embroidery (mostly thinking of this as a mixed media thing).
  
  
• Mikro's growing self sufficiency and willingness to take responsibility for getting his work done. I almost hesitate to say this, lest I jinx it. He has been so good about carrying on independently when I was too sick to do much, and Kev stepped up as well, and did a lot of science with him. Math videos worked too.
  
  
• Music. I'm really enjoying writing lyrics, and I desperatey want to be able to at least strum along when I sing. I have never played a stringed instrument in my life. (I am an old and now chop-less trumpet player.) But I'm gonna learn. And I am going to start trying to learn (and teach Mikro) recorder, too. Winter seems the perfect time to learn some music.

Things That Make Me Happy

Several online friends are doing a project where every week, they post the things that make them happy. Since it is way too easy to focus on the negative things in life, I love this idea, and I hope I can remember to make it a weekly practice.

So, anyway, here are some of the things that make me happy, in no particular order:

• My river. I have this inexplicable soul deep connection to the Hudson River. That probably makes me sound pretty nutty, but it is a visceral truth. The crazier my life gets, the more I need to go sit by the river. It's almost like the tide carries the stress away.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Scribbling in notebooks and journals. Sometimes it's doodles or lists, sometimes it's pouring my heart out, but writing and drawing have always kept me sane. Right now I'm playing with a bunch of moleskine knockoffs for lists and notes; a 5 year Q&A journal that asks a question for each day of the year, and has space for you to answer for 5 years running; a red moleskine page a day diary; and a couple of sketchbooks. Fun. I'm also using this really nifty web site: IDoneThis, which lets your record what you did each day.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Bright colors. As many as possible, everywhere possible. That includes art supplies and tie dye. I collect rainbow stuff.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The internet, and my online friends. (My real life friends, too, of course!)
  
  
  
  
• Heart shaped rocks.
  
  
  
  
• My car, the Blue Beast, which has made such a huge difference in my life now that I've overcome my terror of driving (well, it's a work in progress, but I'm doing it, so that's what counts. The fact that I cuss like a sailor to handle my anxiety and have taught Mikro many creative new combinations of swear words (which he does not repeat) and spontaneously composed profane songs... we'll just ignore, shall we?)
  
  
  
  
• Books. Libraries. My Kindle.
  
  
• Art. Making it, viewing it, being surrounded by it.
  
  
• My camera. It substitutes for my short term memory, and makes me take the time to really *see* rather than rushing through life.
  
  
  
  
• Music. I sing all the time. I make up lyrics. I wish desperately to someday take piano and guitar lessons...
  
  
  
  
• Caffeine. I am not a morning person. Without coffee, I would not even be an afternoon person. I'm also incredibly fond of tea. I'll take either hot or iced, and moderation is not in my vocabulary insofar as my happy wake me up beverages are concerned.
  
  
• Homeschooling. I get to watch my son discover the world. All the milestones are not locked away in some building where I'm not welcome, to be witnessed by strangers. I'm there, seeing the magic moments when reading clicked, when numbers and quantities became linked, when moral outrage over some of the lousier bits of history have taken hold, when political interest and activism sparked. I'm here to see it all, to influence him to think and form his own opinions, to question, to explore. I'm here to encourage his passions, find the resources he needs to grow and provide them, and I am privileged to be learning right along with him and enjoying every minute of it.
  
  
• Bird watching. It gets us outside, and is more fun than I ever dreamed.
  
  
  
  
• Mikro. He gets me to look at the world with a child's sense of wonder. He gives the most amazing hugs. His laugh brightens the darkest day. I am so blessed to have this sweet boy in my life.
  
  
  
  
• Kev. He's my best friend, my soul mate, the person who's known me longest (except my parents & brother) and who stuck with me through all the bad stuff, as well as the good. He can always make me laugh. That's not to say we have a perfect relationship-- we both have major communications issues, but we do have a solid conviction that we belong together, and that it's worth fighting for.