Thank you to 7 Forests 5 River Studio for offering this free tutorial you see on the left of this post.

We’re now in 2021, and again, I am behind. You know what they say…if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. So, we’re in a new year and I am finally set up on Zoom and can begin sharing Zentangle again. A lot has happened since my last post in June. I actually ended up selling my house in Wichita and relocated to sunny St. Petersburg in Florida. I have family here (in fact we are all in the same neighborhood so it’s really fun, we can walk to each others’ homes. I have acclimated quickly, but it’s probably because it’s really nice during this time of year. It’s been pretty much 60s and 70s as far as temperature goes, and the bug season is light at the moment. Once it goes above 75 degrees though, I’ll probably hibernate for three-quarters of the year!! I really don’t like the hot weather or the humidity, but the draw of family close by trumps my disagreement of the weather.

Once I sold my home, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was very lucky. It was caught very early (I get my mammograms every year) and so I scheduled the surgery and radiation before I left Wichita. Thank goodness for good friends. I was able to spend time with one of favorite friends and she took good care of me for a couple of months until I was given the go ahead to travel to Florida. Never take for granted your health or your friendships. If there’s someone you haven’t connected with lately, call them, text them, write them a letter or video with them. Especially these days our connections are so important!!

So that brings you up to date on where I am as far as locale. As you know, I’ve wanted to offer classes via Zoom but was probably the laziest person on the planet once Covid hit, tending to binge watch TV and hanging by myself instead of taking the necessary steps to learn the new technology. An interesting concept: I am normally a very social, gregarious person, but I found just doing nothing changed my perspective. Although the move did prove to be time consuming and frustrating at times, I realized that I was in a very fortunate state of body and mind. I had retired, I had no real responsibility as my children are grown and have lives of their own in another state, I have no grandchildren. It has been almost like a sabbatical for me, except, again, I was very lazy! But I will not beat myself over the head for that…apparently for me, I needed to be lazy for a while. But now rest is done.

So onwards and upwards as my new life begins here. I did my first Zoom teaching with my family acting as guinea pigs for me! I had my four cousins and their children and grandchildren meet up with me and we did a beginner class. We had great fun, I received wonderful feedback and I feel fairly comfortable with the technology. At the moment I am using my iPad for projection and that will work until I decide if I need better equipment or not. I have taken a number of classes just for myself, to help me get back in the swing of things and it has appeased my soul. So, having been rejuvenated, I’m ready to share once again. I’ll be posting on my Facebook and group page, along with my Instagram account, and on my personal Facebook page. If you want to be on my email list for updates, contact me at emeraldcitytangles@yahoo.com or PM me your email address.

Happy Tangling from the Sunny Shores of Florida! 😉