Heidi & Heidilöv

Now that I'm blogging again, my goal is to compose two posts a month for the rest of the year. At least two. Given that the calendar page is about to flip and I have less than an hour left of February, I'd better get busy! (EDIT: I hit the "post" button right as the clock struck midnight. Sigh. So my 2nd post of February is actually a March post. But I will still count it as a February post...and I have still more to say to cover everything I wanted to!)

In my last post I wrote about the ATC swap that I agreed to that inspired me not only to make an ATC for my friend, but also to draw some stepouts and start writing again. I didn't want to post the ATC I had made until our exchange was complete, and the mail system was rather slow in delivering my creation to Barb, but she finally received it earlier this week, so I am ready to share! The vertical ATC is the one I created for Barb, and the horizontal one is the one she created for me.

  

As you can see, I used the tangle I shared in my last post, aloka, as well as a tangle I haven't shared yet: heidilöv, named for our sweet German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) Heidi. I modified it ever so slightly so that the middle section features a golden heart, and since this was an easy modification, I decided that there could be a tangleation named heidilövve...the extra "ve" stands for Valentine Edition, since it is modified by turning loops into hearts. So...here are the stepouts!

But how can I share heidilöv without also sharing some pics of Heidi herself? And a tidbit of information. Heidi will be turning 4 this year, so she is still fairly young, though definitely not a puppy. We adopted her when she was 2 through a GSP rescue organization back in 2024 . . . I need to save that story for another post, but one of the joys of this past month was that Heidi and I finally got to meet Mandy, the Tennessee coordinator for Southeast GSP Rescue! Mandy lives about 5 hours away, so even though we had talked on the phone and exchanged many emails and texts, we had never seen each other in person. 

Heidi is a gentle creature with a silly side, yet she looks incredibly serious most of the time. She is a devoted cuddler. She wants to be where we are...if we are on the sofa, she is on the sofa. If we are in bed, she is in bed with us. If I am working on my laptop at the kitchen table, she jumps in the chair right next to me, I now keep a chair with a cushion right there for her, and she knows that's her chair. She loves to bask in the sun and watch though windows, and to be outdoors. She especially loves running with my husband and chasing after geese in the neighborhood. She is unusually calm for a GSP, though, as they are known for having incredibly high energy. Heidi has old soul energy. Seriously. It's as though our Pausha, who passed away in early 2024 at the age of 17 or 18, knew that we didn't need a dog who had young-Pausha energy, so she sent us one with energy similar to her senior self to help heal our hearts after her passing. We couldn't ask for a dog that suits us better right now.

Moving Meditation...Ripples and Connections, Pilgrimages and Pups

I love a good nap. (Especially a nap cuddled up with a dog.) But eventually one has to wake up and get moving again. I've "napping on the job" in regards to my beloved Tanglefish blog, but that doesn't mean I forgot about it. I think about it quite often. Even if I haven't posted anything at all since September, 2023. Over two years of writing posts in my head, taking photos to share, drawing tiles, and developing tangles. None of it documented here.

I don't think anyone missed me and my ramblings. No one reached out to ask when I might start posting again. Maybe I would have been moved to write and post sooner, but truly I don't need anyone to prompt me, though I do truly miss the weekly Diva Challenge prompts! (If you have been tangling a while, a good long while, you might know what I am talking about.) But I always figured I'd return to Tanglefish, and here I am! A lot has happened since I last wrote. 

But right now I want to talk about something that is currently happening. Something that aligns with my passions, with themes that I like to honor in my life. 

Dogs. Peace. I have written about both here in my blog. You might recall my dog Pausha and the tangle I named in honor of her: paushalöv. You might recall also that I have written about Peace. It's a theme that I incorporated into my teaching over the years, particularly with regard to Pinwheels for Peace. Here's a post that references peace, (click the link) and introduces two tangles, fluhrfle and fredjen, that I think I still need to provide step outs for. Another post, another time. 

Labyrinths. Have I written much about labyrinths here? I'm not sure I have, but over the years, though my Tanglefish posts have dwindled, my focus on and involvement with labyrinths has increased. I did at least share within, a tangle that creates a continuous pathing within an orb...a path inspired by my passion for labyrinths, and inspired by Margaret Bremner, CZT. Walking a labyrinth is a moving meditation, just as drawing tangles is a tangible meditation, in my mind. Labyrinths also represent pilgrimage... and I have embarked on my own form of pilgrimage over the years, on multiple occasions, to multiple destinations.

So now I want to honor the pilgrimage that is happening right now as a group of venerable Buddhist monks walk the thousands of miles from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, DC. If you are not aware of the Walk for Peace yet, and you have made it this far in my post, do yourself a favor and look it up. Google will be more than happy to provide tons of information on this amazing journey that is inspiring more and more people everyday, instilling hope in the most gentle of ways. 

Google will also be happy to provide links to information about a certain member of the group, a very special member who accompanies the group, lifts spirits, and brings joy despite his recent surgery from which he is recovering. I am referring to Aloka, the Peace Dog. Aloka was a street dog in India who joined a group of venerable monks as they walked for peace in India and stayed with them, a self-appointed mascot devoted to the venerable monks and their journey. He is now with them in America...what a remarkable story about a remarkable dog.

Why now? Why am I suddenly moved to sit down with my own beloved dog by my side and write a post about the Walk for Peace? 

Multiple reasons. Layers of reason. Ripples from recent events/connections that resonate in my heart and mind and soul. 

The venerable monks are in Virginia now, getting quite close to the destination of their pilgrimage. Yesterday they passed through my hometown, Fredericksburg Virginia. Every time I think of it or see a post on Facebook or Instagram I tear up. I am so moved by their journey, and to know that the ground of my hometown has been blessed by their footprints means so much to me.  Some of my hometown friends who still live in the area (or returned to it) got to see them as they passed through! I'm so very happy for them! I want to do something to commemorate this auspicious occasion. I'd like to offer a gift. 

In thinking of Aloka, the Peace Dog, I thought it would be absolutely lovely if there were a tangled named Aloka. It's a beautiful name...the word means light and brilliance. 

And in other news (stick with me!), on Thursday a dear friend of mine from the CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher) community reached out to me to see if I'd like to swap a Valentine ATC (Artist Trading Card). It was so lovely to hear from her, and I joyfully accepted her invitation. Thank you, Barb Mavraganis! 

I started thinking about tangles that incorporate hearts, and my mind immediately lept to an unnamed tangleation of the angular tangle rixty that I developed a few years ago. Rixty was Maria Thomas's gift to her beloved Rick for his sixtieth birthday. Love the clever name for this tangle! I have one tangleation of rixty that I named zixty, as it involves a zigzag. (Zixty will be featured in another post another time.) But I couldn't think of a name for this tangleation that involved a heart shape instead of the triangle that defines rixty. Because of that, I had never presented this tangle to the world, though I had shared it with my local meetup group at lease once over the years, maybe twice or thrice.

So...I have a name I think deserves a tangle: Aloka. I had a tangle that needs a name...a heart-based tangleation of a tangle that was named for a man who formerly lived as a monk. This feels like a Reese's peanut butter cup situation! A delicious combination that is not to be denied!

And here's what makes it even more apropos: Aloka the Peace Dog has a distinctive mark on the top of her head. It is quite distinctly heart-shaped. 

As we approach Valentine's Day, I encourage you to try my new tangle Aloka in a composition, maybe even a Valentine's card. 

One more note: I also have a tangleation of Aloka that is somewhat like the tangle dewd. It flows in a way that reminds me of my tangle paushalöv, and so I decided to name it alokalöv.

I have so much more to say, but I think I need to wrap it up...this post is long enough already. And so, without further ado, here are the step outs to aloka and alokalöv: