Here is my first mini-collage. I am not terribly thrilled with it but I can see it is going to be good practice for making bigger ones. It actually looks better here than in real life. It was a good experience because I had many interruptions while I was doing it but it didn't matter because it is just for fun.

The sun has gone behind the clouds again they are never far away in Vancouver but the temperature is very warm. I am lucky down here by the water as there is almost always a cool breeze.

I have been helping several people lately and am really questioning what that is all about. I like to help people but the universe is blocking some of the things I have done and I wonder if it is telling me to mind my own business. Do you wait to be asked or do you offer? Not sure where the line is because I seem to be innately programmed to help - as many women are - and just automatically offer my services. I monitor myself to make sure I am not overdoing or doing things I don't want to do but the universe blocking things really has me questioning myself.

An example is that a neighbour who has no family or friends went to Mexico for medical treatment. I had been dropping in on him from time to time just to see if he was okay and if he needed anything. He called me just as he was going in for his treatment and then I didn't hear from him again. He was to be home in five or six day so after a week I called the hospital and there had been some issues and getting him home seemed to be one of them. I offered to meet him at the airport not thinking it may be a late night arrival. It turned out to be 10:50PM. I took a cab to the airport (I don't have a car and don't use public transit at night) waited until 12:15, asked the people at the information desk if they could check if he was actually on the plane or held up in customs but they were less than helpful. They said whether he was on the plane or not was confidential. Anyway, I finally left and waited until this morning to call the airline - making sure he hadn't arrived home later because of some delay - and contrary to what the airport personnel said they were more than happy to tell me he was arriving today at 11:30AM. So, I am pleased that he is home safely, but I am out $61 in cab fares and don't feel I can ask him to reimburse me because he didn't ask me to meet him. I went into it knowing he may not pay me back so that is not the biggest issue. The biggest issue is should I have minded my own business and not offered to go to the airport?

I have done a Zendala and a Zentangle over the last little while. The Zendala I did in a couple of sittings, the Zentangle took several weeks to complete. I find this a very relaxing art form and did a lot of it in coffee shops. I have another Zentangle half completed.

I picked up the new Somerset Studio a couple of days ago and found an article by a mixed-media artist I haven't seen before, his name is Randel Plowman. He has a blog called http://acollageaday.blogspot.com and he has done just that for a couple of years and has only missed a couple of days of posting during that time. His collages are only 4" x 4" but they are excellent. So, I think I will give it a try and do one small collage a day for six months maybe longer if I am still enjoying it. He also has a web site at www.rplowman.com

The new Somerset Studio is very good and so it the new Art Journaling. They have a new format for SS and I prefer it to the old one. I love the mixed-media magazines, they are so inspiring.

We finally got some summer weather here. Very hot today.