Awful Origami Lion

“OK, you can fold this Origami Lion,” I thought, studying the YouTube picture.

I failed to take serious note that it was designed by an expert and folded by an expert.

After two hours of struggling to make my fingers manipulate the paper to this lion shape, I gave up with the result below.

Monstrous Origami Creature 6.29.2017

Doesn’t it look rather like a partially emaciated bloodhound with a tongue half out of it’s mouth?

“What a monstrous Origami creature,” I muttered to myself then, tossed the thing into the trash.

 

Visit the Arnold Arboretum – a Living Museum, Boston, MA

The Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Boston, is an explosion of color in May and June.

It is a living museum with collections of trees, bushes, shrubs and roses from all over the world.

 

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As you stroll along the paths, be surprised by the vistas around each corner.

Origami Dragonfly 6.26.2017

Listen to the cacophony of birds especially in the early morning.

Be encircled by iridescent dragonflies darting in and out of the marshy areas.

Enjoy the fresh, crisp air.

Sit on a bench.  Relax and absorb the magnificent landscape.

Hopping Out of Your Comfort Zone

Wow, an Origami Kangaroo!  It doesn’t look that hard, does it?

Origami Kangaroo 6.24.2017

There are four paws, head and long tail.

Ha, it took me 1 1/2 hours to fold — with two five minute stretching breaks.

Origami Kangaroo 6.24.2017

This was easily an intermediate model and I was clearly out of my comfort zone.

My neck and back began to hurt with the tension and concentration of folding.

The breaks from folding were an absolute necessity.

At one point, I almost abandoned folding this model.

I’m glad I didn’t.

Sometimes, it is good to challenge oneself with a more advanced fold.

 

 

Father’s Day Tall Ships

Seagulls strut along the dock.  A ship’s horn scares them and they scatter to the heavens.

Boston Ferry 6.18.2017

Origami Seagull 6.18.2017

Our ferry passes Tall Ships.  We gape at the size of their masts.

We are informed of each vessel’s country and specifics of the complex rigging.

Schooners and smaller craft sail by.

More than 40 Tall Ships, decorated with a multitude of colorful flags, were on parade yesterday.   Today, the Tall Ships are at rest, sails folded.

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It’s Father’s Day and I am now fatherless.  My dad, Errol, died over ten years ago.

Errol was larger than life…bigger than these Tall Ships in my eyes.  Brilliance and hard work led to a full life in Academia.

With my mother, he brought me and my siblings to North America via the Caribbean, Africa and England.

In New England, we would have opportunities not available to us in the British West Indies.

“You’ve had your father your whole adult life,” a friend consoled me at his memorial service.

I did not realize it at the time but she was right.  I am grateful for his life.

 

 

 

A Goat Story

An email arrived yesterday describing a new Origami Goat YouTube tutorial.  The lovely design, by Peterpaul Forcher, captured my interest immediately.

Goat 6.17.2017

The goat made me think of dear Uncle Rudy who passed a few years ago.

When Uncle Rudy was a youngster, growing up in Trinidad & Tobago, he had an incredible business idea.

He saved money from odd jobs until he could buy a goat.  Then, he sold the goat’s milk which was far more nutritious than cow’s milk and highly desired.

Every morning before school, he would milk the goat and sell it in the village.   Soon he had enough money to buy multiple goats and expand his business thereby helping to provide for his family.

Goat and Milk 6.17.2017

Uncle Rudy finished high school and won a scholarship to study Pharmacy in Canada.  He saved just enough funds to pay for passage on a freighter and with one small suitcase set out for the interior of Canada.

Catching rides overland, Uncle Rudy made his way to the university.  He worked at night to support himself, and studied during the day – often falling asleep in class due to exhaustion.  His fellow students pitched in to provide him with Winter clothing.

Eventually, Uncle Rudy earned his pharmaceutical degree.  He would go on to become a doctor and then a much beloved orthopedic surgeon in Ottawa, Ontario.

The Origami Goat took me over an hour to fold.  While the instruction video is excellent, be forewarned;  the folding is quite extensive.

Summer Visitor

Annoying noise on the table.  Abbreviated gyrations.  Receipt of a text message.

Pleasantries from New York City followed by a request and an invitation.

Seahorse 6.4.2017

A friend needs a place to stay overnight.

She will miss the last ferry to Martha’s Vineyard.  Plans to open her island house for the summer.  Why don’t I join her for the weekend?   Is it June already?

I love the Vineyard and the sea.  But, I’m exhausted from work and the last weekend activities.

Affirmative response to the request and negative one for the invitation.

That night, my dreams are filled with the sound of waves, silvery fish, seahorses, the warmth of the sun, a beach and seashells.

It’s late when she arrives on Friday evening.  Gift of lovely white roses.

White Roses 6.4.2017

We chat: her son’s graduation, relationship with her husband and his Indian family, the Martha’s Vineyard house, her new job.  I complain about the usual.

We’re up early the next morning, she to catch the ferry at Woods Hole, me for my weekly swim at the Y.

I navigate as she hastily drives through Harvard Square then on to Central Square.

“How pretty Cambridge is,” she remarks.

She drops me off at the YMCA and I watch the back of her car disappear down Massachusetts Avenue.