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1. Adj.: Describing a person born between 1 Jan. 1946 and 31 Dec. 1964
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Zentangle Diva Challenge #322 – How Does Your Garden Grow? Edition

by Suzanne Fluhr on June 26, 2017 · 16 comments

Brigantine Beach new jersey hydrangeas

Not sure what this Zentangle® thing is? You can read more about it here.

This week, the Zentangle Diva (Laura Harms) challenged us to use the tangle Aquafleur. She explained that she picked this one because it’s one that she has trouble with. Using it in today’s challenge forces her to practice it.

In the past, I used the same technique before I was a recovering lawyer — that is, when I was a lawyer lawyer. Whenever I was invited to speak at a conference, I would pick a topic I thought I needed to get a better handle on. The fear of embarrassing myself in front of 300 of my peers was a powerful inducement to make sure I knew my stuff.

As it does for Laura, Aquafleur is a tangle that bedevils me. Sure enough, I feel that I understand it better now. Muscle memory is definitely a part of learning tangles. I used four of them in my response to today’s challenge:

Zentangle tangle Aquafleur

Dino and I remain in Brigantine, “down the shore” in New Jersey. Most people think of the sand and the sea when thinking about a beach town, but as evidenced by the composition I’ve shared today, another aspect of southern New Jersey beach towns that make them happy places for me are the gardens.

Last week I had the opportunity to go on a Secret Garden Tour in West Cape May, New Jersey. One of my favorite summer bushes is flowering now: hydrangeas.

Brigantine Beach new jersey hydrangeas

This year, it seems that more of the Brigantine hydrangeas are multi-colored as they were on my Secret Garden tour.

From what I’ve seen on TV, many parts of the world has been experiencing extreme weather: major heat waves in Europe and the southwestern United States, with flooding in the southeast. Other than a small tornado (not too near here) during a summer thunderstorm last week, New Jersey weather has been fine.

How have the gardens fared this summer (or winter for southern hemisphere folks) where you are?

{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }

Jean Chaney June 26, 2017 at 3:08 pm

Your Aquafleur are absolutely gorgeous, Suzanne! I find it hard to believe that you find them difficult at all.
Ah, down the shore. You make me just drool. How I miss it. In sunny AZ we topped 120 this past week, but I don’t really mind it as long as the air conditioner holds out. We use the pool a lot this time of year too.
And those hydrangeas…wonderful memories. I love them so much. Wish they grew here, but not much likes 120 degrees, LOL!

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Suzanne Fluhr June 30, 2017 at 2:10 pm

It can reach 100 degrees or over in Philadelphia, but it doesn’t last for weeks. OTOH, it isn’t a dry heat, so it’s pretty debilitating when we have a heat wave (90 degrees or over for 3 or more days).

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Melissa June 26, 2017 at 4:23 pm

Yours could be the poster children for Aquafluer … the perfect example.

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Melena June 26, 2017 at 4:30 pm

You did a great job with your Aquafleur Suzanne. I love the colors on them. I like Aquafleur but don’t use it much. This challenge may change all that. I had lots of fun with mine. Just not sure what to put with it yet. LOL The Hydrangeas are so beautiful. They grow well here in Sonoma County, as long as they get lots of water (hydra = water, after all LOL).

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Vonnie June 26, 2017 at 5:35 pm

Nice job on the challenge this week! Love the colors

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Trudi June 26, 2017 at 8:02 pm

Just beautiful Suzanne! Wonder how they’d look if you had actually liked them before!

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Gudrun S. June 27, 2017 at 8:17 am

gorgeous Aquafleur – look like porcelain :-))

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Ilse June 27, 2017 at 9:10 am

Wow, you definitely understand Aquafleur now 🙂

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Carmela Claessens-Soro June 27, 2017 at 11:39 am

oo wauw, beautiful with the high lights! Great job.

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Annemarie June 28, 2017 at 1:58 am

I think you really master Aquafleur now! Here in The Netherlands the hydrangeas are almost in flower. We had some frost earlier in spring and that did hurt those plants a lot: Not so many flowers this year.

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Susie Ng June 28, 2017 at 9:45 am

Oh, they look extremely shiny. Did you polish them? Beautiful with all those colors.

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michele June 28, 2017 at 12:32 pm

Beautiful Aquafleur and I love the flourish down the middle too;-)

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Leslie in Oregon June 29, 2017 at 4:09 am

With the exception of a violent hailstorm that stripped off the just-opening wisteria blooms and left the new leaves full of holes, spring and summer have been okay for flowering plants here in northwest Oregon. Last winter’s unusual spells of cold and snow did a great deal of damage to many trees and perennials, but an amazing number of them (including most of the hydrangeas I’ve seen) have bounced back.

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Nan Loyd June 29, 2017 at 11:33 pm

I love that you were a lawyer lawyer – hee hee! I used to be an Engineering Aide Engineering Aide (that’s a glorified engineering tech type gopher person who can do tests just not sign off on them)!! Your Aquafleur looks so real that I thought it was a photograph when I first opened the blog post. They look so real like you could pick them off the page!! They are beautiful!!!

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Donald Wilka June 30, 2017 at 3:53 pm

Nice work on Aquafleur. Like the string of floral tangles between the Aquafleur. I took a different tactic with mine. I usually did individual ones but this time I tried to combine them. Was pleased with the way that it turned out. I agree that practice, and muscle memory, is useful in a lot of things. The pictures of the flowers are really nice. We have just had a lot of rain. Has not washed out our flowers but has washed out a lot of crops in the fields.

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roz warren July 7, 2017 at 9:00 pm

the hydrangeas in bala cynwyd — including the modest ones i have in my back yard — are all looking beautiful.

you ought to visit — with dino!

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