When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
Franklin Roosevelt

My personal knot is secure for the time being. In fact, I am now reading an article on how to tie knots. Knots, not nooses.

I had a cousin who took years for me to find, and when I first met him, it was an instant attraction, as he had so many facial features that my father had. He was also a master of tying knots of all different kinds. I had flown up to Victoria to see him, and we were both so delighted to have finally met. He had had a tough life, but like me was a survivor, probably something in our genetic makeup. Afterall, our grandparents had immigrated from England/Scotland and later to Nova Scotia, when my grandmother had to make a very long trek with 8 kids in tow to meet her husband in Vancouver. Anyway, Frank and I shared some very happy times until he committed suicide, hanging himself in the garage with a noose knot, to be found by his wife when she came home. His dog was lying on the floor looking up at him. The dog was never the same. He had rescued the dog from one of those reservations up North, and had "tamed" it. He had a way with animals. When my sisters and I later flew up to Victoria for his funeral, there was a pamphlet of sorts describing the various knots that my cousin could tie. As many of you probably know, the knot is a metaphor for a problem, since it does not show all its meanderings, when dissolving, it tightens more, not every knot can be solved, the many cause effect relations are difficult to understand and different classes of problems require methods with different levels of radicalness.
I am in a knot and will be until I have that darn scan next week.
I suppose my mind is wandering again because it is late and I am working on my art, and a song played that reminded me of my cousin who I sorely miss, still. I am all "in knots" again, but felt it would be okay to share this quote and story.