Another Infrequent Visitor

I was happy to see this Nuthatch on the platform feeder this morning but when I snapped the first shot it was flying over to the suet pellets and was nothing more than a blur. It landed on the pellets feeder and stayed there long enough for me to take this picture.

The cat was back today but on a different spot. I carefully opened the patio door, snapped this picture, took two steps, and it was gone through a wide spot in the fence where a board is warped. I think it skulks around behind the branches that an old stump sends up there.

Look what came! The first copy of my second published book, Horizon. I know it's kind of crazy to publish two books a week apart but I've had these two manuscripts essentially done for years so it was easy to do a last run through for typos and a quick edit and get them out there. I'm certain that fame isn't waiting for me around the next corner but I'm happy to have them published and not have to jump through the hoops of traditional publication. Things will slow way down now. I have another manuscript in the works (or two or three, maybe four) but it's not done and that takes time.

It was chilly enough that I turned on the furnace this morning. When I woke up my nose was cold and I couldn't get warm so on it went. I mowed the lawn late in the morning and barely broke a sweat, it was that chilly out there. I was glad when the sun would come out from behind a cloud but it made barely a difference. I didn't warm up until I took a shower and decided that today was a soup day so I made a batch of North African Red Lentil Soup. It's a really easy recipe that takes only about half an hour to whip up. I had some for supper and the rest will wait for me to eat when I get back next Saturday. That way I won't have to stop at the grocery on my way home for lunch food. Pretty smart, huh?

 

The next figure in the 3-D book was Quirky Choir. It was fun to draw and I like that each person is different even though they're all mostly mouth.

 

The mums are a-bloom now that it's autumn. I prefer the formal name of the season, I think it has more dignity than fall. These terra cotta colored ones have really popped this week...

 

... and the purple ones are still going strong. They've been blooming since the beginning of August and don't show any sign of stopping.

 

I spied this lone orange day lily this morning. When I went out to take its picture I couldn't tell whether it was opening or closing and forgot to watch through the day so I guess I'll never know.

 

I finished the Summer Fields Cap at Friday Night Knitting. I knew I could never make it last through the week and into next week, it's just too quick a project.

 

So I cast on another cap with the same pattern and yarn only in a different color. I don't have enough of this pretty blue and green yarn to knit the whole cap but I have some pastel blue of the same stuff that will go with it so it'll be a two-tone cap. Someone will like it.

 

This is my last blog entry for a week. I might hook up my phone as a hotspot during the week but don't get your hopes up. I'll see you for sure next Saturday night. Have a good week.

--Barbara