Here, Birdie Birdie Birdie!

It was a real bird day at the feeders today. First to arrive was a male Hairy Woodpecker. They look like Downy Woodpeckers only they're a little bigger and a little shaggier. He made a stop at the birdbath and then went right to the suet pellets for a nice snack.

Next came a male Hummingbird. See his red throat? He sat on the crook, then flew down to the nectar feeder, back to the crook, and back to the feeder a few times. He stayed way longer than I expected which gave me the opportunity to get some decent pictures for once.

The male Oriole found the orange feeder this morning. I got a shot through the screen but it was real blurry. Fortunately he came back in the afternoon and I got a little better image, still through the screen, but clearer. I also saw a male House Finch pecking on the orange but didn't get a picture.

I decided this morning that the honeysuckle was well and truly dead, not coming back no matter how much I wished that it would so I got the lopping shears, cut it down, and dragged the dead branches to the curb. I'm so sorry that it's gone. It was from my grandparents' farm in Evansville, IN and it grew happily for over forty years before giving up the ghost last year. *sigh* Damn. 

I trimmed last year's dead canes off Dad's rose too. Man, that thing has wicked thorns. It's from Evansville too.

For drawing today I pulled out my Chibi book from DD and drew a Chinchilla and a Cat.

I paged through my Botanical Garden photos, printed a couple, trying to find something to paint today but I fell back on one of the paintings I did at The Clearing last week, no week before last, anyway I painted irises again and I like the way they turned out this time. I think they're better than the first ones.

I forgot to show you my Mother's Day flowers last week and they're still going strong. That's why I love carnations, they last a long time.

And this afternoon I sat myself down and finished the Hayden Hawthorne Sock heel. Now I start going around and around, knitting the foot. Here's where I wish that I had smaller feet because knitting the foot seems to take forever but at least it's mindless, no thinking needed knitting.

Other birds showed up but didn't stay long enough for a picture. A Bluejay stopped for a quick drink at the birdbath and a Goldfinch landed on the crook but only stayed for a few seconds. It was really a bird day or maybe I was just paying more attention. Now that I know what the Oriole song sounds like I hurry to the kitchen window whenever I hear it hoping that it's on the feeder. Most of the time it is. Yay!

I got tired of having no pockets in my denim capris so I broke down and ordered some from Amazon. They're from Land's End but if I get them through Amazon I don't have to pay shipping so they're a little cheaper and they come faster. Of course I'm deluding myself because I have to pay for Prime service but it feels cheaper and I can afford it. KA, the watercolor teacher, had some cool, fat watercolor colored pencils that she let me try so I ordered some of those too. I can't stop ordering art supplies. It's a compulsion!

--Barbara