Outside

I got smart and moved my drawing out to the patio table this afternoon. After all I had the umbrella ready to open and it was sunny and warm outside. Why not sit outside and draw? The only downside is that my being there keeps the birds away. They're funny to watch. They fly toward the feeder, then see me, and veer off squawking.

Out there I sat right next to the rhubarb plant so when I came inside I dug out the Rhubarb Sauce recipe and cooked it up. I used monkfruit sweetener instead of sugar so I don't have to count points for it and it's not bitter like it would be with Splenda. I've already had it twice, once plain when it was still really too hot to eat and then again when it was cooled over some plain Greek yogurt. I can tell that I'm going to have to buy more Greek yogurt because that's a delicious snack. I know that it doesn't look very appetizing but, trust me, it tastes great.

I drew the next two things out of Drawing Cute, a book that I haven't finished drawing out of. I keep forgetting about it. I'll try to do better. This is a milkshake and a tiki drink. I like 'em.

I didn't paint today, instead I sat here and hammered out 5 1/2 pages of The Seaview 2. I'm taking Aunt B's advice and yoinking some characters out of the old spies story and plunking them down in Rose's path. I don't know if this will work out but I'm encouraged because I actually had an idea while I was writing. Ideas have been thin on the ground lately so that was a very good thing.

While I was heating up my supper a Hummingbird visited the feeder and I managed to get a picture.

And then a female Cardinal landed on the birdbath for a drink and I got a picture of her too. I like the subtle colors of the female Cardinals. You can't see it in this picture but her crest is a pretty red orange color and there are traces of red on her wings and tail.

It got up to 84 degrees today but there's very little humidity so it didn't feel that hot. I finally turned the furnace off a few days ago but haven't turned on the a/c yet. I went for a walk before noon and it was pleasant, sunny and warm. The high for the next couple days is supposed to be in the low 60s and then warm back up into the high 70s or low 80s by the weekend. It'll be a nice change if it doesn't rain on Memorial Day weekend. I probably shouldn't have said that, I'll jinx it.

--Barbara