Who Gnawed This?

I noticed yesterday that the finch feeder sock had emptied very quickly and I couldn't figure out why. Then I walked up to it this afternoon and the reason was clear. Something had gnawed a huge, 4-inch long hole in the side of the sock so that almost all of the seed spilled out. I blame the chipmunk. I thought that cutting down the weeds that surrounded the finch feeder sock would solve the problem when the last sock had big holes in it. I bought a new sock, filled it, and voila! another big hole. I'm done. The finches are on their own from now on. I'm not spending nearly $3 a week to feed the chipmunks. Nosiree.

While I was up by the retaining wall I looked at the hostas that are blooming and there was a nice fat bee working its way into the flowers. Naturally the camera focused behind the bee so that it's blurry but you get the picture, right?

And the Black-eyed Susans are still going strong. They're so pretty and old-fashioned.

While drawing today I used 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and at first I thought I'd just draw trees all over the page but then I looked at the trees and thought, nah, I've gotta draw something other than trees. So I drew two trees, two mushrooms, and two birds.

I'm loving the colors of the yarn I'm knitting the Muchness scarf with--red, orange, and yellow--my three favorite colors. No blue or purple in sight. (Yes, I'm holding a grudge that the landscaper didn't listen to my color requests for fill-in plants on the retaining wall. I'll get over it--eventually.) The variegated yarn doesn't show the pattern very well but the silk and wool yarn is a dream to knit with so I'm not fussed about that.

I got another four chapters of Island Dreams to review today. Only 76 more pages to go! Then the edit will be completed, although I did think about rearranging some of the scenes in today's chapters. Maybe, maybe not. I'll have to go back into the manuscript and see. I made a note.

One of my knitting pals called today and said he wanted to buy a copy of Horizon because he has the other two and wants them all. I didn't argue. I also got the final cover design for Horizon today from GetCovers. It's very different from what I've had in the past but I think it might be more appealing to the audience I'm trying to reach. I also learned today that book sales drop in summer so I won't be looking for a big jump in sales until fall. Okay, a tiny jump would be appreciated too. I learned in a webinar today that a newsletter is a better way to reach readers than a website or social media so I'm letting myself off the TikTok hook for now and thinking about writing a little newsy something to send to my personal email list to see what response I get. Marketing sure takes a lot of thinking.

--Barbara