Hot!

It's been hot and steamy the last few days and tomorrow (the first day of school) isn't going to be any better. I've been sticking to my air conditioned house except for a quick trip to the grocery yesterday and the day before but it's too hot to be outside for long. 

I did go out to take pictures of Dad's roses which bravely bloomed over the last couple days. No Japanese Beetles in sight either.

I said the other day that I've stopped feeding birds because I think I have a rat. Well this lone Mourning Dove landed on the crook today and stayed just long enough for a picture. Then I was sitting at the table, glanced out the patio door, and there was a Hummingbird hovering right there looking in at me. It didn't stay long so there's no photographic proof.

I opened my new watercolor book and spritzed the new pearly watercolor pans. Then I followed the instructions for strokes and techniques. No real painting just trying out the paints. I like 'em. You can't really see in the picture but they do sparkle.

For drawing I opened Seuss-isms to find this young man flying a kite in bed and it looks like the bed is flying too. When I finished the drawing I realized that I hadn't needed to erase anything. I think that's a first.

While the laundry was sloshing around downstairs I sat here and tried writing the next scene in my manuscript. I had a few hundred words of success but lost the momentum. I don't have a clear vision of what I want to write about which doesn't help. I need to give myself permission to write something that sucks just to get it down on paper. I can fix it later. I read that Louise Penny does three or four, sometimes even five, rewrites so why should I expect to get it perfect on the first try.

The only other thing I did today was three loads of laundry. I got lucky and ran out of dirty clothes just as the Tide ran out. This time I remembered to put detergent on the list.

--Barbara