Wildlife

I had actual wildlife today. A Sparrow, a Mourning Dove, and a Chipmunk all gathered under the tube feeder to hoover up the fallen seed. The Mourning Dove kept spreading its tail feathers to keep the Chipmunk at bay but didn't try to scare it off.

Then three Sparrows gathered on the feeder for a few pecks, long enough for me to take their picture.

Dad's rose is still blooming. None of the tiny buds are swelling yet but the flowers that are open seem to be hanging on.

And the mums are starting to really open. These coppery ones have the most flowers open. They're like a huge bouquet.

I decided to paint this afternoon but couldn't think of what to paint so I started out making swirls that I let touch each other. Once I'd gone through most of the colors in my little travel palette I realized that they kind of looked like flowers so I painted on some leaves and dabbed on centers. This looks like a little bouquet.

Out of the 20 Ways to Draw a Tree book I picked out herbs (looks like rosemary to me), a snail, a winter tree, a feather, an owl, and a daisy. I kind of like the way they all turned out. Today I'm not playing favorites.

I spent a lot of the afternoon reading my manuscript, still finding places that I missed changing to 1st person. I also found a scene that was out of order so I flipped that into its correct place in the time line. I love cut and paste, makes it so much easier to move things around.

I think I have all my things ready for my week at The Clearing. I'll pack my laptop and chargers tomorrow morning and then I'll be ready. I have high hopes for getting a lot of work done up there without distractions. See you a week from tomorrow.

--Barbara