And They Came

I had a lot of bird visitation today. I even saw a Chickadee land on the Finch feeder but it didn't stay there long. But then Chickadees don't stay anywhere for long. I did see the Red-bellied Woodpecker land on the suet pellets feeder three times--that I saw. He might have been there more but I was busy.

This House Finch perched on top of the crook waiting his turn at the platform feeder. For a few minutes there were two pairs of House Finches on the feeder but then the other male chased this one away, then he chased away the other female. Another avian bully, I guess.

It was so warm today. It got up to 54 degrees and was partly sunny. This little male Sparrow
decided to take a bath. I tried to take his picture when he was splashing around but all I got was blur so this is the best, most in focus shot.

Mark making today was drawing a building. I thought we'd draw a skyline but it turned out we drew just one big, basic building and then divided up the facade and filled it in with lines and marks. I guess it looks okay. Tomorrow we'll draw an owl. That should be good, right?

I felt like painting this afternoon. So I did. I painted this trio of Cornflowers. Grandma Angermeier used to grow them and she called them Bachelor's Buttons. They remind me of her. I like the way this turned out.

Today's gratitude journal page was an easy one to draw. I had to put the Red-bellied Woodpecker on since I saw him so many times, then I had my Novel Writing Zoom, and finally I was so happy with my watercolor. I didn't put on the sunny day or the warm day because I ended up drawing things too big to fit it all.

Like I said, I had my Novel Writing critique group this morning where I got some great comments on parts of the manuscript that I think I'm going to abandon, I quick fixed some lunch, and almost as soon as I was done eating my cleaning lady arrived. She does such a good job of cleaning my not-too-dirty house. It smells so nice when she's done and everything just sparkles.

Tomorrow morning I'm having a meeting on Zoom with the moderator of the Novel Writing group to talk about my struggles with Point Of View and how I'm doing adding conflict. I spent a little time looking at the 1st person manuscript this afternoon trying to decide which part I'm going to submit for next time's critique. I don't want to waste the efforts of the others in the group by giving them more of the version that I think I'm not going to continue with so I want to talk to LL before I leap into something new. She said today that there will be another session of the course in April, May, and June and I think I'm going to sign up for it even if I might miss one of the May sessions because the watercolor class I want to take at The Clearing is from May 19-25. And next Tuesday and Thursday are the sign-up days for Life members of The Clearing so I'll get to sign up for watercolor and writing next week. Hooray!

Yesterday I got out my wedding rings which I haven't worn for a couple years and put them on. I've been missing them lately. My left hand felt empty and wrong so I'll see how long I keep them on. My finger is skinnier than it used to be so the rings slide around a bit. Maybe I'll investigate having them made a little smaller but I suspect that won't be cheap.

Oh, and I got a text from my tenant saying that her husband saw a "young" rat on their patio. Dang it! I know it was naive of me to think that the one that was dead in the backyard earlier this winter was the only one but I was kind of hoping that it was. I'm sure another rat moved in to take its place. I'm not going to quit feeding the birds. I can't imagine not feeding the birds but I keep the seed in small aluminum trash cans with lids so nothing can nibble its way into the seed, they can only get the stuff that falls from the feeders. Stupid rats.

--Barbara