Flowers

I looked out the window this morning when I raised the shade and saw that the hyacinths and daffodils survived last week's snowstorm in great shape and are putting on a show. First the hyacinths. They're not as tall as they used to be but they're still out there busting out the blossoms like champs.

The daffodils are blooming big time. My favorite one is this one that's tucked back in the corner where the front stoop joins the house. Instead of a trumpet in the center it has this ruffly orange middle. I like it. It's different.

I decided to go to the birdseed store on my way to lunch today and splurged on a 40# sack of birdseed for forty bucks instead of spending seven bucks on a five pound bag or two every week. I did the math and the big bag is way more cost effective, it's just heavy. Luckily I can drive around the house and pull up close to the birdseed cans on the patio so I only have to carry the bag about ten feet before slipping it into the can. Whew. Next I'll get a big bag of cob corn and drive around. I haven't decided if I'll get a big bag of safflower seeds or not. Maybe yes, maybe no. There were a few remaining peanuts in the shell in the can I wanted to use so I dumped them out on the grass and let the squirrels have a field day. The chipmunk had fun with them too.

This morning I booted up a different YouTube watercolor video and painted more leaves. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess, but I'm determined to get the brush strokes right one of these days. The round ones are supposed to be eucalyptus. I don't think they look right but I followed directions.

Then I painted a rose. Not on my own, following a different video instruction but I think it turned out pretty okay. And more misshapen leaves.

I spent the afternoon finishing the latest read-through of my manuscript. Again I added a few things here and there, sensory details mostly with a few conflict-ish touches. I decided that I'm going to send the Novel critique group facilitator the last 200 pages of the manuscript for her to read. She did the first 200 pages last time so I want her to read the WHOLE story (right now it's 295 pages long). I selfishly want her comments on all of it since her comments the first time were so valuable. Hey, I'm paying for her expertise and I want to take advantage of the opportunity. (Can you see what the last two words on the page are? THE END. It's a beautiful thing.)

Today's Gratitude Journal page was a pretty easy one again. I had my monthly cheeseburger and tater tots for lunch. I'm more addicted to fresh pineapple right now so I splurged on two bowls of it at the grocery this afternoon instead of one pineapple and one watermelon. Watermelon is a little mealy and tasteless this time of year anyway.

And I realized that I haven't been drawing, I've been concentrating on watercolor, so this evening I sat down with 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and drew the best pinecone I've ever drawn. I could have stopped right there and been happy but I kept going to fill the page.

Today my baby brothers turned 68 years old. I sent them cards and called AJ earlier but realized that it's probably too late to call TW since they're moving this week. I'll call him tomorrow during the day.

Did you see the eclipse? I didn't have any eclipse glasses and it was kind of cloudy here so I didn't try. I'd like to keep my retinas for a while anyway.

--Barbara