The Same Today

I pulled out my watercolors this afternoon and sat down to paint flowers. On YouTube I found a video that showed how to paint six different flowers. Yesterday I started and painted the first two, a carnation and asters. The next flower was a morning glory. That one was a challenge. In fact, the teacher admitted that it was the hardest one of the six. I painted it twice and I think the one on the right, the first one I painted turned out the best.

Next came the daffodil. It was a lot easier to paint and the brush strokes were easier to execute. This daffodil turned out a lot better than the one I attempted earlier in the week.

On to larkspur. This doesn't look anything like the example picture but then hers didn't either so I'm fine with it. I like the way the leaves turned out on this one.

And finally a waterlily. Oh man, that was a hard one too. I don't think it looks much like a waterlily and it sure doesn't look like her painting. I'm not sure I know what's wrong or how to fix it, but I'm giving myself credit for trying.

This chipmunk darted across the patio from under the step to the fallen birdseed and almost immediately raced back to safety. But then it got brave again and headed back out to stuff its cheek pouches with seeds. There was a Sparrow nearby and it didn't scare the chippie away.

I went out to examine the fallen crook with the platform feeder on it. At first I thought that the crook had bent at the ground level but once I started trying to pull it out of the ground I realized that it had just fallen over digging a new path in the soft ground. I was right to think that the ground isn't frozen because I had no trouble unearthing it and repositioning it so it stands upright again. That was some crazy wind on Tuesday.

When I was making my Gratitude Journal page this evening I kind of ran out of things after three but I'd left a space for a fourth so I drew the bunny rabbit that was dining on the fallen seed. I'm not really grateful for rabbits since they eat my tulips and the emerging fern fronds but I couldn't think of anything else to put there.

Well, I discovered when I googled "beta reader" that I've been doing it all wrong. I'm not supposed to be editing or critiquing, I'm supposed to pretend to be a regular reader and just read for story and continuity. I'm not going back to erase all that I've done, I'll just apologize to PS and keep going. I'm just over a hundred pages from being finished.

--Barbara