The Last of the Bugs

In today's Daily Practice we filled in the spaces in the page of bugs that we started a couple days ago. I really enjoyed painting these little made-up bugs. I'm especially tickled by the little black tick-like bugs in the lower left. My India ink dripped on the paper so I turned the drips into tiny bugs. I must confess that it's not an original idea but I like the way they look nevertheless.

This is a little Chipping Sparrow. They're tiny, about half the size of a regular Sparrow. They come to check out the fallen seed in the spring and then I don't see them the rest of the summer. I don't know where they go but I like their rust colored cap and their stripes.

As soon as the Chipping Sparrow left the Cardinal hopped down from the platform feeder to prospect in the fallen seed. He found a peanut (you can see it in his beak) and took off almost immediately.

Around lunchtime it started raining and kept up for about an hour. It rained enough that the patio had a thin film of water on it and I could see the raindrops so instead of the rainy birdbath you get the rainy patio. It's a change.

Yesterday (or was it the day before? Oh well.) when I put out the Hummingbird feeder I moved the Finch feeders to the crook up on the retaining wall. I was half-convinced that the Goldfinches wouldn't find them but today they proved me wrong. And they seem to like the old feeder better than the new one. Good thing that the new one didn't cost an arm and a leg.

I had a haircut this afternoon and then I went over to the Aqua Center dive shop where I used to work and gave them a copy of Island Dreams which has a mention of Aqua Center in it. I asked permission last summer when I was publishing it but I think they probably forgot. I suggested that I'd be happy to supply a few copies if they want to sell them in the store. Hey, it never hurts to ask.

Tonight I got together with DM and CS at CS's house (KE had back surgery yesterday so she couldn't make it). We had tostadas with all the toppings. Oh, they were so good. And there was queso (melted Velveeta with salsa) too. I brought salsa and chips. DM brought non-alcoholic margaritas and cheesecake. Once again we didn't starve but this time we never did get around to knitting. Oops.

--Barbara