First Rose of the Season

The first Dad's rose has bloomed. I took a picture of the bud last week and noticed when I came home from Zambaldi this morning that the rose was out there in full bloom. Naturally I had to take its picture and have a little chat with Dad thanking him for planting the rose bush all those years ago. There's another bud just about ready to bloom too.

DS was brewing today so he invited me to come down and visit. Man, it was hot and humid in there today. It was 80-ish and humid outside and was probably 10 degrees warmer and more humid in the brewhouse but there he was, up on a ladder, sanitizing a tank so he could pump the new beer into it when it was done cooking. He had a mind-boggling list of things to do today--brew a batch of beer, transfer a different beer from one tank to another, carbonate it then keg off some of that beer and get it on the line, get ready for Saturday's early open and later Brewer for a Day. Made me tired just listening to his to-do list. They open at 7am on Saturday because there's a marathon that passes in front of Zambaldi which means the street is closed for a couple hours so they open early and sell breakfast burritos, mimosas, and bloody marys first to the people cheering on the runners, then to the runners, then to the people who work the race. Three waves of hungry and thirsty people make it worthwhile to open so early.

 

When I got home I went out and cut a bunch of rhubarb to make another batch of sauce. I'll have yogurt for breakfast tomorrow and would rather have rhubarb sauce on it instead of applesauce. I decided to take a picture when it just started cooking so it didn't look like the surface of the sun in the picture like the last pan full did. Tastes so good.

I turned to the next flower in Ink & Wash and found an Oxeye Daisy. I was a little intimidated because I've never had much luck drawing the foreshortened petals that face the viewer but I plunged in and gave it a try. It turned out okay. I followed the directions and drew almost all of it with a pen, then used a tiny bit of watercolor to paint the center, stem, and leaves. I like it.

And the male Oriole came back today. I was a little surprised that he ate some jelly because it was pretty soupy when I went out to check it this morning. I poured out the most liquid stuff and hoped that what was left was acceptable. It was. He also flew over to the birdbath. He perched on the edge looking at the water. I thought he was trying to decide whether to get a drink or take a bath. He did neither. He looked at his reflection (I surmise) and flew away.

It felt weird not to come back here and sit down to work on the manuscript. I got an email back from GetCovers asking what I had in mind for my cover so I had to figure that out so that they could understand what I was aiming for. We'll see what they come up with.

I got the replenishment order of books today so I spent a little time signing them and putting an "Autographed Copy" sticker on them. Now I have plenty of books to sell if there's a run on them. Ha.

--Barbara