What's Blooming?

Well, another rosebud popped open so there are now two Dad's roses out there with their deep red color and fantastic fragrance. I could stand there and sniff until I sniff up all of the good smell.

The last remaining poppy plants are blooming. I miss the big clump of them that used to be in the corner of the garden along with the daisies and bee balm but I couldn't keep the flowers and get ride of the rest of the garden so the flowers are gone. These little plants on the side of the house are all that's left.

There is a peek of blue violet on the spiderwort on the side of the house. It looks like it's just about ready to bloom. Maybe in a couple days.

And here's one of two peony buds that have battled their way through the fern fronds to get a little bit of sunshine. I'm amazed that they grow at all much less bloom. They're on the shady side of the privacy fence and get very little sunshine, maybe a bit at the end of the day in the late spring and summer. But they're keeping on keeping on.

I took the next step toward publication today. I ordered the cover, well, I paid for it and described what I want it to look like so they'll start working on it and I uploaded the manuscript to Kindle Create which is the first step toward getting an eBook published and then a paperback. I'm twelve chapters in to what I hope is the final edit. I'm trying to remain calm but it's hard. I want to dance around but I'm restraining myself.

Today's watercolor is a foxglove. I was very leery of it because she had me just jump in with paint and paintbrush. No sketching, no ink drawing first, just load up the brush with paint and start. It turned out okay, I think.

 

This afternoon I finally made a batch of Protein Packed Sausage Balls. Naturally I didn't take a picture before I bagged them. Oh well. It's a WW recipe that calls for turkey Italian sausage, milk, shredded cheese, and pancake mix of all things. I've had the recipe for a while and the pancake mix too but I had trouble finding bulk turkey Italian sausage. I finally bought links and stripped off the casings, which was a rather disgusting process. Anyway, the balls turned out pretty well but they need to be dipped in something. I'll stop at the grocery for a jar of marinara sauce, heat some up, and try that. Should be interesting.

I got an email from ACX that the 15-minute sample of The Seaview audiobook was ready to be listened to. So I poked some earbuds in so I could listen closely and gave it a listen. I like it. I'm going to listen again before I approve it but it's happening.

Late this afternoon I went across town to a park tucked into a neighborhood (thank god for GPS) to watch OJ's soccer game. This is his first season playing and he really doesn't know the rules yet but then few of his teammates do either. It's mostly a scrum of boys running around the field kicking a ball this way and that and every once in a while someone scores a goal. They don't keep score, not really, but OJ's team won tonight 3-2. It was fun to watch. I'll go again.

--Barbara