Why You Sneaky LIttle...

I was watching the birds this afternoon and saw something pretty amazing. A male Oriole landed on one of the flower ports of the Hummingbird feeder and leaned down to the one beside it to sip nectar! Evidently it isn't only the Hummingbirds drinking the nectar but also the Orioles. Or at least one of them. I wasn't fast enough to get a picture that time but I managed a snap the next time he visited the jelly.

The most exciting thing that happened today was the delivery of the first, the very first, copy of Open For Business. I wasn't haunting the front porch but I was listening for the delivery van but still I missed it. I checked the tracking and it said it was delivered so I raced to the front door and there it was lying sedately on the doormat waiting for me to pick it up. And here it is, in all its glory. Woohoo!

Since I filled the feeders yesterday afternoon the Sparrows have been working hard to empty the round feeder. I can watch the seed fall as they dig around in the openings looking for whatever they like best. It sure isn't this yellowish white millet seed. That gets tossed on the ground for the Mourning Doves and chipmunks to clean up. They do a good job. In a couple days all of that seed will be gone.

Today's bird from Ink & Wash was a Nuthatch. It doesn't look the same as the Nuthatches around here so it must be the Danish version of a Nuthatch. Even if these birds don't look like the ones in my yard I'm enjoying painting them.

I spent quite a bit of the morning and afternoon reading through the next manuscript, the one from last November's National Novel Writing Month, and copying and pasting sections into a new document. While I was reading I started making the character list for the book. I have a special notebook and pen I got from SND up at The Clearing that's just right. It's a little notebook without lines (I'm a fan of unlined notebooks) and the pen is one of the nicest writing pens I've ever had. I like it even though it writes with blue ink. Making this list is such a godsend when I get into writing a book. I note every character, even the very minor ones, so that I don't forget a name or repeat a name. In fact, this afternoon I found that I put the same man in charge of the snorkeling group and the birdwatchers and that's wrong. I've fixed it. 

When I finished drawing and coloring today's Gratitude Journal I realized that I've pretty much stopped drawing so I pulled out my drawing sketchbook, the pen case, and 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and got busy. I drew the blossom pretty big so I only had room for three more figures on the page but I enjoyed it.

It rained all morning and then the sun came out and it got hot and humid. I didn't go out to take a flower picture so you're getting another one of Dad's roses that I took the other day.

While I was drawing late this afternoon I got a text from one of the St. Agnes Class of '65 lunch people. She said that they were on their way to Zambaldi and did I want to meet them there. Turned out I did want to go meet them. I had a root beer, they had beers, and we had a nice chat for an hour. I got to meet their adult children and admire their 5 grandchildren. It was fun. 

I need to call the appliance fixers tomorrow. My fridge has water on the floor of the freezer, well it's ice, and water on the shelves in the fridge. I wonder if the self-defrosting line is clogged but don't know how to check. Man, I hope that it's an easy fix. I really don't want to have to buy a new refrigerator.

--Barbara