Fancy and Not So Fancy

I haven't seen many birds lately, mostly because I haven't spent a lot of time at the table looking out the patio door. And most of the feeders are empty. Today I got lucky. First I saw this female or juvenile House Finch pecking away at the dried up jelly stuck to the bottom of the dish. Not so fancy.

Then I went out to put a fresh orange half and more jelly in the dish and look who came. A male Oriole. I purely love seeing them. This is the first summer that they've kept coming back after a first few springtime visits. Fancy.

Today from Ink & Wash we have a Common Buckeye Butterfly (that looks like a moth) perched on a dandelion (that doesn't look like a dandelion because she told me to use sienna instead of yellow paint). I was sorely tempted to ignore her direction to use sienna for the dandelion but I caved in to pressure and followed directions. One of these days I'll be brave enough to follow my instinct.

Oh, Dad's roses are loving all of the rain and sunshine we've been having. Look at them! They're just exploding out in bouquets of fragrant, velvety red roses. The aroma while I was taking the pictures was intoxicating.

And the lilies on the side of the house that I thought were going to be yellow are actually peach. They look pretty bedraggled, don't they? But they're an interesting color.

I remembered to sit down and draw a Gratitude Journal page today. I mowed the lawn. I didn't want to, I really didn't, but I knew if I mowed it when it wasn't quite so high it'd be easier on the mower. And it was but I confess I kind of resented every step of the half mile of back and forth-ing. Funny how I was happy to mow the last time thinking about how hard it was to do last summer and how much I wasn't happy to mow today.

Today was the July St. Agnes Class of '65 lunch. I had a BLT that was just so-so. Overcooked bacon, mealy tomato slices, and too thick Texas toast. I won't be ordering that again. Oh, I ate it but like I said it was just so-so. The tater tots were outstanding, though, which kind of made up for the mediocre sandwich. Maybe I'll have a wrap next month.

Even though I made time last week to write the July Writing Progress Email I neglected to upload it to my mailing service until about 10am today. Sheesh, way to screw up the last step, Barbara. 

I didn't listen to any Seaview chapters today. What with lunch and mowing and watercolor painting and showering I just didn't have time. I'll do better tomorrow.

--Barbara