Just One More

I can't resist. I have to post just one more Hawk picture. I didn't see the Hawk today but I heard it when I was out watering the plants. I tried drawing it on my gratitude journal page for yesterday but it looks like a constipated seagull. Use your imagination, I'm not putting it on here.

The marigolds are doing okay except for that one in the backyard that got smashed by some digging rodent. I suspect the chipmunk because there's a little clump of something growing on the side of the pot and chippies tend to dump all the seeds in their pouches into one hole and bury them. Speaking of watering plants and small rodents there was a mouse frantically swimming in the watering can this morning. One hose is dripping so I positioned the watering can under it to catch the drips. Evidently a mouse wanted a drink and fell in. I dumped it out and set it free. I just couldn't do away with it although I did think of putting Decon out in the garage.

I never managed to get out to the purple mums with my clippers to remove the buds and early flowers. So now I think I'm just going to let them bloom and hope that they keep blooming into the autumn.

There's only one Dad's rose left blooming. The rest of the flowers are faded and rotting but this one is still beautiful and fragrant.

I learned something in the Amazon Ads Challenge this week. Someone somewhere mentioned that you should invite people to leave an Amazon review after the last page of your book because reviews lure more people to choose your books. I'd only done that in one of my books so I went back into Kindle Create for the other four and added a couple sentences asking for reviews after THE END. It was fiddly work and took most of the morning but hopefully it's worth it.

And last night I got an email from ACX, the audiobook creating arm of Amazon, that Island Dreams was ready to be listened to so after lunch I cued up the chapters one by one to listen to them and made notes of what needs fixing. I've gotten through 8 chapters, only 16 more to go! It's stopped being strange hearing my story in someone else's voice.

Oh, and as of last week The Seaview is available in audiobook so if any of you are on Audible or want to sign up for a free trial, I can send you a promo code for a free download in exchange for a review on Amazon. Come on, you know you want to.

I bought a family pack of chicken breasts the other day at Meijer, marinated them for a day or so, and today I grilled them. I have an old recipe for a teriyaki marinade that I got from a high school friend's mom that's soy sauce, orange juice, garlic powder, and ground ginger (I leave out the oil) that makes them extra delish.

I didn't paint today, I was too busy with writing stuff. I did soak and block the Monterey Sea Life hat and it's a good thing I did because it really grew. Now it has to dry and then I can embroider on the orange fish. I'll let you know how that goes.

--Barbara